Design Academy Eindhoven and Kaldewei Present 'Behind Closed Doors' at Currents Berlin
During the Currents design festival in Berlin, the exhibition titled Behind Closed Doors showcased eight student projects resulting from a 10-week partnership between the Social Design master's program at Design Academy Eindhoven and the bathroom company Kaldewei. This initiative sought to envision bathrooms for a sustainable future, with Kaldewei's Christian Büttner highlighting the importance of repurposing old bathtubs. Featured works included Sarah Kinzer and Moss A Moschen's reflective steel tiles, Carlotta Talkenberger's bath mat made from human hair, Ian Chu's soap washbasin crafted from used oil, Hanxiao Xu's satirical film on bathwater recycling, and the Bathtube project by Philipp Hohnerlein and Gabriela Augustyniak, which utilized waste heat from data centers. The festival took place from 10 to 12 September 2026.
Key facts
- Behind Closed Doors was an exhibition by Design Academy Eindhoven and Kaldewei at Berlin design festival Currents.
- The exhibition featured eight student projects from a 10-week educational partnership with the Social Design master's degree.
- Students were asked to explore circular bathroom design that conserves resources and encourages circular behaviours.
- Kaldewei's head of design Christian Büttner said in a circular world the company would reuse old bathtubs rather than produce new ones.
- Sarah Kinzer and Moss A Moschen created steel tiles incorporating real hair, based on documented traces of use in Eindhoven student bathrooms.
- Carlotta Talkenberger felted a bath mat from human hair to challenge double standards around animal versus human hair.
- Ian Chu's Wash Away Your Guilt turned discarded cooking oil into a soap washbasin that dissolves with each use.
- Currents 2026 took place from 10 to 12 September 2026 at various locations across Berlin, Germany.
Entities
Artists
- Sarah Kinzer
- Moss A Moschen
- Carlotta Talkenberger
- Ian Chu
- Guadalupe Vanini Cervini
- Tina Lehnhardt
- Xinliang Zhou
- Hanxiao Xu
- Philipp Hohnerlein
- Gabriela Augustyniak
- Christian Büttner
Institutions
- Design Academy Eindhoven
- Kaldewei
- Currents
- Dezeen
Locations
- Eindhoven
- Netherlands
- Berlin
- Germany
- Europe
Sources
- Dezeen —