Crafted 2024: the power of collaboration

TechniekHuys De Run: stunning craftsmanship 

At the TechniekHuys campus, students from Summa Wonen & Design and Summa Bouw showcase their skills. Every year, Crafted visitors are overwhelmed by the stunning quality of the furniture makers, and this year it's once again a feast for enthusiasts of high-quality craftsmanship. It's wonderful how proud the students are of their work—and rightly so. The interior design consultants also showcase their graduation projects and beautiful designs. It's a powerful experience to walk through someone's work. Many visitors go home with inspiration for their homes. Thanks to the excellent collaboration with a large number of companies, the corporate event (with speakers on Generation Z and new interior concepts) is also a resounding success. In Summa Bouw's Doe-hal, you can experience the craft hands-on. The students work tirelessly to show visitors the tricks of the trade.  

"Students make a valuable contribution to society with their talents," says project leader Nirene van Brussel. "We want to reinforce that feeling in our students during Crafted. With Crafted, Summa demonstrates its vibrant community, where we can achieve more through collaboration." 

Merlin stands proudly next to her green-lit bar. "I'm incredibly happy with the result," she says. "I also collaborated with other students on the design. These days, the Interior Design and Furniture Making programs are more intertwined. We learn from each other." Merlin isn't sure yet whether she wants to make furniture making her life's work. "I plan to make furniture for a few years first, but ultimately, I want to explore the profession further. I probably won't continue doing this until I'm 65."  

Alexander is a true craftsman. He certainly exudes it. Sitting at his homemade table with a hexagon motif and blue accents, he knows how to sell his work: "The table is made from the wood of my grandmother's old bed, supplemented with epoxy. The finishing was done with oil, not varnish, because oil is much better quality." 

Few students go as far as Jeffrey. He's created a piece of art out of wood. Wood? That's a bit of an oversimplification. "I combined different types of wood into a piece that symbolizes a sunrise. A monumental undertaking that took over 600 hours." Astonishing, an incredibly beautiful work. It's fantastic that he can show this at Crafted. 

Summa Plaza Sterrenlaan 10: indoor and outdoor festival 

Inside Summa Plaza, it's already pleasantly busy early on. The Crafted Foodcourt is all about sustainable farming, smart production, and delicious food. The sustainable burgers are selling like hotcakes. Students from Summa Bread & Pastry are presenting their showpieces, and the delicious aromas from the bakery extend into the outdoor festival. There, the tennis balls are flying all around you: first-year Engineering students have created several impressive catapults during a special project in collaboration with VDL.  

On the square, three enthusiastic DJs are spinning music from a caravan converted into a stage. One of them is Jason, a student event producer. "We had to organize everything ourselves, so you have to actually show up," he says. "What I love about Crafted is that we're given so much responsibility. If you don't organize anything, you don't have anything. What we have now is something we can be proud of." 

Tijn and his classmates from the All-Round Machining program built a compressed air motor. All the components were handcrafted with great precision. Regarding his participation in Crafted, he says: "It's great to be able to talk about my craft. I'm open to even more." 

Veerle Hurks, education/labor market policy advisor for the Municipality of Eindhoven and a jury member of the MBO Crafted Awards, is pleasantly surprised by Crafted. "I'm blown away by the level of quality. At Crafted, you see craftsmanship from different perspectives. A furniture maker and an engineer are both showcasing their own designed chairs, which look completely different thanks to their own vision and background." 

Beauty & Lifestyle is awash in pink in a beauty pavilion. The students are busy working on curls, among other things, and don't have time to chat. And they don't need to: with their striking presence, they're making everyone and everything more beautiful today. 

Bas (mechatronics) and his classmates created an LED wall with a complex backing. They had a limited budget, which forced them to make smart choices. "We gathered various materials at school for reuse. This allowed us to maximize our spending on the electronics." 

Outside in the square, a visitor is busily sketching and playing cards. They're playing the game Tijmen developed to promote his Industrial Product Design Technician program. "This game allows pre-vocational secondary education students to become familiar with the mindset of an industrial product designer: sketching, designing, presenting. That's how we do it during the program," says Tijmen. "I even designed the logo myself!"  

Angel and Esra are training to be security guards and are walking around Crafted to ensure safety. "It's great to see what other students are doing," says Angel. "As security guards, we have to be visible. That's why we walk around a lot and get to know other people's work while we're working. We haven't had to take any serious action yet. After a report of a disturbance on the second floor, we evicted several students from there, and we had to ask smokers to leave the premises. It's cozy, relaxed, and we really enjoy it here." 

Microcity: a dazzling show of fashion & music 

In the vibrant Microstad, we see Summa Fashion's new location in all its glory. Among other creative entrepreneurs and businesses located in the building, Summa Fashion's students truly shine. The MBO Crafted Awards ceremony, the shows by students of Metal Factory, Music Production Lab, and Rock City Institute, and of course, the stunning Fashion Shows featuring the hair and makeup of Beauty & Lifestyle students demonstrate the power of Crafted: together we can do more. 

Summa Fashion alumnus Isa, accompanied by her colleague Alex, returned to her old school to see the level of this new class of students. "A lot has changed since I graduated," says Isa. "A new school location, of course, but also in the students' work. I feel like the students have had more time to fully develop their ideas; the standard is high. There are truly complete and well-thought-out collections." 

Outside, at a rock 'n' roll table filled with (legal) stimulants (pizza and beer), sit Sam and Aroun, both Summa Artist students. Sam is performing later tonight with his band 'Lars en het Volume', and Aroun is along as support, roadie, photographer, and 'just for fun'. Sam: "We have a new band, so this is only our second set. Depending on the crowd, we might play a few more covers." They both think the venue is awesome. "Here in this courtyard with its high walls and double gates, it feels like a prison," says Aroun. "The industrial space inside is really cool." Finally, Sam wants to add that 'their singer suffers from a bit of overconfidence,' but judging by the show later that evening, that's exactly what you need as a frontman. 

22-year-old fashion design student Lee poses with a model wearing her work. She's ultimately very happy with the result, but the road to Crafted was a tough one. "I had three months to create my collection, and of course, there were exams in between," says Lee. "I'm a bit of a perfectionist, so I see things about my collection that could have been a little better, but I learned a lot from it. And only I see those little imperfections." 

Student Trijntje's father is incredibly proud of his daughter. Not that he's a fashion victim—Trijntje's mother is more than anything—but he certainly shines. Trijntje is graduating in fashion, but afterward, she'll continue her studies, including interior design at St. Lucas University.  

The Fashion Show will be opened by Mieke Geutjens, along with Microstad co-founder Luuk Visser and former student Marlou. It's fantastic to see all those unique creations displayed by the models on the catwalk. A clear case of "you had to be there." The video recording will be added to this article later. 

MBO Crafted Awards 

Alderman Rik Thijs of the municipality of Eindhoven presented the four MBO Crafted Awards on Thursday evening at Microstad. The awards are an incentive prize for vocational students who graduated this year and presented their final projects at the Crafted festival. The winner of the MBO Crafted Award for Social Impact is Fre van den Corput. The third-year Summa Fashion student has primarily been making sustainable clothing since the beginning of her career at Summa. Read the full press release here.