Hidden Carbon

Projects MA PRODUCT DESIGN

Hidden Carbon

Research project (2010)

This project is a manifesto initiated by the EPFL+ECAL Lab to go beyond the high tech look of carbon so as to explore its full potential.

Two major design schools, ECAL/University of art and design Lausanne in Switzerland, and Ensci-Les Ateliers in Paris, have risen to the challenge. Carbon fibre composites are gradually entering our daily life thanks to their exceptional mechanical properties – incredibly tough but extremely lightweight. Used in numerous high-end sports applications, this material has become a high tech icon – to such an extent that one often forgets its main advantage: to make uniquely light shapes and uses possible, with astonishing thermal, sound or electrical performances.

The objective of the Hidden Carbon project is to rediscover the relevance of carbon fibre by investigating original object typologies and uses based on its special mechanical properties. Under the leadership of Jean-François Dingjian for ENSCI-Les Ateliers and Alexis Georgacopoulos for ECAL, the EPFL+ECAL Lab brought together thirty students on this project, in cooperation with world-leading carbon experts – the Décision shipyard and the Laboratory of Polymer and Composite Technology of the Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL).


Transfert ECAL/Claire Baudrimont
Transfert  ECAL/Claire Baudrimont
Transfert ECAL/Claire Baudrimont
Transfert  ECAL/Claire Baudrimont
Filiforme ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy
Filiforme  ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy
Filiforme ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy
Filiforme  ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy
Filiforme ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy
Filiforme  ECAL/Raphaëlle Bonamy

1/5
Links ECAL/Hugo Bartoli
Links  ECAL/Hugo Bartoli
Links ECAL/Hugo Bartoli
Links  ECAL/Hugo Bartoli
Links ECAL/Hugo Bartoli
Links  ECAL/Hugo Bartoli

1/3
Pop-up Table Brynjar Sigurdarson
Pop-up Table  Brynjar Sigurdarson
Pop-up Table Brynjar Sigurdarson
Pop-up Table  Brynjar Sigurdarson
Pop-up Table Brynjar Sigurdarson
Pop-up Table  Brynjar Sigurdarson

1/3

Projets similaires
See more projects

ECAL AT THE FESTIVAL DES CABANES, VILLA MÉDICIS, ROME

MA PRODUCT DESIGN

ECAL AT THE FESTIVAL DES CABANES, VILLA MÉDICIS, ROME

with Camille Blin

  For the 2026 Festival des Cabanes at the Villa Medici in Rome, students from the Master in Product Design were invited to develop a project related to the Villa's garden, in collaboration with the renowned Italian ceramics manufacturer Mutina. The Villa's gardens offer a rich historical and spatial context, conducive to exploring aesthetics, function, and interaction with visitors. Students had access to the entire Mutina catalogue (tiles, bricks, and other materials) to build their installations. The project was selected and mentored by the French designer Ronan Bouroullec, ECAL, Villa Medici and Mutina.  
ECAL X GOOGLE - A Message From Tomorrow

MA PRODUCT DESIGN

ECAL X GOOGLE - A Message From Tomorrow

with Chris Kabel

The Industrial Design team at Google (Google ID) initiated a collaboration with ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne to develop a concept for a mobile-focused product inspired by a daily ritual. ECAL’s Master Product Design students were invited to envision innovative hardware engaging with contemporary habits. Through compelling storytelling, these conceptual projects consider the human dimension of mobile technology: how it shapes everyday gestures and how our relationships with devices might evolve in the future. This collaboration reflects ECAL’s forward-looking approach to design, combining experimentation, critical thinking, and a strong receptivity to emerging technologies.
Adam Friedrich – Airy

MA PRODUCT DESIGN

Adam Friedrich – Airy

by Adam Friedrich

Airy is a research project that explores the use of air as a primary resource. It uses inflatable structures to protect valuable devices during travel. The design employs contemporary materials and pays particular attention to detail to offer relevant, everyday solutions for safeguarding increasingly fragile and valuable electronic devices.
Alicia Stricker – Stricker

MA PRODUCT DESIGN

Alicia Stricker – Stricker

by Alicia Stricker

Folly approaches the craft of beaded embroidery from a product design perspective. It explores the value of tactility above the visual aspects that the technique is traditionally valued for. Consequently, the project manifested as something that is experienced by the body - a sofa. Scaling up the traditionally small beads and applying principles of beaded embroidery in the development of a textile sofa cover allowed for the sofa to transcend its classic typology, creating a three-dimensional surface with a biological sculptural presence - an object that breaks the mould of what we expect of something as familiar as a sofa and begs to be experienced through touch.
Brice Tempier – Péninsule

MA PRODUCT DESIGN

Brice Tempier – Péninsule

by Brice Tempier

  In a context where domestic space is being reduced and reconfigured, living sometimes becomes a temporary act. Places are passed through rather than settled in, and the question is no longer so much one of layout as of presence. Inspired by the archetype of the mezzanine, Péninsule takes the form of a mobile structure the size of a bed. Set within a room, it acts as a habitable frame, delimited without being enclosed, introducing domestic depth where there was previously only an available surface. Conceived as a place of rest, retreat, and appropriation, it combines a bed, a daybed, and a folding desk, as well as mobile elements such as shelves, hooks, and curtains, modulating light, movement, and presence. Without offering formal modularity, the object provides an open support for everyday uses and movements. Péninsule is thus defined less by what it can be transformed into than by the way it is used.  

Related courses
See all courses

MA PRODUCT DESIGN
Nous utilisons des cookies pour collecter des informations sur la manière dont vous utilisez ecal.ch.
Nous utilisons ces informations pour faire fonctionner le site web au mieux et améliorer nos services.