Dutch art and design leaders Joep van Lieshout, Ben van Berkel, Jurgen Bey and Marcel Wanders stand for new ambition at the 2012 edition of OBJECT Rotterdam, a contemporary Dutch design fair in the Netherlands February 9 to 12.

Even more than at the previous editions, OBJECT will focus on the cutting edge between design, crafts, architecture, fashion and art. It will have a strong emphasis on the experiment by means of decorated spaces by young designers and design academies.

Victor Hunt - Maarten De Ceulaer - Balloon Bowls; Studio Drift - Ghost Queen   

“Because of the fast developments in design, it is very important that OBJECT Rotterdam evolves, over the next few years, into a unique stage with its own special identity. Anne has, besides an extensive national and international network, the vision and creativity to realize this ambition. That is what makes her the perfect director of OBJECT Rotterdam. I can now focus entirely on the consolidation of the international position of Art Rotterdam,” said Fons Hof, director Art Rotterdam.

Participants include Studio Lizan Freijsen, Studio Jo Meesters, Ontwerpduo, Raw Color | Studio MKGK, Studio Maaike Roozenburg, Chris Slutter Ontwerp, Nienke Sybrandy | Jeroen Wand, Ontwerplabel Vij5 a.o.

During OBJECT 2012 Galerie Judy Straten will show, in cooperation with Krehky Gallery, some limited editions for the first time in the Netherlands. Camoufleur by Richard Hutte was presented from June  to August 2011 in the Czech Republic during Krehky Mikulov, the first Art and Design Festival in Central Europe. The presentation of Camoufleur during OBJECT 2012 will be its début, outside the Czech Republic.

During OBJECT Rotterdam a large number of activities will take place at the fair. All these activities give the fair context and even more content. Items, the leading design magazine in the Netherlands, organizes a design relay at which designers, collectors and gallery holders will speak one by one about the collector’s essence.

My First Design Collection is a class for everyone that takes their first steps towards building a design collection. The Design Platform Rotterdam will host a programme about design and film and everyday there will be debates related to the Rotterdam Design Prize. Instructables Restaurant, the first open source restaurant in the world, is in charge of this year’s food and drinks at OBJECT. Thonet, a pioneer of furniture design, furnishes the restaurant.

On Thursday, February 9, guests may tour the studios of Richard Hutten, Studio Makkink & Bey, Wieki Somers and ZUS Architects. Also included is a tour of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen and Lunch at WORM with Cesare Peeren from 2012Architects and Joep van Lieshout.

In the entrance hall of Las Palmas, Frame Publishers will set up a design/art bookshop with special publications of their own, and publications of related publishers and participating galleries and designers. Visitors can inspire themselves even more, and also gain knowledge at the same time.

"We are delighted to have Frame Magazine and Publishers as a partner of OBJECT. With a circulation of 45,000 design magazines worldwide and numerous publications this will, at once, increase the international scope of OBJECT," said Director Anne van der Zwaag of OBJECT Rotterdam.