The Social Design Talent Award is a council award presented every year during Dutch Design Week by the municipality of Eindhoven. The award rewards a graduating student in Eindhoven who works on a project with social relevance, contributing to the city and its inhabitants. The award was created to stimulate creativity, innovation and social commitment. And to promote cooperation between social design talent and the business community in Eindhoven.
Social initiative
Sophie Smits, student of SintLucas, Bachelor 3D design was nominated with her project ‘A new perspective’. This initiative focuses on supporting people who have ended up in economic homelessness due to drastic life events. This is an often overlooked group that experiences hidden homelessness due to, for example, divorce, job loss, lack of a support network, family problems or financial difficulties, with no underlying mental health issues. Sophie devised a travelling counter, where the neighbourhood can be invited to join the conversation and where the target group can ask for help in an approachable way.
Sophie says: “The reason for my graduation project was the increasing visibility of homelessness around Eindhoven Central Station. At the time, I didn’t realise that homelessness has different forms and layers. This confrontation touched me deeply and motivated me to thoroughly investigate and better understand this topic.”
Breaking stigmas
“During conversations with architects and my visit to the homeless shelter on Fuutlaan, I discovered that the environment often has a stereotypical and negative image of homelessness, which leads to resistance. Divorce, job loss, financial problems and family conflicts can affect anyone, making this form of homelessness closer than people often think. This led to the concept with the keywords: connect, experience and guide, in which the travelling counter acts as a symbolic bridge to break the stigma surrounding homelessness and help vulnerable people reintegrate into society faster.”
Lowering threshold “I hope this project creates awareness and lowers the threshold for the target group, so that they do not have to experience shame and dare to seek help, as it can happen to anyone. The travelling counter is designed to show the environment that homelessness goes beyond the stereotypical image.”
“The ultimate dream for the future is that this project becomes a reality and travels throughout the Netherlands, creating awareness among the population and offering municipalities valuable insight into the size of the target group. Everyone deserves a chance to return to society with dignity, because I consider a roof over your head a human right.”
Watch the video in which Sophie explains her ideas. Do you also grant Sophie the audience award? Vote for her here until 2 October!
