Pepe Heykoop

Dutch designer Pepe Heykoop was born in Leiden, the Netherlands in 1984. Between 2003 and 2008, he studied in the Design Academy Eindhoven’s Man and Living program. In 2007, he interned with designer Jurgen Bey. In 2008, after gradutating, Heykoop launched his eponymous studio in Amsterdam.

Heykoop’s work focuses on the handmade and champions repurposed materials, applying low-tech processes in the studio. Notable projects to date include the Skin Collection (2011, ongoing), which uses upcycled leather scraps to cover modified secondhand pieces, and an ongoing collaboration with the Tiny Miracles Foundation, which began in 2012 and has seen Heykoop establish a workshop in Mumbai. Together, Tiny Miracles and Heykoop teach cane work skills to local adults, to create traditional woven cane vessels for transporting water. Profits from the vessels—some of which transport water for the community—are used to send local children to school, with the overall goal of helping the participating community become economically self-supporting by the year 2020.

Heykoop’s awards include, among others, an Interior Innovation Award at imm cologne (2013), a BIO 23 Award at the Ljubljana Biennial of Design (2012), and a nomination for the Icon Awards Emerging Design Studio of the Year (2013).

Heykoop lives and works in Amsterdam.