melissa de vos

FIER is a Dutch word for proud. Together with 3 classmates I developed this project during my minor Sustainability at the Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam. For this project, we looked at an area in Rotterdam-West, where the harbour used to be. It's called the 'Vierhavengebied'. It's an upcoming area in the city, but it still feels a bit unsafe, empty and not appreciated. We decided to look at the area itself, and what it has to offer, instead of adding things to it. With our project FIER, we want to re-value the 'Vierhavengebied'. We did this by making a campaign video and a mobile application where we centred the unnoticed beauty and unexpected nature of the area. Next to this campaign, we made a book: FIER doet. (FIER does.). This do-book gives the tares (onkruid) of this area a different function. For example, we show the possibilities of nettles for making paper and healthcare, but also as a cooking ingredient. 

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By changing the function, the value will increase. By making people look at a different way, the appreciation will rise. Hereby we show that the 'Vierhavengebied' is a biotope of nature's beauty.

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This project was developed by Melissa in collaboration with Annick Bongers, Anne Korthals and Joyce Kortbeek.