Nina Schwarz
What determines your working day?
My work is multi-faceted and varied. I move between two cities, spend my days at the Toni-Areal campus and in the shared studio space, carry out projects as an illustrator and am involved in teaching and knowledge transfer as a teaching assistant. I find the various tasks and encounters with different people inspiring and rewarding.
Where at the ZHdK can you be found?
Mostly at our office, preferably on the roof terrace and happily more often in the studios and workshops.
Which topics are you focussing on at the moment?
On a personal level, there are currently a number of different social, political and ecological topics which move me. In terms of design, I have recently developed an increasing interest in ceramics. I am particularly intrigued by the interplay between craftsmanship, material properties and the unforeseeable. The beauty of the accidental (and its deliberate employment) in design work fascinates me. So this topic makes an interesting contrast to my original disciplin scientific illustration, and complements it nicely.
What motivates you?
Curiosity, change – and the uncertainties that come with them.
With whom would you like to switch roles for half a year?
I may not have a great talent for the culinary arts, but find them very fascinating. What attracts me is the combination of skill, creativity, enjoyment, aesthetics, culture, tradition and innovation. I also like the fact that it has meaning, and allied to that, the visibility of what is created. That is why I’d like to work as a chef or winemaker for half a year. I often miss working with my hands, which would make this role swap additionally attractive to me.
