On October 5th, 2019 we had a cool and interesting conversation with Julia Koerner.

Julia Koerner is an award-winning Austrian designer working at the convergence of architecture, product and fashion design. She is internationally recognised for design innovation in 3D-Printing, Her designs have been featured in the National Geographic Magazine, VICE, WIRED and the New York Times among other publications. Julia is founder of JK Design GmbH, specialising in digital design for 3D-Printing. In 2015, Julia launched an entirely 3D-Printed ready-to-wear collection entitled ‘Sporophyte’. Her collaborations involved 3D-Printed fashion pieces developed with Haute Couture Houses for Paris Fashion week and 3D printed costumes for Hollywood entertainment productions such as Marvel’s Black Panther which recently won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. She also collaborated with Swarovski on a showpiece which displays Swarovski’s continued strive for innovation and the early developments of 3D-printing technology with glass.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, Julia received master degrees in Architecture from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Architectural Association in London. She is currently based between Los Angeles and Salzburg and has previously practiced in London and New York. Since 2012 Julia has been a faculty member in the Architecture and Urban Design Department at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA).

In this episode, we talk about what inspires her to create beautiful designs and where she first got the inspiration to become a designer from. We talk about her years in school, and her experience working in many different countries as well as meeting some of her mentors. She goes deep into her creative process and what software she currently uses. We talk about how she gets the amazing collaborations that she has and how she landed the Marvel collaboration to design a costume for Black Panther. We then talk about her opinion on the future of technology and architecture, and finally why she loves being a professor at UCLA. She also gives some great insight into the not so pretty side of collaborations and talks about some of her struggles.

Questions:

Why Architecture?
Where do you get your inspiration from?
You have a Master degree from University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the AA in London. Did you specify in technology or digital fabrication at any point?
When you were in school what do you think gave you the fire to start using a 3D printer? What did you do after you graduated?
Did you know exactly where you wanted to go next?
Can you go through your creative process? How do you begin and end a project?
What tools do you use? Do you do everything in the computer?
When did you think it was time to start your own practice and why?
What was the process to get all the amazing clients and collaborations you have now?
What was it like to work with Marvel, in Black Panther?
Do you consider yourself more of an architectural designer or fashion/product designer?
Do you think that technology systems and digital fabrication are the future? And everyone should jump on board?
You are currently teaching at UCLA, what made you realize you wanted to share your knowledge with others?
What is one piece of advice you’d like to give a current student or recent graduate hearing this episode?