paulina knoll

design@paulinaknoll.com

instagram.com/paulina_knoll

nosemug

i love coffee.
and i've always felt that no coffee mug could truly capture the full experience that coffee has to offer. so i made one.
drawing inspiration from the facets of flowers and the mask of a nebulizer, i designed a mug that allows your nose to fully immerse in the rich aroma of coffee. it's a sensory experience that enhances the enjoyment of every sip.

beehive stands

detroit is marked by poverty and decay. to counteract this, the city has been working on allowing and regulating urban farming on vacant lots since 2014.
in collaboration with Erika Mayr and Stéphane Orsolini, we have developed a concept for an affordable and compliant beekeeping stations on vacant lots in the city.
my focus has been on conceptual visualization and design of the stands for the hive boxes, ensuring simplicity, modularity, and consideration of colors for bee orientation.

"A space where beekeeping is celebrated. A place where numerous and healthy honeybees are available. Healthy bees - honeybees - are important for a successful beekeeping operation and good methods for keeping bees must be introduced. We present the idea that Detroit, Michigan, provides an exceptional environment for developing bee colonies. We demonstrate that beekeepers can profit very much from producing and selling nucleus colonies to state wide operations.
Mel Disselkoen of Wyoming, MI keeps bees. He rears small honeybee colonies to sell as stock and employs a simple and effective method - his very own - for beekeeping. Mel produces his own queens and carefully times his splits - divisions of the hives - early May and early July - to get the bee colonies to develop into healthy ones. In the process, the bee number exceed the mite - Varroa Destructor - number. Year after year, he uses and reuses the same stock and exploit his resourcefulness to produce survivor bees. He is completely self-sufficient."
- Stéphane Orsolini

on the creativity of ai

with the rapid advancements in machine learning, the emergence of ai-generated images has sparked concerns among artists. to assess this concern, i conducted experiments by generating images, focusing on creating realistic representations of unrealistic subjects.
what you see here is a 'schweinhorn' – a pig with a unicorn horn. more often than not, the generated images exhibit deformations, multiple limbs, or even entirely different creatures like horses or plush toys. obtaining a usable image often requires hours or even days of experimentation.
my conclusion is that currently, they are akin to fancy collages, serving as a preliminary sketch. with further advancements, this technology has the potential to become a valuable tool for artists.

sheydz

sheydz protects the eyes like a visor from the sun, without causing sweating as it has temples like glasses rather than a band like a visor, allowing for unaltered perception of the environment's true colors and clear visibility of eye expressions during conversations. sheydz can be worn in combination with prescription glasses, and its lightweight design makes it barely noticeable while wearing.
additionally, it can be conveniently folded to dimensions of 4 x 65 x 145 mm for easy transport.

chez barac

Paul Barac took over a cocktail bar situated in the heart of halle (saale). and it was in desperate need of a redesign and rebranding. following long conversations with the new owner, a botanicals enthusiast, i devised a concept that can be summarized as a 'romantic hippie art deco summernight'.
based on this, i designed the color scheme, a chandelier resembling a weeping willow hung with little lights that engulfs the guests in a cozy atmosphere, advertising postcards and the website featuring colour-changing flower petals, the menu and some extravagant cocktails.

pampam

pampam is an experiment aimed at visualizing the physical forces that occur during rotation. the spinning top consists of a heavy steel tip and an acrylic hemisphere filled with water and wax beads. as it spins, the centrifugal force pushes the water outward, creating a small tornado with the wax beads forming a central vortex.
the spinning motion is initiated by a quick unwinding of the plastic cord, and with some practice, pampam can spin for up to three full minutes.

ephemeral

in this category, i present two smaller projects that share the common idea of being short-lived.
'traumschaum' (dreamfoam) emerged from a collaboration with Hannah Kannenberg. it is a temporary material made out of soap bubbles that do not pop immediately; they can stay for hours and days depending on the temperature and humidity levels. the material can be easily washed off with water and is not harmful to nature or humans.
'tonom' is an idea that i developed to reduce plastic and paper waste from coffee machines. the aim is to produce edible coffee cups. the magic ingredient that makes this possible is carnauba wax, which can resist temperatures up to 84°c, is tasteless, and can be safely eaten. making the cup out of cookie dough is entirely possible with that.

kuschelmonster

the term 'kuschelmonster' (cuddle monster) refers to someone who loves to cuddle.
this one is an inflatable cushion that envelops you in a gentle and constant pressure when you lie or sit on it, thanks to its "arms" that let air flow into them. this creates a sense of security and comfort, similar to how a weighted blanket can promote better sleep.
'kuschelmonster' can be used for working or relaxing at the computer, and the pressure is adjustable to suit your preferences. made from a skin-friendly combination of cotton and latex, the cushion comes with a removable and washable plush cover. when deflated, it takes up very little space, making it easy to transport.

burgspäti

a 'späti' is a late-night shop, and 'burg' refers to the Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design located in halle (saale).
in collaboration with Rebekka Schilken, we designed a kiosk that caters to the needs of a stressed burg student, with long opening hours on site. in addition to offering midnight snacks, the shop provides basic materials for prototype construction, such as papers and pens. the structure is self-supporting, theft-proof, lightweight, and cost-effective. its translucent design allows for the communication of varying opening hours through the glow of the lamps, visible even from a distance. the modular interior shelving system can be easily adjusted and expanded as needed.