Eeuwens, Adam

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Eeuwens, Adam

PERSONAL: Married Rebeca Méndez (a designer), 2000.

ADDRESSES: Home—Altadena, CA. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Phaidon Press, Three Center Plaza, Boston, MA 02108.

CAREER: Worked at magazines, including Electric Word, beginning 1989, and WAVE. Business partner, Rebeca Méndez Communication Design (design studio), and The Culture Industry (design strategy firm). Founder of magazine Flux.

WRITINGS:

(With Aaron Betsky) False Flat: Why Dutch Design Is So Good, Phaidon Press (Boston, MA), 2004.

SIDELIGHTS: A former computer magazine editor who now is a partner in a design firm, Adam Eeuwens is also the author of False Flat: Why Dutch Design Is So Good, which he wrote with Netherlands Architecture Institute director Aaron Betsky. The book explores contemporary Dutch design and how it has been influenced by the country's geography, culture, and history. The authors also discuss the work of Rem Koolhaas, Marcel Wanders, Petra Blaisse, and Jop van Bennekom.

Some critics of False Flat lauded the authors' ability to capture the excitement of Dutch design within the book itself. For instance, David R. Conn, writing in Library Journal, called the work "an evocative, witty product for contemporary European design collections." Other reviewers noted the vibrancy of the subject matter. False Flat "is dominated by outlandish ideas and witty creations; the really pleasing aspect being that most of these projects made it off the page and into the real world," observed Creative Review contributor Mark Sinclair.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Architecture, October, 2004, C. C. Sullivan, review of False Flat: Why Dutch Design Is So Good, p. 83.

Building Design, September 3, 2004, Christoph Grafe, "High Gloss on Holland: Aaron Betsky's Celebration of Dutch Design Is Lacking in Depth," p. 25.

Creative Review, September 2004, Mark Sinclair, review of False Flat, p. 72.

Library Journal, January 1, 2005, David R. Conn, review of False Flat, p. 105.

Step Inside Design, November-December, 2004, review of False Flat, p. 108.