Next, Now, Then
Looking back and thinking ahead
German design graduates @ Dutch Design Week
18–26 October 2025, Eindhoven
The initiative German Design Graduates presents outstanding graduation projects from design schools across Germany. The exhibition “Next, Now, Then“ explores how emerging talents reinterpret the past, question the present, and imagine futures. It reveals time as a medium for creative practice.
Projection of the Past & Facility of the Present
What if superstition shaped our choices? What if nature were our teacher? Several projects draw on cultural memory and reinterpret forgotten practices as tools for the present day. Others address the immediate conditions of daily life: How can public transport be improved? How can we feel safe? Together, they show how design can translate the wisdom of the past, connect it with the urgency of the present, and turn it into tangible interventions.
Memory of the Future & Transition of the Now
Did we use so much plastic? Did we really treat animals that way? Were there wars that we ignored? Projects require us to view the present through the eyes of tomorrow, where today’s choices will be remembered as responsibility or neglect. Alongside this speculative lens, other works investigate the threshold we currently cross: Can we optimise ourselves, can artificial intelligence reshape our work? Emerging practices explore digital tools, hybrid workflows and new forms of making that blur the line between humans and machines. Combined, these perspectives reveal how design anticipates consequences, navigates transition and opens paths for societies yet to come.
Curation & Exhibition Design:
Christoph Brach & Daniera ter Haar (Raw Color)
Exhibitors
MORPHO GENESIS
Ann-Kathrin Peuthen
Hochschule Düsseldorf
Supernaturalis
Lilli-Sophie Schröder
Hochschule Hannover
Berta, Family & Friends
Meike Schmitz
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart
Lux Keri
Nane Neu
Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saar
Regalsystem #1470
Eva Ausmann
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
companion
Philip Weyer
Kunsthochschule Kassel
Mind the gap
Elisa Trebstein
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
waiting for the bus
Luca Ortmann
Universität der Künste Berlin
TIME CAPTURE
Veronika Huff
Hochschule Trier
Sicherheitshalber
Juliana Ludwig
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart
Wake up, the war has started
Alexandra Heider
Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd
PLASTIC HUMANS
Julian Stadlmeyer
Duale Hochschule Baden-Württemberg Ravensburg
Schein allein
Paul Krüger
Universität der Künste Berlin
Felt the Future – walking with wool
Philipp Remus
Hochschule Pforzheim
Ich bin jeden Tag am Strand, schwimme und spiele Gameboy. Es ist ein Traum.
Manou Schatton
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
What the Flax
Benedikt Trojer
Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
Dann kam alles anders
Lena Schwind
Hochschule Darmstadt
UNHEIMLICH SCHÖN
Pegah Musawi
Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle
Reviving Traditional Crafts in the Digital Age
Jasper Mendel
Weißensee Kunsthochschule Berlin
beat the heat
Xingwen Pan
Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Stuttgart
FORM(EN) OHNE FUNKTION
Jannik Zernke
Fachhochschule Potsdam
The Algorithm Times
Enes Kazim Pavlukovic
Hochschule Darmstadt
Fluid Landscape Conditions
Fernanda Braun Santos
Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg
YOM
Carla Wenger, Anna Eschker, Emily Zeyer
Hochschule für Gestaltung Schwäbisch Gmünd
Form Follows Friendship
Sunday, 19 October, 9.30am–11am
Keuken Confessies
The exhibition also extends into dialogue. On Sunday, 19 October 2025, a networking breakfast in Eindhoven will bring together emerging graduates and professionals from Germany and the Netherlands. Under the title “Form follows Friendship”, the encounter highlights collaboration as a driving force in contemporary practice.
The Form Follows Friendship event is being organised for the third time by German Design Graduates and hosted by the German Design Graduates organisiert und vom German Design Council in collaboration with the Dutch Consulate General in Düsseldorf and the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Berlin.
→ Participation is only possible with registration: https://www.formdesk.com/cgdus/Form_follows_Friendship2025
Information on photography and filming during events
Photographs and films taken on behalf of the German Design Council at events are used by the German Design Council exclusively for documentation, reporting and advertising purposes. By registering, the registrant agrees to this use. This consent can be revoked at any time without formal notice (e.g. by email to presse@gdc.de or in writing to the German Design Council).
The German Design Council reserves the right to cancel the event shortly before it takes place. If the event cannot take place or cannot take place in full due to force majeure, the registrant shall have no claims arising from this.
