Thomas Widdershoven

Thomas Widdershoven (Maastricht 1960) studied philosophy (MA), fine art and graphic design (BA). He is the former creative director and chairman of the board of Design Academy Eindhoven. In 1993 he founded Thonik together with Nikki Gonnissen. Thonik collaborates with clients and creatives in design, e-culture, architecture, art, film and advertising. Thonik couples a strategic approach to the adventurous exploration of media. Clients include Hyundai department Stores, Seoul, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, the city of Nanjing, China, the City of Amsterdam, the Dutch socialist party (SP) and the Dutch TV network VPRO. Thonik has had solo exhibitions at the Shanghai Art Museum, The Venice ArchitectureBiennial, Spiral Art Center Tokyo, Moti Breda, Galerie Anatome and Institut Néerlandais Paris. Thonik's work is part of the permanent collection of the Centre Pompidou, Paris. As creative director of the Design Academy Eindhoven, he initiated four exhibitions at the Van Abbemuseum Eindhoven about the newest generation designers. These exhibitions traveled to New York, Suzhou, Shenzhen and Macau. He curated four graduation shows at the academy and four presentations in Milan. Since 2016 he is a guest professor at the Nanjing University, China.