Masterstudio Design

“What makes the Masterstudio Design (Institute Contemporary Design Practices) at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW so special is the interaction between the three studios, Industrial Design, Scenography and Fashion Design. While each studio has a strong disciplinary focus, collaboration and exchange between the three disciplines is an essential part of the programme. Students also get the opportunity to complete their MA thesis as a team, which promotes a reality-based approach to work.

The Masterstudio Design is internationally oriented, students from all over the world meet with us in Basel. This diverse background influences and broadens the understanding of design and enables students to develop new perspectives and attitudes in design. Our students’ research and projects address current issues related to global crises, climate change, and social inequality. Sustainability and ecology, inclusion and technology, interaction and materiality are the fields in which the role of design is questioned and new visions for human coexistence and economy are defined. We encourage a high degree of independence, but also recognize the need for continuous exchange between students and experts. We as lecturers, experts, as well as students are always encouraged and striving to challenge normative standards, break binary thinking and create an inclusive space.

We always experience a strong desire for individuality as well as togetherness from our students, which is strongly reflected in their projects. We also always strive to ensure that students, experts and lecturers can meet at eye level and thus with their projects become an important part of the design culture and future making.

The Masterstudio Design is very well networked with economic partners. On the one hand, this enables cooperation with companies in order to check design in reality, on the other hand, it gives students the opportunity to take the first steps into their future and to implement their own projects with partners.

The collective language is English, but in the studio you will hear many other languages. This diversity is part of the culture of the Masterstudio Design.” —Prof. Nicole Schneider, Head of Masterstudio Design, Institute Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP), Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW

Studying at the Masterstudio Design
The Masterstudio Design at the Institute Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP) is composed of three studios: Masterstudio Industrial Design, Masterstudio Scenography, Masterstudio Fashion Design. Each studio has a disciplinary focus. In addition, the research discourse of the ICDP focuses on Digital Integration, Design Cultures and Circular Design and is reflected and communicated multidimensionally.

The application deadline is March 15, 2023, with the MA programme beginning in September 2023.

Masterstudio Fashion Design
The advanced degree programme founds on the holistic concept of “Doing Fashion”. Here fashion is understood as a cultural design practice that critically reflects on social change and drives it in a responsible and sustainable manner. “Doing Fashion” means engaging with this practice – in a radically different way and based on a viable vision of design and a conceptual footing in the contemporary fashion scene. Different forms of implicit knowledge acquired through design experimentation, the acquisition of craft techniques, and bodywork are fundamental to this holistic approach to fashion design. Based on a sound understanding of “knowledge of making” and “embodied knowledge”, it is not only the standard tailor’s bust but the whole person and the perception of each individual body that become the canvas of a design vision. The offer is aimed at textile and fashion designers who wish to enhance their position in the fashion world and to extend their network internationally. Additional information and application.

Masterstudio Industrial Design
The Masterstudio Industrial Design provides a high-level, individualised, professional and research-oriented qualification on the basis of “advanced design”. The programme enables the students to methodically and creatively hone their own individual forward-looking approach to design. Product design and project work are embedded in our international network, taking place in close cooperation with selected experts affiliated with the ICDP. The Masterstudio Industrial Design programme focuses on three main contemporary research areas: Digital Integration, Design Cultures and Circular Design. The discourses surrounding global crises such as climate change or social inequality provide the basis for concrete research questions on and design solutions for sustainability and ecology, future planning and technology, interaction and materiality.  Rather than adhering to the entrepreneurial dynamic of maximisation, we take the idea of a collaborative, systemic, inclusive and sustainable economy as our starting point. Additional information and application.

Masterstudio Scenography
In the Masterstudio Scenography programme, students advance their skills of translating complex contents into walk-in spatial images and to inject narrative quality into staged spaces. Alongside getting to know the tools and methods of designing staged spaces, the students are given the opportunity to work on hands-on projects together with renowned experts. The aim of the Mastserstudio Scenography is to teach students in their role as independent designers how to assume progressive positions in the context of scenography. Relevance in the sense of “social scenography”, the efficient use of the means at hand, and the application of state-of-the-art production techniques constitute the framework of this kind of project-based, research work. The offer is aimed at interior designers, architects, set designers and designers in general who wish to advance their skills in creating dense spatial narratives and to explore new application opportunities and spheres of activity in the field of scenography. Additional information and application.

Visit the virtual campus of the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW.

Get to know all the Master programmes of Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW: Digital Communication Environments, Fine Arts, Masterstudio Experimental Design, Masterstudio Fashion Design, Masterstudio Industrial Design, Masterstudio Scenography, Arts and Design Education (Teaching Diploma for Secondary Schools).

About studying at Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW
The Basel Academy of Art and Design is linked with other universities and academies, in Switzerland and abroad. Ties with renowned schools and universities in Europe, the United States, and Asia provide an opportunity to study your subject from a different viewpoint and against a new cultural background. At the same time, the Academy welcomes candidates from other Swiss universities and from abroad to study in Basel. You will find more information here.