German Design Links

Training Opportunities

  • Design Report This magazine’s website offers an online search function for design colleges and academies as well as job offers and job-wanted ads.
  • designlinks.de A detailed online directory of German universities with information on their training focus; listed according to Bundesländer. It also offers a link list on the theme of design.

Events, Festivals and Trade Fairs

Trade Journals and Magazines

Institutions

Museums

  • Baden State Museum (Museum at the Market Square), Karlsruhe Applied arts from 1900 to the present on 1,600 m² of exhibition space, an important Art Nouveau collection.
  • Bauhaus Dessau ( Bauhaus Dessau Foundation), Dessau The history of and works by the Bauhaus artists are presented in Walter Gropius’ Bauhaus Academy. The Masters’ Houses are nearby. Part of UNESCO’s World Cultural heritage since 1996.
  • Bauhaus Museum (Foundation of Weimar Classics), Weimar The Bauhaus Museum has one of the world’s largest Bauhaus collections, displays about 500 representative works, and provides insights into the art and development of art schools in Weimar from 1919–1925.
  • Bauhaus Archive, Museum of Design, Berlin History and influence of the Bauhaus (1913–1933). An important school of 20th century architecture, design and art. A comprehensive collection documenting the school’s history and all aspects of its work.
  • BMW Museum, Munich The firm’s museum offers insights into the history and process of BMW design, among other things.
  • BraunCollection, Kronberg The Braun GmbH’s collection in Kronberg, Taunus, conveys the history of this manufacturer of electric household appliances with respect to technology and design in a permanent exhibition. Alternating exhibitions illustrate individual aspects.
  • Bröhan Museum, State Museum, Berlin Internationally oriented museum specialising in the epoch of Art Nouveau, Art Déco and Functionalism (1889–1939).
  • Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich Internationally oriented covering the period from 1900 to the present. With over 70,000 objects from the areas of industrial design, graphics design, photography and arts and crafts, Die Neue Sammlung – The International Design Museum Munich is one of the world’s leading museums of 20th century applied art. Permanent and temporary exhibitions in the Pinakothek der Moderne (i.e. museum of modern art) in Munich, in the Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design (i.e new museum – state museum of art and design) – in Nuremberg as well as in Weiden.
  • Dornier Museum, Friedrichshafen The museum, opened in summer 2009, is devoted to the history of the former family-owned and -run Dornier enterprise and aeronautics. Models of the famous Dornier airplanes offer insights into the development stages of airplane construction and design.
  • Germanic National Museum (Germanisches Nationalmuseum), Nuremberg Important collections in the areas of textiles, jewellery, advertising and design. Focus on the Middle Ages.
  • Kragstuhlmuseum/TECTA-Archives, Lauenförde The Kragstuhl Collection of the furniture company Tecta, located in Lower Saxony, documents the development of the “chair with no back legs” to its final form as the “free-swinging” chair.
  • Museum of Decorative Arts, Berlin The museum offers an important collection of European applied arts and has two locations: the Cultural Forum and Castle Köpenick. It presents the applied arts from the Middle Ages to the present.
  • Museum of Decorative Arts, (Dresden State Art Collections), Dresden History of arts and crafts up to and including modern industrial design. Specialising in: Dresden Art Nouveau, machine-made furniture by the German workshops of Hellerau.
  • MARTa Herford MARTa Herford is a forum for young and contemporary creative work which seeks to investigate the close and complex relationships between art, design, architecture and industry. The collection, under development since 2001, makes reference to the museum’s special orientation.
  • Mercedes-Benz Museum, Stuttgart The company museum offers insights into the history of Mercedes-Benz automobile development and design on the basis of personal, racing and record-breaker cars. Alternating exhibitions offer in-depth treatments of this history.
  • Miele Museum, Gütersloh The museum of the household appliance manufacturer Miele presents the history of the company and its products within the context of overall developments in society.
  • August Kestner Museum, Hannover With its own department of design, this museum presents objects of formal and ceremonial usage from Europe as a whole from the Middle Ages to the present.
  • Museum of Things (Museum der Dinge), Werkbund Archive, Berlin This museum – with its core “Archive of the German Werkbund” – presents the results of German industrial mass production.
  • Museum of Applied Arts (Museum für Angewandte Kunst), Frankfurt am Main With over 30,000 exhibit objects. East Asian, Islamic and European art, book arts, arts and crafts and applied graphics from the Middle Ages to the present.
  • Museum of Applied Arts – Grassi Museum (Museum für angewandte Kunst – Grassimuseum), Leipzig European and non-European arts and crafts from their beginnings to the present. Collection focus: objects from the 1920’s and 1930’s and ceramics from the second half of the 20th century. Following a comprehensive remodelling of the entire museum complex, all collections are being reopened until 2010. Starting in 2010, the collection “From Art Nouveau to the Present” will conclude the programme.
  • Museum of Applied Arts (Museum für Angewandte Kunst), Cologne Art from the Middle Ages to the immediate present and a high-profile design collection starting in 1900.
  • Museum of Arts and Crafts (Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe), Hamburg The collection Fashion and Textiles encompasses about 60,000 objects, from ancient Egyptian grave goods to pieces by Yves Saint Laurent, Wolfgang Joop and Issey Miyake. Extensive textile and embroidery collection, changing special exhibitions.
  • museum kunst palast (i.e. museum art palace), Düsseldorf European painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the present. The museum also offers comprehensive collections of arts and crafts, glass arts, design and art of the 20th century as well as a graphics collection.
  • Museum Thonet, Frankenberg The museum of the Hessian furniture manufacturer Thonet presents a collection of bent wood furniture from the 19th century to the present. 150 years ago, the company founder Michael Thonet revolutionised the furniture trade with the production method of the Coffee House Chair No. 14.
  • Neues Museum – Staatliches Museum für Kunst und Design (i.e. New Museum – State Museum of Art and Design), Nuremberg An international museum of contemporary art, with two collection areas: design (from the collections of the Munich Neue Sammlung – see above) and international contemporary art. The design collection is being continually expanded.
  • PAN Kunstforum Niederrhein, Kunst- und Designmuseum (i.e. PAN art forum Lower Rhine, museum of art and design), Emmerich The Kunstforum is interdisciplinary in its conception and focuses on poster art, and also on painting, sculpture, installations, video new media and performance.
  • Porsche Museum, Stuttgart Approximately 80 vehicles and numerous mini-exhibits in this auto manufacturer’s museum provide insights into the history of the company and its products. Special exhibitions offer in-depth treatment of individual aspects.
  • red dot Collection North Rhine-Westphalia An exhibition of contemporary international design products that have been awarded the red dot award, on 4,000 m² of exhibition space.
  • Industrial Design Collection, Berlin The collection encompasses objects of everyday life and design objects from the DDR/SBZ. The collection with its approx.160,000 objects, books and photos has belonged to the Haus der Geschichte Foundation since 2005. The collection is presently only open for research purposes.
  • Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein A private cultural institution, active world-wide. The museum offers changing special exhibitions, researches and imparts design in its many and varied expressions: focus on furnishings and interior design. Also offers an archive and a specialised library.
  • Volkswagen AutoMuseum, Wolfsburg The company museum is devoted to all products of this brand as well as unique exemplars and prototypes. Special exhibitions contribute to making a part of German automobile history accessible.

