ABOUT

Ralf Gloudemans (1996) is a Dutch designer and artist based in Tilburg, the Netherlands. His practice is rooted in mixed reality design, digital craft and physical making. The work balances between design, art, sculpture, interior and functional artefact.

At the centre of the work is a fascination with the moment where the digital becomes physical. Forms often begin as gestures in a virtual space, cut, stretched, deformed and shaped by hand in a material that does not yet exist. The digital environment becomes a studio in itself, a place for movement, improvisation and discovery.

From there, the work is translated back into matter. This translation is not treated as a technical step to be hidden, but as an essential part of the object. In the physical process, material choices, surface, finish and craft continue to shape the work. Digital imperfections, material behaviour, shifts in scale and the hand of the maker remain visible, turning the final object into a frozen trace of digital and physical craft.

A recurring thread in the practice is the reinterpretation of familiar forms. Classical shapes, ornaments and architectural fragments are not copied directly, but approached as memories. They become fragments of a shared visual language, shaped by association, emotion and imagination. A curve, a column, a vessel, a façade or a decorative detail can become the starting point for something new.

From this interest in remembered forms, a neo-baroque undercurrent emerges: a fascination with ornament, movement, theatricality and emotion, reinterpreted through digital tools and a futuristic gaze. As if a historical form has been flooded by a digital wave and returned in another state, still recognisable, but altered, sharpened and slightly estranged.

The objects that emerge from this process often carry a sense of monumentality, while still revealing the experimental process behind them. They can appear as contemporary artefacts, sculptural tools, functional sculptures or fragments from an unknown architecture. Rather than choosing between technology and craft, the work searches for a space where both can exist together: physical forms with a digital soul.

Ralf graduated from Design Academy Eindhoven in 2023, where he received the Melkweg Award. His work has been presented internationally and moves across different scales, from collectible objects and sculptures to interiors, commissions and spatial installations.