Iris van Herpen’s designs have come home. This is what it says during the press preview of the exhibition “Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses” at the Kunsthalle Rotterdam. The Dutch designer is internationally recognized as a pioneer for her work that combines fashion, technology, art and science. However, there has not yet been a retrospective of her work in the Netherlands. Until now.
Fashion and art lovers have undoubtedly seen images of Van Herpen’s work. Still, it’s difficult to do justice to the designs with still images. The exhibition allows visitors to look at the works up close and explore their sources of inspiration. Some samples can even be touched. It feels like an intimate look into the mind of one of today’s most avant-garde fashion designers. And that is touching.
An exhibition based on themes
Anyone expecting a chronological retrospective must adjust their expectations. The exhibition is not structured by year or collection, but by theme. In addition, a “cabinet of curiosities” was set up, one of the designer’s great sources of inspiration; her studio was also recreated.
Every Van Herpen design is unique. The pieces selected for the exhibition each represent a refinement or change in the way she works, as the designer explains when asked. Although “Sculpting the Senses” debuted two years ago at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, many new designs have been added to the exhibition. In total, dozens of creations can be seen.
By placing new designs alongside creations from early collections, Van Herpen’s development as a designer becomes clearly visible. She made her first 3D printed design in 2009 and presented it at Amsterdam Fashion Week in 2010. She developed it together with the architect Daniel Widrig. At that time, 3D printing was still uncommon in fashion, which is why she turned to another art discipline that already had experience with it, she explains during the tour.
In the early days of 3D printing, the choice of materials was limited and the results were often hard and cocoon-like. Over the years, technology has evolved to make softer shapes possible. She also explains that in her early years there was a clear difference between technologically manufactured and handcrafted designs. Today the two mediums are mixed and often flow together in a single design.
Latest triumph: “Living Look”
Van Herpen is known not only for her nature references, but also for her collaboration with nature and science. One of the absolute highlights of the exhibition is the seaweed dress that was shown in Van Herpen’s most recent couture show. The “Living Look” consists of 125 million glowing algae.
The design consists of custom-made molds and a specially developed nutrient gel. This means the algae remain a living ecosystem and can even multiply. “Theoretically, this dress can be older than me,” says Van Herpen.
The look is stored safely in a locked glass case. The necessary biosystem is simulated with the correct humidity, temperature and a suitable day-night rhythm. “You need about eight hours of sleep, just like a human,” says the designer, almost tenderly. The special type of algae that occurs naturally in the sea produces light when it is “attacked”. In practical terms, this means that light is released when the algae is touched. During Van Herpen’s couture show, this was illustrated through the wearer’s body heat and movement.
The favorites: Cabinet of Curiosities and Studio
Although the algae dress is a highlight of the exhibition, Van Herpen’s personal favorite is the cabinet of curiosities. She has a fondness for these cabinets, which were particularly popular from the 16th to the 18th century and showed special objects and works of art. The Cabinet of Curiosities in the exhibition is a collection of books, accessories, miniature design studies and videos of collection presentations. “I can relax here.”
Visitors are not only treated to Van Herpen’s most groundbreaking designs, they also enter her studio. In a rectangular room, numerous fabric samples are displayed on the two longest walls. “For each collection I have a box of experiments that I have looked through for the exhibition. It’s great fun and sometimes when I looked at old samples I thought that I now knew how they would work,” she says enthusiastically.
There are a few samples on the table in the middle that visitors can touch. While most exhibitions have a strict “do not touch” rule, here space is given to the particularly curious. A little further away there are microscopes with which you can literally zoom in on Van Herpen’s sources of inspiration.
A sensory experience
To complete the immersion into the designer’s world, individual soundscapes were created for each room. These are by the artist Salvador Breed, who is also Van Herpen’s partner. “When I listen to music, I see patterns,” she explains. The designer experiences synesthesia, a neurological phenomenon in which the perception of one sense involuntarily triggers another sensory experience. This is one of the many elements that visitors discover and that make Van Herpen the designer she is today.
In the Kunsthalle it becomes clear that Van Herpen did not create a static body of work. Instead, she is on a continuous search for new forms and techniques. The exhibition therefore feels not only like a homecoming, but also like a starting point for a future in which fashion, art, science and nature are increasingly intertwined.
“Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses” can be seen at the Kunsthalle Rotterdam until March 1, 2026.
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