dieDAS’s 2021 fellows were carefully chosen by a selection committee composed of members of our founding team and esteemed design experts. The committee included: Glenn Adamson, Wava Carpenter, Adib Dada, Maurizio Montalti, Tatjana Sprick, Veit Wagner, and Arne Cornelius Wasmuth.
Glenn Adamson is a New York-based curator and writer who works at the intersection of craft, design history, and contemporary art. He has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York; Head of Research at the V&A in London; and Curator at the Chipstone Foundation in Milwaukee. Adamson's publications include Thinking Through Craft (2007), The Craft Reader (2010), and Invention of the Craft (2013), among others. He is the host of Design in Dialogue , a triweekly online interview series co-presented with Friedman Benda gallery.
"What design needs now is a big step back: a chance to reflect and reconnect with fundamental ethical principles. dieDAS aims to provide just that: it is a context in which to reflect on difficult truths and chart paths forward to a better future. With an inspired leadership and a growing cross-disciplinary network, dieDAS is poised to become one of the crucial thought leadership organizations in the field, and—equally importantly—support the careers of today’s most exciting up-and-coming designers."
Since graduating with an MA in Design History from Parsons and Cooper-Hewitt in New York, design expert Wava Carpenter has built an international reputation for curating design-focused cultural and commercial exhibitions, writing scholarly and popular texts, producing lectures and events, jurying and overseeing awards, and creating online and IRL platforms—all to uplift the global design community. In 2019, she teamed up with longtime collaborator Anna Carnick to found Anava Projects, an agency that’s devoted to supporting and promoting design-for-good. Carpenter, who is currently based in Miami, was the Curatorial Director for Design Miami 2021.
“We all must, to the degree that we are able, strive to, ‘make the world work for 100% of humanity in the shortest possible time, with spontaneous cooperation and without ecological damage or disadvantage of anyone,’ in the words of Buckminster Fuller. We must both seize and create opportunities to elevate more people’s lived experiences.”
Adib Dada is an architect and the founder of theOtherDada Regenerative Consultancy & Architecture firm, whose mission is to activate projects across architecture, living systems, and art. Based in Beirut, the firm’s work promotes a symbiotic relationship between nature and the built environment by exploring new ways of creating generous and regenerative buildings. He is also a Fellow of the Middle East Leadership Initiative and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.
“I believe in the power of nature and community-based action to recover the urban fabric, reclaim a sense of belonging, and regain hope for a brighter, regenerative future.”
Maurizio Montalti is an Italian-born, Amsterdam-based designer, researcher, educator and entrepreneur. Working at the intersection of design and biotech, he is a recognized pioneer in material culture discourse and development, with a specialty in natural biomaterials. He holds an M.A. in Conceptual Design in Context from Design Academy Eindhoven and an M.A. in Engineering and Industrial Management from The University of Bologna.
In addition to serving as dieDAS’s inaugural artistic director 2020-2022, Montalti heads up the multidisciplinary practice Officina Corpuscoli and is also Cofounder, Designer, and R&D Director of Mogu, a design-innovation company dedicated to high-performance biomaterials and finished products deriving from fungi. His work has been exhibited at renowned institutions such as the MoMA (New York), Centre Pompidou (Paris), Design Museum (London), and MAXXI (Rome), among others.
"Today, it is evermore important to realise about the pivotal role of the Design and Creative practices as catalysts for triggering effective change, at both societal and eco-systemic levels. Conscious of such urgencies, the role of organisations such as dieDAS is absolutely key. Functioning as a thoroughly inclusive platform, supporting talented creatives in investigating complex contemporary subjects, while fostering deep critical discussions, positive collisions, and unorthodox manifestation by means of unique collective learning experiences, dieDAS paves the way to new models, challenging the status quo through the introduction of effective paradigm shifts, as driven by intuition, empathy, creativity, and competence."
A consummate connector with an incredible eye, Berlin-based Tatjana Sprick has been navigating the boundaries between the creative disciplines for years, facilitating exciting collaborations and new ventures along the way. She began her career as a dressmaker for the Haute Couture before going on to become a set designer in the film industry, and has since expanded her focus to include fashion, design, craft, and more. Sprick has helped brands and institutions across the creative spectrum—and the globe—develop meaningful products, relationships, and experiences. She was responsible for initiating the design website L’ArcoBaleno and has advised and collaborated with clients such as the Fashion Council Germany, Yohji Yamamoto, Bikini Berlin, Dr Hauschka, Elitis, The DO School, as well as the multipurpose co-retail space ALHAMBRA BERLIN. As dieDAS's founding Director of Program and Development, she is responsible for overseeing the planning and execution of dieDAS programs, including the fellowship program and walk + talk Symposium, as well as helping the institution to build strong networks of collaborators, mentors, and supporters.
Based in Meyriez, Switzerland, Veit Wagner holds a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from the University of Fribourg. For the past twenty years, he has served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the REHAU Group, a family-owned polymer business, which works in the fields of construction, industry, and as an automotive supplier, employing over 20,000 individuals across 170 locations.
“I support dieDAS because we can never get enough answers on how to build a better future without neglecting the past.”
Arne Cornelius Wasmuth is a historical restoration and preservation expert whose career has spanned work in television, radio, and film production. He is also a published author and lecturer on cultural heritage and related topics. Born in Hamburg and raised in Seoul and Lagos , he earned a B.A. from Columbia University, an M.Sc in International Relations from the London School of Economics, and an M.A. in Strategies for European Cultural Heritage and Preservation from the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt an der Oder. In 2017, together with collector and patron Egidio Marzona, Wasmuth conceived dieDAS.