Cycling into the wind: struggling and battling against a force that picks up from the southwest and shows no signs of calming down anytime soon. In the Netherlands, it’s inevitable. For some, a tailwind is a blessing. For others, a headwind is a setback. We love to complain about it can be something that turns out to be a great conversation starter. There’s a lot to it when it comes to Dutch weather: plenty of rain coming in from the sea, cold winds, and, of course, those typical Dutch skies. Sometimes this kind of weather and wind feels unpredictable, so we turn to the weather app and say things like, “It shouldn’t be raining right now,” even as it’s pouring. When was the last time you consciously noticed where the wind was coming from? Or what kind of weather the wind was bringing with it? Instead of looking at an arrow and a number on a screen, people spent centuries carefully observing the landscape and the atmosphere to predict the weather.4 In the era before the Industrial Revolution, people in the Netherlands were heavily dependent on the weather and the wind. Farmers, millers, and sailors developed a sophisticated understanding of weather changes, cloud formations, and wind directions. This attention to and dependence on the weather and wind fostered a close connection with nature, in which people followed the rhythm of the wind. For a long time, the miller served as an example of a way of life attuned to natural forces, but this way of life is slowly fading away.(1,2)  Whereas the careful observation of clouds and the wind was once a magical method for understanding our own environment, it is now replaced by global, large-scale weather models. (3)

This essay explores the relationship between humans and the wind in Dutch history. It investigates how we have lost our connection to the elements and how our connection to the wind can form a philosophical basis for a life lived in harmony with nature. As an example of this, I also highlight other wind-driven (indigenous) cultures in the essay. As a designer, I further ask how we can reshape our kinships and relationships with the wind.