Larissa Holaschke
Where at the ZHdK can you be found?
When there isn’t a pandemic, there is a good chance that you will find me in the office at Trends & Identity (4.E07). And, of course, in the corridors – between teaching classes, workshops and my role as an academic staff member at the university’s Equal Opportunities Office, or en route to a coffee break. The many events at the Toni-Areal site always provide fascinating insights, and I like to drop in whenever possible.
Which topics are you focussing on at the moment?
Fundamentally, my interest lies in the political dimension of design. How does design shape our society? What do participation, inclusion and empowerment mean within the design process? And what are our responsibilities as designers in all this? For some time now, my focus has been on gender & design. Building on my Master’s thesis Lipstick Tehran, in 2017 I launched the Gender Salon, a research and events format which examines stereotypes and perspectives of gender in design. Every edition of the Gender Salon is dedicated to a specific space and its everyday world: having explored that of the nail salon, the boxing gym and the perfume store, the subject for the next term will be «Pop: Pop Music and Pop Culture». The discussion space was supposed to be a club, but in view of the current situation, the Gender Salon will have to take place digitally.
Who would you like to work with one day?
A lot is happening now in terms of intersectional feminist and decolonial perspectives in design, also in the German-speaking areas. Initiatives such as Teaching Design, Futuress or depatriarchise design all champion alternative, socially sustainable and anti-discriminatory design practices, and tell the history of design from unknown and underrepresented perspectives.
What is your personal definition of design?
Design shapes our society, and as designers, we design the world around us. In the design idea, we lend values a physical form and make them comprehensible. We decide on the stance and position of the newly designed item in our society.
