Diederik Schneemann, Tompouce from the Rubdish collection (2025)
Diederik Schneemann, Lucky dice ming vase from the Lucky dice collection (2024)
Diederik Schneemann, Hot Air (2025)
Diederik Schneemann – 1 + 1 = 3
Starting this spring, the first solo museum exhibition of designer Diederik Schneemann (Hasselt, Belgium, 1979) will be on display at Museum JAN in Amstelveen, featuring some of his existing work and a number of intriguing new objects. In his art, Schneemann plays with the concept of value, using existing objects or waste. He for instance transformed thousands of dice, washed-up flip-flops, perfume bottles and matchboxes into furniture, sculptures and installations. Schneemann changes existing items, altering their appearance or use, thereby giving them an extra dimension. 1 + 1 = 3.
A Flip Flop Story
During a holiday in Kenya, Schneemann was amazed by the 45,000 kilos of flip-flops that wash up on the beach in Mombasa every year. Inspired by a marine biologist who makes doorstops out of these flip-flops, among other things, Schneemann produced a series of objects under the name A Flip Flop Story: a vase with a drawer, lampshades, stools – and caused a sensation in 2011 at the prestigious design fair in Milan, where he displayed his Flip-Flop works among all the slick designs, surrounded by a pile of fresh smelly flip-flops. Since then, his work has been exhibited at various design fairs and galleries at home and abroad.
Series
Schneemann operates at the intersection of furniture design, product design and art. His fascination with old, discarded and unique collections that people have cherished for decades resulted in the Cherished series: cabinets and clocks made from matchboxes, imposing chandeliers made from hundreds of perfume bottles, a desk covered with cigar bands. As well as the Smurf Dynasty Ming Vases: large vases – the size of Chinese Ming vases – made from Smurfs. Schneemann: ‘Those old Smurf dolls were hand-painted in China. My association was very logical: blue and white and hand-painted in China? That has to be a Ming vase.
Diederik Schneemann, Lucky dice dresser from the Lucky dice collection (2025)
Diederik Schneemann, Flip Flop mirror (2019)
Diederik Schneemann, Cigar desk from the Cherished collection (2021)
Diederik Schneemann, Matchbox king clock from the Cherished collection (2020)
Sense of humour
Museum JAN displays pieces from various collections that Schneemann has created over the past 10 years, including the Lucky Dice series, for which he first attempts to roll a six. Only when they land on six are the (tens of thousands!) of dice incorporated into the furniture pieces. This is to capture luck, to create a lucky charm. In MashUp – a series of 3D-printed furniture – Schneemann combines parts of world-famous designs. Are you looking at a Rietveld or an Eames, or has it now become a Schneemann? He plays with and explores the boundaries of originality. Recognition and alienation intertwine. His recent work is more conceptual, such as the Permanent Collection series, an abstract ‘tableau’ made from Carmen curler sets, which museums without their own collection can borrow from him. His designs often make visitors smile, which is exactly Schneemann's intention.
Value
The use of existing objects is a recurring theme in Schneemann's oeuvre. 'My mother always said: ‘The art is in making something out of nothing.’ By utilising collections, waste or everyday objects, he adds a conceptual layer that transcends the sum of its parts. What is worthless to one person may unexpectedly become valuable to another. 'By letting people look at the used objects through different eyes, they discover new beauty or meaning. My objects tell a new story,' says the artist. In doing so, he questions the commercial side of the art world, which he believes often attaches excessive value to art and design. At PAN Amsterdam, Schneemann literally served a pan of fried air.
Schneemann grew up in Maastricht and studied at the AKI ArtEZ Academy of Art and Design in Enschede. In 2011, he made his debut with his first solo exhibition, A Flip Flop Story, during Milan Design Week. In 2013, he presented his 3D Mash Up collection there, followed by the Rubdish photo series in 2018 and his Cherished collections since 2019. His work has been exhibited at Galerie Rossana Orlandi Milan (since 2011), MPV Gallery (Netherlands), Axel Pairon Gallery (Belgium), Mint Gallery London and Rademakers Gallery Amsterdam, MOYA (Netherlands), PAN Amsterdam, PAD Paris, Nomad St. Moritz, Collectible Brussels, Salone del Mobile Milan, Enter Art Fair Copenhagen, and during Design Weeks in Milan, London and Eindhoven.
The exhibition ‘Diederik Schneemann – 1 + 1 = 3’ will be on view from May 8 to November 1, 2026, at Museum JAN, Dorpsstraat 50, Amstelveen (Tue-Sun 11 a.m.-5 p.m.).
Photos by Aldwin van Krimpen