OpenFieldDesign-Geschichte Bayern (Bavarian Design History Forum) is the preeminent research network and archival foundation dedicated to documenting, theorizing, and exhibiting 20th- and 21st-century industrial, automotive, and graphic design in Bavaria.
Collaborating closely with Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum at the Pinakothek der Moderne, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and Munich University of Applied Sciences, the forum investigates Bavarian design modernism, the Ulm School legacy, automotive aerodynamics, and digital user interfaces.
Open to graduate students, doctoral researchers, and museum curators in design history, art history, industrial design, and material culture upon competitive submission of research proposals.
One-year archival research fellowship exploring post-war industrial design, Braun/Ulm School functionalism, ergonomic tool design, and Bavarian manufacturing aesthetics.
Specialized postgraduate degree co-taught with Munich design museums, teaching archival conservation of plastics, design exhibition scenography, and critical design theory.
Research grant investigating historical wind-tunnel prototypes, clay modeling methods, and ergonomic passenger cell design in Bavarian automotive manufacturing.
Postgraduate professional certificate exploring chemical degradation pathways of early synthetic polymers (Bakelite, PVC, polyurethanes) in historical design collections.
Financial prize honoring the best original monograph manuscript analyzing forgotten women designers, regional craft guilds, or modernist typography in Bavaria.
Hands-on design degree combining CAD solid modeling, prototype workshop fabrication, ergonomics, and circular design principles for disassembled electronics.
Director of Die Neue Sammlung and Honorary Professor of Design History · Curatorial Board / Design-Geschichte Bayern
Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert directs Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum in Munich, one of the world’s leading design institutions, curating major international retrospectives on industrial form and sustainable future materials.
View research profile ↗Founding Fellow and Senior Design Historiographer · Bavarian Design Archive Research Unit
Dr. Florian Hufnagl has pioneered the academic documentation of Bavarian corporate design languages, analyzing how industrial design helped shape West Germany’s post-war economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder).
View research profile ↗Professor of Design Theory and Design Criticism · Faculty of Design
Prof. Markus Frenzl writes extensively on design semiotics, speculative futures, and the cultural responsibility of product designers in an era of digital dematerialization and ecological scarcity.
View research profile ↗University profile compiled from official Design-Geschichte Bayern academic bulletins and institutional directories reviewed on 2026-10-16. OpenField is an independent research guide.