Ornament and Form

The examples summarized under Ornament and Form cover a period of sixteen years of teaching. They show a wide variety of design approaches to dealing with ornaments and the creation of ornaments.

Sign, Symbol, Ornament

The subject of this course is the author’s continued research into ancient signs. This also led to addressing the terms sign, symbol, and ornament with their different but overlapping meanings. As part of their theoretical and personal examination of this relationship between sign, symbol, and ornament, the students were required to take a position and find a suitable creative expression for it.

“When we track the traces of movement that have crystalized into simple signs – by following them with our eyes, retracing them gesticulating or walking – we immediately experience something of their meaning physically.”
Elisabeth Holder

Jewellery – Adaptations of Sottsass

In this course, the students were challenged to engage with the work of the Italian architect and designer Ettore Sottsass. They were to gain inspiration from the signs contained in his works, the boldness of pattern and colour, and his fearless combination of a wide variety of decors and materials. As a reaction, students explored aspects that particularly stood out for them and responded with their own design statement.

This selection of student works was part of a student exhibition that ran parallel to the Düsseldorf exhibition of Ettore Sottsass’ ceramics.