Umbra

About Dirk Wynants

Born in Belgium in 1964 as the son of a cabinet maker, Dirk Wynants studied Interior Architecture and Furniture Design at the Sint-Lucas Faculty of Architecture in Ghent.

Based between the hop fields in Flanders, Belgium, his design studio Dirk Wynants Design Works, or DWDW, proved itself in many different branches in product design, but is mostly known for its outdoor furniture designs.

“Designers should have the ambition to change the world for the better”, is a believe that is put in daily practice. Therefore every of his designs has to earn its reason of existence by offering important added value. Changes in society are the inspiration, a focus on sustainability is always there.

His design methodology resulted in countless design awards, coming from a focus on starting with a strong “why”, multidisciplinary thinking and just looking at things from a very different, even opposite angle. The belief that everything has the potential to be improved is combined with a super wide curiosity, while keeping the ability to free yourself from the knowledge of what already exists.

This is an attitude he tries to grow inside the minds of his students at the Shanghai Institute of Visual Arts, where he is responsible for industrial design education. Designing good products contributes to everyone’s quality of life. Teaching about how to do it is the multiplicator.