Top: Smog particles collected by Roosegaarde’s invention Bottom: Turning pollutants into jewellery ©SmogFree Project Roosegaard
“I was in Mumbai... Beijing we have a good connection with... the whole world wants one of these,” Roosegaarde continues. “You know invention is very ungrateful. In the beginning everyone says ‘Oh, it’s not possible, it’s not allowed’. Then they say ‘Why did you not do this before?’” Back inside the building, in what’s now being branded as Rotterdam’s ‘innovation district’- a once abandoned part of town increasingly favoured by tech and design startups- the scope of this mastermind’s imagination starts to become clear. Although sparsely furnished, everywhere ideas seem to be germinating. Unusual objects and prototypes are in abundance. A mezzanine-level office looks down on the shop floor, and appears as the HQ for any progressive firm should. This is the kind of space where extraordinary thoughts can easily find their feet, and concepts some might deem impossible to realise step closer to becoming realities. For those unfamiliar with Roosegarde’s portfolio, it’s both abstract and truly practical. He’s the guy who decided to take a 1KM stretch of the famed Van Gogh Cycle Route through the Dutch region of Noord Brabant, where the legendary artist was born and raised, and make it glow-in-the-dark by coating the surface with a version of The Starry Night. Powered by a nearby solar panel, the idea was to illuminate the peddle-powered thoroughfare in a manner more sympathetic to the nature that surrounds it, creating a functional public ‘connection with cultural history’. More recently, his Smart Highway project, which began in Oss, has seen multicoloured lines light up at night to mark out the road’s edges in the hope of making it safer for cars, whilst also more energy efficient and cost effective. Over three days in May 2015, a temporary installation in Amsterdam aimed to show people just how vulnerable the Dutch capital is to rising sea levels by ‘flooding’ Museumplein with blue LED projections. Meanwhile, experiments with bio-luminescent bacteria found in jellyfish and mushrooms might just break new ground with the development of ‘luminous trees’, which could potentially replace street lights and require no electricity whatsoever. “A lot of the stuff I do I do it because I want to. It’s a personal obsession,” explains Roosegaarde when we ask if he still considers non-solution-focussed design relevant. “But then I love to see the world around me as a canvas, to relate to and engage with. There’s never a 100% pragmatic agenda, there’s also a poetic agenda. It’s an interesting mix. Consider the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo. On the one hand that project was commissioned by the happy rich people of the time, but it’s now considered an autonomous artwork.” The conversation moves on to what we’re really here to discuss- the need for us, as a species, to collaborate in order to solve many problems the world must overcome to ensure survival beyond the next century. Or two, if we’re lucky. Unsurprisingly, he agrees with our thoughts on sharing knowledge and resources if there’s any chance of escaping a fate that already feels worryingly sealed.
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