Announcement: Selected Designers Grassroots Open Call

For each MVE, three designers were invited based on a careful preselection, considering experience, portfolio, and motivation. During the selection day, they engaged in in-depth conversations with pairs of consortium members and the respective startup. These discussions focused not only on past work, but especially on ways of thinking, the ability to navigate complex systems, and their envisioned role as an orchestrator within an ecosystem.

The final selection was made collaboratively, with one vote per consortium partner, and facilitated by In4Art as moderator. For each MVE, insights and impressions were shared, discussed, and weighed collectively. The final decisions were well substantiated and aligned closely with the preferences of the involved startups. All three designers were selected unanimously.

The selected designers are:

• Marije Vogelzang (Marketplace for Alternative Ingredients)
  Marije Vogelzang was selected for her exceptional ability to translate food systems into human experience. In her work, the focus is not on food itself, but on people, their behavior, emotions, and cultural patterns. She makes the invisible visible through imagination, storytelling, and sensory interventions.
  Within this MVE, she will work on repositioning alternative ingredients, such as grass, not as substitutes but as full-fledged cultural products. By exploring perception, meaning, and experience, she investigates how new food sources can find their place in everyday life. Her approach brings precisely the tension between potential and acceptance where innovation emerges.
• Katja Gruijters (Food Stays Food)
  Katja Gruijters was selected for her extensive and consistent practice in working with residual flows as valuable resources. With over 25 years of experience, she has developed a strong methodology in which food is not only reused, but redefined through form, ritual, and sensory experience.
  Within this MVE, she will transform by-products such as brewers’ grains into carriers of value and connection within the ecosystem. Her strength lies in making tangible and experiential what often remains abstract: why something holds value. In doing so, she shifts perception and opens up new pathways for systemic change.
• Meta van Drunen (Healthy Food Landscapes)
  Meta van Drunen was selected for her integrated approach to food as both a spatial and social issue. She does not see urban and rural domains as separate, but as one interconnected food landscape. In her work, she connects spatial development, agriculture, and social cohesion.
  What sets her apart is her ability to directly link this vision to practice. With an existing network of farmers and initiatives, and her own experience as a farmer, she brings concrete locations and opportunities for experimentation. Within this MVE, she will work on creating “food connection spaces” where regenerative agriculture and social interaction come together, and where the ecosystem can take shape in real-world contexts.

The selection committee emphasized the exceptionally high quality of all candidates. The conversations revealed a rich diversity of perspectives and approaches, making the selection both challenging and inspiring. At the same time, the committee expressed a strong intention to keep non-selected designers involved. Follow-up opportunities are being explored with several candidates, ranging from advisory roles to potential involvement in future phases of the project.

With these three designers, Grassroots enters its next phase, where design, research, and collaboration converge to not only imagine new food systems, but to actively test, experience, and build them.