Ben Keel’s Swiss Art School Tour; Part III of IV: HEAD Geneva
By Benjamin Keel, a graphic design student at the University of Cincinnati and winner of the “24 Hours in the Life of a Swiss Cuckoo Clock” poster design contest. Part of his prize was a trip to Switzerland to visit some of its top art + design schools. This is part three of a four part series he is writing for our blog. See part two here.
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If ever traveling to Geneva, I’d suggest riding the train and riding it during a sunny day. Our ride from Lausanne, traveling along Lac Leman with its sparkling blue water, paired with the warm greens and browns of the grass, and passing glances of small town houses, made us truly grateful for the opportunity to see this part of the Swiss landscape.
Arriving in the city, one can see the incredible pillar of water, the Jet d'Eau, from far across the bay – and as Andrew and I learned later, from any point in the city! With our hotel just steps from the train station, we grabbed a couple drinks and a pizza dinner in between catching up on work. Exploration was still on our minds, though; the next morning arrived and we took a short walk over to HEAD Geneva.
Spread across the whole city of Geneva is its University of Art and Design, Haute école d'art et de design – Genève, with each location specializing in a particular major or field of design. In order to get an adequate perspective on the university, we met with AnneLaure Minh Beuret of the International Relations department. In a departure from what Andrew and I had experienced so far, the school had a much more classical feel to it.
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Briefly touching on the different locations, she explained how the school had grown from its single structure to now dedicate entire buildings to the study of architecture, industrial design, fashion, fine arts, and (of course!) graphic design. It was interesting how each building seemed to look and feel like its focus — the buildings that house Architecture and Industrial/Fashion Design all had classical facades and compact, organized interiors — while the Fine Arts building opened up to a great expansive staircase with plenty of light. AnneLaure was as excited as we were to tour the locations, but seeing as she’s quite busy, she handed us off to second year student (and now our great friend) Leslie.
Leslie is a spirited graphic design student at HEAD Geneva with a passion for the comical side of the field. Expressing this love for drawing and humor in posters and illustration projects, she takes classes in multiple buildings across the city campus, riding the tram in between classes. Starting at the sleek Graphic Design building, she ran us through her different studios and student workshops. A highlight was the Physical Type class, where students were studying classic forms of printing by practicing with old world Guttenberg-style typesetting.
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My other favorite was the bookbinding room, where any student like Leslie could come to assemble their designs to a professional standard. Having just completed a bookbinding project for one of my own classes, I was quite envious! Workshops like these spoke to the strength in physical media of all of all the Swiss schools, which is a big motivator to study hard in the meantime to open up opportunities for future foreign study!
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However, our immediate concern after the tour was not studying, but a bit of fun. Before she had to head off to class, Leslie introduced us to a local park and challenged me to a game of giant-sized checkers — and completely trounced me. Despite the loss, and the small hit to my game-loving ego, I’m incredibly thankful to Leslie for the tour and her great efforts to cross our language barriers.
HEAD Geneva is not just the classes if offers, but actually a complete design and urban living experience. I wish Leslie the best in the rest of her time there!
Many thanks also to AnneLaure for organizing the meeting amidst her busy schedule, and to HEAD Geneva for hosting the “24 Hours” exhibit!
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