New York & Eindhoven—This winter the Dutch collective Droog will open its first U.S. shop, in New York’s SoHo. In Holland Droog (pronounced “drogh,” meaning “dry” in Dutch) has led the way in scoping young talents fresh from the Eindhoven Design Academy and almost single-handedly built the bridge between irony and conceptual work that has come to signify contemporary Dutch design. A-list designers like Marcel Wanders, Hella Jongerius, Tejo Remy, and Jurgen Bey made their names with Droog collaborations, yet the collective resists taking credit for any stars it has intentionally or inadvertently created. “There are no ‘big Droog designers,’” says Remy Ramakers, who founded Droog with her ex-partner Gijs Bakker in 1993. “We don’t promote one over the other. That’s why I say Droog designers don’t exist. There are over 100 designers who collaborate with us, but there are no contracts, no commitments. We sell their products but at same time they are free to work with others.” Much like the four-year-old shop in Amsterdam, which is housed in a 17th- century building, Droog’s New York outpost will be housed in a former factory with exposed brick walls, cast-iron columns, and skylights. A shop and gallery space will be upstairs; exhibitions will be held downstairs. Other than that, Dutch conceptual master Jurgen Bey, who is designing the shop’s interior, hasn’t yet determined what he’s doing. He doesn’t work with architectural plans. “We’ll let the objects speak for themselves,” he says. For a preview of the next generation of not-Droog designers, fall’s essential excursion is to Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven. Keep an eye out for Ramakers, and those she doesn’t sign up. They’ll be the ones to watch.

Droog: 76 Greene St., NYC. Dutch Design Week: October 18–26; dutchdesignweek.nl. "Oh, Those Dutch" originally appeared in the Fall 2008 issue of Culture+Travel. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Culture+Travel's Fall 2008 Table of Contents.