‘SAPERE AUDE’
PAN AMSTERDAM, 2023
An art installation by DAB Studio
Photography by Daniëlle Siobhán
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When Residence Magazine invited DAB Studio to design a stand for PAN Amsterdam 2023, we saw it as more than an exhibition moment—it became a rare opportunity to turn inward. For the first time, we weren’t commissioned by a client. Instead, we were our own client.
Over seven years of building our interior architecture studio in Amsterdam, we gave up everything to shape a vision we believe in. This installation became a reflection of that journey—of doubt, growth, intuition, and resilience. Sapere Aude, Latin for “dare to know,” is both a question and an affirmation: what drives us, and what happens when we trust what we already know?
Through this work, we discovered where we stand. As designers, but also as people. Every challenge, every sacrifice, every small win has left its mark. Those marks are proof that growth is a process.
In the end, Sapere Aude is so much more then an installation. It’s a statement. About who we are, what we value, and the freedom that comes from daring to trust your own voice.
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Drawing from six months of introspection, we revisited the very foundations of our aesthetic and conceptual language. The Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became a crucial anchor: its open spatial logic, refined materiality and interplay of reflection offered a framework for our own layered expression. This architectural homage surfaced in the mirrored L-shaped wall clad in natural stone—an intentional nod to the interplay between weight, rhythm and light.
Yet Sapere Aude is more than reflection. The sculptural dining setting, created in collaboration with At.Kollektive, honours the radical and poetic approach of Anne Holtrop— a contemporary architect whose tactile, utopian designs deeply resonate with us.
Above the booth, two light sculptures float — born from a mould, shaped by hand, and inspired by the textured facade of Galerie Fons Welters, originally designed by Joep van Lieshout. The impressions in the surface, or ‘markings’, represent our collective memory. A layered skin that holds all the moments — the uplifting, the difficult, the formative.
In creating Sapere Aude, we came to realise what has always driven us: the desire to connect. To dismantle the walls between disciplines — architecture, design, sculpture, art — and weave them into one cohesive whole. Every line drawn, every material chosen, every gesture made is part of a larger composition. A visual ‘opus’ that tells a story of freedom, resilience and joy.
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