Sophie Dรถhler
between
design
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Content
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Sophie Döhler P.9 – 12
Design P.17 – 20
between S.21 – 31
between P.13 – 16
Reed tiles P.93 – 108
Fensterpflanzen P.121 – 132
Cozypots P.109 – 120
Maschentaschen P.133 – 144
Glassware S.43 – 56
Günther S.69 – 80
Parkcarpet P.57 – 68
Lichtung and Kanzel P.145 – 160
Gisela P.81 – 92
Dyna P.173 – 184
Potband P.161 – 172
Flat P.185 – 203
Sophie Döhler
I was born in 1986 in Velbert, Germany – as the daughter of textile engineer Heinz J. Doehler and the artist Gisela M. Doehler. I am the great-granddaughter of the chemist Otto Roehm who invented, among other things, Plexiglas in the middle of the 20th century. My parents’ roots being in Swabia, I was born in the Ruhr area and grew up in North Rhine-Westphalia. I went to school in Cologne where I also graduated from high school in 2006. I spend the happiest days of my childhood together with my two big sisters in the pristine mountains of northern Italy. Driven by entrepreneurial roots and a long family tradition in the chemical industry on my father’s side, I was also heavily influenced by the artistic craftsmanship of my mother. After my graduation from high school, I attended the Alanus University of Arts & Social Sciences for one semester in preparation for studying free arts. It was during that time of intensive drawing, breaking, painting, building, wasting, experimenting, gluing and throwing things away that I laid the foundation for my creative work. Through my engagement with the issues of creative work and sharing with other young artists, I discovered that I didn’t want to pursue a degree in free arts such as painting, for instance. I was much more interested in an abundance of materials and objects of everyday life – things that can be touched, felt and used but seem impossible and surprising at the same time, just like many art pieces. Through this realization, I was determined to search through the entire uni-
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versity landscape in order to find the perfect design school which I discovered with Burg Giebichenstein after my first visit to Halle. I prepared a very colorful and somewhat extraordinary application folder on the very mundane topic of “vacuuming�, completed an internship in order to improve on my technical skills and was finally admitted as a student at Burg Giebichenstein. Arrived at the University, in Halle, and searching for my own perspective on design, I submitted my first projects and was made aware of the fact that there are countless things to learn. But at the same time, I realized that I felt at home in the study of design. Certainly, my projects went sometimes pretty well and sometimes less but I always felt that I was on a quest and that confronting and reflecting these challenges helped me grow. After three years at Burg Giebichenstein, during which I spent one intensive year in the student council, I decided to enhance my studies through a new and exciting endeavor. I became aware of the enormously flourishing design landscape in Poland, particularly influenced by various young designers and therefore applied to study abroad at the Academy of Fine Art in Warsaw for one semester. Luckily, I was accepted into project group PG13 of Tomek Rygalik. During my exchanged semester, I tried to focus on pushing my studies to the next level, on exchanging and on work. I worked very hard, learned a lot from new mentors, enjoyed the big city live, was intoxicated by the possibilities in Poland and
from the motivating atmosphere around me. Inspired by these experiences, I was encouraged to apply for an internship and to split from the safe environment of a university. I applied at all of my big design idols in the Netherlands. After numerous and often times very entertaining interviews via Skype, I was quickly offered an opportunity by an exceptional designer. Thus, I spend six very educational months in the studio of Pepe Heykoop in Amsterdam and was inspired by the motherland of good design. During this time my quest and demand for good design found what it was looking for. This changed everything and I became aware that everything I had ever designed was just the beginning. We worked in a team of three, together on all jobs and projects sometimes in the workshop as well as on the computer. I learned what it means to operate your own studio. Suddenly, my doing became many publicity and for the first time, I was entirely aware of what designing in real life realities means, which responsibilities we can take and should take with our design. After a particularly instructive year abroad in two different countries which could not be more different for me and after an exceptional time in Halle, I hope I am able to preserve my experience and be ready to apply my experience to give the world outside an added value.
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between
“Concern yourself with things before they come into existence.� Tao Te -Ching
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BETWEEN is the largest and for me also the most exciting part of designing because it represents the long process that stands between me and a finished product. All of the things that are of importance in the process towards a finished design, things that are often times hard to grasp and challenging to communicate – are being in this part of the book put in their right space. It is a platform which includes inspirations, experiences, methods and experiments. Some of these between-results find their way into a projects or products and some are just try outs. During this BETWEEN my imagination can be let loose and I am busy with things that are not existent yet and where nobody knows how they will look like. Input is here of great importance. I get my inspiration from everywhere, often times from things that do not even remotely have anything to do with design. Freedom is very important to me in this process too, as it allows me to think in every possible direction and not just to “do my homework” but to experiment and to think with my hands. In Between is the motto to learn, travel, build, be spontaneous, overcome borders and encounter new challenges – always convinced that everything is possible if I just really want.
