Vietnamese objects: The material culture of resilience in the face of (de)colonisation

with Quang Vinh Nguyen, Cynthia Ammann, Chi-Long Trieu

Cà phê (coffee), atisô (artichoke), xi nê ma (cinema), căng tin (canteen) or xi-măng (cement): in the Vietnamese language, many words bear the imprint of a French origin. And what if the same were true of everyday objects? Somewhere between cultural anthropology, the epistemology of Vietnamese design and the sociology of objects, this research project analyses the production of objects in Vietnam in the light of French colonisation and decolonisation.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Wonderbread

with Francesca Sarti

Within the Wonderbread workshop led by Francesca Sarti, food designer and founder of Arabeschi di Latte, BA Industrial Design students explored history, traditions, rituals, and recipes related to bread, in order to imagine new unique signature bread.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Filiforme – 2025

with Tomas Kral

In this project, first-year students were invited to design an object using wire as their main creative material. The aim was to explore the expressive and structural potential of this linear and flexible medium, while developing a personal and innovative approach. Bending, twisting, braiding or welding the wire became a way to experiment with form, balance, and lightness, and to rethink the function of the object through the limitations of the material.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

TRANSPORTER

with Elric Petit

This project explores the broad theme of transport. Since the dawn of time, our strength and energy have been limited — which is why we’ve always been inventive in finding ways to move the things around us. First-year students were asked to design an object that intelligently and comfortably moves or transports the elements they chose.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Bag It

with Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard

For this project, the 1st year BA Industrial Design students had to design a bag, or a collection of bags.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Hands On

with Adrien Rovero

The 1st year BA Industrial Design was invited by the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich to design wooden toys that were exhibited as part of the retrospective exhibition 'Willy Guhl: thinking with your hands'.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Molds

with Elric Petit

The aim of this project was to approach industrial casting techniques through a playful, experimental laboratory. The students produced objects in plaster, which did not necessarily have to have a function. However, they must be technically interesting, i.e. their molds must be simple to produce, and the molded parts must feature singular characteristics inherent in the molding process. The molds (free materials), together with the plaster castings, were shown for evaluation in the form of a group exhibition.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Diplomas

with Chris Kabel, Elric Petit, Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard

Bachelor Industrial Design diploma's projects, 2019

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Platform 10

with Michel Charlot

Platform10 is the transformation of a railway and industrial site to a new district entirely dedicated to to culture. The space, some 22,000 square meters, hosts three recognized cultural institutions: the Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts, the Museum of the Elysée and the Museum of design and contemporary applied arts, to a few steps from the station, in the centre of Lausanne . In order to complete this major transformation, Platform 10 launched a competition (by invitation) , in which the 2nd year students took part to design coherent propositions of outdoor (urban) furniture for this new public space.

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Square Circle Triangle

with Stéphane Halmaï-Voisard

With the starting point of Il quadrato, Il cerchio, et Il triangolo by the designer and artist Bruno Munari, the students were asked to think about a family of three objects around a square, a circle and a triangle.