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In 2015 The Maarten Van Severen Foundation and the Department of Design of KASK / School of Arts Ghent decided to establish a chair with the aim of conveying the relevance and significance of Maarten Van Severen’s work for today’s designers. Every year a leading designer, whose work has an affinity with the work of Maarten Van Severen, will give a lecture and a masterclass. He or she will reflect on the common ground between their work and that of Maarten van Severen and on the qualities of his work in light of the current design culture. The first edition was in the hands of Erwan Bouroullec.

In December 2016, Swiss designer Alfredo Häberli gave two lectures and during the same week he hosted a three-day masterclass with 10 students from 5 different art schools. After the masterclass, the participating students kept uploading images of their process on the MVSC blog. The result is a fascinating collection of things, which we proudly present as the second MVSC Cahier at Design museum Gent. It contains a transcription of Alfredo Häberli’s lecture and a visual overview of the masterclass that documents the students’ progress.

Design museum Gent is a structural partner of the Maarten Van Severen Chair.

Collaborating schools: KASK/School of Arts Ghent, ENSAV – La Cambre, Design Academy Eindhoven, Aalto University, Universität der Künste Berlin.

Students participating in the book and exhibition: Ruth De Jaeger, Janne Claes, Anse Heestermans, Mathilde Pequeur, Corneel De Corte, Ariane Relander, Jonathan Chan, Mette Kahlos, Stefan Traeger, Maximilian Löw.

Alfredo Häberli was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1964. He moved to Switzerland in 1977 and graduated 1991 with distinction in Industrial Design at the Höhere Schule für Gestaltung in Zurich. Today, he is an internationally established designer based in Zurich and is working for some of the leading companies of the international design industry such as Alias, BD Barcelona, BMW, Camper, FSB, Georg Jensen, Iittala, Kvadrat, Luceplan, Moroso, Schiffini and Vitra. He manages to unite tradition with innovation, joy and energy in his designs and his work is strongly influenced by his early childhood in Argentina as well as his curiousness and studies in everyday life. The results are works with a strong expression and emotionality.

Alfredo Häberli's work and designs have been shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and he has received many awards for his work during the past 16 years. A personal monograph «Alfredo Häberli - Sketching My Own Landscape» was published by Frame Publishers in Amsterdam and in October 2006 he was guest of honour at the 20th Biennale of Design in Kortrijk, Belgium. In this context the book «Alfredo Häberli Design Live» with photos of some of Switzerlands most influential Artists, interpreting Alfredo Häberlis work, was released and published by Birkhäuser.