Modelling, sculpting and construction processes as well as mould making and casting techniques are taught in the ‘Plastic Design’ department. A wide range of materials are used here, in particular clay, plaster, cardboard, porcelain, silicone, concrete, wood and steel.
The teaching area makes an important contribution to the general basic teaching that all first-year students go through regardless of their chosen areas of expertise. Basic 3D teaching in the field of ‘Sculptural Design’ aims to familiarise first-year students with as many different materials, techniques and processes as possible in order to give them an overview of the most important possibilities of three-dimensional design. They can develop their own initial skills and explore personal preferences and talents in a playful way. By means of a variety of different tasks that move between design-orientated drafting processes and artistically free topics, overarching design skills such as composition, proportion, variation, conception and the diversity of the creative process itself are also dealt with.
Following on from the basic course, ‘Sculptural Design’ offers further courses from the second semester onwards, which supplement and enrich the work of the competence fields of metal design, product design, colour design and interior design in particular with specific creative and freer artistic approaches and orientations as well as additional materials.
In the porcelain workshop, students learn techniques for reproducing handmade models or models created using rapid prototyping. For the implementation in porcelain casting, students learn how to produce multi-part casting moulds from plaster. As the same processes are used in industrial and artisanal ceramic production, the seminar lays the foundations for creative and planning activities in this field.
The free sculptural work, which is mainly carried out as part of third-party funded projects and sculpture excursions, aims to realise works in external contexts such as ‘art in architecture’ and ‘art in public space’ in order to make the work of the university visible, to practice students in realistic interaction with different partners and clients and to enable them to realise larger, public works for their personal portfolio during their studies.
