Mareike Gast studied at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven in Industrial Design in 2005.
During her studies she passed internships with paper designer Eriko Horiki (Japan), the wind-up-radio company Freeplay (South Africa), Vogt+Weizenegger (Berlin) and Carmeq / subsidary of Volkswagen (Berlin). From 2006 to 2010 she worked as a freelancer inter alia for Nicola Stattmann (Frankfurt), responsible for many product developments.
Since 2011 she runs her own office with an emphasis on new materials and technologies.

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Designers' Open 2011, DO/Industry from Jan Hartmann on Vimeo.

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material: black mdf, oiled / steel t-profile frame, powdercoated






the shelves are constructed like a sandwich, made of two steel frames consisting of t-profiles and grooved black mdf inbetween. the construction allows a very easy assembly and the transportation as a flatpack, which reduces the size to a third.

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in areas, where no electricity is available, communication over long distances is by far more difficult. especially in refugee camps reliable information is difficult to obtain.
for such a context I have designed the refugee radio. it is energy-atarkic since it is run by the radio-waves themselves. the necessary technology is cheap, very reliable and relatively environmentally friendly.
I gave consideration to the adaptability to different situation and the cultural context: the radio works in its paper packaging, but can be adpated in the long run by replacing the cover with different materials.

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who does not like to sit near the radiator on cold winter days? this radiator is the updated version of a tile stove which is possible due to modern low temperatur heatings. it is especcialy useful in long cold school corridors during break time.

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During the three weeks workshop the first year students experimented with selfmade bioplastic using and inventing various recipes. Taking the simple bowl shape as a starting point they molded, pressed, baked or reinforced the plastic with flakes, wool, different threads, made sheets to use in origami foldings and loads more. These experiments led to three great concepts:




Picknick Basket: reinforced bioplastic with woven/knitted cotton or woolen thread
by Búi Bjamar A∂alsteinson, Sigrí∂ur Halla Gu∂mundsdóttir and Ingvar Björn Þorsteinsson


Rose Seed 'Bomb': special soil and nutricious bioplastic to grow a rose first inside and then plant it outside
by Kristín Gu∂mundsdóttir, Sigurjón Axelsson and Katrín Magnúsdóttir


Rabbit House: building puzzle made with rabbit food to take a bite from
by Björk Gunnbjörnsdóttir, Ágústa Sveinsdóttir and Thelma Hrund Benediktsdóttir

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Organic electronics, being one of the most promising fields in material and technology research, are especially interesting for industrial designers since their new possibilities will not just change the products but also their handling, interaction and service completely. In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, where Halle is located, great research activities in the field of organic electronics are taking place. Visiting several companies and institutes around Halle was the starting point of this project.
Having gained an insight in the current developments but also in the developments to be expected within the next years, the students were asked to develop and design ultra-lightweight, energy-autarkic, mobile and forward-looking products which make use of printed, organic electronics in their broadest sense.
Hereby questions arose, like: Does a cheap technology like printing necessarily produce cheap disposables or how do printed high-end products look like? Can a flexible substrate like paper or foil with organic electronics be shaped with traditional methods and what is the result of that contrast? How does the user interact with flexible electronics? What if printed organic electronics are recyclable or bio-degradable? How do products function and look like that are custom-printed?

Here the complete results in a pdf >


The results were presented in the Poster Session on the LOPE-C, Large-area, Organic and Printed Electronics Convention, in Franfurt 06/2011:




students discussing their ideas with scientists

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Walburga Quittel, Natalia Wiebe: circus with 2d/3d embroidered functional yarns



Beate Popfinger, Cordula Bayer: mobile, energy autarkic ice-cream stand using printed funtionality on EAP foil, which folds like Origami



Olga Batt, Stephanie Müller: extruded open-plan chicken house from clay and

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brainstorming session: drawing with twigs

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self-made rotational moulding machine


Moritz Heller: hot water bottle

Florian Schweitzer: shower gel container that can be fixed to the tiles

Anja Neidhardt: watering-can for elderly people

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