Roland de Fries
Hudson Vandam LLC
Branding, Design, Communications
New York, USA

Roland de Fries, who was born and raised in Düsseldorf, has led design agencies in New York City and Stuttgart for clients including Porsche, Breuninger, Deka Bank, Duerr, Villeroy & Boch, Huelsta, Rolf Benz and bronze foundry Strassacker. After moving to New York City in 2000, he initially worked as Design Director for Ogilvy before becoming Creative Director of the showcase project for the new Time Warner Center (total building costs: $2.1 billion), assuming responsibility for branding, advertising and the extensive event calendar. The project was awarded the prestigious Urban Land Institute Award of Excellence.
Roland de Fries then founded branding and design agency Hudson Vandam in New York as a logical answer to the needs of German and European clients and brands in search of positioning, quality and success on the US market – even without a multimillion-dollar budget! It is precisely this combination of professionalism, a keen instinct for American PR and sales strategies, and his German-European mindset, that makes Roland de Fries so uniquely placed.

www.hudsonvandam.com 



Dina Gallo
TRUMPF SE + Co.KG
Ditzingen

Dina Gallo studied industrial design at Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design (ABK Stuttgart). She began her professional life as a designer at a Stuttgart design firm. After switching to the bathroom sector she joined HANSA Metallwerke AG, where she became head of design management. During that time she also did an MBA at Steinbeis University Berlin. In addition, as an associate lecturer in the product design programme, she supervised various projects at the University of Design (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd. She has been head of design management for the TRUMPF Group since 2012.

www.trumpf.com




Irmy Wilms-Haverkamp
Haverkamp Interior Design
Herford

Irmy Wilms-Haverkamp is co-founder of the Köhler Wilms design studio, based in Herford. Here she develops strategic design solutions for the consumer goods market and the interior design sector. Family experiences led to a special interest in "design for the new old". Her designs have been awarded numerous design prizes and are characterized by a comprehensive understanding of target group and brand. Over a ten-year period, Irmy has worked on various interior design projects in co-creation with H-ID in China, and before that was employed by the Dutch consultancy firm De Bock & Dekker. She studied Industrial Design at the University of the Arts in Berlin and taught there after graduating.

www.koehlerwilms.de




Joa Herrenknecht
Studio Joa Herrenknecht
Berlin
Herrenknecht/Parsons
Toronto, Canada

The female designer Joa Herrenknecht founded her own independent Design Studio: „Studio Joa Herrenknecht“ in 2012. The Berlin based studio works multi-disciplinary on product design, packaging and interior design. With an interest in new materials and clear formal language using minimalism and reduction combined with soft lines and fine colors. Joa creates unique pieces intended to be used at home to evoke a smile. Often her objects surprise as they have a special twist to them, a poetic touch or light sense of playfulness.
Joa currently lives and works in Berlin and Toronto and has a young child with the Canadian/American artist Leif Low-Beer Parsons.

www.joa-herrenknecht.com





Prof. Andreas Hess
White ID
Schorndorf

Degree in product design
1993 – 1997, University of Design (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd

Field/focus of teaching activities
2003 – 2006: associate lecturer in the principles of visualisation technology
2005: supervision of various final projects
2018 – 2020: supervision of PG3/PG4 term project
2018 – 2020: supervision of various bachelor’s theses
2021 – present: visiting professor in Department of Product Design

Research projects in last 5 years
Cooperation between Audi and the HfG Schwäbisch Gmünd on “the last mile”. Cooperation with FIBR tec (a spin-off of University of Stuttgart) on the development of lightweight elements for furniture construction through the robot-controlled use of fibre-reinforced composites. Regular tests at various test facilities (ADAC, MPA, Holland, Norway, Milan) for the ongoing development of crash-worthy materials.

How own research results are transferred to teaching:
Know-how transfer via regular training in rapid prototyping processes at manufacturers or trade shows like Formnext.
Know-how transfer regarding traffic volume, accident statistics through participation in the annual Protection of Children in Cars  conference.
Know-how transfer regarding fibre materials (carbon, glass fibre, natural fibre) and their precise robot-controlled processing into lightweight elements with optimised material input.
Know-how transfer: own predevelopments and research in the field of fibre-reinforced composites and crash-worthy materials.

Successful design activities in last 5 years
Audi, Wilkhahn, Packline, Schleich, Concord, Jane, Beurer, Halstrub Walcher, Quiss, Nubert, Camp; WMF, Moll, BESA-FE, Hamax, DIONO, Packline

Awards
German Design Award Gold 2011 for Concord Transformer, German Design Award Gold 2019 for Wilkhahn Metrik
Focus Open Gold 2015 for Concord Reverso, Iconic Award Best of Best 2017 for Wilkhahn Metrik
Multiple IF Design Awards, Red Dot Awards, Focus Open Awards and German Design Awards

Internships
1991 – 1992: Maier Deko und Ladenbau
1992 – 1993: Halder Grafik Design, 1995 ITO Design

Non-teaching positions
1997 – 2000: KPG Design
2000 – 2002: Dieter Bakic Design
2002 – present: Managing Partner of White ID GmbH+Co KG
2004 – 2018: Head of Design and Brand Management Concord GmbH

www.white-id.com




Marc Gregor Weidt
Einmaleins GmbH
Burgrieden

1986 – 1988
Apprenticeship in bag making at Jérome Leplat, Neu-Ulm. From 1988 to 1997: employed in advisory and executive role in design department. Custom-made products and development of annual collections.

October 1990 – July 1994
Degree in product design at University of Design (HfG) Schwäbisch Gmünd
- Product design with focus on capital goods design, especially in the field of rehabilitation
- alternative energy concepts
- conception and realisation of user interface-operator ergonomics
- strategic design management.
As an undergraduate, commissions for the Steinbeis Foundation for Economic Development – Transfer Centre Design, and for Prof. R. Michel, Schwäbisch Gmünd.

March 1990 – September 1990
Internship at design praxis diener, Ulm-Gögglingen, as preparation for studying design

September 1992 – March 1993
Second internship at design praxis diener, Ulm-Gögglingen

April 1993 – July 1993
Semester abroad at Akademie Industriele Vormgeving Eindhoven (AIVE), Netherlands, in the Mens en Omgeving department. Conceptual work in the fields of architecture and public space.

March 1994 – July 1994
Interdisciplinary finals project: Library of the Future. Development of a concept about the future role of public libraries with availability of global information on the digital net. Design of hardware components for use of multimedia information. Design and implementation of interactive information access as programmed simulation.

1. September 1994 – 31 July 1996
Employed at design praxis diener. Active in the fields of visual communication and product design.

January 1996 and March 2002
University of Augsburg, refresher course in management, continuing education courses in marketing and design management.

July 2017 – June 2018
GROW ongoing education programme, Design Management Leadership, Munich

Since 1 August 1995: self-employed. Founding of design firm Einmaleins Büro für Gestaltung. Managing partner, CEO of Einmaleins GmbH since 2016, 16 full- and part-time staff in an interdisciplinary team.

www.einmaleins.net