Christien Meindertsma at My Way talks

**Christine Mandar: A Graduate's Journey from Sweaters to Systems of Meaning**

In the following article, we delve into the fascinating work and thought process of Christine Mandar, a recent graduate from Eindhoven who has achieved remarkable success in a short period. Her innovative approach to design challenges conventional methods by focusing on storytelling through products, exploring their origins, and connecting consumers with the sources of materials.

### Introduction: Christine Mandar's Graduation Work

Christine Mandar’s graduation project in 2003 was a collection of sweaters made from the fleece of a single sheep. The inspiration behind this project was to create a product that tells a story about its origin—a concept she deemed crucial at a time when there is an increased awareness of the need to care for the environment and understand where our products come from.

Christine questioned whether consumers could truly take better care of the world if they remained unaware of the journey their products undertook. She pondered: *If we don’t know where something comes from or who made it, how can we effectively care for it?* This led her to explore a unique approach: starting not with the product itself but with the source material.

### A Journey Through Materials and Systems

Driven by curiosity, Christine embarked on a three-year journey to trace the life of a single item—specifically, a sweater made from one sheep. Her exploration took her through various stages, uncovering the intricate connections between materials and their end products. She discovered that farmers often have no idea where their produce ends up, while consumers remain oblivious to the origins of ingredients in everyday items.

One such revelation was the presence of pig derivatives in shampoo. Farmers were unaware of how their pigs contributed to cosmetic products, while consumers had no inkling that their haircare routine involved such a connection. This discovery struck Christine as both surprising and compelling—she felt it was her mission to bridge this gap of knowledge.

### The Role of the Designer: Translator or Editor

Christine’s work resonated deeply with jurors of the Dutch Design Awards, earning her three awards. Her project exemplified the role of a designer as a translator or editor—one who navigates vast amounts of information and selects key elements to present a coherent narrative. This approach not only highlights the importance of storytelling in design but also underscores the need for designers to serve as intermediaries between complex systems and their audience.

### Choosing the Pig: A Journey of Discovery

When asked about her conscious decision to focus on pigs, Christine explained that her initial idea was to follow a cow’s journey. However, she quickly realized that pigs presented an even more intriguing subject. Despite their abundance in the Netherlands (with 12 million pigs living among 16 million people), they remain largely invisible to the public eye. This abstraction of such a significant part of the ecosystem made for a fascinating exploration.

Her decision to document this journey in a book was not arbitrary. Christine believed that the medium allowed her to capture the essence of her findings effectively, even though she considered alternatives like a website or a film. The process involved purchasing 3264 items through auctions and enlisting the help of 14 friends to sort them, which revealed an astonishing array of objects.

### Reflections on Design Education and Process

Looking back at her time in design school, Christine acknowledges that expectations were set for her to produce tangible products. However, her inclination towards storytelling through a book format was not universally well-received. Despite this, she remained committed to her vision, believing it was the most effective way to convey her message.

Christine’s approach to design education and practice is one of liberation—she sees no constraints in exploring any starting point for her projects. Her work challenges conventional notions of design by emphasizing exploration, documentation, and storytelling over traditional product creation.

### Conclusion: Bridging Gaps Through Design

In conclusion, Christine Mandar’s work exemplifies the transformative power of design to bridge gaps between systems and individuals. By tracing the journey of materials and documenting their connections, she not only illuminates the often-overlooked origins of everyday products but also encourages a deeper appreciation for the environment and the people involved in production.

