Anna Carnick & Johannes Schön: design as dialogue and care

This fall in Berlin, Bocci and Anna Carnick unveiled their joint presentation Crafting Communities—an ambitious project rooted in activism through narrative design. Founded in 2005 under the creative direction of Omer Arbel and Randy Bishop, Bocci has, over the past two decades, built a reputation for pushing the boundaries of material experimentation in glass, concrete, and hybrid composites—resulting in awe-inspiring design and architectural installations.

Anna Carnick, meanwhile, has established herself as a curator, editor, and connector of global design voices. Based in Berlin for several years, she has curated high-profile exhibitions and programs worldwide—from Design Miami to Milan’s 5VIE—while co-founding Anava Projects, a platform supporting socially and environmentally engaged design.

Their collaboration on Crafting Communities is a meeting of shared convictions. Bocci contributed not only its brand and platform but also its physical venue—The Foundry at Berlin’s historic Wilhelm Hallen—which hosted the show. Carnick brought her curatorial vision, inviting 19 international artists and designers from across continents and disciplines to reflect on craft, identity, and shared agency. The result was a non-commercial, narrative-rich exhibition highlighting the powerful intersection of material innovation, community memory, and collective care.

Shortly after the opening of Crafting Communities, we met with Anna Carnick and Johannes Schön, Bocci’s Director of Brand and Cultural Strategy, to talk about the ideas behind the exhibition—from the politics of craft and the poetics of material, to the ways design can foster connection and collective care.

hube: In gathering 19 designers from across the globe, what guided your selection process—was it material, technique, personal or collective story, political context? How did you balance individuality with coherence, so that each work didn’t just coexist but actively spoke to one another within the idea of ‘community’?

Anna Carnick: It was a combination of all of the above, really. Crafting Community features works by artists and designers from around the globe committed to creating as a cultural, social, and often collective act. The exhibited pieces are exceptionally crafted objects conceived as offerings from the maker to their community. The participants all approach their practices as raconteurs and share their stories through a variety of carefully considered materials, processes, and forms. The resulting narrative-driven works are composed using craft traditions passed down over generations, as well as innovative, experimental processes. Whether woven, poured, or sculpted, every piece is a meticulously crafted testament to lived experience. No single story can ever fully define a time or place. In presenting multiple voices in conversation, all of whom centre community, the works speak to the importance of sharing our stories: honouring what makes our experiences unique and also recognising the ties that bind us. In this way, they centre our universal human dignity.

h: Bocci often blurs the line between art, design, and experience. How do you see the brand’s influence resonating within the conversations Crafting Community sparks?

Johannes Schön: Bocci has never been one thing. Light, architecture, objects, and material research are all treated with equal value, as expressions of ideas and methods of making that unfold across multiple media and scales. Many of our projects begin as experiments, sometimes as accidents, and only later settle into form—and that outlook is mirrored in Crafting Community. The exhibition gathers voices from different geographies and traditions, placing them side by side without forcing them into a single definition. Our role is less to assert what these practices mean than to host a space where they can be encountered on equal footing, resonating with each other and with the audience in unexpected ways.

h: The title itself, Crafting Community, suggests an act of making, of labor. Do you see “craft” here as political—not just in its techniques but in its insistence on preservation, care, and collective building?

AC: I do. The title references the incredible craftsmanship that marks each of the works, while also evoking the intentionality of acting in service to something greater than oneself. And it points to the dual nature of community, an entity that both offers and requires steadfast protection and nurturing. From uplifting homages to the people who help shape us to critiques of attacks on vulnerable communities, these pieces serve as a broader call for care and a reminder of our individual and collective power.

h: Why did this feel like an important installation for the Bocci platform now, and how does it relate to the studio’s mission?

JS: Marking twenty years of Bocci and a decade in Berlin felt like the right moment to open the conversation wider. Berlin is full of remarkable studios and makers whose practices move between contexts, producing work that could sit comfortably in an art or design exhibition, yet this scene has little institutional presence here. Crafting Community, under Anna Carnick’s curatorial vision, became a way to give form to that reality. For us, it is not about self-presentation but about using The Foundry to create a stage where these cross-disciplinary voices can be seen together, and where their differences and resonances are given room to speak.

h: The Foundry itself embodies a transformation—from industry to creativity, from iron to light. As Bocci’s German home, how does this space, and Bocci’s presence within it, echo or amplify the themes explored in Crafting Community?

JS: The Foundry is not a neutral container. It still carries its past as an ironworks, but now lives as both a cultural stage and a place used by others for their own productions. That double life, part hosting, part sharing, is what gives it energy. And the building actively shapes what happens inside. The shed roof casts shifting light across the hall, creating moving patterns of brightness and shadow as the day unfolds. In Crafting Community, these rhythms become part of the exhibition itself: the architecture layering its own presence onto works that already speak of transformation, memory, and encounter.

h: Many of the works touch on memory, loss, vulnerability, and inequality. Where do you see the most urgent sites of erasure or distortion today? And how can art and design intervene?

AC: At this moment, when so many stories and histories are under threat of being erased or rewritten—when we are witnessing increasing inequities and attacks on human rights; censoring of artists and activists; the denial of the climate crisis and other scientific facts; government-sanctioned kidnapping, and beyond—bearing witness, speaking up, and making genuine connections with those around us is imperative. Creative expressions—from design to film, photography to music, literature, and more—can serve as bridges to connect us across borders. I believe they do so by communicating stories: stories that spark empathy, that inspire, that reveal and critique, and help us look at the world, and one another, with fresh eyes. Stories help us make sense of the world, our place in it; they are how we pass down wisdom over generations, and how we access one another’s humanity. Each of the makers in this exhibition is, in their own way, responding to this fraught moment by offering up a bit of themselves through their works. Their pieces speak to ancestral wisdom, pain and perseverance, resistance, revelry, and hope. Collectively, they exemplify the roles that creativity and making play in both holding up a mirror to the moment and envisioning new possibilities. Diplomacy and strong, compassionate leaders dedicated to serving the people they represent are key to solving what ails us, but creativity can help us hold the weight of the moment and remind us of all that connects us.

h: How does art relate to political expression, and what is the most effective way within that context to further social progress?

AC: Art and activism go hand in hand. The creative universe has long been deemed dangerous by those in power who wish to deceive and dominate. That is why comedians come under attack, why books are banned, and so on—because there is a recognition that with knowledge and connection comes power, which threatens the unjust structures aimed at maintaining control in the hands of a relative few. The arts can reflect the world around us, offering touchpoints that lead to understanding, solace, empathy, and even community building. And I believe those moments can fuel us towards a more just world. This show is about reflecting on art and design as vehicles for celebration, preservation, repair, and activism. At the same time, I hope people come away feeling not only inspired but also reminded of our individual capacity to make a positive impact. I believe our individual efforts—the everyday acts of kindness, standing up for ourselves and our neighbours and strangers in quiet and loud ways—can collectively ignite the larger flames that lead to social progress.