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Wismar student among the top 100 designers in the world!
Aleksander Rastawicki from Wismar wins the iF Design Student Award 2025 at the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for his innovative furniture collection.
Wismar student among the top 100 designers in the world!
What a success! The Wismar student Aleksander Rastawicki won the prestigious thesis with his creative thesis iF Design Student Award 2025 prevailed against over 7,000 competitors from 74 countries. He was one of the 100 winners and was honored on June 20, 2025 in the impressive Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. At this point, big praise to all the other students who also submitted creative and innovative concepts!
Rastawicki received the award for his thesis at the Wismar Design Faculty, which includes a series of pieces of furniture made from a remarkable material: vulcanized fiber. This material, known since the 1850s, is making a comeback. It consists of several layers of cotton pulp that are put together using special processes and is not only environmentally friendly but also biodegradable. Furniture made from vulcanized fiber is also about half as heavy as its counterparts made from birch veneer, which makes it particularly attractive.
Unique choice of materials
The international jury of experts praised Rastawicki's furniture for its robustness, lightness and malleable nature. This award could help him gain more attention for his innovative material. Rastawicki is determined to continue developing his designs until they are ready for the market. “There’s something going on,” he says enthusiastically.
But Rastawicki is not the only winner of the evening. Fellow students Fabian Gröger and Sara Scholl were honored for their project “Memories of my Youth,” which represents an exciting combination of analog photography and artificial intelligence. Six other students also worked on creating new bridges from old East Berlin bridge parts as part of a joint project.
A place for creativity
The award ceremony took place as part of a large event attended by around 350 guests. The city of Bilbao is actively committed to promoting young talent in culture and design and was recognized as a UNESCO City of Design in 2014. iF design With this award, we support creative minds and offer them a platform to present their ideas and recognize them globally.
Another highlight of the day was the fact that around 700 students opened their studios and seminar rooms to present their creative projects and theses. It turns out: the next generation of designers is ready to inspire the world!