Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop (1984) founded his studio straight after his graduation at the Design Academy Eindhoven, department 'Living'. Both his graduation projects were showcased at Spazio Rosanna Orlandi, Milan in 2008. Pepe's work deals mainly with handwriting and the handmade. He is discovers new low-tech techniques in his studio in Amsterdam. This is where the manufacturing of his unique pieces is realized.
In 2012, he set up his own workshop in a slum in Mumbai, India together with the Tiny Miracles Foundation. Here he teaches illiterate 18+ boys how to make designs he specifically created for this purpose. When not in India, he is in touch with them very regularly to ensure his handwriting is translated into the products. Next to teaching them a skill and providing them an income, part of the profits of these products is used for sending street children from the same community to school. It is here, at his workshop in Mumbai, where the larger (retail) productions take place.
Products made by Studio Pepe Heykoop are hardly perpendicular: growth is essential. He is interested in the link between design and art. This comes with his natural tendency to recycle objects. A good example is his latest project called Skin Collection: leftover leather scraps cover second-hand modified pieces.
Pepe participates in multiple designshows including: Salone del mobile Milan, TENT London, DMY Berlin, IMM Cologne (Restless Chairacter - winner d3 contest 2009 , Brickseries was awarded with a special mention in 2010).
His unique works are for sale at a.o. auction house Pierre Berge in Brussels. Production from his Indian workshop are for sale at upmarket stores globally.
