Embassy of Health

Over the past seven years, Dutch Design Foundation brought together designers, governments, businesses and knowledge institutions through the World Design Embassies programme to shape a more sustainable and socially inclusive future. Each Embassy focused on a specific societal theme – ranging from health and mobility to food and safety – using design as a tool to explore new perspectives and shape meaningful transitions. World Design Embassies provided space for research, experimentation and connection. Take a look below at seven years of the Embassy of Health.

Over a period of seven years, the Embassy of Health explored how we might revalue health as a shared societal concern, rather than as an individual possession or purely medical issue. Its ambition was to work towards a chronically healthy society. By using design as a tool for imagination and experimentation, the Embassy consistently challenged the traditional focus on illness. Instead, it proposed a view of health as an ongoing, collective process deeply embedded in our everyday lives.

Empathy 

In 2018, under the lead of Sabine Wildevuur, the starting point was empathy; the goal is to design human-centered products, services, experiences and systems that make life better. With the exhibition “Chronic Health: If not us, then who?” the Embassy illustrates the role of design in shaping a sharing community and society.

Vulnerability, technology, and human connection

In 2019, under the curatorship of Jetske van Oosten, the Embassy explored how vulnerability, technology, and social connection intersect within healthcare. Exhibitions like “Chronic Health: It’s Only Human?” invited visitors to reflect on the tension between human imperfection and the pursuit of technological enhancement. Projects such as VIMS by Adi Hollander and Joost van Wijmen’s Encounter series highlighted human fragility as a source of resilience, rather than something to “fix.”

Adapting During a Global Crisis

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the Embassy swiftly adapted to a digital environment with “Chronic Health: Happily Ever After?”. This edition deepened the conversation, emphasising the importance of intimacy, inclusion, and ecological thinking in a rapidly shifting world. Forward-looking projects like “Grandmom Mom” by Kuang-Yi Ku and “Multiform” by Gabriel Fontana questioned societal norms and future healthcare models.

Everyday life and local action

In 2021, the Embassy turned its attention even more strongly toward everyday life, illustrating how social connection, environmental awareness, and local initiatives are just as vital to health as medical care. Projects such as “Land & Hand” and “Hollandse Luchten” encouraged citizens to see themselves as active participants in shaping healthier communities.

Shift in mindset

In 2022, Marleen van Bergeijk became the new creative lead. With her arrival, the Embassy leaned further into the idea of mindset change as a driver for systemic transformation. That year’s exhibition explored the attitudes essential for a chronically healthy society: adaptability, shared responsibility, and a learning mindset. Installations like the Health Overshoot Day made visible how unsustainable our current models are—and how urgently we need to recalibrate.

Health as Wealth

In 2023 and 2024, the Embassy introduced a bold new narrative: “Health as Wealth”—rethinking health as our most valuable social capital. Through speculative projects like “Intimate Implant” by Bertrand Burgers and “Metacarpus” by Stefan Boerkamp, visitors were challenged to value trust, care, and emotional connection as essential foundations for a healthier society. The 2024 edition, under the theme “The Waiting Room,” used the symbolism of waiting to create space for reflection, attention, and human connection—qualities often overlooked in healthcare systems dominated by efficiency.

Throughout its journey, the Embassy of Health has shown that health is not a destination but a continuous, collective process. It urges us to reimagine health not as a service or a product, but as a shared societal value—built through creativity, collaboration, and care.

Since 2025, the World Design Embassies programme has come to a close. Dutch Design Foundation is building on its legacy with Coalitions: a new platform and structural approach that connects creative thinkers and makers with the momentum of science, organisations and government. Coalitions harness the power of design to address societal challenges and accelerate change towards a more sustainable and inclusive society.