Design Map · Eindhoven
Designing the Designer
Graduation project by Becky Franks at Design Academy Eindhoven, 2026. Shown during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven on Design Map, location F5.
Conceived through in vitro fertilisation, Becky Franks treats her biological beginnings not as a medical fact, but as material to work with and wear. She uses jewellery as a means of thinking through questions of origin and identity.
‘Designing the Designer’ forms part of a lifelong investigation into her origin story, turning her parents’ decade of infertility, IVF and ICSI into wearable forms. Crafted from silver, each piece, a necklace, ring, bracelet and watch, encapsulates and demystifies an aspect of that story. Franks met with the embryologist who created her in the laboratory, positioning her as both a designer and a parental figure. This encounter prompted questions such as: who ‘designed’ me, and what does authorship mean when applied to life itself?
Hand-fabricating and wearing allows the jeweller to become a vessel of conversation, connection, pride and care. The project deliberately leaves empty space for future chapters in a material timeline that, like a life, is never complete.