Given an ear to the word Dutch make me given a thought to some people…
First, my second brother who got scholarship continued his study in master and the second is ex of my ex who also got her master through scholarship in the Netherlands.
Keep up my study for a higher lever is one of my prime aims related to my dream about being around the world. Attended some Netherlands postgraduate exhibitions or some Holland education fairs those were held in Bandung by Netherlands Education Center (NEC) which is turn in to Netherlands Education Support Office (NESO) was also one of my routine activity for almost the past of 4 years.
Commonly, I got a bunch of introductory books from those exhibitions in one estate-orange crepe bag, from variety of universities in the Netherlands, the books that had told us about the popped up major in each of universities and their excellence among others. In order to got those books I gotta drop at each of stands of my mainstay universities. In each stand you’d meet some natives who would love giving you any informations related to your area of interest.
“Can I have some informations about Architecture and Design programme?” That is the most favorite question that I brought up every time I slapped my back at visitor chairs in some stands those I had an eye on. Yep! Architecture and Design is my interest major that I find it in heart to study further. FYI, you better find out what are the top five universities which are related to your major you’ve been interesting in, usually you can ask about them at the NESO stand, with some bland staffs and it would streamline your time around.
Last night, peculiarly I tried to get something down cold of some particular thoughts a few years ago, I reopened my jottings in a mess hand writing on my faded blowzy note book. Some jottings from private sessions of the exhibitions, I connected the net, opened up my email account, back to some previous emails and reading an email from Counselling Department NEC reminding me attending an exhibition held in one of famous hotels in Juanda street Dago, Bandung in 2006, that was 4 years ago. In a shake, I looked for the books in an estate- orange crepe bag, I opened my green fairly high books cabinet in my room, my eyes caught some stacks of old stuff but still exploring within. I got it! With some introductory books from University of Twente, Leiden University, Utrecth University, TU Delf, whereas famous of its major in design.
I took off the first page of the book, noticeably I read some informations on terms of the Netherlands and its educational system. Holland as a great higher education destination.
But why the Netherlands??
image courtesy : www. worldatlas.com
Given an ear to the word Holland make me given a thought to some things…
First tulips and the second windmills…
Holland is the name commonly used abroad to refer to the country that is officially named the Netherlands, meaning “low country” this refer to the fact that much of the land is at or below sea level. But from other resource that I came across a few minutes ago Holland is a region in the Netherlands and does not refer to the entire country. Nonetheless, these 2 names have become synonymous with each other to foreigners. The country has become a multi- ethnic and multicultural society, and through its excellent system of education has motivated a population to communicate in at least two foreign languages of which English is the most predominant. The education system in Holland is known for its high quality and its international study environment. It has a very good reputation, not only based on such Nobel-prize winners as the Tinbergen brothers but more importantly on the standard of the average graduate.
The Netherlands in Architecture and Design
Just like a famous saying goes “God created the world but the Dutch created Holland“
I’ve noted of some famous masters such as Rembrandt, or this famous group design De Stijl a Dutch artistic movement founded in 1917 or straightly forward I can say ” For me who lives in Jakarta, I have quite familiar with this picture below.” Well, at least that’s my favorite place for its big screen.
image courtesy : www.thejakartapost.com
That is one of the be in-thing shopping centre in the capital city Jakarta, eX Plaza Indonesia located in M.H Thamrin Street centre of Jakarta with its dynamic and innovative concept of design, for me it’s also has a breakthrough concept. I try in advanced keeping a close watch on its exterior, paying attention on its cubiform, the colors, or its style in general, brough into relief the spirit of De Stijl compotitions. I think that is one of form a part of the Dutch influenced faning out all over the world, with no exception of Indonesia through their innovative and creative abilities.
The De Stijl meaning “the style” is an art movement which is founded by the painter and architect Theo van Doesburg in Leiden in 1917. It encompassed a new type of style in modern art and architecture. This movement used the artistic talent of the artists by designing homes, buildings, and furniture.
