Welmoed Bosch studied fashion design at the Willem de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. As a fashion designer, she is fascinated by the translation of anatomy into clothing. Her working method is based on the technical and haptic properties of clothing and multidisciplinary theoretical research. Welmoed lives in Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

For fashion designer Welmoed Bosch from the Netherlands, the way we dress is both symptomatic and responsible for how we perceive and judge bodies. Even with tailor-made clothing, the measurements of the body are transferred into a standardised system of patterns. For this reason, she wants to develop a method that takes the real physical body as a basis instead of abstracting it into patterns. She wants to show that existing pattern-making techniques are not neutral but follow ideal images and wants people to recognise the beauty in the anatomical differences that are concealed by clothing.
For her, the men's suit is an example of the traditional approach, as it was modelled on an ideal male body and translates the body into an inorganic, angular form. She would therefore like to use her time in Pforzheim to combine traditional suit making with her anatomical pattern making.

Nga China Ko was born and raised in Hong Kong. In 2014, she graduated in Jewellery Design from the Hong Kong Design Institute and one year later completed a Bachelor's degree in Jewellery and Metalworking at Sheffield Hallam University. After working in the diamond industry for three years, she completed a Master's degree in Gemstone and Jewellery Design at Trier University of Applied Sciences, Idar-Oberstein Campus. She was honoured with a Marzee Graduate Award for her thesis "Inclusion" at the Marzee Graduate Show 2021.

As part of a social fabric, it is essential for people to interact with others. In her series „Inclusion“, jewellery designer Nga Ching Ko from Hong Kong explores the nuances of the unsaid that make it possible for people to interact and be accepted in their social environment. She incorporates her own experiences of finding and integrating into a new cultural environment into her work. Her works reflect her personal experiences, the pressure that comes with integrating into a social group, they show the process of making compromises and emotions such as resistance, struggle or anger, explained Nga Ching Ko, who comes from Hong Kong and has been living in Germany for three years. In Pforzheim, she wants to deal with „empty words“. According to her, positive compliments are a linguistic means of establishing connections with fellow human beings. Words such as good, exciting or interesting are not always genuine compliments, but often empty words that are said out of politeness or to avoid embarrassing situations. During her time studying in Germany, she noticed how rarely she heard a negative judgement from fellow students or friends - some compliments became meaningless to her as a result, explains Nga Chin Ko. In Pforzheim, she wants to make her interpretation of compliments and cultural differences tangible through her jewellery, working with different materials such as metal and textiles.

Liina Lember is a multidisciplinary designer from Estonia whose work bridges science, art and design. She explores topics such as existing social norms, relationships with and understanding of non-human users, new technologies, anthropology, ecosystems, light pollution and biodiversity. Her focus is on experimentation, research and questioning the boundary between plausible future scenarios and alternative realities. She completed the BA(Hons) Interior Architecture course at Glasgow School of Art in 2016 and the Information Experience Design course at the Royal College of Art in London in June 2021. She currently lives and works in London.

Liina Lember would like to use her stay in Pforzheim to deepen and further develop her previous work on lighting in cities and colour spectra with a focus on light pollution. Liina Lember explained that light pollution is an under-recognised but ubiquitous problem that has an impact on mental health, circadian rhythms and ecosystems. According to Lember, light pollution is increasing globally by about 6 % every year and is often generated with fossil fuel energy in addition to the aforementioned problems. For this reason, Liina Lember would like to investigate the following questions: How does human-centred lighting in cities affect other species and ecosystems? What role does the colour spectrum of light play in this? And how can new technological solutions, such as sensors, respond to the needs of different users and revolutionise existing urban lighting systems? During the three-month scholarship, Liina Lember would like to design an interactive installation and a brochure on this topic.

Amelie Marie Gaydoul/ Menswear Designer

Amelie Marie Gaydoul studied fashion design at Pforzheim University and then completed an MA in menswear at the University of Westminster in London. She then worked for Norse Projects and Givenchy, among others. She currently lives in Copenhagen and works as a freelance menswear designer for companies in London, Paris and Copenhagen.

Frederike Kintscher/Industrial designer

Frederike Kintscher studied Industrial Design at the University of Wuppertal and completed a Master of Science in Product Design at the Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, USA. She is involved in the Association of German Industrial Designers - VDID e.V. and has represented it since 2018 in the German Design Day e.V., as vice speaker in the Cultural Council e.V. and in the BEDA Bureau of European Design Associations, in the management of the Council for Euro-pa/International Affairs of the German Design Day. She is an active campaigner for values, sustainability and future-orientation through design. She runs her own studio in Berlin.

Karen Pontoppidan, jewellery artist

Karen Pontoppidanborn in Denmark in 1968, is one of the most renowned jewellery artists of her generation. In addition to numerous solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide, Karen Pontoppidan also works as a curator and author. She trained as a designer of jewellery and utensils in Schwäbisch Gmünd in 1991 and graduated in 1998 in the class of Prof. Otto Künzli at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. From 2006 to 2015 she was Professor of Jewellery and Appliance at Ädellab, Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm. In 2015, Karen Pontoppidan was appointed Professor of Goldsmithing at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. Karen Pontop-pidan lives and works in Munich.