During the Dutch royal inauguration of King Willem-Alexander, Queen Máxima of the Netherlands wore a custom-made royal-blue gown by Dutch designer Jan Taminiau . During the past years, he has designed several dresses for her already.

Jan Taminiau launched his own label 10 years ago. In July 2005 he held another show during the Paris Fashion Week, after which the “Empire Collection” was presented at the Fondation Cartier. After such a successful start in Paris, Jan left for New York where his Mailbag collection was presented at the Fashion Institute of Technology. From 2007 onwards he has showed his collections twice a year in Paris during Couture fashion week. International artists like Lady Gaga and Beyonce wear his creations. In 2009 Queen Máxima has worn a look of Jan’s Mailbag collection at the Opening of Arnhem Fashion Biennale. In 2012 he participated in the Galleries Lafayette Dutch artists exhibition ‘Dutch Paradox’ curated by Luca Marchetti. End of 2012 till the beginning of 2013 the Dutch Textiel Museum Tilburg dedicated an exhibition to the his work.

Jan Taminiau announced that he felt very humble and proud to contribute to the inauguration of Willem-Alexander and Máxima.

On Thursday, the 18th of April, the European Centre for Creative Economy (ECCE, Dortmund), the Dutch Design Desk Europe (DDDE, Maastricht) and the province of Limburg signed a cooperation agreement at the Jan van Eyck Academy in Maastricht. The agreement will join the three organizations together in an attempt to durably strengthen the international position of the German-Dutch ‘creative industry’.

After going back and forth between Maastricht and Dortmund round the end of 2012, beginning 2013, ECCE, DDDE and the province of Limburg found in each other a willingness to cooperate. The three organizations underwrite the importance of a joint effort within the cultural and economic sectors, with the aim to create new networks, innovations, urban developments and new enterprises within the creative sector. Geographically speaking, the organizations are neighbours of each other and a cooperation between them is therefore obvious.

The three organizations want to intensify the cooperation between their regions, on a culturally-economic level. With this, they aim to increase the transparency and engage in dialogs between the various groups. The vision is that of the interregional and international strengthening of relations as being the driving force behind a better cooperation.

ECCE has as a main goal to maintain and further expand the developments that had been achieved during the’ Europa Ruhr2010’ project. Maastricht and the Euregio Meuse-Rhine now have the ambition to become the new cultural capital as of 2018. Both regions have much to offer to each other in terms of exchanging knowledge and the establishment of cross-over’s in the area of their creative industries.

In the agreement, the three parties have promised each other work together on a durable and lasting basis in the area of culture and economics. They specifically aim for;

> Cooperation between the creative industries within the different region’s;
> The creation of relevant interregional and international networks;
> The realization of interregional projects;
> Making use of relevant financing possibilities coming from the EU, meant to support the creative industry
> An effective organizational cooperation between regions;
> An effective organizational cooperation between regions;

The one-off, four-year DutchDFA programme has come to an end. To find out how the programme performed, read the final DutchDFA Year Report 4/4.

However, several successful tools developed in the context of the programme will be maintained: Dutch Design Workspace Shanghai and Dutch Design Desk Europe will continue to provide local support for Dutch design companies aiming to do business in China and the Euregio/Germany in 2013. Dutch Profiles will stay available online worldwide.

Download the final DutchDFA year programme.

Next to being partner in the Dutch Design Worldwide Network, DDDE is also member of the European Creative Business Network (ECBN).

ECBN contributes to establishing the EU as an accessible, effective and rewarding single market for creative and cultural entrepreneurs. The creative industry companies are mostly small and undercapitalized, but play a major role in innovation and value added to other sectors. Also known as CCIs, the cultural and creative industries are an important driver for European growth.

From January 15th to 17th, 2013, DDDE will present leather bags and accessoires designer Ellen Truijen at Premium Berlin.

Ellen Truijen makes leather bags and accessoires that stand out because of their simplicity and thought through detailing where the emphasis is on the different leather qualities used. Before venturing into bag design, Truijen worked, among others, as a professional dancer and prop designer in the fashion industry. She started developing her ideas for bags in the year 2000 and soon found friends and aquaintances eager to get their hands on one of her designs. This prompted her to start thinking about a collection and she founded her own label, Ellen Truijen in 2002.