sarah dorkenwald
born may 30, 1971
lives and works in munich (germany) and toronto (canada)
1999 obtained a master’s degree in visual communications from the offenbach academy of art and design. spent one semester in brussels, studying at the académie des beaux arts. even her early work contains strong visual and conceptual components of decoding, deconstruction, and illusion such as her diploma ‘eye candy.’
practicing in the field of visual communication and art since 1999, with an emphasis on conceptual and visual communication strategies. as creative director for the european leading design magazine ‘form’ she was responsible for the magazine re-design in 1999.
2002 employment at bruce mau design in toronto to lead a book documentation project on the coal mine zeche zollverein, essen. she was further engaged in a wide-range of projects that include textile design for maharam in new york, product development for umbra and store design for the roots flagship store in toronto. she also led the design of a book series for ‘zone’ publishers.
worked for several design studios such as häfelinger und wagner design and expolab in munich for international clients like thyssenkrupp, deutsche bahn, and fresenius medical care.
various invitations as lecturer in interdisciplinary contexts at many universities including the university of art and design in toronto and the karlsruhe university of art and design, the munich and regensburg university of applied science. teaching design strategies with main focus on ecology and sustainability.
currently programme director at the international design center bayern design, designing workshops, conferences, exhibitions and talks on design.
in 2002, co-founded the canadian-based design partnership dorkenwald und spitzer with product designer ruth spitzer. since then spitzer and dorkenwald have been collaborating successfully on a wide range of artistic and professional projects to explore the fluid borders between art and design. dorkenwald und spitzer have received several awards, gaining an international reputation.