De Stijl, when allied to architecture and design, is most generally got in touch with J.J.P. Oud, Gerrit Rietveld, and Robert van’t Hoff. Though De Stijl was only active for about 15 years, until the death of Theo van Doesburg, the movement is still got a print in both art and architecture.
De Stijl advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and color, they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors red, yellow and blue along with black and white. According to Tate Gallery articles also this kind of art allows only primary colours and non-colours, only squares and rectangles, only straight and horizontal or vertical line. The Guggenheim Museum article on De Stijl stated in similar terms that De Stijl was posited on the fundamental principle of the geometry of the straight line, the square, and the retangle, combined with a strong asymmetricality, the predominant use of pure primary colors with black and white, and the relationship between positive and negative elements in an arrangement of non-objective forms and lines.
Composition in Yellow, Blue, and Red, Piet Mondrian
Not putting behind I bring forward to show some works from those the three major De Stijl Architects. First, Gerrit Rietveld, with his famous “Red and Blue Chair”, which is seen below…
Red and Blue Chair designed by Gerrit Rietveld in 1917.
Not just for his icon red and blue chair, Rietveld also responsible for making what some people claim to be the only building that truly expresses De Stijl principles, the Rietveld-Schröder House, in Utrecht.
The Rietveld-Schröder House, Gerrit Rietveld, Utrecht
The second, J.J.P. Oud, his chefdoeuvre is in and around Rotterdam, where he served as a municipal architect during the heyday of De Stijl. The most famous work of his that exemplifies De Stijl is the Café de Unie in Rotterdam.
Café De Unie, Calandplein, Rotterdam. 1925.
The last is Robert van’t Hoff designed a bunch of stuff during the early days of De Stijl. One of his more famous designs was a houseboat in which he and his wife lived and a house he designed near Utrecht.
Villa Henny, Huis ter Heide, Utrecht. 1915-1919.
How De Stijl has influenced the world’s culture and its civilization
The Netherlands and Indonesia had a bearing on of each other. The Dutch colonization of Indonesia has left many traces in the development of both countries. I believe that I’m not the only one who have been experiencing this kind of connection, because we have some intercrossing histories in some aspects, the Netherlands had become part of Indonesia.
I can see some inheritance of the Netherlands in Indonesia, one of them had I profile below, of course it is still to do with De Stijl 
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Megaria 21 2007- Metropole XXI 2010
Megaria 21 theatre (changed name in to Metropole XXI) designed by Han Groenewegen, an architect from the Netherlands who was born in Den Haag in 1888 located in a strategic corner of intersection between Cikini Street, Proklamasi (Pegangan Timur) Street and Diponegoro Street which was called Oranje Boulevard.
De Stijl has influenced all aspect of human kind all over the world. It has given some major effects in architecture worldwide, in the world of design split up from interior design, product design, graphic design to fashion design in second hand it puts across of their lifestyle.
De Stijl in Fashion Design
De Stijl in Product Design
De Stijl in Graphic Design
De Stijl in Architecture and Interior Design
The Netherlands and its tradition of innovation.
During the Dutch Golden Age (from about 1580 to about 1740) in the seventeenth century, the Dutch created the fundamentals for the modern day of the Netherlands. The country took shape as an independent state, where art, science and trade amending, and it developed into a world power with colonies in Asia and America. This prosperous development was rooted in innovation across a range of areas. Painters like Rembrandt and Vermeer as pioneer in new styles of painting. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek developed some improvements to the microscope. In 1657, Christian Huygens patented the pendulum clock, improving navigation for ships. Spinoza and Descartes, who both found a safe haven in the liberal Netherlands, presented groundbreaking philosophical treatises. The Dutch East India Company, or VOC, became the first company in the world to issue shares and use these to finance its trade missions to the Far East. Well, at least I’ve studied the last one when I was in elementary school and it was part of Indonesia history.
