After graduating from Design Academy Eindhoven, Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek (born 1967) took an iconoclastic path in both his work and his production. Influenced by Dutch designers J. J. Pieter Oud and Gerrit Rietveld, Frenchman Jean Prouvé, and American artist Donald Judd, Hein Eek’s early Scrapwood cupboards—made from paint-encrusted boards culled from torn-down buildings—set the tenor for an impressive body of work that includes just about everything, from ceramics to miniature houses, all of which exude a vibe of craft and purpose, not fashion or industry.

Dutch designer Marcel Wanders is a master of all mediums. Born in July 2, 1963, he studied at the Design Academy Eindhoven—which has also produced designers like Dror Behshetrit, Tord Boontje, Bertjan Pot, and Piet Hein Eek—and came onto the design scene in 1996 with his Knotted chair for Droog. Since then, he has plates and pillows for B&B Italia, tubs and sinks for Boffi, lamps for Flos, and stools and chairs for Magis. Today, he is the art director and co-owner of Moooi, founded in 2000, and has broadened his reach into interior and architectural design for stores and hotels around the world as well as private residents in Jakarta and Amsterdam, among others.

Born in Nieuwleusen, the Netherlands, in 1975, Dutch designer Bertjan Pot uses his infatuation with textures and skins to create furniture and lighting for famed manufacturers like Montis and Moooi. After learning to weave and knit while studying at the Design Academy Eindhoven—which has also produced designers like Dror Behshetrit, Tord Boontje, Marcel Wanders, and Piet Hein Eek—Pot transformed his interests into now-iconic fixtures like the Random Light, Random Chair, Carbon Chair with Marcel Wanders, Non-Random Chair, and Lazy Bastard Chair. He continues to live and work in the Netherlands.