ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN

Nowadays, the visions of the industry players are reflected in building façades and interiors, designer clothing, furniture and many other things. Expression, lines, proportions - maxims of the Leipzig architects and designers.

Baroque, Wilhelminian style, contemporary projects: Leipzig is home to every architectural era. Side by side, the architectural brilliance of this vibrant mixture shines through. This is especially evident in the new interpretation of Leipzig's historical building fabric, which is a challenge to preserve tradition and at the same time a struggle to move forward.

Architects and urban planners use the design space in Leipzig to realise their concepts. The Architecture Prize of the City of Leipzig (site only in german), which is awarded every two years for exemplary architectural achievements, bestows the appropriate laurels on the architects' visionary spirit.

The association “offene ArchitekTÜR e.V.“ was founded by architecture students for the purpose of finding and expanding studio space. They found what they were looking for in the dilapidated halls of a former brewery in the Leipziger Feinkostgelände (Leipzig's gastronomy district). Today the students are renovating the 350 sqm brick by brick and using it as a studio and space for exhibitions, workshops and discussions.

In Leipzig's IT, media and creative industries, design is the area offering the most diversity. This is particularly evident in the areas of fashion, jewellery and furniture design, as well as in product design and industrial applications. Furthermore, sustainability is also becoming increasingly important. Leipzig's design community is a supplier market that appeals to customers beyond Germany's borders.

Every year until 2020, the Designers' Open offered the opportunity to present oneself to broad audience or to gather information on new specialist topics. Currently, over 100 craftsmen, universities of applied sciences and artist networks show their latest products at the Grassimesse - from practical to unusual, from classic to avant-garde. Almost every aspect of design can be studied at Macromedia University and prospective design students are able to receive professional preparation at the Leipzig School of Design (site only in german). This means that promising design projects from Leipzig will continue to find their way into the world.

Together with other German cities, Leipzig celebrated the 100th anniversary of Bauhaus in 2019. A "Bauhaus Leipzig" could have actually existed, because before the avant-garde artisans relocated from Dessau to Berlin, there were discussions about moving to the trade fair city of Leipzig - but these were ultimately unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Leipzig had been enormously important for the Bauhaus movement since 1923 and 1924, as the Bauhaus artists found a platform for their new design ideas at the Grassimessen  and the Leipziger Mustermesse ("Leipzig Design Fair").

To give Leipzig's fashion and creative scene more visibility, players around Jan-Henrik Zimmer established PURE magazine (site only in german). In the form of a blog and a semi-annual print edition, the most exciting topics in the fashion industry in Leipzig are summarized, questions are asked and Leipzigs creative people are portrayed. The result is impressive: The editorials published in the magazine were 100% self-produced, together with Leipzig designers and boutiques.