Emotional Doorways: A Dutch Start-up Manufactures Peace of Mind

[gdlr_image_link type=”image” image_url=”” link_url=”” alt=”” target=”_blank”]Amsterdam. What began as a project for an art academy student in the Netherlands, emerged as a start-up with a unique application that is heart warming and healing.

True Doors, based in Amsterdam, manufactures decals of doors designed to make a generic environment have some soul.

While there are numerous practical applications for True Doors’ clever products, one caught our attention. True Doors uses their design application to help make seniors and dementia patients feel more at home in care facilities.

“True Doors help improve quality of life and contribute to patient-centered care. Care facilities feel more like home. Social interaction is encouraged. Privacy increases. People recognise their doors. Reminiscence is stimulated. The working environment is more pleasant. Residents’ own identities are brought to the fore.” —True Doors website

The company recreates the familiar threshold of ‘home’ for dementia patients now living in nursing homes or small apartments. Our front door is not necessarily just a matter of curb appeal, but an important entryway into our lives that we emotionally map in mind and spirit.

“We didn’t invent doors. We just decided that they matter.” —Marieke van Diepen, Creative Director, True Doors

The company’s CEO, Rahzeb Choudhury, founded a platform for social ideas and related start-ups called Lifelong Inspiration. True Doors was one of the first start-ups that emerged from these efforts.

Take a look at this video to see how this social application of design is working.

We loved looking at the unique European door designs featured on True Doors website. Take a look at the product archive!