Jury

Werner Aisslinger founded studio aisslinger in 1993 in Berlin. The studio has a focus on experimental design, product design, material innovations and architectural concepts. As a designer, he is particularly interested in the use of new technologies and unusual materials. His Juli Chair was the first item of furniture to use a new type of polyurethane integral foam, and became the first German chair since 1964 to be selected as a permanent exhibit at the MoMA in New York. His nomadic architecture modules such as the Loftcube are considered pioneering in the new urban lifestyle. His first major exhibition took place in 2013 at the Museum Haus am Waldsee in Berlin under the title of Home of the Future. His House of Wonders exhibition opened in 2016 in the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, and focuses on such issues as sustainability, upcycling, material innovations and indoor farming.

Following her studies, Prof. Anna Berkenbusch worked for three years at MetaDesign in Berlin and London. From 1982, she was managing partner of the communication agency Denk Neu! Gesellschaft für Kommunikation, before founding Anna B. Design Berlin in 1987. From 1989 she taught communication design and typography at various universities and from 2003 to 2020 she was Professor of Communication Design at Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle. Anna Berkenbusch is a member of the art advisory council of the Federal Ministry of Finance postage stamps division, a member of the Type Directors Club of NY, and has served on numerous expert juries such as the Wilhelm Braun-Feldweg Prize for Design Critical Texts. She is also on the board of the association ‘100 Best Posters of the Year – Germany Austria Switzerland’. She gives lectures both nationally and internationally, and publishes on topics of verbal and visual communication. Her works have been the recipient of numerous national and international awards.

The biologist Andreas Detzel has been active at the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg (IFEU) since 1995. In 2014, he was appointed one of the three directors of the Institute. His national as well as international consulting and research activities include work for public and private clients. He deals with questions in the fields of environmental assessment of packaging and packaging materials, foods and beverages, methods and systems for life cycle assessments, and the formulation of carbon footprints at companies.

Prof. Matthias Held studied product design at the Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd University of Applied Sciences (HfG) and received a master’s degree as a Fulbright scholar from the Pratt Institute in New York. He is co-founder of the quintessence design office in Stuttgart and was appointed professor at the HfG in 2006. There, he contributed to the establishment of the Institute for Applied Research, where he carried out research projects in the field of sustainability, renewable energy and medical technology, among others. He is also engaged in the German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF).

Günter Horntrich served as Professor of Ecology and Design at Köln International School of Design (KISD) until 2013. He is founder and managing director of the yellow design | yellow lab GmbH & Co KG in Cologne and partner at yellow design GmbH in Pforzheim, recipient of numerous international design awards, as well as partner in the yellow too network in Berlin. He is a jury member and chairman of a number of international design competitions. Prof. em. Günter Horntrich lives and works in Cologne.

Prof. Dr. Claudia Perren has been Director of the FHNW Academy of Art and Design since August 2020. From 2014 to 2020, she was director of the Bauhaus Dessau Foundation. Before that she taught design, curatorial practice, history and theory of architecture and art at the University of Sydney in the department of architecture, design and urban planning. Results of her research, teaching and curatorial activities have been published in numerous publications and exhibitions worldwide.

Bettina Rechenberg is the head of Division III “Sustainable Products and Production, Circular Economy” at the German Environment Agency (UBA). The biologist has worked at the UBA since 1992, initially in the areas of water protection and chemical safety, as well as in sustainable production, resource conservation and material cycles. Since 2015, Rechenberg has headed Division III, which analyses the environmental impacts of such activities as the extraction of raw materials, industrial production and usage, and the recycling and disposal of products, and seeks practical, environmentally compatible and resource-saving solutions.

Rita Schwarzelühr-Sutter is Parliamentary State Secretary at the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety since 2013. Until 2005, the graduate business economist was active in the areas of consulting and communication. She became a member of the German Bundestag in 2005. Since 2014, she is the chair of the board of trustees of the German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) as well as chair of the supervisory board of the Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS).

Prof. Friederike von Wedel-Parlow is a designer. In late 2016, she founded the ‘Beneficial Design Institute’, which combines theory and practice and works in collaboration with partners from industry and science. The Institute aims to place quality, beauty and innovation at the centre of creativity, towards cultural change with positive effects for society, the environment and economic behaviour. After many years of experience as an entrepreneur with her own fashion label and as an assistant in the Westwood professorship of the Berlin University of the Arts, she played a significant role in the founding of the ‘Sustainability in Fashion’ master’s program at Esmod Berlin International University of Art for Fashion. She headed the program for five years as a Professor of Sustainable Design Strategies. Among other roles, she is active as an expert at ‘Fashion for Good’ in Amsterdam and as a mentor at ‘Swiss Cultural Entrepreneurship’.