Maarten Kolk

He (1980) is currently working as an independent designer. He spent his youth in the countryside of the province of Overijssel. Considering the environment of his childhood years, it is not surprising that a subject like bolted vegetables intrigues him. 

With this work, he aims to show that flowers, plants, and nature manifest themselves in very different ways. Instead of using plants and flowers as decorations or illustrations, he incorporates nature and its organic properties into the design.

He took the initiative for this publication during the completion of his graduation project at Design Academy Eindhoven on 2008.

The concept for this publication arose from his fascination with vegetable gardens and the conviction that common everyday things are all too often taken for granted. People eat vegetables everyday, but many of them are ignorant of the origin and growth of vegetable plants. 

For this book, he simply let himself be guided by the daily goings-on in his vegetable garden. He observed what happened, and wrote down his findings, registering bolting vegetables with a designer's eye. Proceeding from this conceptual line of approach, he highlighted the unexpected hidden splendor of vegetables and the extraordinary colors and shapes of bolted vegetables. The result is an exceptional photo document containing intriguing images.

Here is another project of him and his partner Guus Kusters on 2009

‘Avifauna’ is about bringing two common worlds we love together, nature and textile. 

We've started to materialize the beauty, shape and language of form that we see in animals and what's better to start this search than to mold on the animal itself.

The 'Dutch' Grey Heron, Tawny owl and Blackbird were stuffed without their plumage and used as dummies to design on. Right now we're working on designing still animals out of paper. We're trying to find new shapes, techniques and textures from the motion of flying owls, fighting hares, walking storks and other animals. None of the animals were killed for this project.

Actually his work isn't that artistic of how you think

Those are the things we see we eat and we touch everyday

He just remind us the natural beauty that people always missing

Don't praise his work

Please blame yourself

Here is their website: www.mkgk.nl/

That is really interesting because you can't understand any words on their site and you still find they're great

I think that is the power of art