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Design
“An artist is a man who digests his own subjective impressions and knows to find a general objective meaning in them, and how to express them in a convincing form.� Maxim Gorki
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DESIGN is a product, the result of a process, a confrontation, a creative experiment – clearly, design is very much, you are always on a startpoint and on a quest – you think you know a lot but mostly you know nothing at all. It is important for me that design does not only offer function but that it creates and offers differentiation on several levels. Things should touch and change us again and should be much more than mere products. To me, designers are people that want to do and should do things differently and better. This differentiation can only be achieved if we are allowed to be ourselves. Who are you? What is your attitude to the world? What is important to you? What fascinates you? Thus, the “I” is always the start for me in every design process, from the beginning through the between-process and all the way towards the endproduct. This process reflects the three-part design of this book (Sophie Döhler, between, design). Design in order to be good design, needs an add-on, an “aha”, but by not being luxurious and stylish. I focus my design on functional objects of daily life but which carry the same force within themselves as many pieces of art do. Here, I test techniques and materials. My ambition is to create something new, something own. I want to communicate, to sensitize and to support important ideas which allow me to push the limits futher. Lastly, for me design is the art of today – it tries to close the large gap towards public perception by looking at solving the problems and needs of our modern times.
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between
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Color, Light, Room Experimenting with the camera. Staging color, light and room by the integration of clothes into the enviroment, to dress the enviroment. Investigation into surfaces, view and light to visualize the different characters of objects.
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Free work at home Improvisation, handwork and design with simple methods is here the reason why a stoll is fixed togheter with balloons or a lampshade is made out of copper from recycled cables.
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Typography An abstract font and poster design inspired by Kandinsky, experimental typetextures and an informative type calender which represent the various characters of different typefaces.
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Rotation This growing vases are the results of a experimental rotation workshop. They have a open ground so that they fit over any plastic bottle or old jar. They get a similar natural impression by their randomly generated shape, like the flowers they carry.
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Akademia Sztuk Pięknych w Warszawie Studying abroad at the Academy of Fine Arts, Warsaw and in the experimental workshop of Tomek Rygalik. We did exibihitions and several workshops, worked on many briefs at the same time, intensively with lots of materials and different companies.
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Studio Pepe Heykoop Intership at Studio Pepe Heykoop Amsterdam/Mumbai. Experiments with liquid wood, tin, leather, paper, welding, bamboo, designing logos, catalogs, exhibitions, posters and new products. P 33
Concrete One week experimenting with concrete. I mixed, washed, dipped and had finally a lamp, bowl and a vase.
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Painting and Drawing Graphical and pictorial analysis of objetcts and enviroment.
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Balloon Work In this tests I combine flat materials with self tacking properties like handmaking paper or sushi paper with the well kown form of balloons. The objects are completely organic and compostable.
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Design
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Glassware
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Cut of thirty sketches for Bruni Glass, Progetto Millennio, international design competition, with the categories vinegar, oil, wine, spirits and jars. Designing new glassware by analysing the characteristic of the liquids like strong, fruity, heavy or mellow and also looking at already known stereotypes to translate it into a new meaningful form. Design
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Parkcarpet
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PARKCARPET is an object that is furniture and toy in one. The final product is a combination of a seat cushion and a carpet, mixed together to a comfortable landscape. Each cushion stands for one pure natural element, as it is printed on and filled with. The natural fillings are enclosed in a thin foil. Thus, the playing childs get a haptic feedback and an experience of their environment. With the adequate connection of the pillow the children can deal independently with the product. The PARKCARPET is a freely interpretable playfield and an exceptional carpet which brings a whole park into the children’s room. It is to sit, to play, to sleep and to romp. Design
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Stone 71×149 cm + 55 cm inside
Air 151×175 cm + 35 cm inside
Soil 149×104,5 cm + 40 cm inside
Hay 114×123,4 cm + 35 cm inside
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Water 186×123,40 cm + 55 cm inside
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Günther
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GÜNTHER is the result of research of traces in the puplic space. It is our humorous answer to the vandalism against public garbage cans. GÜNTHER is almost completely out of concrete and works like a tumbler. Thus it is not possible to inflame, difficult to placard or to kick down, at least it will kick back. Design
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Gisela
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GISELA is the result of a research of traces in the living area. Usually when you turn your bunch of keys in the lock to open the door it scratches the lock and looks ugly with all the scratchmarks. Not mentioning the terrible noise. With GISELA a welcome and cheerful sound appears. Design
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Reedtile
This project was running togehter with a bathroom company and the plan was to redesign the bathroom with new innovations. My wish was to connect this room more with the nature. Because the water already sputters in there, I was thinking about unusual tile creations, such as a tile with embedded roots or tiles with growing crystals, which also continue to grow by watering. The result is a inexpensive and easly produceable grass tile in extravagant round shape. The REED TILE consists out of a round ceramic tile and artificial reeds, which are formed out natural silicone. The round tile is burned in the conventional process only at the end some of the new tiles are equipped with the grasses. The number of blades and the sizes of the tiles grow in naturally perceived intervals. To offer a selection of different moods, the tile would be imaginable in three colors: white, sand and dark soil. Design
