![\"expattop10logo\"](\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/expattop10logo.png\")
<\/a>\nName: Zuzanna Skalska
\n<\/strong>Born in 1971
\n<\/strong>Profession: Trend expert at 360 Inspiration
\nIn Eindhoven since: 20 years<\/strong><\/p>\n
The Polish Zuzanna Skalska is the owner of the Eindhoven 360 Inspiritation. She is a trendexpert in the field of future \u00a0and innovation. She was part of the organization of the Dutch Design Week for 7 years and she is still active there in an advising role. In 2011 she started her own design academy in Poznan, Poland, where this year 120 students will graduate.<\/p>\n
\u2018I didn\u2019t want to stay in Poland to study\u2019 \u2018When I\u2019m on the train and it passes the Klokgebouw, <\/em>I know that I\u2019m home\u2019 \u201cI feel like one of the mothers of the Dutch Design Week, it al started with the Day of Design at the TU\/e. Eventually it extended to one whole week. I\u2019ve been on the board for seven years. In the beginning we really had to fight before the city hall believed in the added value of the event. That we pulled it off makes me really proud, especially with the small team. And I\u2019m still fully committed to the DDW, but now in a advising role. But every year I cry out of joy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Eindhoven is known as the city of technology, but where is this reflected in the city?\u2019 \u201cWhat bothers me is that Eindhoven wants to be a city with international allure, but it even lacks a direct international train connection. From Breda you can go to Belgium or Germany. But tell me, what is to be found in Breda? Eindhoven Airport is merely used for fun trips by people who want to take a break. That has to change if you really want to play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cEindhoven is known as the city of technology, but where is this reflected in the city? It isn\u2019t visible. You could, for instance, construct smart bus lanes or other things that show the city\u2019s support of technological advancement. I miss that visibility, but still the brand Eindhoven is very strong. That brand has been designed with a group of creative people. Everyone had a say in it, and everything was continuously being fed back. That\u2019s how you create ambassadors. I also feel like an ambassador, I love Eindhoven.<\/p>\n “That is something Rob van Gijzel does greatly, he has returned the city to the people. He should give master classes to all the other mayors. The awareness that a city does not belong to the government, but that the people make the city is unfortunately not widely accepted.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018Integrating is easier when you start young\u2019 The expat top-10 aims the spotlight on the internationals that help Eindhoven progress. E52 sat down with each winning expat to talk about their experiences and perspective on the city they once came to, and never got away from. Today: Zuzanna Skalska. Name: Zuzanna Skalska Born in 1971 Profession: Trend expert at 360 Inspiration In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1579,"featured_media":63118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[490,7026,3520,7222],"location":[],"article_type":[],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-63120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-design-en","tag-expat-top10","tag-expats-en","tag-zuzanna-skalska-en"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Milan Lenters","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/milan-lenters\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/IMG_1593-1-300x200.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["design<\/a>","Expat top10<\/a>","expats<\/a>","Zuzanna Skalska<\/a>"],"unlinked":["design<\/span>","Expat top10<\/span>","expats<\/span>","Zuzanna Skalska<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 10 years ago","modified":"Updated 10 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on June 19, 2016","modified":"Updated on June 19, 2016"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on June 19, 2016 7:30 am","modified":"Updated on June 19, 2016 7:30 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1579"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63120"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63120\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=63120"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=63120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>\u201cIf I had stayed there I would have learned everything from someone who had never worked in practice. That\u2019s the way things work over there. In the nighties I came to Eindhoven. I started at the academy for industrial design. Yeah, I\u2019m old school. In that time Eindhoven was a real working city, the english of the Eindhovenaren was not quitte well. They sounded like farmers and everything was really Brabants<\/em>. Back then the level of tolerance was at a much lower level than it is today, people were making fun of a girl out of Poland that came here to study. So right from the beginning it was full focus on integration. I did everything in orange on Koninginnedag. <\/em>There was no time for me to feel isolated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cI have made friends for life at the academy for industrial design. My heart is in Eindhoven. After graduating in 1998 I had the dream to work for Philips Design. But I did not dare to send in an application, why would they hire me? That\u2019s what I kept on asking myself. I learned a nice dutch expression from a friend [niet geschoten is altijd mis]:\u00a0<\/em>Nothing ventured, nothing gained. So I applied and got hired. I was speechless, this was such a great feeling. From that moment on I felt like I could move mountains.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cIn the 90\u2019s Eindhoven was a typical city of workers, everyone was tired. Groceries were done on Saturdays because you didn\u2019t have time for it during the week, and the stores closed at 6. It felt like a small village. The last train to Amsterdam departed around ten. Strijp-S was a forbidden city, you didn\u2019t go there. When Philips left the city, Eindhoven felt abandoned. It has taken an incredible amount of time for the city to recover, in fact this is still in process.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>\u201cFor international students it\u2019s easier to integrate, they build something new. You meet new people and everyone is open to getting in touch with each other. For expats it\u2019s more difficult, they enter a closed community. Everything is being taken care of: a house for example, and the kids are taken to the international school by a minibus. Moreover, they know they will be here temporarily, so they don\u2019t really build up a life here. I often get the feeling that it\u2019s a separate community within a community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"