Networks/Online portals

  • Berlin Design-Blog Up-to-date blog focusing on Berlin, providing articles on exhibitions in Berlin and competitions throughout Germany. In addition interviews and tips on events that may well be a bit off the beaten track of design.
  • Create Berlin The network Create Berlin views itself as a meeting place for creative designers and their projects and ideas in Germany’s capital. Its Berlin office and showroom is an interface for design, press and politics. Create Berlin also curates and organises projects originating in Berlin internationally.
  • Designerinaction Info page for creative designers, with news from the areas of design, typography, photography, paper and printing.
  • Designlinks designlinks.de offers an extensive editorial collection on the themes of graphics design, design theory, competitions and much more. Clearly arranged links to competitions and training options, magazines, universities and academies, and professional associations on the themes of web design, graphics and screen design.
  • Designspotter Internationally oriented blog from Cologne informing readers daily about new works, trends and visions in the design world. Designers introduced are presented and are given a type of profile in which additional information is indicated.
  • Designwissen Designwissen is an information data bank aimed at educators, school children, students and interested persons. It offers texts, images and videos on varios aspects of design, with primary focus on teaching design in schools.
  • DMY Berlin An interdisciplinary design platform promoting exchange among designers and artists. DMY Berlin organises the annual International Design Festival in Berlin and represents the German capital throughout the year as the “City of Design” (UNESCO) through its exhibition projects.

Competitions