Design Meets Handicap. A cooperation with workshops and services for people with disabilities in Vinschgau.

Today, products are a dime a dozen. For every purpose and taste as well as for every situation in life, there are high-quality luxury goods or low-priced discount versions, and they are manufactured from conventional resources or innovative high-tech materials. In contrast to this abundance of objects, the knowledge about their production is rather limited. In most cases, the history of a product’s creation and its global supply chain remain completely in the dark. Where is it made? Who works on it and under what conditions? What materials and techniques are used?

With the pilot project “Design Meets Handicap”, we took a different approach. We organised the semester around two design sprints, in which 21 students developed more than 40 projects to be crafted by people with disabilities in the two workshops of the Vinschgau Social Services in Latsch and Prad. Besides creating a collection of useful and lasting household products which reflect the different aspects of their making, our central goal was to meet the craftspeople with disabilities and their working environment.

I am confident that this collaboration and its results, which can be seen in this online exhibition, can contribute to a better understanding and mutual appreciation of both the creative skills of young designers and the craftsmanship of people with disabilities.

Klaus Hackl, 10/06/2022

Project partners

Bezirksgemeinschaft Vinschgau, Sozialdienste. Dott. Philipp Tappeiner

Platform Cultural Heritage Cultural Production. Dr. Waltraud Kofler Engl