Wieki
Somers

Enseignements

DNA

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

DNA

with Wieki Somers

Second year BA Industrial Design students had to formulate their own brief instead of getting one from their teachers. In the project's introduction, they were assigned the task of introspectively mapping their own design DNA by contemplating the question: What defines my essence as a designer? They introduced a clear brief related to their own fascinations and relevant topics in the field of design and in the time we live in. Then thes students developed a concept for a product from an original idea and artistic vision. The results are expressed in the form of  products, pieces of furnitures, accessories, proposing a new vision and a new way of producing. The areas of interest are diverse, spacing from open-source projects to process fascination.

Home Working

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Home Working

with Dylan van den Berg, Wieki Somers

Projects on the subject of working from home or remote working, which marks our time and leads us to question both what work is, and how and where we work. The recent remote working experience gave us many new insights. This experience could lead to new ways of working in the future, as the COVID19 pandemic amplifies and accelerates. This is a good opportunity to re-evaluate the concept of home office, which started with the emerging computization and technology from the 1950/60s, but has never happened on a global scale like this until now. From the Industrial Revolution until fairly recently, most people worked outside their homes in factories, offices, public buildings or outdoors. Those places and our ways of working in them were designed accordingly. “Home working” or “remote working” marks our time questioning both what is work, and how and where we work. Public and private spaces collapse into one realm with all its social, economical and political consequences. For this project, we wanted to see visionary ideas about where and how we will work in the future and solutions for home working, translated in a surprising/relevant design. This new “home work station” could be a piece of furniture, or an object, or a transforming space.

Lausanne Jardins 2019

PRODUCT DESIGN

Lausanne Jardins 2019

with Wieki Somers

From 15 June to 12 October at Lausanne Jardins 2019, discover some thirty gardens, including three projects created by ECAL Product Design Master students following a workshop with the Dutch designer Wieki Somers . The three projects presented on the Terrasse de Bellefontaine are: Le Point (Timothée Mion, Fabien Roy, Leonardo Vianello):  Perched atop the roof of a car park above the level of the street, The Bellefontaine terrace is inconspicuous and little-used. To attract the attention and incite passers-by to discover this hidden garden, a sail unfolds every time the car park’s air vent is activated, like a landmark up in the sky. The blast that comes from the bowels of the earth propels the piece of fabric that twirls around in the wind. Air is the invisible link between all the layers of this place and Le Point makes it visible. The Nocturnal Garden (Jeffery Lambert, Lorenz Noelle, Mathilde Lafaille):  Sculptures during the day, stage directors at night: a series of lampshades bring the Bellefontaine terrace to life as night falls. They transform the park, diverting the rays of existing lights onto natural elements for a new experience of the garden. Each reflector creates little scenes with a dramatic interplay between light and nature that varies according to the wind and the rain. Entrance (Samuel Lodetti, Benjamin Bichsel, Jingxiang Zhang):  There is something fascinating about gazing into water. Through the transparency of this element, hidden worlds appear and one can get lost in their infinity. Entrance plays on this fascination. Thanks to an optical effect, the park is connected to the various levels of the car park. The small fountain transforms into a bottomless abyss of stratified storeys, and visitors are invited to dive into this endless world. https://lausannejardins.ch/en/