Campus for Design and Art

No fewer than four awards at the Rhineland-Palatinate Design Award 2021 for students of the Campus of Art and Design

Award ceremony Designpreis Rheinland-Pfalz 21, photographer: Stefan Veres

Once again, students from the Design Campus were honoured for outstanding product design - this year, a total of four prizes went to young talents from Trier. Jana Hoffmann from the Communication Design department received the design prize in the "Talents" category, and three other students were honoured with awards. The award ceremony was held on 03 November 2021 at the Ehrenbreitstein Fortress in Koblenz by Minister of Economic Affairs Daniela Schmitt.

"Design makes innovation visible and tangible in the true sense of the word," said Minister of Economics Daniela Schmitt. "Creative minds not only design products... they also shape the economic transformation processes of our time."

Every year, the Ministry of Economy, Transport, Agriculture and Viniculture, in cooperation with the Koblenz Chamber of Crafts and the Design Forum Rhineland-Palatinate (descom), awards the renowned design prize, this year in the category of product design. A jury of experts selected seven design prizes and eight awards for outstanding design achievements from a total of 62 institutions. In addition to established companies, innovative and creative student concepts are also repeatedly honoured in the "Talents" category.

OLD VARIETIES - NEWLY DISCOVERED
Design Award "Talents", Category Concept
Designer: Jana Hoffmann
Supervision: Prof. Andreas Hogan (Communication Design) Prof. Ingo Krapf (Interior Design)

The modular sales and information system brings almost vanished vegetable varieties back to life: booklets, seed packets and bed plugs provide information about long-forgotten crops such as tuberous zest, cardy or melde - varieties that were largely replaced by hybrid seeds in the course of industrialisation. In contrast to today's supermarket vegetables, the old varieties are seed-resistant and easy to propagate. The project motivates people in an appealing way to cultivate old varieties in their own gardens and thus contributes to the preservation of crop diversity, which is so important for a functioning ecosystem.

Jury statement Prof. Dr. Andreas Schmauder: "Through the interesting design without a pointing finger, Jana Hoffmann succeeds in a sympathetic and convincing way in familiarising consumers with the "old varieties" and inviting them to taste forgotten vegetables and arouse interest in the diversity of vegetable varieties. In this way, their work contributes to the conservation of crop diversity in a sustainable ecosystem."

MADE IN PAIN
Talents" Award, Concept Category
Designer: Anne Marzi
Supervision Prof. Dirk Wolfes, Fashion Design Department

The bachelor's thesis deals with and visualises the process of trauma processing and shows how our body can process painful emotions and bring us transformatively to new energy and heal. The designer has dealt with her personal trauma, the work lives from detached moments and intuitive action during the healing process, it is about letting go and intuitive working, which is crucial and important in the healing process.

Jury statement Andreas Mägerlein: Anne Marzi has treated herself with her work and at the same time found a form of expression for a large area of psychotherapy that has probably never been dealt with in this way before. This uniqueness offers the chance to think differently about trauma therapy and to find a new form of therapy in a completely new, interdisciplinary way."

KANTUM - FURNITURE SERIES
Award "Talents", Category Product
Designer: Marius Schwald
Supervision: Prof. Ingo Krapf, Department of Interior Design

The designer investigated the topic of sustainability in furniture design and developed his own minimalist furniture series, consisting of four pieces of seating furniture. Both the material - sheet aluminium, a standard product in industry - and the manufacturing and recycling process of the furniture are deliberately kept simple and uncomplicated. The material is particularly interesting in terms of its sustainability: recycled aluminium can be circulated in a raw material cycle in such a way that energy savings of up to 95 percent can be achieved.

Jury statement Andreas Mägerlein: The seating furniture family seems like origami when the components take on their spatial form and materialise into a chair, a bench or a stool. The idea of making everything from one raw material, connecting components as simply as possible with screws and creating comfort merely with a seat cover made of wool felt shows how much Marius Schwald has considered not only the production but also the end of life of the products. The jury praises the product series, which reflects a special depth both in its design and in its handling of raw materials, leading to a surprising result."

TWO THINGS - TEA ENJOYMENT TIMES TWO
Talents" Award, Product Category
Designer: Lea Schönmüller
Supervision: Prof. Harald Wilhelm Steber, Department of Communication Design

The product focuses on regionality and sustainability. The special connection of twins, as well as the different personalities of each individual, are reflected in the product and at the same time it has a regional reference to the Eifel, the home of the designer. The 9 possible combinations of tea herb and tea flavour are the focus. The highlight of the tea bag labels is the play factor when tea herb and tea aroma are combined and Lea Schönmüller and her twin sister appear as an overall picture by pushing the labels together.

Jury statement Karin Bille: "Perhaps twins have a special sense for things that complement each other well."

Himmelhoch" exhibition at Ehrenbreitstein Fortress until 06.11.2022
The fifteen award-winning products could not be more different - and yet they were all "created under the same Rhineland-Palatinate sky". The exhibition is an invitation to immerse oneself in versatile product worlds, from filigree design objects to large-scale furniture designs. The Ehrenbreitstein Fortress Cultural Centre of the Rhineland-Palatinate Directorate General for Cultural Heritage will present the exhibition for a whole year, until November 2022.