The USM Design Grant is a new study grant launched by the FONDATION USM to promote innovation by paying for a project by a student. The competition will take place each year during the Design Days, alternating between Geneva and Lausanne, and will be granted in turn to a student from HEAD/Haute école d’art et design Genève and ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne.

“As part of the USM Design Grant, students on the Master’s Product Design course run by ECAL have worked on the subject of ‘The Lamp of Tomorrow’. By using new technologies, including those associated with LEDs, students were set the task of creating new typologies and imagining what contemporary lights might look like, taking account of parameters such as adaptability, modularity and practicality.”

Camille Blin,
Head of Master Product Design, ECAL

Design Grant 2018:

LUISA KAHLFELDT,
Spring

“Pop-up stores and temporary shops have established themselves as successful retail strategies in every major city. From food markets to fashion shops, brands and retailers often take over vacant spaces and set up shop only for a limited amount of time. This growing trend is starting to have an impact on retail architecture and lighting design.

The Spring light is a new typology of modular spotlights for short term retail spaces. Comprised of a flexible rubber cable and spotlight clips that can be attached anywhere along the cable, the system has the same technical benefits as traditional track lighting systems but is much more flexible and easier to install and take down.”

Luisa Kahlfeldt