Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina

Originally from Latvia, Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina works on projects across the fields of design, art, natural sciences and technology. Her studio practice, research and teaching evolves around soft technologies, responsive and intelligent textiles, new materials and processes in the field of textiles as well as sustainable and biomimetic practices. In 2005 Zane Berzina accomplished a practice-based Ph.D. ‘Skin Stories: Charting and Mapping the Skin’ at the London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London using analogies of human skin in relation to her textile practice.

2000-2004 she was lecturing at the University of the Arts Berlin (UdK) and 2004-2006 at Goldsmiths, University of London, Fine Arts Department. 2007-2009 she was working as Main Researcher across the Constance Howard Resource and Research Centre in Textiles and Goldsmiths Digital Studios, University of London.

2008 Zane Berzina has been appointed Professor for Textile and Surface Design, Conceptual Design of Materials and Surfaces, at the Weißensee School of Art Berlin. As Co-Founder of eLab (Laboratory for Interactive Technologies) and Greenlab (Laboratory for Sustainable Design Strategies) within the college, she is particularly interested in the possibilities and synergies that arise from merging ecological thinking with high-tech developments. Consequently, she is a member of the project advisory board of the German Federal Ecodesign Award.

Since 2014, she is a member of the research consortium "smart³ I materials, solutions, growth" for the development of new products with intelligent materials, and Principal Investigator on several smart³ research projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) at the Weißensee School of Art Berlin ("start smart", "smart tools for smart design", "SoundAdapt", "smart materials satellites"). Since 2016, she is also a member of another BMBF funded research consortium "futureTEX" and leads the research projects "Textile Prototyping Lab" and "TheraTex" at the Weißensee School of Art Berlin. These and other research activities are conducted within the framework of DXM – Design and Experimental Material Research unit. DXM is the research facility of the Textile and Surface Design Department at the Weißensee School of Art Berlin funded by Prof. Dr. Zane Berzina and Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Christiane Sauer.
Further information on DXM can be found here: www.dxm-berlin.de

www.zaneberzina.com