a project by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in co-operation with Weimar 1999 - Kulturstadt Europas GmbH
				In Autumn of 1996, product designers from the Bauhaus-University Weimar approached Weimar 1999-Kulturstadt Europas GmbH with an unusual project proposal. The traditional range of souvenirs should be supplemented by an unconventional collection, created by the students of the Design Faculty. These were then to be developed in co-operation with regional companies and marketed together with Kulturstadt GmbH. Searching for regional resources, a series of expeditions to different companies in Thuringia starts: from bakers to book binders, from glass to ceramic factories, from glass apparatus builders to turners and from hat makers to knife cutters.
				A symposium brings international experts to the university, who inform us about trick boxes and souvenir hunters, tourism research and the souvenir industry, merchandising and dispatch, the history, situation and future of the Thuringian craft trade. Strolls through Weimarís omnipresent history offer breeding ground for first souvenir ideas. Under the leadership of international designers, by invitation from the Bauhaus University, the first workshops then start in the Summer of 1997 in workshops, bakeries and laboratories of the selected companies. Under the instruction of experts, the students speculate, experiment and create enthusiastically with the materials, techniques and products. Numerous spontaneous drafts, hardened evergreens and brilliant brainwaves mature in detailed work to models and prototypes.
				On the way from an idea to becoming a product, the object must acquire its quality and attraction in many phases of development, in order to be successful as a souvenir. Material and technology, items and prices, organisation, communication and marketing must continually be adjusted and realigned - in a collection, which does not see itself as having one formal style, but rather one common concept. The list of students who participated in this project is long. They study product design or visual communication in Weimar, others in Milan, Barcelona, London, Reims, Amiens. Some just took a quick sniff, others have worked on the project for three semesters. Their joint experiences with the integration of experiment and professional implementation is intended to encourage and equip them for the further design work and required strategies. The essential first step has been taken: a start full of varied activities, connecting the university and companies, students and professors, ideas and the market place.