Spotlight on sustainable living and working: Interview with Oliver Seidel, one of the founding partners of Cityförster, on the "Ecovillage" in Hanover and his vision of an architecture of the future.

Daniel Stromborg, Product Development Design Director at Gensler, spoke to Stylepark about the design of "Mixu" for Arper and why there is currently a need for sustainable systems that offer a variety of design options.

Lilli Hollein is the new director of the MAK – Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. She talks to us about her plans for the renowned applied arts museum and her reflections on 15 years of Vienna Design Week.

With "Caementum", Diego Vencato and Marco Merendi have designed a monobloc side table made of cement for Pedrali that is stain-resistant and surprises with a velvety soft surface. Diego Vencato explains the concept in an interview.

Jeannette Altherr on Arper's current creative direction, what sustainable design should not convey and why we sometimes get in the way of it with our desire for perfection.

Gabriel Roland recently took over as director of Vienna Design Week, which this year will take place in Vienna from September 24 to October 3, 2021. Anna Moldenhauer talked to him about his plans for the festival.

Distinctive design and a flair for the expansion and conversion of buildings with a lively history – in our interview, Patrick Batek, founder and lead architect of Batek Architekten, talks about materiality, old building fabrics and his favourite place in Berlin.

Individually configurable products and services are much in demand – be it in designing furniture, muesli or cars. What opportunities does this mass customization create for manufacturers and customers alike? And has it been successful in the market thus far? We asked Prof. Frank Piller, Co-Director of the Institute for Technology and Innovation Management (TIM) at RWTH Aachen University.

Architect Stefano Boeri is curating the supersalone, an extraordinary event of the Salone del Mobile, which will take place in Milan from 5 to 10 September 2021. He explains to us in an interview what his concept is for the dynamic format and why the international furniture fair should also present itself in a more low-threshold way in the future.

As a young graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, Paulien Nabben sees her task in the careful design of her environment in order to strengthen the well-being of all of us in this way. The designer is not only fascinated by the complexity of natural systems, she also wants to explore their behaviour and interactions.

TRIQ GmbH has developed "TRIQBRIQ", a patented timber construction system for which weak and damaged wood is used as a recyclable building material. The goal is climate-neutral buildings that promote a rethink in the construction industry. Managing Director Max Wörner explains the concept in an interview.

Construction is becoming increasingly complicated. It is the objective of the research buildings in Bad Aibling to demonstrate that making things more straightforward is just as much of a possibility. We spoke to architect Florian Nagler about what the above pilot program is aiming at.

Angelina Kjellén and Kalle Hellmark have presented a material experiment for mussels-based concrete, investigating its aesthetics, composition and further processing into an architecture.

The Serpentine Pavilion opened in London's Kensington Gardens recently. In an interview, Sumayya Vally, founder of the Counterspace office from Johannesburg, explains how London's migrant communities inspired her design.

The focus of Sofia Souidi's work is clearly on one of the greatest challenges of our time – it is about sustainability. In 2020, she was nominated for the German Sustainability Award for Design. As artist in residence at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research, the designer is currently working on her project "Superwood".

Professor Christoph Mäckler is not just an architect and urban planner but also the founder and director of the German Institute for Urban Architecture at Dortmund Technical University. He has decisively shaped German urban planning with pioneering projects. He explains in an interview why sustainability, diversity and aesthetics are essential for the future of European cities and he rejects the idea of car-free inner cities.

What will the hospital of tomorrow look like? We spoke to Hans Larsson and Alex Retegan from the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) on the impact of digitization, designing for robots, and developing more flexible typologies for a new architecture of healing.

Prof. Aleksandra Konopek is an industrial designer and head of the digital product design department at Essen’s Hochschule der Bildenden Künste. In interview, she talks about why knowledge of electrical engineering and programming will be essential for designers in the future and reveals her views on the current hype surrounding NFTs.

At their Jäll & Tofta studio in Berlin, designer duo Sina Gwosdzik and Jakob Dannenfeldt design home fittings and kitchens. Colors and geometric forms feature heavily in their creative output.

In the interview, the Spanish designer Max Enrich talks about his solo exhibition in Barcelona, his approach to materials and the enthusiasm for light.

David Thulstrup has collaborated with e15 to create "TORE", a family of side tables that takes a monolithic approach to design, emphasising the role of materiality and form.

Industrial designer Maria Jeglinska-Adamczewska has been running her own studio in Warsaw for almost ten years now. Alongside designing products and furniture, she works as a curator and participates in research-based design projects. She gave us an insight into her current projects in an interview.

The Neue Nationalgalerie will reopen in late August 2021 following an extensive renovation by David Chipperfield Architects. We spoke to David Chipperfield about his concept for the building and the connected search for authenticity.

Prof. Michael Braungart and American researcher William McDonough are the brains behind the “cradle-to-cradle” design principle for the circular economy. He is a member of the jury for the German Sustainability Award for Design. We talk to him about the challenges, goals and perspectives of sustainable design.

“Designing Design Education. White Book on the Future of Design Education” is the name of the latest publication from the iF Design Foundation – a reference work that raises questions on the form design education should take in future. In an interview, its author Prof. René Spitz gives us his summary.

Zurich-based gallery BALTSprojects is currently showing “Elemér Zalotay: Manic Modern”, the first exhibition on the work of Hungarian-Swiss architect Elemér Zalotay in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Curator Tibor Joanelly explained the concept to us.

Michael Anastassiades on the design of the "AA/27" fitting for Aboutwater, his form language and current projects such as for the Fondazione ICA Milano.

“Dieter Rams. Looking back and ahead” is the name of the exhibition at the museum angewandte kunst in Frankfurt, which has recently opened. Anna Moldenhauer spoke to the curator Prof. Klaus Klemp in advance of the show – the discussion focused on the concept, Dieter Rams’ approach to design, and the importance of teamwork.

Floor van Ast is the new managing partner of the Design Post Köln in Cologne, which has offered an international platform for design-related industries since 2006. She tells us in an interview which concept she would now like to use to lead it into the future.

Torsten Becker is an urban planner and chairs the Municipal Urban Planning Advisory Council. He wants to achieve a new definition of public space for Frankfurt/Main. In the interview he explains to us why he is committed to a traffic-reduced inner city and to what extent the population could profit from the concept.

The idea of car-free centers in towns and cities is being discussed throughout Europe – with opinions divided for and against the idea. What do we need for a lasting change of heart? We put the question to Dr. Philine Gaffron, who researchers and teaches at Hamburg University of Technology’s Institute of Transport Planning and Logistics.

Antonio Linares, Senior Managing Director Laufen and CNEE Division in an interview about the fascination of the bathroom, attractive markets and the importance of "Swissness".

Sustainable design – what matters now? Is the call for sustainability in design a trend or is a change in values taking place? Is the designation "sustainable" being given too lightly? We discussed these and other questions on March 18, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. on Clubhouse.

Amandus Samsøe Sattler on the urgency of sustainable architecture and current initiatives for buildings of the future.

Where are the limits to plagiarism in design? How can you recognize a design imitation? And how can designers protect their own creative work? We discussed these and other questions in a relaxed round of experts on Clubhouse.