Bauhaus Students Launch »NU« Pop-Up Shop in Weimar’s City Centre

Over the course of their studies, design students are consistently generating output that is presented, exhibited and processed in portfolios. It is not uncommon for these designs to evolve into marketable products and for students to look for ways to translate their talent into a profession. However, this requires finding and establishing platforms to provide consumers with access to the products in terms of both content and material in order to generate awareness and appreciation. Numerous prototypes are created every semester at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, including books, magazines, illustrations, tableware, furniture, textiles and more.

This winter semester, 16 »Visuelle Kommunikation (Visual Communication)« and »Produktdesign (Product Design)« students have taken on the task of designing, building and operating the first pop-up shop for products created by Bauhaus-Universität Weimar students. Prof. Gerrit Babtist and artistic staff members Almut Nowack and Masihne Rasuli offered the interdisciplinary project module »Don’t Pop – Communicate« for this very purpose. The Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has a long tradition of interdisciplinary approaches, and was relied upon here to both strengthen the presence of student work in Weimar and to provide a professional trial platform for students to showcase their work. The project is funded by the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar Kreativfonds.

Students will be presenting their work starting on Friday, 3 February 2023 in the M-BOOKS gallery in Marktstraße 16 in Weimar’s city centre: NU – the Bauhaus Student Store. The shop’s design focusses on developing and implementing a reusable store concept. The concept is intended to be adaptable to various locations and diverse local conditions, as well as to the products on display. The design should not simply turn visitors into consumers, but rather allow them to participate and inform themselves about the intensive processes that occur behind the finished products at the university.

The resulting structure of the shop is based on a foundation of metal grids that can be assembled in flexible ways. The foundation is embellished with a textile layer that is woven into the grids. This textile layer creates a soft contrast to the static frame and also serves, among other things, as a seating area. They are also a nod to the historic Bauhaus, whose weaving workshop produced iconic pieces.

The student group —which includes five exchange students from Portugal, Italy, Sweden and Ireland—are also responsible for all shop-related branding and communication. The name »NU« can be interpreted in numerous ways: It stands for NEW or NEU, but can also be translated from Dutch to mean NOW. The Thuringian translation also applies.

Students from the university were invited to apply to the shop with their products via an open call. The project students selected eight works by Bauhaus students for the first instalment of the shop.

»NU« will hold its grand opening starting at noon on 3 February. The pop-up shop will be open until 6 pm on 3 February, and from noon to 6 pm on 4 and 5 February. 

Find out more on Instagram: @our_popup
 
We look forward to seeing you!

NU – the Bauhaus Student Store
Grand Opening:
Friday, 3 February 2023, 12 noon

Pop-Up Duration:
3 to 5 February 2023

Opening Times:
Every Day from 12 noon to 6 pm

Location:
M BOOKS - Buchhandlung und Galerie für Architektur und benachbarte Disziplinen
Marktstraße 16
99423 Weimar
https://www.m-books.eu/about-store/

For questions, please contact:
Gerrit Babtist, Professor of »Design and Management« in the Produktdesign (Product Design) degree programme:
gerrit.babtist[at]uni-weimar.de 

Almut Nowack, Artistic Staff Member »Design and Management«: almut.nowack[at]uni-weimar.de 

Masihne Rasuli, Artistic Staff Member »Bild-Text-Konzeption« in the Visuelle Kommunikation (Visual Communication) degree programme: masihne.patricia.rasuli[at]uni-weimar.de