CV Els Zijlstra

After studying architecture at the Delft University of Technology, Els Zijlstra worked for five years at architectural firm Kraaijvanger Urbis in Rotterdam. She advised the in-house architects with regard to products and application of materials, and she worked on projects for the development of project-related products. She was vice-chairman of Booosting, a foundation dedicated to the promotion of Design, Development and Research of industrial building products for improving the quality of built-up areas. Els Zijlstra founded Materia in 1998. Materia stimulates and inspires architects, designers and producers to apply innovative and new materials in their designs. With her team, she has developed material exhibitions that are shown throughout the world, as well as the material search engine. The main theme is what can be achieved with material, technologically, multisensorily, and associatively. She shares her knowledge and inspiration in the field of material and technology with fellow architects and designers in numerous publications, and through worldwide lectures.

As well as her work for different agencies, Els was also a visiting lecturer at Leiden University, the Delft University of Technology, and the Eindhoven University of Technology.