Shaping Futures: The Next Generation of German Design
Friday 5 September —
17:00
- 17:45
The Talks — Hall 6
Description
Moderated by Romain Casella, this talk gathers designer Friedrich Gerlach, design duo Studio Π(Anne-Sophie Oberkrome & Lisa Ertel), architect and educator Carsten Wiewiorra, and Lutz Dietzold, CEO of the German Design Council, to explore how a new generation is rethinking German design through material experimentation, evolving values, and new approaches to form and function.
Participants
Lisa Ertel & Anne-Sophie OberkromeDesigners & Co-founders - Studio OE
Friedrich GerlachDesigner
Lutz DietzoldCEO - German Design Council
Carsten WiewiorraInterior Architect & President - BDIA
Romain CasellaFounder & Director of Creative Agency, MAY Concepts Ltd
Lisa Ertel & Anne-Sophie Oberkrome
Designers & Co-founders - Studio OE
Founded by Lisa Ertel and Anne-Sophie Oberkrome, Studio Πis a Berlin-based design practice. Guided by a fascination for the inherent qualities of materials and everyday phenomena, the duo creates works that tell unconventional stories about the spatial and social contexts in which their projects evolve. They are also active in various collaborative working constellations such as FAN, Farm, and Many-to-Many, where they realize self-initiated projects and exhibitions. Since 2022, they have been teaching the Open Design class at HfbK Hamburg and were guest professors at the HBK Saar 2024/2025.
Friedrich Gerlach
Designer
Driven by curiosity for emerging materials and novel production methods, Friedrich Gerlach creates objects shaped by processes ranging from bacterial growth to additive manufacturing – always aiming to challenge the status quo. His work explores how innovation can reshape aesthetics, function, and sustainability, often merging scientific insight with tactile design. For him, production is not just fabrication, but a narrative embedded within the object itself.
Lutz Dietzold
CEO - German Design Council
Lutz Dietzold is CEO of the German Design Council. Since 2002, he has advanced design as a driver of innovation and sustainable transformation. With a background in art history and cultural management, he bridges creative practice and economic impact. As deputy chair of the advisory board for World Design Capital Frankfurt RheinMain 2026, he highlights design’s role in shaping future-proof societies through collaboration and cultural dialogue.
Carsten Wiewiorra
Interior Architect & President - BDIA
Professor Carsten Wiewiorra is a freelance architect and interior designer as well as a professor of design, construction and materials at the Detmold School of Design, a department of the Ostwestfalen-Lippe University of Applied Sciences and Arts. Since 2023, he has served as president of the bdia. For over 25 years, he worked with wiewiorra hopp schwark architekten – now WIEWIORRA STUDIO.
Romain Casella
Founder & Director of Creative Agency, MAY Concepts Ltd
With over 15 years of experience in the creative industry, working with leading organisations such as Publicis Groupe and WGSN, Romain Casella founded the creative agency MAY Concepts Ltd in London in 2012. Collaborating with institutions and public organisations (Swiss Arts Council, City of Porto) and lifestyle, fashion, and design brands (Cappellini, Business of Fashion, Panter & Tourron), MAY provides branding, creative consulting, as well as end-to-end communications and public relations services. Romain also acts as a lecturer, speaker, and coach (ECAL, Westminster University, London College of Fashion), helping creatives develop impactful marketing and communications strategies.