A new exhibition showcases the next generation of German designers
German Design Graduates
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Wood and Water, an experimental series of wooden furniture and objects designed by UdK's Niklas Böll, was inspired by how wood reacts to its environment by swelling, shrinking and warping.
All images courtesy of German Design Graduates
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Exhibition view of German Design Graduates at Berlin's Kunstgewerbemuseum
Image © Mirja Zentgraf
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Wood and Water by Niklas Böll at the German Design Graduates exhibition
Image © Mirja Zentgraf
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In the foreground Towards a New Matter by Milan Friedrich; in the background Brittle Objects by Simon Diener
Image © Mirja Zentgraf
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UdK's Milan Friedrich designed Towards a New Matter, a project that transforms discarded textiles into a new mono material
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Detail of Friedrich's Towards a New Matter material
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UdK's Marie Scheurer's Pipe is a washbasin urinal unit designed for semi-public ladies' toilets. It impresses with the possibility of completely non-contact use.
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Helen Wiehr of University of Fine Arts Saar designed Radschu, an individualized cycling shoe for professional athletes, according to the cradle to cradle principle.
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Wiehr's Radschu consists of a custom 3-D printed carbon sole, a 3-D knitted merino wool liner, and a coated cotton stocking, all of which may ultimately be recycled.
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Remis' is a modular system for public urban spaces designed by Max Fabian Wosczyna of University of Applied Sciences Potsdam. It consists of platforms, canopies and cutouts for spontaneous vegetation.
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Seat7 is a bicycle saddle ergonomically and aesthetically individualized for the driver, designed by Mervyn Bienek of HfG Offenbach
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SOAPBOTTLE by UdK's Jonna Breitenhuber; this clever packaging slowly dissolves while the liquid content is used up over time.
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SOAPBOTTLE's remains can be used as hand soap or processed with soda into detergent. As soap is made of natural resources and is biodegradable, waste can be completely avoided.
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The Great Smog by Ina Turinsky of Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle, a theoretical project that considers future resource extraction in light of ongoing ecological issues
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The Great Smog considers a future time in which the boundaries between "natural" and "artificial" will blur
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Marcel Bohr of Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle designed Tug Tent, which may be opened with a simple gesture.
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Bohr's Tug Tent concept is based on an intelligent mechanism. Just pull on the fabric to "build" the tent.
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Changyang Yan's Ze He is a water regulation tool for Chinese rice farmers. It measures soil moisture and water level and, after analysis, offers irrigation strategies to reduce water waste and methane emissions caused by traditional methods
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Ze He by Changyang Yan of Muthesius Academy of Arts Kiel
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UdK's Sophie Katharina Stanitzek designed Aga, a fiber composite material consisting essentially of an algae extract and intended to replace plastics.
German Design Graduates, a new annual exhibition showcasing student talent from around the country, recently launched at Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum. The debut presentation features 42 standout product and industrial designs from recent grads from 12 German design schools, selected by a jury of experts from over 150 submissions.
The selected student works, which collectively look to design’s role in our current and future worlds, are thoughtfully placed in conversation with 16th-century tapestries and other decorative arts from the Kunstgewerbemuseum’s permanent collection. The GDG pieces tackle eight themes, ranging from transport and public spaces to material exploration, sound and music, and more.
Standout projects include, among others, UDK Berlin grad Sophie Stanitzek’s Aga, a fiber composite material made of algae; HBKsaar graduate Carmen Dehning’s (aka Studio Freed’s) Weniger Isst Mehr (Less Eats More), a conceptually driven, aesthetically beautiful but unexpected tableware set that asks users to rethink “our current handling of food;” BURG Halle grad Marcel Bohr’s Tug Tent, featuring a simple mechanism that allows the tent to open with just a gentle pull of fabric; piPE, a new toilet for women by UdK Berlin grad Marie Scheurer; Wasserläufer, a super-compact, inflatable boat by HfG Offenbach’s Frauke Zoë Taplik; and UdK Berlin grad Jonna Breitenhüber’s SOAPBOTTLE, a collection of packaging composed of soap—as the contents within are used, the packaging that encases it gradually dissolves.
The GDG exhibition is part of the larger GDG Initiative, also launched this year, dedicated to supporting emerging designers. The GDG Initiative was conceived by three professors and designers: Professor Ineke Hans from UdK Berlin, Professor Hermann Weizenegger from FH Potsdam, and Professor Mark Braun from HBKsaar.
Describing the motivations behind the show and the larger GDG project, program organizer Katrin Krupka tells us, “Although many design universities have their own annual exhibitions to show student and graduate works, there [has previously been] nothing like an overview of the large variety of graduate works from German design schools. Further, for graduates it is extremely difficult to get in contact with stakeholders from industry, culture, and press on the national and international levels.” The GDG Initiative aims to provide these services both with a quality presentation and by connecting this young pool of talent with the GDG team’s large network from industry and press.
All exhibited works will also be added to a freshly launched German Design Graduates Archive. In the long term, the GDG Initiative plans to offer a comprehensive online archive of graduation thesis projects from German universities, which may be filtered by year, subject, and school.
Asked to speak to the concept of a contemporary German design identity, says, “I think it is really difficult in current times to identify a national design identity. Rather, the variety of works produced at German design schools are bonded together by the broader attitude of their makers—a very open-minded, future-orientated generation, connected by their curiosity and desire to discover the possibilities offered by the role of designer.”
German Design Graduates is open at Berlin’s Kunstgewerbemuseum until 10 November 2019. For additional details, please click here .