Change of perspectives

Hostess (AIT 3.2020)

Hostess (AIT 3.2020)

The dream of owning one's own hotel, café or restaurant is an idea many architects and interior designers dally with. The desire to "do one's own thing", to give it a personal touch and to work in beautiful, self-designed interiors is certainly one reason – not to mention the role as host. We asked someone who had dared to take the plunge. In 2017, interior designer Doreen Ludwig from Stuttgart moved to the Allgäu region to open her organic guest house Goldvogel.
Writer (AIT 6.2021)

Writer (AIT 6.2021)

The architect and architectural theorist Dr Jana Revedin writes fascinating biographic novels. In 2018, Jeder hier nennt mich Frau Bauhaus: Das Leben der Ise Frank was published and, in 2020, Margherita, a book about her husband´s grandmother and the artistic renaissance of Venice. In the interview, she talks about the rediscovery of these strong women of the 1920s and 1930s, about Venice as her residence then and today and her work on the art patroness Eugenia Errázuriz scheduled to appear in August.
Farmers (AIT9.2021)

Farmers (AIT9.2021)

The longing for the countryside is as present as never before in times of ever greater urban challenges. Anja Kluge and Ingolf Gössel renovated the centuries-old Kienzlerhansenhof in the Black Forest in a manner befitting a listed building. The Stuttgart architects live and work there most of the year, cultivate the land around the farm and keep endangered animal species. How do the part-time farmers master the balance between architectural practice and farming, and what does their farm estate offer them?
Politician (AIT 12.2023)

Politician (AIT 12.2023)

Stuttgart-based architect Ruth Schagemann has been involved in national and international vocational politics since 2013. She was initially active in the Baden-Württemberg Chamber of Architects (AKBW) for ten years. Since the beginning of 2023, she has been representing the interests of the members of the Federal Chamber of Architects (BAK) in Europe in the EU liaison office in Brussels. We asked Ruth Schagemann about her diverse tasks – in her role for the BAK and as honorary president of the Architects’ Council of Europe (ACE).
Artist (AIT 9.2023)

Artist (AIT 9.2023)

Yadegar Asisi’s 360° panoramas immerse in magnificent worlds, spatially, visually, acoustically, sensually and physically. For 30 years, the architect/artist has been creating experiential spaces allowing the public to discover historically relevant urban and natural spaces as well as art epochs – Rome in 312, Dresden during the Baroque era, Pergamon, Everest, Amazonia, Great Barrier Reef. In this interview, the Berliner-by-choice with Persian roots explains how complex his projects are as to research and implementation.
Publisher (AIT 4.2023)

Publisher (AIT 4.2023)

DOMpublishers publish books for interior designers and architects. They are “books made by architects”. In 2005, Berlin-based architect couple Dr Natascha and Dr Philipp Meuser founded their publishing house, which today offers an incredible range of (interior) architecture and urban design publications worldwide. Their logo? A play on letters! The supposed “A” is a Cyrillic “D”. It stands for dom, the root word for “house” in almost all European languages, and DOM publishers stand for “A” – architectural topics.
Net constructor (AIT 12.2022)

Net constructor (AIT 12.2022)

Whether walkable nets in the Grindelwald Gorge, in the NRW Art Collection and at Singapore Changi Airport, whether fall protection, animal enclosures, ball catch nets for sports or suicide prevention measures at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco – Thomas Ferwagner and MSIng officium design, plan and implement rope and net constructions worldwide. The Stuttgart-based architect tells AIT about the exciting work in this niche.
Artist (AIT 9.2022)

Artist (AIT 9.2022)

Gertrud Louise Goldschmidt (1912–1994) studied architecture in Stuttgart with Paul Bonatz. As a Jewess, she was forced to go into exile in 1938. In Venezuela, she subsequently became an artist under the pseudonym Gego. “In her lifetime, she was well known by everyone in North- and in South America”, Stefanie Reisinger claims. The art historian has done research on Gego and curated the exhibition at the Stuttgart Kunstmuseumdedicated to her.We asked her about Gego’s life and work and her intertwining of art and architecture.
Jewellery designers (AIT 5.2022)

Jewellery designers (AIT 5.2022)

The profession of goldsmith is one of the oldest professions in the metal trade. The architect couple Antonia Frey-Vorhammer and Simon Vorhammer from Munich have reinterpreted gold jewellery for the twenty-first century. In a digital design process, based on algorithms, they create complex, delicate, three-dimensional structures. In the following interview, the two founders of the label Sian Design explain how they create their earrings, rings, bracelets and necklaces.
Puplisher (AIT 3.2022)

Puplisher (AIT 3.2022)

In October, the Hermann Schmidt publisherwill be able to celebrate its 30th anniversary! Together with her husband, the typographer Bertram Schmidt-Friderichs, the architect Karin Schmidt-Friderichs has established the small but fine specialist publisher inMainzwith expertise for high-quality works focussed on typography and graphics. In addition, the successful businesswoman is the head of the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels. How did she manage this successful change from architecture to the book sector?
Urban Art Künstler (AIT 12.2021)

Urban Art Künstler (AIT 12.2021)

Der libanesische Architekt Jad El Khoury arbeitet seit 2015 als Künstler und studiert derzeit Art and Public Space in Oslo. Er erfand die Figur Potato Nose und machte mit seiner Fassadenkunst auf die Kriegsschäden in seiner Heimat Beirut aufmerksam. In seinen Arbeiten mit verlassenen und zerstörten Häusern zeigt sich seine nach wie vor hohe Affinität zum Thema Architektur. Jad El Khourys Popularität in der Urban-Art-Szene mündete auch in eine Kooperation mit dem kunstaffinen Schweizer Uhrenlabel Swatch.
Satchelmaker (AIT 4.2021)

