Depot Basel was launched in June 2011 on the initiative of designers Laura Pregger and Matylda Krzykowski, process designer Moritz Walther and economist Elias Schäfer, designer Julia Landsiedl and the journalist Katharina Altemeier. The core team today is comprised by the four first-mentioned founding members and – from 2012 onward – the design journalist Rebekka Kiesewetter. Their common interest lies in a theoretical and practical approach to the subject of design and its presentation, mediation and promotion.
Depot Basel endeavours to remain independent and work prospectively, to appoint and process current themes and to develop new presentation and mediation processes with the ability to reach a wide audience of interested parties, professionals and creative people from different fields and encourage a mutual exchange between them. Depot Basel aims to make it possible to see and experience the many facets of creative work, to illuminate every characteristic of the designed object – anything from commodity to work of art – and not losing sight of the past while concentrating on the contemporary. Depot Basel is interested in stories that connect people to objects and strives to demonstrate the close relation of design to every single person. Those parts of design which remain invisible to the costumer purchasing a product shall be the central focus: creators, ideas, concepts, production, and handicraft.
Despite limited financial means (foundation endowments, prizes, donations from sponsors) and infrastructural challenges, Depot Basel received international attention and became a scene of encounter and exchange since its launch in 2011. It has supported existing networks as well as created new ones, and contributed to the ongoing discussion on design.
Depot Basel’s activities will continue independently of the previous location, the now unusable former grain storehouse on the NT-Areal, for its purpose derives not from mere exposition – but from conviction.
