Opening of The German Design Graduates Annual Exhibition “Make It Make Sense”
The Next Generation of Designers Picks Up Where Meaning and Purpose Diverge
From a strong partner through the recyclable exhibition architecture to an extensive programme: The exhibition “Make It Make Sense” brings together graduation projects from 28 universities in product and industrial design, communication and digital design, and textile and fashion design, from 16 October to 29 November 2026. One of the world's most important museums of applied arts was won for curating the 71 works: Die Neue Sammlung, the design museum in the Pinakothek der Moderne. Framed by a three-day workshop series, the exhibition was opened on 15 October in the presence of 800 guests by Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert (Director, Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum), Lutz Dietzold (CEO, German Design Council) and Katrin Krupka (Project Management, German Design Graduates).
Universities as Places of Experimentation
“A design museum collects not only objects but also ideas of what design should achieve at a particular time. Graduation projects are especially revealing in this context, because they show ideas before they become established practice,” says Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert.
Design today operates in an expanded field: material decisions are always also questions of resources, and digital systems change authorship and agency. Access happens via interfaces, and infrastructures shape behaviour. This change first becomes visible in design education: universities provide the space to test methods, roles and responsibilities before they develop into established practice. Graduation projects are therefore more than the end of a degree. They show early which questions a discipline subject newly asks.
Design Questions the Conditions
“Make It Make Sense” was curated by Katrin Krupka and Leonie Zebe (both German Design Council). Four exhibits, selected by Prof. Dr. Angelika Nollert, Dr. Caroline Fuchs, Dr. Xenia Riemann-Tyroller and Dr. Josef Straßer of Die Neue Sammlung, were honoured during the opening and stand as examples of what all works achieve beyond their immediate context of origin.
“The 71 graduation projects are not linked by a shared aesthetic or a shared answer. What links them is the willingness to make preconditions the subject of design. What is considered self-evident, efficient or accessible? Which perspectives are missing from existing systems? This is where ‘Make It Make Sense’ begins.”
Katrin Krupka (Project Management, German Design Graduates)
The exhibition design comes from Studio ttal (Andreas Lang, Tillmann Gebauer and Tobias Trübenbacher). The studio pursues an approach that translates the exhibition's content-related stance into space. The guiding principle: think in cycles. The designers take ceramics, steel and textiles from existing contexts and reuse them. According to a project-related life cycle assessment, this saves around 9,000 kg CO₂ compared with new production. Trübenbacher, once himself a German Design Graduate, received the German Design Award – Newcomer of the Year in 2023.
Funding as Infrastructure
German Design Graduates was founded in 2019 and has been carried by the German Design Council Foundation since 2022. Alongside the annual exhibitions, a digital platform comprises more than 2,000 graduation projects and makes graduates discoverable to players in culture, business and research. Workshops, networking formats and individual support offers create concrete encounters with those who commission, mediate or further develop design.
At a Glance:
- Exhibition: “Make It Make Sense” – German Design Graduates 2026
- Location: Die Neue Sammlung – The Design Museum, Munich
- Duration: 16 October to 29 November 2026
- Tickets and opening hours: see here