Don Yaw Kwaning

How do you think natural aesthetics contribute to our health?  

“We are nature. This means that in a society in which we feel less and less connection with nature, we also lose connection with ourselves and with each other. When nature is out of balance, we ourselves go out of balance, and when we deplete nature, we ourselves burn out. It is all connected.   

It can be scientifically substantiated that this lack of nature in our products contributes to feelings of meaninglessness, increased stress, anxiety, and ultimately, burnout. The number of people in capitalist countries with burnout symptoms now ranges from 14% in the Netherlands to 23% in the United States. Other European countries and Canada show similar trends. And those numbers are on the rise.  

When I’m in nature, I don’t feel stress. In fact, access to nature can lower stress levels, reduce mental fatigue, and promote overall well-being. Therefore, I think it’s important to continue to feel and nurture our connection to nature and our natural qualities.”  

In addition to the aesthetic qualities of your materials, had you also lost your own? 

“Yes, that was my big shadow, I couldn’t express my creativity. During my burnout, I started thinking about that a lot. In capitalist countries, the emphasis is often on performance, competition, and productivity. I participated in that myself for a long time. For example, during my first year at the Design Academy, I was already focused on my graduation, even though I would only graduate four years later. I was always concerned with the outcome instead of on my creative process.  

Another thing that didn’t work for me was to always have to produce results within a certain amount of time. That’s not how my brain works at all. I always end up producing something—just not within the expectations of that system. Sometimes, I enter into a state of immense focus, but in the meantime things go in all directions. My brain is working incredibly hard, but that’s not always obvious during a presentation, making it seem like I haven’t accomplished anything.    

Still, for a very long time, I just kept going, regardless of what I was feeling, until the situation finally became untenable, and my burnout forced me to feel more and start listening to myself. I could no longer develop materials and had to focus on developing myself to recover from my burnout."  

Have you found your personal qualities again?

Yes, developing my own qualities has become a clear goal for me. I now know that I need more time and freedom to achieve results.   

This is why I introduced a freer, more autonomous expression in my work. My mission to interweave nature into our daily life is clear , but I’m no longer pushing to meet a specific end result. I also leave it to my audience to take my work one step further. Into their home, in their work, or in industry—it doesn’t matter to me.”  

You want to create natural peace. Can you give examples of your current work?

“I am working on installations and sculptures. I may still add architectural elements or abstract interior objects. All my work is by hand, to show how I experience nature and that we can achieve something completely different if we don’t mass-produce everything.

In doing so, I continue to work with plant materials as my foundation. I then bring in other materials that are not made by me. For example, I am now working with steel cables, MDF, and other semi-finished products, specifically focusing on harmful materials and materials from non-renewable resources.

What intrigues me, for example, is that those steel cables regain an organic form through my intervention. By unraveling them, I can start weaving them without adding auxiliary materials. It’s somewhere in between plaiting and lacing. They end up resembling a kind of hairy plant roots, as if they are in contact with nature or emerging from it.

In other words, I want to show functionality, but with a very different materiality. I’m still going to combine that with my biobased materials. But I’m not there yet. I don’t know exactly what will come out of it, but something will appear eventually.”

Do you still want to have an impact on industry with your work?

“Yes, it’s also about products. However, my approach now has a broader view. Simply replacing harmful materials is just not enough. Inspiring the people who introduce this to industry is part of my work, but I’m no longer doing that myself. I’m now more concerned with the mental part of the people observing my work.

Through my work, I hope to create a meditative work environment for myself that will allow me to radiate that deep experience of peace to my audience. From that meditative state, I hope they will be inspired to seek more connection with nature and themselves.”

Do you want to invite more people into self-examination?

“Yes, totally. I want to encourage people to explore themselves more deeply, so that we can break free from the superficial and self-centered ideas our current system is based on. I want to help improve our relationship with others and with nature, which will eventually bring about a change in industry. By improving these relationships, you start having different ideas about everything around you. At the very least, you start to see that there are other possibilities.

It’s crucial to engage in that kind of self-examination, to go deeper inside and learn how to feel. Very often, we no longer know that we feel, let alone what we feel. If we just keep on going and don’t learn to listen to what we feel, more and more people will burn out. Or, eventually, it will end for our planet.”

Can people help you and your mission to move forward?

“Well, I’m quite comfortable in myself. I’ve just rebuilt my studio and am feeling like creating again. For starters, come check out the Amsterdam Museum.

But yes, more subsidies would be amazing, allowing me to spend less time on my side job and more on my artistic work. Besides time, working on the side takes a lot of energy. Or an artistic residency, I would really like that too.”

In conclusion, what is the most important message you want to convey?

“With my work, I want to encourage a shift from an egocentric to an ecocentric mindset. I hope that people will start searching for connection with themselves and where something comes from more through my work. And that, from our true nature, we will start making different choices.”

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