Temple of peace
Dutch Design Week
19.10.24 - 27.10.24
Ingeborg Bloem and Stefany Rietkerk are the founders of the Peace Seekers foundation. Together, they are dedicated to creating artistic and meaningful projects that promote peace, inclusion, and dialogue. Through collaborative initiatives like The Temple of Peace, they aim to inspire people from diverse backgrounds to contribute to a more harmonious and peaceful world.
Ingeborg and Stefany
The idea for The Temple of Peace was born during a journey through Nepal, where I spent three months, partly in silence and surrounded by the serene beauty of temples and mountains. At an Ayurvedic center near Kathmandu, where I focused on yoga and meditation, I was inspired by the call from the Dutch Design Foundation to submit ideas for Grand Objects Public Spaces. Armed with nothing but colored pencils and watercolors, I created a sketch—not perfect, but with a powerful story. We need new symbols and narratives to visualize peace. Existing symbols, like the peace dove or the V-sign, are outdated and must be complemented by contemporary, multi-voiced expressions.
I am a designer, artist and Creative Director with a passion for art and design.
After being selected by the DDF as the main act on the Ketelhuisplein, the real work began. I visited graduation exhibitions to find suitable students and reached out to The Refugee Company, where Nilofaar Azimian, a program creator and former Iranian filmmaker, joined the project. Stefany Rietkerk, now my partner at Peace Seekers, took care of organizing everything seamlessly. Together with artist Sue Doeksen, we held six workshops across the country, where students and refugees worked in pairs to create flags.
During the workshops, structured like speed-dating sessions, the participants got to know each other and then spent an afternoon working together on a flag design. Support came from various seamstresses, seniors, asylum seekers, and people with disabilities, coordinated by Studio Boot and Social Label. Studio Boot was also responsible for the design and branding of The Temple of Peace.
My love for art began when I was very young and grew when I started working for an artgallery and later organized art exhibitions myself. Along the way during my carreer as a filmproducer I met several people who inspired me and who I helped with their artprojects.
I’m a filmmaker in the advertisement industry with a passion for films that matter.
Ingeborg Bloem who came up with the idea of The Temple of Peace inspired me and I felt the urge to help her with this project. Now I'm in the board of the Foundation Peace Seekers and the executive producer of The Temple of Peace. The most inspiring and emotional part were the workshops where we collaborated with the refugees and students of the design academies. Here the story behind the peace flag became their symbol of peace.