Basel’s Masterstudio Design: Shaping the Future of Creative Fields
The Masterstudio Design at the Basel Academy of Art and Design FHNW, run by the Institute for Contemporary Design Practices (ICDP), is a practice-led master’s that brings Fashion Design, Industrial Design and Scenography into a single interdisciplinary framework. The program positions design as a mode of inquiry for contemporary crises such as climate change, ecological collapse and widening social inequality, asking students to question norms and conceive inclusive alternatives.
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Challenges
Rather than training specialists in isolation, Masterstudio Design creates cross-disciplinary teams and studio projects that respond to real-world problems. Students work across material, spatial and systems thinking to research and prototype responses to environmental and social emergencies. The program foregrounds inclusive thinking and challenges binary models in design practice, encouraging experimental methods and critical reflection.
Fostering Innovation and Collaboration
Each of the three studios—Industrial Design, Scenography and Fashion Design—retains its disciplinary rigour while sharing resources, workshops and critique formats. Industrial Design focuses on material systems and product imaginaries; Scenography interrogates spatial narratives and public staging; Fashion Design reframes garment-making as social and ecological inquiry. Collective theses, lab partnerships and industry collaborations ensure projects move from concept to context.
Your Path to a Visionary Design Future
Students benefit from FHNW’s facilities, an international peer cohort and ties to cultural and commercial partners across Europe. The curriculum emphasizes project-based research, public presentation and professional pathways in design, curation, research and social practice. Program leaders stress a reality-based pedagogy that prepares graduates for creative leadership across sectors.
Admissions run annually; the program typically starts in September. Application deadlines vary by intake year—visit the Masterstudio Design site (masterstudiodesign.ch) or FHNW’s master pages for current deadlines, entry requirements and portfolio guidance.
