Interviews

Prof. Karl Leo is a semiconductor physicist and conducts research on highly efficient OLED displays with his team at the Technical University of Dresden. He explains his research and the status quo of OLED technology to us in an interview.

Studio Drift designs fantastic works that use complex structures, kinetics, and light to illustrate the relationships between nature, humans and technology and to question our constructed world. In the interview, Lonneke Gordijn tells us why emotions play a crucial role in communication for the duo.

"The 8 X Jeff Koons," a limited-edition interpretation of the "M850i xDrive Gran Coupé," is the result of a collaboration between Jeff Koons and BMW. We spoke with BMW designer Corona Döring and press spokesman Steven Wörns about the artistic intention for the car.

NKBAK's architecture follows no particular design idiom, but instead develops what already exists on site. We spoke with Nicole Kerstin Berganski and Andreas Krawczyk about Frankfurt am Main, respect for historical layers, and the influence Japanese architecture has had on them.

From March 26, 2022 Vitra Design Museum in Weil/Rhein is presenting the exhibition “Plastic. Remaking Our World”. In the following interview head curator Dr. Jochen Eisenbrand tells us whether plastic can ever be sustainable and what surprised him during his research.

The exhibition “The Circle. The most iconic shape redesigned” recently opened at Museum für Angewandte Kunst in Cologne (MAKK). The curator is Wendy Plomp, founder of Dutch design collective Dutch Invertuals. In this interview, she explains the concept to us.

Child Studio, based in London, creates stage-ready interior design that perfects the balance between nostalgia and the contemporary. Their philosophy you can read about in our interview.

Inga Sempé is known for her delicate and playful designs. She tells us how diverse her portfolio is and what she has planned for this year.

Seven new subway stations in Karlsruhe were completed in December 2021. The lighting concept for them was created by Ingo Maurer, whose design forms an exciting combination with the restrained architecture.

Helge Barthelmes is the founder of the planning cooperative plan-up and develops new models for corporate workspace design with his team. In our interview, he tells us about the status quo of New Work.

A company by the name of MultiCON has come up with a way of processing desert and fine sands to make concrete. The relevant end product is apparently of a high quality and ecologically sound. How on earth can this be the case? We put a few questions to Dr. Leopold Halser, CEO of Multicon.

Four new skyscrapers are under construction in Frankfurt. These will make up the FOUR, a new high-rise quarter in the city. As well as offering space for hotels, bars, restaurants, and offices, these towers are set to accommodate 600 apartments of differing sizes, some of them reserved for subsidized housing. Groß & Partner CEO José Martínez explains the concept to us.

Bartenbach GmbH has been developing solutions in the daylight and artificial lighting sector for decades. We spoke with Wilfried Pohl, Director Research at Bartenbach, about the company's holistic approach.

The starry sky in Berlin's new Museum Island underground station is dotted with 6662 point-sources of light. We spoke to the Max Dudler's office about the history of the structure and the lighting concept behind it.

After analyzing the portfolio of the luminaire manufacturer Studio Italia Design, multidisciplinary designer Luca Nichetto is now repositioning it as Lodes and adapting his own creations.

Stefan Diez and Vibia presented the prototype for their flexible "Plusminus" lighting collection at the Salone del Mobile back in 2019: By combining a textile strip and various lighting fixtures, any room can be individually illuminated. The revolutionary system has now been finalized. Stefan Diez gives us a greater idea in an interview.

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.