What sort of reactions did you get after the show was broadcast? ‘I got a nice message from Louise Fresco and hundreds of emails. But the nicest for me was what the rector at the Technical University of Delft said to the fi rst-years there. He encouraged them to look up that installment of Zomergasten because they would fi nd in it the warmest plea ever made for the work of engineers. And I know that because my daughter was in the room, blushing deeply.
Have you watched the programme yourself?
‘No, I don’t fret about it. It is quite painful watching yourself and it doesn’t strike me as interesting at all.’ Was it intimidating to be there? ‘It was an incredible honour. But I found it hard that I couldn’t talk for three hours about my work as a designer. An interviewer doesn’t have the background knowledge to go into it at such length or in depth. What is more, you are tied by the format with the short fi lms. So we decided to talk about my sources of inspiration, such as the Dutch landscape. And of course how, in the formation of that landscape, the engineer has been pushed into the background and replaced by managers and lawyers.’
Were you able to do justice to that story?
‘I am never satisfi ed and now, too, I think I could have done a better job. But going by the reactions it is crystal clear that people did get the message. There was a lot of response to the photos of Leiderdorp, an example of the unbelievable ugliness of the modern Dutch landscape. And to the poetry of Ter Balkt, too. ‘And of course, everyone had their own view on Monday morning by the coffee machine. The presenter didn’t understand anything, the guest was boring, they didn’t pursue the only interesting point… That is traditional with Zomergasten and it is part of what makes it so nice.’