German designer Katrin Sonnleitner in NZ

German designer Katrin Sonnleitner will be a guest speaker at the design conference Semi-Permanent 2010 in Auckland on 20 and 21 August. She will also be giving a tour through the exhibition somewhat different: Contemporary Design and the Power of Convention on 19 August at Shed 10.

Katrin’s work is represented in somewhat different: Contemporary Design and the Power of Convention, an international touring exhibition prepared by the Institut for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) and curator Volker Albus, in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut and Shed 10.

Quirky interpretations of everyday objects bring a ‘serious lightness’ to this exhibition. With 148 objects from more than 60 designers and studios, 47 of them based in Germany and 20 in other European countries, the products on display illustrate the great diversity and the humour that can emerge when the usual rules of convention are deliberately subverted.

Exhibition venue: Shed 10, 90 Wellesley St, Auckland CBD
Exhibition dates: 31 July - 29 August 2010

Background of Katrin Sonnleitner

Katrin Sonnleitner is a product designer based in Karlsruhe, Germany. After graduating from Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design she received a fellowship at Designlabor Bremerhaven and worked on several design and exhibition projects for Alfred-Wegener-Institute for polar and marine research about mircro-organisms and bionics.

She founded her own design studio in 2007 and works on a wide range of conceptual research, product and exhibition design and both interior design and public space for renowned clients such as Kahla Porzellan, Raumplus GmbH and Deutsche Bahn AG.

Katrin Sonnleitner plays with objects,spaces, and existing ideas in order to find unexpected interpretations of the familiar. Katrin’s concepts pull from ordinary and universal entities, deconstruct past notions, and finally deliver something new.