Franziska Born

Franziska Born is a Lecturer in Textile Design at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – Design & Art (HSLU DFK), where she has been employed since 2003. She established the embroidery department and has served as a lecturer in textile design since 2005. Her academic work is deeply integrated with her professional practice as a designer and artist.

Ms. Born studied textile design at the Zurich University of the Arts. Her educational background in textile design forms the foundation of her professional and academic work.

Ms. Born's creative practice centers on textile design, embroidery techniques, and their applications across various domains. Her work spans from traditional textile crafts to contemporary digital applications, exploring the intersection of heritage techniques and modern innovation. She investigates how textiles function in architectural spaces, performance environments, and everyday objects, often reinterpreting traditional forms for contemporary contexts. Her practice demonstrates a consistent exploration of pattern, color theory, and material properties, with particular attention to how textiles interact with human experience and spatial environments.

Her extensive portfolio shows a career-long engagement with both the practical and conceptual dimensions of textile design. From tea towels to stage costumes, from embroidery collections to architectural interventions, her work demonstrates versatility while maintaining a coherent artistic vision focused on the transformative potential of textiles in everyday life and specialized contexts.

Ms. Born has received significant recognition for her work:

• Federal Design Award for various projects (2003)
• Federal Prize for Design for Work, Summer Mix Edition with the design collective Ping Pong (2001)
• Zurich School of Design Award for an outstanding diploma thesis (1998)
• Winner of Design Prize Switzerland 2021 for Stage dress Niemandsland

At the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences, Ms. Born provides mentorship for bachelor's theses, guiding students through their final academic projects. Her professional practice as a freelance designer since 1998, along with her co-founding of the "Ping Pong" design collective in 1999, provides rich practical experience that informs her academic mentorship. Her collaborations with theaters, particularly with Compagnie Zimmermann de Perrot, and her numerous design projects demonstrate an ongoing engagement with both commercial and artistic applications of textile design.

Ms. Born's work extends across multiple creative teams and collaborations. She co-founded the "Ping Pong" collective, a collaboration of fashion, textile, and graphic design. Her work with Compagnie Zimmermann de Perrot for theater productions demonstrates her integration into performance art teams. She has also collaborated with artists like Shirana Shahbazi and design firms like KüngCaputo on architectural projects. Her recent work on the "Necessary" toiletry bag involved collaboration with Andrea Roca of the wrong wrong. These diverse collaborations show her ability to work across disciplinary boundaries while maintaining her focus on textile innovation.