Young ideas need space – and, above all, the chance to be seen. This is precisely where the smow Design Contest comes in: in 2026, smow will support six up-and-coming talents for the first time and cover their stand fees at the Grassimesse Leipzig. Five places were originally planned – but in the end there are six. This is because the quality of the submitted works was so impressive that the selection committee created an additional place. The GRASSI Museum of Applied Arts and smow selected six works that particularly impressed with their quality, originality and innovative potential.
What unites the designers are the criteria of the smow Design Contest: they are all aged 35 or under and are still at the start of their professional careers.
Good furniture often begins with a question: how do we want to sit, live, work or use things? Sometimes it all starts with a material, a design or an observation from everyday life. It is precisely from these that designs emerge which reimagine familiar objects.
The Grassimesse Leipzig provides the perfect setting for this. As an international platform for applied art and design, it brings together creators, designers and manufacturers with an interested specialist audience. For the six newcomers, this means that their designs leave the studio and are encountered by people who view, scrutinise and discuss them.
From a pull-out bench to a space-inspired wall shelf and a modular sofa: these six projects showcase a variety of approaches, materials and designs.
Max Boehlken and Lucas Nonn are studying industrial design at Burg Giebichenstein. Their stool, ‘Patriq’, is crafted from a single sheet of material. The sheet is folded along precisely milled lines, which gives it its shape and stability.The design requires no additional reinforcements. A single panel, a few folds, a stool: Patriq reduces the piece of furniture to its structural principle.
Henriette Meyer-Stork is a student at the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design in Halle. ‘be aRound’ is based on a simple observation: the longer a traditional bench is, the more people it can accommodate – yet at the same time, the distance between them increases.
Meyer-Stork has taken this principle a step further. Her circular bench can be extended so that those sitting on it face one another. The design therefore not only supports sitting, but also encourages communication.
In 2025, the young designer Paul Vietz was awarded the Manufactum NRW State Prize for Applied Art and Design in the Crafts Sector in the furniture category. At the Grassimesse, he is presenting ‘Fleco II’, a freestanding shelving unit that can also be used as a room divider.
The design requires no glue, additional fastenings or tools. A clamping joint holds the legs and side panels together, whilst cross-bars secure the shelves. The ash timber used allows for thin material thicknesses. The construction and material remain visible, defining the piece’s minimalist design.
Karolin Pahlke is 24 years old and is studying for a Master’s degree in Design Futures, specialising in product design. The ‘GripUp’ project was inspired by the food trays used by astronauts. As objects need to be securely held in place in zero-gravity conditions, the trays are designed with an integrated rubber structure.
Pahlke applies this principle to a sleek wall shelf for everyday use, creating a new take on storage and organisation.
Jona Kampelmann completed his Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Design at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen in 2025 and is currently studying for a Master’s in Design Futures there. He is bringing his Bachelor’s thesis, ‘LEIA’ – a 3D-printed chair made from recycled PLA – to the Grassimesse.
The colour is created right at the material stage: Kampelmann mixes pigment powder into the granulate before it is processed. The design thus combines furniture design with digital manufacturing and new possibilities for material processing.
Industrial designer Julius Mergen from Münster specialises primarily in furniture and contract design. His ‘Roll’ project explores the flexible use of small living spaces. The modular sofa consists of a rolled-up mattress topper with integrated bedding. In just a few simple steps, it can be transformed into a sofa, a double bed, two single beds or separate seating units. The starting point was the question of how a piece of furniture can adapt to different everyday situations without losing its character.
The six projects offer different answers to specific questions in furniture design: How can a bench encourage communication? How can a design principle be stripped back to its essentials? What does digital manufacturing make possible? And how can a piece of furniture combine multiple functions within a small space?
By covering the stand fee, smow creates the ideal setting for this. The Grassimesse becomes a venue where the six emerging artists can present their work to a wider audience, discuss it and develop it further.
And that is precisely where the value of this support lies: not every design needs to provide a definitive answer to these questions at the Grassimesse. However, by covering the stand fee, smow enables up-and-coming talents to put their designs up for discussion and, through this exchange, gain new perspectives for their future development.
