Online Conference - Pioneers of Design Education

We are pleased to announce this year's online conference "Pioneers of Design Education", organised by the Design Campus of the Kunstgewerbemuseum of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden in cooperation with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar.

Although being pioneers of modern design education, early Schools of Decorative Arts still lack basic art historical research, especially from their beginnings in the middle of the 19th century until World War I. From early on, the schools continuously reformed and refined their concepts. In doing so, they became an important field for experimentation that built the base for design education as we know it today. Schools of Decorative Arts – also referred to as “Schools of Applied Arts” or “Schools of Arts and Crafts” – were not only a European, but a worldwide phenomenon and each institution was connected to its particular economic, aesthetic and sometimes colonial matters.

The 2022 conference of the research network „Pioneers of Design Education. New Perspectives on German Schools of Decorative Arts before the Bauhaus“ hosted by the Design Campus, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, in cooperation with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, sheds light on the global history of design education, beginning with London and Vienna, extending the focus from wider Europe to Russia, India, China and the United States. The history of the Schools of Decorative Arts is a history of connections, exchange and mobility of people and ideas that can still inspire us today.

The conference will be held in English on 19 May from 1 to 7 pm and on 20 May from 9 am to 3 pm.

download the programme here

And we kindly ask you to register at the following link: event.skd.museum

You will receive the link to the Zoom event one day before the event.

The curators of the conference - Anna-Sophie Laug, Sandra König, Alexandra Panzert, Kerstin Stöver - and the network "Pioneers of Design Education" are looking forward to lively participation. Please share the invitation with interested researchers!

Find more information to the Design Campus Lab Project Pioneers of Design Education here