Designers in Residence Kortrijk 2025: meet the three selected designers

Designregio Kortrijk welcomes three young international designers for the 2025 edition of Designers in Residence Kortrijk, focused on the theme 'Metamorphosis'. The residency runs from Friday, September 5 to Friday, December 5, 2025, immersing in an intensive design research journey in Kortrijk, inspired by the region’s rich ceramics tradition and its transformative power.

The results of the residency will be showcased at the Metamorphosis exhibition at Abby from April 3, 2026, to August 16, 2026.

• Uģis Albiņš (Riga, Latvia, °1988)
• Kato Herbots (Velm, Belgium, °2001)
• Lou Cruard (Paris, France, °1996)

UĢIS ALBIŅŠ

Uģis Albiņš graduated from the Department of Visual Communication of the Latvian Academy of Arts. Since 2015 he has been actively participating in contemporary art exhibitions and events.
Uģis Albiņš creates works of art that reflect and raise questions about our surroundings on multiple layers through the implementation of various techniques and mediums. He utilizes various systems and standards that surround us, embodying culturally conditioned aesthetic qualities. Uģis addresses abstract problems as a scenic phenomenon, questioning the significance of shape beyond its purely utilitarian use and employing function as an expression or as part of a visual language.

KATO HERBOTS

Kato Herbots is a product designer with a fascination for the dynamic relationship between human, material and context, which she actively transforms. At the heart of her practice, materials and narrative meet to create a rich and meaningful dialogue. With an approach that is both sensitive and grounded in context, she uses design as a critical tool to question current visions of the world and imagine alternative scenarios for the future. Combining in-depth research, material exploration and narrative, her approach deconstructs received ideas and opens the way to new perspectives. Her work is expressed in a variety of ways, from product design to research-led installations.

LOU CRUARD

Lou Cruard is a textile designer-artisan specialized in weaving, developing "Vanissage", a technique positioned between basketry and weaving. Her practice embraces sustainability, repurposed materials, and technical innovation. She explores the dialogue between craft and design, reinterpreting textile know-how through a contemporary lens. Influenced by the rise of hybrid creative profiles, she blends traditional techniques with digital tools and conceptual thinking. Through Vanissage, she questions how knowledge is passed on and reimagined in response to today’s challenges.

Metamorphosis is at the heart of how we reinterpret and rediscover materials, concepts, and identities. Ceramics, as an ancient craft and art form, is a prime medium of transformation: from soft, malleable clay to a hard, durable material. This process mirrors profound social and ecological transformations. How can ceramics help us understand and express change? How can the medium reflect contemporary issues around identity, sustainability, and technology?

The Metamorphosis exhibition brings together pieces from Abby’s eclectic ceramics collection with contemporary ceramics in an enchanted forest of clay and porcelain. We step into a world filled with surreal forms, animistic influences, and fascinating colors, discovering how ceramics across all times and cultures express deep societal and inner transformations.

Abby is Kortrijk's new, playful and accessible visual arts museum. Housed in the historic Groeninge Abbey, Abby brings the urban collection into dialogue with contemporary art, heritage and the theme of identity. Together with artists, organizations and communities, Abby explores what connects us as people, across borders and generations.

Since 2014, Designers in Residence Kortrijk has been organized by Designregio Kortrijk, a platform for creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship in the Kortrijk region. This region is part of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) and embodies design thinking, visible through its design education, creative manufacturing industry, international events, and inspiring public spaces.

This is a project by Designregio Kortrijk and Abby Kortrijk.
Graphics by zeevaarder.com