Newcomer Finalist 2020, Kai Rump
Born 1990 in Wuppertal, Germany Study 2014 to 2019 at the Bergische Universität, Wuppertal, Faculty of Design and Art, Bachelor of Arts degree Current occupation Industrial designer at Studio F.A. Porsche since 2019
Kai Rump was born on 4 April 1990 in Wuppertal. During his studies Kai Rump completed a semester abroad at the University of Cincinnati (DAAP) in Ohio and a subsequent internship at SONOS Inc. in California. In 2019 he received his Bachelor of Arts degree with distinction at the Bergische Universität Wuppertal in the Faculty of Design and Art.
His focus is on consumer electronics, ranging from audio/video and UX to high-tech telescopes that can be operated by astronomical non-experts. Since 2019 Kai Rump has been working as an industrial designer at Studio F.A. Porsche in Zell am See, Austria.
A few questions to Kai Rump:
You’re a Newcomer Finalist for the German Design Award 2020. What does this award mean for you and your work?
This nomination is a validation of my work and, as a design newcomer, offers me a certain degree of security that will strengthen me in my work and ongoing career path.
What do you see as making for good industrial design in the 21st century?
Whether industrial, product, UX or UI design – individual fields of activity are classified into different categories. In my opinion, though, no clear distinction should be made between the different areas. I would say that good industrial design in the 21st century is design that demonstrably takes all fields of activity into account in order to produce an optimal result for the user.
Your portfolio includes some exciting projects. Which of them is particularly close to your heart and why?
My personal favourite is the IO astrophotography system. It gives users the chance to escape our home planet for a moment, putting the insignificance of earthly problems into perspective. My goal was to make this special experience accessible to as many people as possible. Optimising conventional telescopes into an intuitive astrophotography system allows a larger number of people to gain an insight into astrophotography, while also giving them the option of sharing the photographic results with others.
What role do you see VR technology as having in home entertainment in the future? Can you describe a possible scenario for us?
Since Netflix already successfully covers the film industry and Spotify the music sector, I see great potential in the streaming platform Google Stadia, which specialises in gaming. Stadia has the potential to revolutionise the entertainment industry by outsourcing the high performance requirements of games, thus eliminating the need to rely on private end devices. VR can also benefit from this platform, as it allows the current high technical requirements for VR glasses to be reduced, making the technology more accessible. The result of this scenario could be that television sets, game consoles and various smartphone functions intended for personal home use will be replaced by VR glasses at some point in the future.