»MateriaLab« by Florian Henschel are experiment kits on the subject of waste and recycling for children. The set offers young pupils the opportunity to carry out various recycling and waste processes themselves. The system consists of four wooden boxes: with the paper box and the plastic box, the children can recycle by themselves with special tools and create small discs from the recovered recyclables. The bioplastics experiment invites them to produce a starch-based bioplastic on their own and make another disc from it. In the biowaste experiment, the samples are finally tested for their durability with the help of worms in a two-month long-term experiment. The resulting discs serve the children as building blocks or as souvenir medals.

»In his work, Florian Henschel not only deals with one of the most relevant challenges of our time, the use of limited resources, but also addresses a target group, namely primary school children, who will soon share responsibility for the future of our planet,« said the jury's statement. Furthermore, Henschel was awarded a »support» in the form of a networking evening. Behind the format stand personalities and companies from design practice who want to give young alumni and their projects a chance to get into production. They offer traineeships, coaching and mentoring programmes.

Thus Maximilian Schatz receives one of the supports for his innovative material and construction system »Faser.Faden.Filament.« By switching to natural fibres (hemp) with completely different characteristics, this represents an elementary intervention in the classic production process with carbon or glass fibres. Elias Fahle is also supported for his orthosis »Parachno« made of a self-developed elastic 3D bead fabric, which offers an enormous range of possibilities with only two basic elements. Its plasticity can be adjusted highly individually with the help of an algorithm. As a result, it can - like a second skin - support movements in everyday training or in rehabilitation therapy.

Associated with the awards is an exhibition at the Kunstgewerbemuseum of the Staatlichen Museen Berlin, this year in a double exhibition of the classes of 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. The exhibition shows the current attitude of alumni of the best German design colleges in the field of product and industrial design - a total of over 80 positions from two years of 15 of the best German design colleges.

The bachelor's thesis »MateriaLab« was supervised by Gerrit Babtist, Professor of Design and Management, and Michael Braun, Research Associate at the Professorship Theory and History of Design. The Master's thesis »Parachno« was also supervised by Gerrit Babtist and artistic assistant Sarah Böttger. »Faser.Faden.Filament.« was created under the supervision of Prof. Gerrit Babtist, Prof. Jan Willmann, History and Theory of Design, as well as Sarah Böttger and Michael Braun. All three graduation projects were developed in the degree programme Product Design at the Faculty of Art and Design.

About German Design Graduates:
GDG is a platform that showcases, discusses and supports design approaches by graduates from German universities. The initiative was launched in 2019 by design professors from German art colleges. The GDG's »Graduates Platform« makes visible online the diverse forms that design takes. At the same time, GDG organises an annual exhibition with a selection of current graduation projects for an open and professional audience. In addition, GDG brings design alumni together with representatives from culture and industry who select young designers for individual mentoring and coaching programmes.
Further information on the GDG can be found at https://germandesigngraduates.com.

Information about the Hans Sauer Stiftung can be found at: www.hanssauerstiftung.de

Exhibition »German Design Graduates«
Duration:
9 to 31 October 2021

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Location:
National Museums in Berlin
Museum of Decorative Arts
Matthäikirchplatz
10785 Berlin

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Romy Weinhold, Press and Public Relations Officer at the Faculty of Art and Design, by telephone on +49 / 36 43 / 58 11 86 or by e-mail to romy.weinhold[at]uni-weimar.de.