Collaborations

Reuse is not only sustainable, but it also extends the life of a garment and, ideally, prevents the purchase of new items.
Rework is a Swiss fashion label that specializes in creating and selling new fashion items from secondhand textiles. In collaboration with textile design students atLucerne School of Design, Film and Art, several capsule collections were created that feature unique processing techniques, adding variety to the product portfolio. The collections were sold in select Rework stores.

^{Photo: Maya & Daniele}

As part of a collaboration with the company Lantal from Langental, second-year bachelor’s students in textile design learned to use artificial intelligence as a tool. With the help of AI tools, they created six different “digital deep dyeing” designs. This new printing process, developed by Lantal, makes it possible to produce carpets for the aviation industry using more than three colors. Unlike conventional woven carpets, the weight of a printed carpet remains constant—regardless of how many colors are used. Our students had the opportunity to experiment with various designs for this world’s first carpet printing machine and, in the process, familiarize themselves with a new technology.

In the spring of 2023, second-year textile design students developed designs for a “Compagnon”—a durable rug that accompanies you through different stages of life. Kramis Teppich Design was the partner for the competition. Zora Aziza Weidkuhn’s collection “Ile Mobile” won over the jury: thanks to a modular template, customers can put together their very own personalized rug island. “Ile Mobile” has been available in the Kramis product line since September 2023.

As part of the Design Schenken 2023 design festival, Fides Design, in collaboration with the Textile Design program at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Design Film Art, launched a scarf design competition on the theme of “Happy Moments.” A total of 18 designs were submitted by the students. These were presented to the public during a three-day event in December 2023. Nearly 1,000 visitors cast their votes and selected their three favorite scarves. This public vote was supplemented by the decision of a panel of experts. Students Manutcher Milani, Mira Walthert, Siv Keller, and Cajetana Oechslin impressed both the audience and the jury with their designs. Their scarves will be available at Fidea Design starting in mid-April.

^{Photo: Ella Mettler}

Textile design students designed and crafted the costumes for the HSLU Music opera production of Maurice Ravel’s “L’Enfant et les Sortilèges.”

Interactive and playful—textile design students at HSLU have designed sunshade collections for the Suurstoffi site in Rotkreuz and the “S45” building, planned by Bauart Architekten and Studiomori.

^{Photo: Thi My Lien Nguyen}

Textile design students collaborated with CALIDA to develop a gorgeous, gender-neutral pajama collection.

On building envelopes, there is basically enough space for energy generation. But a photovoltaic façade comes to mind for very few. Textile design students have therefore created PV modules as design objects, which were presented online and publicly in February 2021 and awarded a prize. The winning project will be installed on the façade of the NEST building on the Empa campus in summer 2021.

In a two-week block event, students and lecturers from the Department of Design and Art worked with lecturers from the Department of Engineering and Architecture to design PV modules for Empa and Eawag's modular research and innovation building NEST in Dübendorf. The designs simulate PV modules in a new guise of colors, patterns and motifs, and how they could be visually integrated into the NEST research and innovation building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf.

In this interdisciplinary collaboration, innovations emerged from the transfer between technical research, design education and the involvement of the general public. This enables innovative building and energy technologies to reach the market more quickly.

NEST is the modular research and innovation building of Empa and Eawag. At NEST, new technologies, materials and systems are tested, researched, further developed and validated under real conditions. Close cooperation with partners from research, industry and the public sector means that innovative construction and energy technologies reach the market more quickly. NEST contributes to making the use of resources and energy more sustainable and more cycle-oriented.