Design Futures: Essentials for Future Designers

About

A unique encounter between open pedagogy, experimentation, and creation. This programme is developed in collaboration between Campus MaNa and Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) to support prospective students aspiring to join a leading art or design school, including DAE itself, and to enhance their chances of admission.

Renowned worldwide for its avant-garde approach, DAE is much more than a design school—it is a laboratory of ideas, a space where students learn to think differently, create with intention, and question the world around them. It is one of the most prestigious design schools in the world, known for its experimental, conceptual, and forward-thinking methodology. Based in the Netherlands, DAE trains students who challenge conventions, materials, and socio-cultural systems, with a strong critical and artistic perspective.

Taking part in this programme at Campus MaNa (Champignelles, France) in collaboration with DAE means diving into a pedagogy rooted in exploration, intuition, research, and commitment. It’s about experimenting with materials, questioning how things are used, telling ideas through form—and most importantly, discovering that design can be a truly personal and collective language

Course leader

Snir Gedasi (DAE)

Target group

The 14-day programme, held in English, at Campus MaNa in Champignelles, France, offers an immersive learning experience designed to help prospective students (18+) develop their creative skills while building a personal, original, and communicative portfolio. Created as a stepping stone toward design studies and guided by instructors from Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) and Campus MaNa, it combines experimentation, reflection, and hands-on practice

Course aim

The programme is built around three key pillars:
- self-exploration
- connecting with others
- building a strong, expressive portfolio
The programme, held in English, blends hands-on workshops, collaborative projects, reflective sessions, and personalized feedback from the DAE-teaching team.

Week 1 - Dedicated to experimentation and exploration.
Through discovering a variety of materials and techniques, each participant is encouraged to confront their intuition, to test, to transform, and to question. It is a phase of openness, research, and free expression—where materials become tools for introspection.

Week 2 - Design and presentation.
It is a time to refine ideas, clarify intentions, and develop more structured work ready to be shared. This process leads to the creation of a professional portfolio—personal, coherent, and rooted in an engaged design approach.

Throughout the programme, collective energy, shared projects, and regular feedback foster a dynamic and supportive learning environment. This space for exchange allows everyone to grow at their own pace while gaining valuable insight from others’ perspectives

Fee info