Tjeerd Veenhoven creates boundary objects as conversation starters.
Nomen est omen. Tjeerd Veenhoven, born in the Frisian Veenweidegebied, has been working on sustainable material innovations and design interventions in this wetland peat meadow region since 2016. First as a part of the Better Wetter (better water) climate adaptation program, and since 2022 as a resident of the Veenweide Atelier. “This area is my home turf,” he says, making good use of the peat vocabulary.
If your artistic product is inventing a new idea, it often doesn’t have a name yet. Finding a shared vocabulary with local stakeholders is an important theme in Tjeerd’s work. ‘Boundary objects’, is what Tjeerd calls the works he creates. He shows one: a square block the size of his head, in a white-grey colour, lightly stitched together. It looks a bit like Styrofoam, but is made of the fibres of broadleaf cattails, bonded together with mushroom spores. This week, he took it to a local farmer, whom he worked with in the Veenweide Atelier. He put the block on the table, as a conversation starter.
“Boundary objects are elements that can connect different parties,” Tjeerd explains. “If I do it properly, people will recognize aspects in such an object that they can relate to, based on their experiences and background.” For example, the farmer sees which machines from his own farm he could use to make such an object. An architect would see possible uses for it in a building project. From there, we gradually work on identifying what the object could be, and what role it could play for the Veenweidegebied and its transition challenges.
The Veenweidegebied as a catalyst for a greater transition
Although Tjeerd himself considers the process more important than the actual application of his designs, he believes it is important that each of his designs eventually has a practical application. “All over the Netherlands, peatland areas have been turned into grassland, which has greatly benefited our agricultural production in the past,” he says. “However, we are now reaching the limits of this way of working. We are faced with major challenges and it is also unavoidable that we have to start building and renovating in a new way. That is why I ultimately want to contribute to concrete solutions, and not just make speculations.”
The Frisian Veenweidegebied is one of the last remaining peatland areas in the Netherlands and, according to Tjeerd, is a unique, vulnerable ecological system, where things can change very quickly if something goes wrong. “However,” he emphasizes, “that also means that if we can restore the ecological balance here, we should also be able to succeed elsewhere.” If we manage to restore the Veenweidegebied, this could offer huge benefits: biodiversity will increase, nature will become less vulnerable and the region will remain liveable for our own children.
“Mould deserve a better image”
According to Tjeerd, something that stands in the way of this recovery is the image that has been created around natural building materials. Our synthetic solutions have become so effective that we find it difficult to deviate from that course; even though these synthetic materials often stand in the way of a healthy living environment.
He explains: “Concrete floors, for example, are very popular. The idea is that you can also solve moisture problems, because you cover up the soil. However, for a healthy living environment, it is much more important that the moisture from your home can escape. Your house must be able to breathe, and the moisture must be able to evaporate from the inside to the outside.”
Natural building materials may not last as long, but according to Tjeerd they are much more suitable for facilitating such a healthy living environment. “Sustainable materials are not defined by their durability, but rather by their circularity.”
Nowadays, though, everything that has to do with nature is often seen as inferior, or even as dirty. Mould, for example, has the image of being dirty and undesirable, especially if it is associated with our living environment. Be honest: who wants mould in their house? Yet, according to Tjeerd, this is unfair. Moulds are indispensable in the sustainable transition, which we must all undertake together. “By nature, moulds carry out many processes that we need for sustainable construction. Fermentation, for example: this is a useful process because it allows you to glue elements together.”
Embracing alternatives
According to Tjeerd, the willingness to think in terms of alternatives has increased in recent years: “Of course, this is also caused by the pressure exerted by the government on farmers to change the way they work.” But, in general, the farmers he talks to are personally very open to his ideas. As long as there is something in it for them. Tjeerd: “And who can blame them.”
With this project, Fiber Farmers, which he is developing as part of the Veenweide Atelier, he wants to show that you can continue farming in this area. By growing fiber crops that thrive in wet soil, such as cattails. Or by using your machinery to process residual flows from the current agricultural system, such as mushroom spores.
He hopes that the prototypes developed by Fiber Farmers will appeal to exactly those farmers we now still designate as ‘conventional’. “That is where we can make the biggest gains.”