Joel Hügli presented the “ECOMADE – Ecological Mattress Design” mattress as part of his master’s thesis at HSLU 2022. He completely rethought its materials and manufacturing processes and developed a mattress that is based on the fundamentals of the circular economy. His work represents an important contribution to reducing the waste that this product causes in Switzerland allone, as up to 1 million mattresses are disposed of in this country every year.

Céline Arnould uses human hair, which she transforms into a kind of felt in an elaborate process, as the starting point for her experimental ceramic collection. In an elaborate and investigavite process, she combined felt and ceramic casting slip. The result was objects in which the hair, with its ability to bind moisture to itself, served as the basic framework in the shaping process. The hair burnt out in the oven, leaving imprints or impressions of what once was.

«Ménage a Six» is a series of weavings made from recycled cotton. Estelle Bourdet uses old bed sheets and thick cotton threads for this, which she wove as a set or individually. In weaving, several fabrics that come from the same warp are called a warp family. This terminology inspired Estelle Bourdet’s title, the components of the carpets became the warp family, living in the same house, sharing the household under the same roof, in French «le ménage».

In 2021, action days took place on the Münsterhof in Zurich as part of a public installation to mark “50 years of women’s voting rights in Switzerland”. Organised and implemented by the association “créatrices.ch”. The jubilee celebrated, discussed and honoured the achievements of women in architecture, environmental and life design.

“tilt” is a refillable stainless steel water bottle made in Switzerland. Its sculptural shape derives from the slanted spout, which allows refilling under any tap or fountain where other bottles would otherwise not fit.

From 19 to 28 November 2021, despite the pandemic circumstances, the 13th edition of the Design Days took place in Geneva. On a design parcours through the city, more than 50 designers, up-and-coming talents and labels presented their projects and installations at 24 locations. After the Corona crisis, it was one of the first events in Swiss design, so it was particularly worthy of support.

The designers Martin Schenk and Alexandre Willaume present their lamp series under the title «re:frame». Inspired by window frames, the two rethought the relationship between inside and outside, between frame and framed.

«Voir Floue» by Helge Brackmann is an exploration of the interplay between light, coloured glass and the process of glass blowing. The special feature, the colour gradient in the gas body, can only be seen when the luminaire is switched on.

The team from the Laboratoire d’Architecture designed the Swiss Pavilion at the Architecture Biennale with «oræ – Experiences on the Border». They explored the border as a space. On the occasion of two «Tour de Suisse», they produced models of their border living space in participatory processes with residents on the border.

Together with the textile designer Alja Wullschleger, Veronika Kisling processes the designs of people with a mental disability into home textiles. Due to the great demand, she expanded the collection with various shower curtains.

Renaud Defrancesco realised the project “Les Vases Flottants” together with the porcelain artist Sylvie Godel in 2020. The vase series combines ceramics and glass to create a play of shapes and surfaces because porcelain is enamelled and the glass is frosted by sandblasting.

During a six-month stay in the Argentinean province of Catamarca, Louisa Carmona learned the textile craft and the typical processing of wool into panchos at the Arañitas Hilanderas cooperative.

The «Rapid Chair» by Anne Heck is an intelligent seating solution. Designed as a flat-pack for optimised distribution models, the chair offers a high degree of comfort and stability.

The designer duo Panter&Tourron pursued two central goals when developing the TENSE Lounge Chair: On the one hand, the chair should fit a neo-nomadic lifestyle and thus guarantee tool-free assembly and disassembly and easy transport. On the other hand, it had to be manufactured as sustainably as possible thanks to the economical use of materials and resources, taking into account criteria of the circular economy as well as having a low weight and transport volume.

Shizuka Saito’s interest is in materials and the potential hidden in them. She explains her explorative desire for constructive details with her Japanese roots – and the influence of the philosophy of Wabi-Sabi. In 2019, she created a coat rack made of perforated sheeting under the name “Valet”. This was her response to the task set by a gallery to submit a free project on the theme of “folding”. She chose a perforated sheet as the starting point of her search to give new shape to this underestimated material with a few technical interventions.

The «2nd International Interior Design Symposium» held by the Interior Design programme at HSLU in 2019 took up the question of what consequences and opportunities the dissolution of boundaries between public and private spaces, between the inside and the outside, has for interior design.

The «Parallel Seating System» by Salim Douma and Victor Guittet is a modular seating system, formulated as a versatile bench system with additional elements that enable different uses.

The Design Days, the unique platform in Western Switzerland for the exchange of contemporary design, offered an extensive programme in 2016. Projects by young ECAL students, furniture by up-and-coming labels, lighting and accessories in prototypes, limited editions or series designs were exhibited.

Laure Gremion developed an outdoor lantern as part of the “Flat, Fold, Bend” project at Galerie NOV. Rolled into a cylinder, light emerges from the cut patterns in the sheet metal.

As a professional meeting for scenography, HELGA is a platform for encounters, exchange and inspiration around the topic of spatial communication. In 2019, young talents were also invited on stage for the first time.