Catalogue On the Edge

Jasper Nijs, industrial designer, has a jocular way of playing with the notion of functionality. Nijs believes that the relationship between exterior design and practical usefulness is sometimes out of balance. He disrupts this imbalance by magnifying it. His household products are directly related to daily life, but also embody an obsessive, almost ritual, twist.

Utensils are magnified to absurd dimensions. Their functionality is exaggerated, so that attention focuses increasingly on the experience. They become subjects for discussion instead of items that are almost invisible and whose function is self-evident. Nijs aims to magnify the concept of design as human endeavour, which results in objects that are almost surreal.

Jasper Nijs (l) at the opening of On the Edge