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8
5
3
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Ø 34cm
Ø 21cm
Ø 13cm
Ø 8cm
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Cozypots
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COZYPOTS are created within a workshop to build up fast and simpel furnitures for a big sit in. Thus the pots come from domestic use and everybody knows them quite well they are perfect to generate a familiar and cozy atmosphere. Moreover it is about showing and using things which you would normally hide. It was a visualisation of an idea and my start point to my POTBAND project. Design
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Fensterpflanzen
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This project is about things which always belonged togehter but never really found a way: like plants and windows. With FLORIFE the window and the plants are fallen in love. It is a symbiosis between window and plants. The glass includes optically the plants and they become one. STREBIS is a new kind of tree species which uses the frames or the middle rung of a window as a trunk. The branches are fixed to the window and can be planted there as you wish. Design
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Maschentaschen
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These wily MASCHENTASCHEN are shopping bags for the single woman. She can disconnect a integrated string to open the bottom of the bag so the content drops to the ground. So she offers the attractive stranger on the street an opportunity to flirt. As in times when women droped tissues to the ground to get attention. Model ANGLER where a bait is hidden in a shopping net. Model CATCHER is disguised with the look of a white shopping bag and only the inside lining pattern indicates the smartly function. Design
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between
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Lichtung and Kanzel
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This project is about growth and growing objetcts. In my research I figured out that behind every kind of growing process is always a lot of work and a big portion of movement. So I created a supporting working landscape which includes some growing elements and movements for a perfect growing enviroment. LICHTUNG is a multifaceted work table, whose flexible work boxes always offers new perspectives, as well as enough storage for the work you are going to do later. KANZEL is a spacious high-seat shelf that provides a perfect overview and place in balance during your work breaks. Design
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Potband
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The POTBAND is a series of furniture objects which formes a harmonious group alliance similar to a music band. The objects provide storage space for glasses, cutlery, cool drinks, jackets, bags, paperwork, laptop and everthing else, there where you need it. The harmonious group based on a precious metal-wood combination where each member has it own job determined by its form. Design
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Dyna
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DYNA is a laser-cutted light object. It starts from a simple square base and with a few settlements it will be a winding, organic and luminous body. The first prototypes were out of polypropylene but because of material aesthetics and environmental beliefs, I am using thick leather leftovers by now. Design
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Flat
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Jahnstr. 7 is a partially renovated 100 m2 flat in Halle where I live and work. Beside this it is a playfield or lab for my design and interior design interests. It is very exciting to have the freedom to design a whole living world, to interact with the given room, light and character of that flat. It was important to build up a workshop and a big workroom to have a good work base and a enviroment where I daily look on and improve my work. The FLAT is often a big construction zone where I design things, often directly for the space in front of me. Everything is created with very cheap and simple methods like my kitchen out of concret. I collect things, change them, renovate old furnitures from the streets and mix it with my own design. Design
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Imprint
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P.22-23 Color, Light, Room Prof. Axel Buether Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ss 2009 with Max Böhme
P.26-27 Typography Prof. Andrea Tinnes Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws – ss w2009, Calender with Bibi Raupp Ws 2009, Font, compact week Ws 2010, Typetextures, compact week
P.28-29 Rotation Prof. Aart van Bezooyen Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Wintersessions 2012, Rotation
P.30-31 Akademia Sztuk Pięknych Warszawie Errasmus semester, Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2011
P.36-37 Drawing, Painting Prof. Thomas Heger Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws 2009, compact week Prof. Łukasz Korolkiewicz Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2011
P.38-39 Balloonwork Andrea Nieke, Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Wintersessions 2012, Papermaking Design
P.43-56 Glassware Dipl.-Des. Detlef Lewandofski Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws 2012
P.57-68 Parkcarpet Prof. Wojciech Wybieralski Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2012
P.32-33 Studio Pepe Heykoop Intership at Studio Pepe Heykoop Amsterdam/Mumbai Ss 2012
P.68-80 Günther Prof. Vincenz Warnke, Trampelpfade Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws 2009 with Bibi Raupp
P.34-35 Concrete Michael Antons Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ss 2013, compact week
P.81-92 Gisela Prof. Vincenz Warnke, Tramelpfade Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws 2009 with Bibi Raupp
P.93-108 Reedtile Prof. Tomek Rygalik, Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2011
P.109-120 Cozypots Prof. Tomek Rygalik, Design Festival Ĺ odz Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2011
P.121-132 Fensterpflanzen Prof. Vincenz Warnke, rendezvous Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ss 2010
P.133-144 Maschentaschen Prof. Vincenz Warnke, rendezvous Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ss 2010
P.145-160 Lichtung and Kanzel Prof. Dieter Hofmann, growth Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ss 2011
P.161-172 Potband Prof. Tomek Rygalik Academy of Fine Arts Warsaw Ws 2011
P.173-184 Dyna Prof. Guido Englich, Dipl.-Des. Mark Braun Burg Giebichenstein Univerisity of Art and Design Halle Ws 2008, compact week
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