In November 2006 a group of 13 Interior, Industrial and Product Design students travelled to Germany for a five week study tour. The aim of the tour was to expose the students to other styles and types of design, as well as different teaching methods.
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Above: Lotars and Ben Wilson (Braun) with the group at Braun |
Above: Student Presentations |
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Together with Senior Lecturer Lotars Ginters, the students spent two weeks touring Germany and its cultural and design sites, including the Bauhaus, BMW, the Hessen Design Centre and the Braun Museum and Archives.
They were then based at FH-Mainz for three weeks of project work, under the guidance of former Braun
Designer and FH-Mainz Senior Lecturer Professor Florian Seiffert. The project was introduced by former Swinburne student, Ben Wilson from the Braun design team and the students spent an informative day at the firm receiving project briefing, design studio and factory tours.
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Above: Andrew, Kate, Lotars, Pete and James sampling the local brew |
Above: Amanda and Kate enjoying a Bratwurst |
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The students found the study tour very inspiring, and certainly enjoyed their travels around Germany. There will be an exhibition of their project work in the Faculty of Design Gallery from 19 February - 9 March, 2007.
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Student Experiences
Kimberly Kras , Industrial Design
The Germany Study tour 2006 was a highly memorable and educational experience.
The five week program of both travel and study was an eye-opening first hand experience of seeing another culture and experiencing German education.
The project work took place at the Fachhochschule in Mainz , a town 25 minutes by train from Frankfurt . Our project was to design a product for the consumer market place for the German company Braun. Working alongside German and Italian design students was wonderful as it allowed me to view design approaches from different perspectives.
The three week cultural part of the tour included visits to the Braun Design Haus, Braun GmbH, Lindt chocolate museum, Euromold, Bauhaus university in Weimer and a tour of the BMW factory in Leipzig . In addition, we visited a variety of historic sites, cathedrals, museums, castles and cities and towns. The touring enabled us to experience the true history and culture of Germany.
One aspect that I really enjoyed and appreciated was the scenery during our travels. Our main mode of transportation was trains, both local and inter-city express trains, although our leg muscles did get a fantastic workout.
The cuisine in Germany was an experience in itself. Breads, cheeses, meats, Glühwein and beer aplenty. My eating highlight was goulache (a meat stew) in a bread bowl.
Overall my informal experiences in Germany were definitely an asset to my formal academic experience.
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