Satchelmaker (AIT 4.2021)

kundschafter is the name of the school-satchel manufactory which Ilka Koss and Arp Dinkelaker jointly operate in Berlin. In its manufactory at Helmholtzplatz, the architect couple creates simple, lightweight, sustainable, self-sewn satchels. In 2004, the enterprise started in parallel; since 2016, they have been concentrating on their independence as satchel makers. The demand is strong! We asked Arp Dinkelaker to tell us how everything started, how they developed kundschafter and what all of it has to do with architecture.
Bookseller (AIT 7/8.2020)

Bookseller (AIT 7/8.2020)

In autumn, Myriam Kunz can pop the corks. This is because her Buchstäbchen bookstore for children’s and adolescents’ books in Stuttgart-West celebrates its fourth anniversary. For 15 years she had been successfully working as an interior designer, then the mother of two daughters changed the metier. When it comes to designing, she is still able to optimally express herself in her world of books. Buchstäbchen is one of those individual stores that enrich the cultural life of the city district.
Lawyer (AIT 12 | 2019)

Lawyer (AIT 12 | 2019)

Aleksandra Gleich is a lawyer and an architect at the same time and therefore has an extraordinary profile. She is versed in the language of the architects, has practical experience and advises architects just as well as private building clients and public authorities in matters concerning construction law. In this interview, the freelance architect and head of the Gleich law office in Mannheim explains how she combines her two professions for the benefit of her clients.
Visual artist (AIT 09 | 2019)

Visual artist (AIT 09 | 2019)

With his works, Karl-Heinz Bogner deliberately places himself at the interface of art and architecture. The freelance artist had originally studied art and design. “Space” is his primary topic: His objects have the appearance of architectural models and his drawings and paintings remind of fragments derived from architectural structures. Besides other venues, his works have been displayed in the Aedes Architecture Forum Berlin, Raumgalerie Stuttgart as well as the Forum Kunst & Architektur in Essen.
Jewelry designer (AIT 04 | 2019)

Jewelry designer (AIT 04 | 2019)

Felicitas Seidler studied architecture and afterwards – right, in that order! – completed an apprenticeship to become a goldsmith. In 2006, she founded her own Felicious jewellery label in Berlin. The architectural imprint can be clearly seen in her jewellery series. In this interview, Felicitas Seidler explains why this path was the right one for her, what it takes to be successful as a jewelry designer, and why she is not interested in growth at any price.
Jewelry designer (AIT 05 | 2017)

Jewelry designer (AIT 05 | 2017)

During their studies and their professional career, architects develop a keen sense of materials, their combination and applications. For decades, the Austrian Carin Fürst had been active as an architect before once and for all bidding farewell to construction sites and from then on making jewellery from left-over materials. Her “upcycling” jewellery completely keeps up with the trend towards sustainability and has many parallels to much architectural principles.
filmmaker (AIT 09 | 2017)

filmmaker (AIT 09 | 2017)

The Finnish-Swiss filmmaker Tapio Snellman studied architecture in Stuttgart and London and lives in the British capital. His portfolio is as international and diverse as he himself. Besides documentaries on megacities and buildings designed by the most famous architects, there are also film- and video installations. The city and the architecture always play a role even when Snellman has assignments in other genres such as dance, theatre and opera. Not least, the social dimension of architecture appeals to him.
Bag label (AIT 01/02 | 2017)

Bag label (AIT 01/02 | 2017)

Her own desire to create, the pleasure taken in craftsmanship and high-quality design as well as the good fortune of being able to resort to family specialist knowledge were the ideal prerequisites for founding Tsatsas. Since 2012, architect Esther Schulze-Tsatsas and her husband, industrial designer Dimitrios Tsatsas, have been selling leather handbags with the label of the same name. The fine bags are designed in Frankfurt am Main, made in Offenbach am Main and sold in select international stores.
Photo artist (AIT 09 | 2018)

Photo artist (AIT 09 | 2018)

She studied architecture at the Technical University of Munich. For the last four years, however, Laura Zalenga’s medium of expression has been photography. During this time, the independent photo artist has managed to attract international attention with her images. Laura Zalenga’s aesthetic-emotional self-portraits affect us and provide us with a deep insight into how her mind works. The 27-year-old tells the readers of AIT how she usually works and where she finds the inspirations for her images.
Presenter (AIT 06 | 2018)

Presenter (AIT 06 | 2018)

For 13 years, Eva Brenner has been hosting the “Zuhause im Glück” television series and there regularly brings a smile to the faces of her clients to whom fate has dealt a bitter blow. That is because, in record time, Eva Brenner and her team turn flats and house of families in need into residences with an individual touch where life is worth living. Followed by the camera, they all pitch in and thus also prove to the viewers that there is a solution as to design as well as function for any however ramshackle corner in the house.
Children’s author (AIT 04 | 2018)

Children's author (AIT 04 | 2018)

They have titles such as „Kleines Afrika“, „Regenwurmtage“, „Ist 7 viel“ or „Frag mich!“ … The architect Antje Damm has written over 20 children’s books and illustrated them. After success in the German literary market, some of them were also released by English, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese publishers. When reading Antje Damm’s works, the aspiration immanent in architecture of developing conclusive, exciting concepts can also be noticed. Her books are as interesting for children as they are for adults!
Fahrradbauer (AIT 01/02 | 2018)

Fahrradbauer (AIT 01/02 | 2018)

In Berlin, the architect Daniel Pleikies has his own bicycle manufacture called wheeldan. Bespoke bicycles are exclusively built there, all made of titanium. How Pleikies went from static architecture to mobile two-wheelers and how much building construction and bicycle construction have in common is explained in this interview by the titanium advocate. Just a look at the details, the components and their assembly proves the “kinship relationships” between the two creative disciplines.