BA Jewellery + MA Design & Future Making

BA Jewellery

We understand jewellery as the dynamic relationship between material, form, body and space. We explore the intersections of material development, evolving definitions of craftsmanship, old and new traditions and disrupt presumptive rules, resulting in works that engage and push the boundaries of preconceived notions. Vivian Manzardo‘s A Matter of Nipples conveys how social mores, many hypocritical, differentiate how we treat a physical attribute common to all genders and thus deny it‘s importance in giving essential sustenance and life. In Carnal Desire, Cécile Garcia explores the fascination of corporeal lushness and plays with our emotions from attraction to disgust. Pforzheim Revisited Berlin, in collaboration with C. Hafner Precious Metal Techonology and the German Museum of Technology in Berlin, is part of the cultural project »Manufactory Production and Design of Jewellery«, registered by the German UNESCO commission as an example of Good Safeguarding Practices of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Alumni working with »old masters« and traditional Pforzheim jewellery manufacturing machines develop a wide array of new and contemporary forms of jewellery and objects.

MA Design & Future Making

The critical context of systems of culture, society, industry and environment is our playing field. Investigating meaningfulness and exploring questions, perceptions and ideas in a practical design environment, we experiment at the intersections of analog and digital making, virtuality and materiality, artistic and practice-based research processes. We question existing techniques, processes and methods and explore what „making“ means in the context of possible „futures“. Experimenting with recursion techniques in scanning and printing, Aylin Maus blurs the lines between analog and digital. Proposing the scavenger as an essential factor in circular sustainability, Bo Zhang‘s research and jewellery touch us viscerally. Elisabeth Klug‘s experimentation with carbon illuminates new facets to a misunderstood material, while Miriam Neukam seeks to reduce misunderstandings and encourage the constructive exchange of viewpoints in communities. In Sonja Keppler‘s sculptures the human and non-human collaborate in search of new approaches to form and aesthetics. And with »Inaninanimate«, Xiaomung Zhang explores the animate qualities of crafted objects and their role in our connection to them.