With my colleague Prof. Katja Thoring and some of the students of her “scientific publishing” class at the MAID program in Dessau we attended the conference at HBK Hamburg. One of my favourite talks was by Florian A. Schmidt, a former fellow student and co-contributor in our publication from 2010 “critical mass”. Not only because we are friends but because he was able to take the auditorium along in his narrative about the maker culture and the crowds, his talk left me with lively images and ideas. Equally rich was the journey by Florian Walzer through the development of the greek term “banaus” to the current understanding of a maker or crafts person. The greatest discovery for my own interest was Prof. Heidrun Allert from Kiel who was talking about pedagogy and design from a perspective of philosophy. She explained the definition of “double loop learning” and stuck in my mind with the sentence: to find oneself useful through making. There were plenty more talks from especially social science specialists that for my taste were a bit too abstract in the context of the theme, yet they all delivered very important statements and insights. Great conference with lots of learnings!

>> program Politik der Maker

After the recommendation by Prof. Dieter Raffler back last summer to read the book “think yourself – instructions to oppositions” by Harald Welzer I was grateful to have finally found a public figure who speaks the truth about the failure of our system, the need for each single person to start and get our hands dirty and especially to become active opposers of obvious manipulation that only serves the profit of the few while destroying our environment and resources. And so of course, I had to go and see him in person in the old library at UdK. Welzer is a very smart and eloquent social scientist who knows how to lead (and win) a discussion. However, the victory went to one student who pointed out that while we all sit here and talk about sustainability, why do we need to have all the light bulbs turned on in the room, this said, he turned half of the light off and earned a big applause. I highly recommend to read this book and spread the word. My students in Dessau were very inspired as well.

>> Prof. Dr. Welzer at Futurzwei

With a couple of students from my “Hybrids & Identity” class and a group of students who took the class “Misfits” by Prof. Katja Thoring, we headed off to the Dutch Designweek over the weekend. It was my first time and I was very inspired by the open and critical approaches we encountered, I have always been a big fan of Droog and the Eindhoven was full with this spirit. My favorite designs were material and color experiments, one researched the reaction of oak and iron, a material connection carpenters should avoid because the acid of the oak reacts with the iron and creates stains. Here it was used to create beautiful patterns and leave color traces on purpose. The other project was working with the intense red color of beetroot. Porcelain vessels were put into the colored liquid and soaked in the red color. Very unique and beautiful. One of the “Misfits”-participants took this inspiration and created a beautiful recycle project.

>> tannic acid by Steven Banken

On the first sundays of November and December I will sell the BLINKbags at makers market in Prenzlauer Berg. These bags are made of neon yellow cotton. A stylish form of protection while riding your bike. Messenger bags are good for books and laptops, while the Shopper model packs in a week worth of groceries. Come around!

>> makers market
>> order online

Since winter semester 2013 I am instructing the students of the industrial design department how to work with Rhinoceros.