Her story is one of curiosity, determination, and the belief that design can serve as a tool for education and connection—a testament to the evolving role of designers in society.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enso I'm going to hand straight over now to Christine mandar who's a very recent graduate from einthoven and has been very very successful in a very short space of time with her work that she did there um yeah so I thought to give a small introduction the best thing would be to start with my graduation work from 2003 uh it was a collection of sweaters made from one sheep and the idea that I had with it is to tell something to make a product that would tell something about where it came from and um I thought that was important because most products around us don't tell anything about where they came from and we're all very much into taking better care of the world and you know but if you don't know anything about something it's very hard to um yeah to take better care of what lies behind it who made it where it came from and all that so um but then um I thought well you can design a product and then start telling how it was made but I thought what if you start uh with the animal and then look where it goes which was a for me an exciting question because it I didn't know where it would take me and uh well I it took me on a sort of the three-year Journey uh finding where this big width number 0 five 049 ended up in and this picture uh I like because um actually I found 183 products but what was really strange at a certain moment I felt like I was the connection between um the farmer and um well here you can see like the pig and all the the lines connecting to the end products and what is strange is that farmers have no idea what happens to their Pig but the consumers on the other hand have no idea that they're actually I mean they're washing their hair and that there's pig in the shampoo so um yeah then then that felt like um yeah like like a really fun thing to do to find all these connections between the product and uh where it came from so um yeah so I thought that was a enough introduction thanks Christine and this this book won kind of every priz going and I think I was on the jury of the Dutch Design Awards that year and we gave you three prizes didn't you I think because everyone this is on to the idea of the designer as a translator or I would say maybe the editor the person who looks at a mountain of information and says no I'm going to choose this this this and this so Christine what what did you did you do you make a conscious decision to look at what a pig gave us and to put that into a book or did it sort of emerge through a journey of Discovery Well the the uh say were you an editor or were you an Explorer uh both I think but it's really um it it makes the exploring nicer and you can be more thorough if you have like a good sort of frame around what you're going to explore because then you can really explore Each corner of that frame that you chose so but actually the first idea was to follow one cow but then yeah along the way I found out that the pig would be more interesting because in the Dutch Countryside if you are driving or you're in a train you always see cows um but you never see a pig which is really weird because there's about 12 million of them in the Netherlands on like 16 million people so that's really a lot so it's like this really abstract large figure of animals that you never see which produce so much uh product and Christine when you were the designer Academy you and and your fellow students did you did you feel like completely liberated you didn't feel any obligation to to to make products you felt that you could take any starting point and go anywhere with it and there was the freedom to do that and you didn't need to follow the job description um uh no well I I when I graduated I I think I was very much expected to design products and I also got some uh yeah and not everybody was as happy with a book uh because it it was at the time because I made a book about all the objects taken from people in SC Alber in one week so everybody that took scissors or whatever and uh yeah I made a book about it because I thought the book would show the idea best but I can remember that the idea in school was that I should have designed a product or an object so yeah no it wasn't uh laid out like that but why did you choose a book cuz I'm in the end yeah could have made a a movie or a website well it could have been a website I think it was more the photog well actually I didn't think this was not a plant uh I just I I was just really I found out that you could actually find these objects or buy them in an auction and then I bought it and I thought it was the most stupid thing I've ever done and then along the way I had like a 14 friends helping to sort out these 3264 items and by sorting them out we just found like this amazing area of different things and then I thought it should be a book because it was it wasn't really planned ahead but it could have been a website or any any visual like photo photographic way of showing thatso I'm going to hand straight over now to Christine mandar who's a very recent graduate from einthoven and has been very very successful in a very short space of time with her work that she did there um yeah so I thought to give a small introduction the best thing would be to start with my graduation work from 2003 uh it was a collection of sweaters made from one sheep and the idea that I had with it is to tell something to make a product that would tell something about where it came from and um I thought that was important because most products around us don't tell anything about where they came from and we're all very much into taking better care of the world and you know but if you don't know anything about something it's very hard to um yeah to take better care of what lies behind it who made it where it came from and all that so um but then um I thought well you can design a product and then start telling how it was made but I thought what if you start uh with the animal and then look where it goes which was a for me an exciting question because it I didn't know where it would take me and uh well I it took me on a sort of the three-year Journey uh finding where this big width number 0 five 049 ended up in and this picture uh I like because um actually I found 183 products but what was really strange at a certain moment I felt like I was the connection between um the farmer and um well here you can see like the pig and all the the lines connecting to the end products and what is strange is that farmers have no idea what happens to their Pig but the consumers on the other hand have no idea that they're actually I mean they're washing their hair and that there's pig in the shampoo so um yeah then then that felt like um yeah like like a really fun thing to do to find all these connections between the product and uh where it came from so um yeah so I thought that was a enough introduction thanks Christine and this this book won kind of every priz going and I think I was on the jury of the Dutch Design Awards that year and we gave you three prizes didn't you I think because everyone this is on to the idea of the designer as a translator or I would say maybe the editor the person who looks at a mountain of information and says no I'm going to choose this this this and this so Christine what what did you did you do you make a conscious decision to look at what a pig gave us and to put that into a book or did it sort of emerge through a journey of Discovery Well the the uh say were you an editor or were you an Explorer uh both I think but it's really um it it makes the exploring nicer and you can be more thorough if you have like a good sort of frame around what you're going to explore because then you can really explore Each corner of that frame that you chose so but actually the first idea was to follow one cow but then yeah along the way I found out that the pig would be more interesting because in the Dutch Countryside if you are driving or you're in a train you always see cows um but you never see a pig which is really weird because there's about 12 million of them in the Netherlands on like 16 million people so that's really a lot so it's like this really abstract large figure of animals that you never see which produce so much uh product and Christine when you were the designer Academy you and and your fellow students did you did you feel like completely liberated you didn't feel any obligation to to to make products you felt that you could take any starting point and go anywhere with it and there was the freedom to do that and you didn't need to follow the job description um uh no well I I when I graduated I I think I was very much expected to design products and I also got some uh yeah and not everybody was as happy with a book uh because it it was at the time because I made a book about all the objects taken from people in SC Alber in one week so everybody that took scissors or whatever and uh yeah I made a book about it because I thought the book would show the idea best but I can remember that the idea in school was that I should have designed a product or an object so yeah no it wasn't uh laid out like that but why did you choose a book cuz I'm in the end yeah could have made a a movie or a website well it could have been a website I think it was more the photog well actually I didn't think this was not a plant uh I just I I was just really I found out that you could actually find these objects or buy them in an auction and then I bought it and I thought it was the most stupid thing I've ever done and then along the way I had like a 14 friends helping to sort out these 3264 items and by sorting them out we just found like this amazing area of different things and then I thought it should be a book because it was it wasn't really planned ahead but it could have been a website or any any visual like photo photographic way of showing that\n"