The second year of the project ran in the run-up to an exhibition on the Swiss design pioneer Willy Guhl under the label "GuhlSchool". In this context, the Limmat School and the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich collaborated to organize the Museum Week Willy Guhl: Young and Today.

Together with designers and teachers, the students investigated the extent to which Guhl's ideas and approaches can also be interesting and relevant for young people today. The projects ranged from material experiments and furniture making to photographic field research in public spaces.

How can textiles be made more environmentally friendly and sustainable in order to preserve nature for future generations? What opportunities are there for this in our own neighborhood? Nature, even in the middle of Zurich, holds many colorful treasures. This week, some of its secrets were revealed.

The students learned about the colors and shapes of urban plants. They collected, laid out, sorted and even let themselves be guided by chance. During the course, they experimented with natural dyes and various techniques. They dyed fabrics with the yellow of the dandelion or created patterns with mallow flowers. They even spent a whole morning making blue.

The experience and knowledge gained in the "GuhlSchool" was used to further sharpen the profile of design education at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. They were directly implemented in the development of the interactive station "Thinking" in the exhibition Willy Guhl - Thinking with Your Hands (9 December 2022 - 26 March 2023) and in the planning of the education program, and will lead to the conception of a new permanent exhibition of the collections, which will open in the Toni-Areal in 2025 to mark the 150th anniversary of the museum.

Photos: Simon Zangger

Im Rahmen des dreijährigen Outreachprojekts (April 2021 bis März 2024) öffnete sich das Museum für Gestaltung Zürich jugendgemässen Fragestellungen und Perspektiven. Im Fokus standen dabei das in der Sammlung bewahrte Kulturerbe, das Ausloten der spezifischen Potenziale von Designvermittlung sowie museologische und strategische Fragestellungen.