This tradition of innovation continues today and lies at the heart of a prosperous democracy. In science, trade and the arts, the Netherlands remains at the forefront, spawning numerous Nobel Prize winners. Rotterdam has developed into the largest port in Europe, and Dutch multinationals such as Shell (oil), DSM (chemicals) and Philips (electronics), continue to be based in the Netherlands.
The Netherlands remains a key player in international culture. The paintings of Mondriaan and the architecture of Rietveld have become modernist icons. But The Netherlands’ modern era also has its fair share of leading cultural figures, including photographer Rineke Dijkstra, DJ Armin van Buuren and architect Rem Koolhaas. Finally, the open and outward looking character of Dutch society has continued to develop. This tradition of social innovation continues in The Netherlands today. This powerful social innovation has proved inspirational to countries around the world.
The Netherlands is a prosperous and tolerant society, blessed with economic and cultural wealth. In recent centuries, innovation has been instrumental in achieving this prosperity. With the establishment of the Dutch Innovation Platform in 2003, the Dutch government acknowledged this tradition of innovation, recognised its importance for the future and demonstrated a powerful commitment to ensure its continuation.
The Netherlands in Industrial Design
The Industrial Design Society of America (IDSA) has defined it as ‘the professional service of creating and developing concepts and specifications that optimize the function, value and appearance of products and systems for the mutual benefit of both user and manufacturer.’ In recent years, the spotlight has been placed on sustainability in industrial design. Industrial design could be seen as high concept creations of designs beneficial to the user, manufacturer and the environment.
The Netherlands has long established itself as a powerhouse for industrial design since the early 1900s when Wim Gilles, a Dutch industrial design pioneer, founded the Dutch Association of Industrial Designers (KIO). Gilles also taught at the Eindhoven Academy of Industrial Design which was renamed in recent years as Design Academy Eindhoven. Besides industrial design degrees offered in Design Academy Eindhoven, they are also offered in other universities throughout the country such as Technische Universiteit Eindhoven (TU/e) and Delft University of Technology, with the latter being the largest university-based design course in the world. As recent as 2007, Design Academy Eindhoven and Delft University of Technology were selected by Businessweek to be among the top design schools in the world.
Some famous Dutch designers include Adrian van Hooydonk, Chris Bangles as BMW design chief, Mart Stam, who holds claim to the famous design of the Cantilever chair and Gerrit Thomas Rietveld, designer of the iconic Red and Blue Chair.
With such a strong backing of pioneers, the industrial design scene in the Netherlands is clearly an unstoppable force, evident from the continued emergence of young avant-garde Dutch designers such as Maarten Baas and Tord Boontje, both of whom combines technology with skilled techniques to create state-of-the-art product and furniture designs.
I know the words “once upon a time, I know the words “nothing is impossible”..
It was getting late, I got my eyes so exhausted, I closed the books, I couldn’t stop my mind from spinning and thinking for more higher dreams which dropped to the rear, fantasy about my own education, about the system of education in Indonesia. The Netherlands is a small country that is big on innovation, but my beautiful country Indonesia is a big archipelago with its natural capital, moreover it’s the fourth of the biggest country in the world. With this blessed, it should be one of the best capital asset to become more in its development, learning from the system of Dutch government hoping that our government much more paying attention in our bilateral relationship which could help Indonesia development.
So..it’s time for us to keep on moving, get the highest dream, get the highest education to the Netherlands, to get much more better Indonesia and proud to be Indonesian.
image courtesy : http://en.wikipedia.org , http://nl.wikipedia.org, http://www.karbonjournal.org, http://www.musicdirect.com, http://www.cribcandy.com, http://www.freshnessmag.com, http://www.popculturepost.com, http://www.abitare.it, http://www.avreview.co.uk, http://www.commonparadox.com, http://www.luxuo.com, http://nouveauholic.wordpress.com, http://www.senimaster.110mb.com, http://fotosa.ru, http://lettersfortomorrowtd1.wordpress.com, http://www.archdaily.com, http://portal.cbn.net.id
meaning I was soooo careless of ergonomic design for users…. huaaaaaaaaarrg! bad..bad designer! 
