Jesko Fezer
HFBK

Since 2011, the Studio Experimental Design of the HFBK Hamburg has been offering support to people in the St. Pauli district and elsewhere in the city who, for economic or socio-cultural reasons, have no access to design or are prevented from practicing their own design. For a dozen years now, public design support has been held every Wednesday from 6 to 7 p.m. in a store run by GWA St. Pauli, a social association that has been doing community work there for decades. In this open design consultation hour, students receive inquiries from neighbors, initiatives and activists and work with them on their problems, issues and projects. Yet most residents of working-class neighborhoods and others affected by gentrification generally cannot afford design, let alone even think about claiming it for themselves. As a clearly partisan practice, Public Design Support works with those who are excluded not only from urban development, but also from design itself.

About

Jesko Fezer works as architect, author, designer, artist and exhibition designers. He is professor of Experimental Design at HFBK Hamburg since 2011, a design studio that advocates a community based and cooperative approach to design. Its Public Design Consultancy offers free support to people who are otherwise usually excluded from design processes to help them confront real everyday issues.

Useful links

Personal website

Design HFBK Hamburg