MANUELA SZEWALD

PAULINE LEPRINCE

As an architect, your work often deals with structures that are both visible and hidden. How does the idea of “beneath the surface” resonate with your work and your way of thinking about architecture? 

For me, “beneath the surface” is about what materials and objects carry beyond what we  immediately see. In architecture and design, the visual perception is only one layer. Underneath  there are processes, tensions, and traces of transformation. 

With architecture, my work depends on the environment and surroundings. For the pieces it is something quite emotional. So for this collection, I worked a lot with stainless steel, but we have this material a lot right now. The pieces were developed through materiality and fragility showing the emotion of what a material can be if we transform it, and to see what is beneath the surface, and that means what we see not just on the surface but what is inside

In this collection, the burnt metal literally records the action of fire — the surface becomes a  memory of what the material has gone through. Glass, on the other hand, introduces fragility and  transparency. Together they create a tension between what is revealed and what remains hidden. 

Creating the burnt metal creates a really radical and brutalist object but this materiality gives it quite a feminine and emotional layer of fragility.

In my practice, architecture and objects become a way of making those invisible layers tangible, allowing material, structure, and light to reveal what usually remains beneath the surface. 

Many of the most important elements of architecture are invisible — structure, foundations, systems. Do you see parallels between these hidden layers in architecture and the invisible structures that shape our societies?  

Just like architecture, society is built on underlying structures that we rarely see but constantly experience. 

Architecture is often seen as a discipline of control and precision. Where do you find space for intuition and experimentation in your process?  

For me, intuition enters through the process of making. Even within a precise discipline like  architecture, working directly with materials allows unexpected things to happen. Those moments of experimentation often reveal ideas that drawing alone cannot. 

For me, making and crafting are essential ways of thinking. Working directly with materials allows  ideas to evolve through the process itself, rather than being completely predetermined. It creates  space for intuition, where the material can almost guide certain decisions. 

Would you say as well that the objects are brutalist, that they are not in a way decorative?

I don’t know what “decorative” means in the design world right now because it’s a really big word and decorative has a lot of meanings.

So I think more-so, we made the object precise, but decoration is different for everyone.

Brutalism for me is really important because it describes something that is pure, brute and really simple but it can also describe an emotion and be decorative. So in terms of the objects being decorative, it’s a really murky question with what is happening right now in the decorative world.

When you look at the mirror as a sculpture, is there another meaning behind the way it’s sculpted or the way it looks as an object?

Yes completely, because we are, as women, the architects of ourselves so I really wanted to work with this object because a mirror is super important in our society and all of the time,we are looking at ourselves, people are taking selfies and everything. I really wanted to represent the body in the two parts of the mirror which are linked together. I was really thinking of the shape which is enveloped but cropped also. We are in a box right now in our society, so to look in the mirror is to see the expectations that society has of us.

I like that. It’s this symbol of looking beneath the surface not what appears when you look quickly in a mirror, but looking underneath to see who you are as a person. Isn’t it something that we shade away from the society nowadays, that it is all about how we are perceived, how you look, it’s more about looks rather than values and who we really are?

Yeah but it’s also something important. It's just knowing how to use that properly and respecting the people around. So we judge, we think, we put in a box, but we never discover properly. And I think working with a material like steel, people are expecting something brute, but when you work with the materiality it's actually quite fragile, showing that there is all of the time something beneath, you know, it’s not just what we think, and we have to question it all of the time and not be sure of what we see. To really question, why, how, what we can develop, what is a true vision, what is your vision. My vision can be completely different from your vision sometimes.

I wanted to talk to you about this process of making, about the crafting of the pieces. We went together to the workshop and I think it is always super fascinating being close to the artisans, to talk to them, to understand the process of making. Is this also something that you get a lot of inspiration from for your work?

For me it is the most important part and it’s the part I love so much because I learn a lot. I learn how to create, I learn to see that nothing is impossible, and if we didn’t have these artisans and craftsmen or a company doing that, our designs would not be able to be here today. So first of all, we need to respect these people, because maybe we are the ones designing, but they make the creation come to life, so that is the most important part and we really forget about that but they make up 95% of all of the work in design because without them we cannot create. And for me it’s the work of a team, you can be the image of the design of your pieces, but behind the scenes, there are these people, there is the materiality, my team also working, your team also, we are not just alone, there is a lot of people involved in all of the projects, and the people making things with their hands are the most important.

Yeah, for me this has a lot of importance. When I look into countries like Germany where everything is about mass production, robotizing, making everything super efficient, I see that we have lost the importance of working with our hands to create something and get our soul into the pieces and to kind of see what you have created afterwards, seeing the result. And I also realise when we go out there and talk to interior designers and our clients, sometimes people don’t really appreciate the imperfections of the pieces which show this absolute humanness of an object. For instance, when you blow glass, sometimes it’s normal to have a little tiny bubble in it which shows a sign of life which is kind of a sign of the person who blows in with his lungs into this object. I think this is something that is more and more lost in our present day society and I think it’s so important, and it is one of the big missions of KAIA: to show that we have real hands and real people behind who create the object it’s not something which is mass produced in a factory.

It’s really important, and the most important is that we are in a society that consumes a lot. And consuming is also against what we are talking about with the climate problem and everything so we really need to think about that. We need to get humans to create.

We need to consume more consciously. 

Yeah, and be less materialistic.

And if something is broken to repair it.

We need to really take the time to develop things.

We launched the collection for the Women in Design event at the New York Design Center. The fact that we still have to have these events also says something: that women still don't have the same rights even in western culture, but when you look all over the world, it’s kind of a disaster and it sometimes feels that we even take some steps backwards in terms of female rights or women’s rights.

How do you see it in architecture? Architecture has historically been a male-dominated field. Do you see that there are now more women having more influence in architecture or do you still feel there is a discrepancy in how the work of female architects is perceived or accepted? 

Architecture has long been shaped by male-dominated narratives, so naturally that has influenced  how work is perceived. But I think today we are seeing a shift, with more women bringing different  perspectives and redefining what architecture can be. 

Many women are active in architecture today, but barriers still exist in terms of visibility,  representation in leadership roles, and recognition of their work.

I think women have always been here in design and architecture but they have been behind all of the men, but they were always the most important people creating and today we show more because it is political, “the woman.” We have to be quite careful with this feminist vision because, I think it is true we are not first women to show ourselves, but it’s starting, and we are starting to show more and more women but we have to use that in a good way, not as a marketing way. If we want to show that in the next 20 years and the position is changing, we need to show women as humans and not as marketing.

My vision of that is really balanced because I think we also have so much possibility and if we focus on the obstacles, it puts us really low compared to men and we have the same value as them. We just have to fight and this is since the creation of the world, women have had to fight. I think women are the most fighting people in the world, even more than men, because we are born as having the obligation to fight. For me it is also something very beautiful that men cannot do, they don't know how to fight properly. They fight with guns and we have to fight with sensibility and emotion which is for me the most important part.

I don’t know my vision of women in the industry, we have more, but for me it is also too much marketing at this moment and for me the most important thing is the value of work. You can be a woman and be showing but if you don’t work and create a language it’s not important.

I definitely see it as well, that women have always been out there but I think the visibility hasn't been there as it was supposed to be in the past. Even for the Viennese Secessionist there had been a lot of women working in the workshops and ateliers but they have never been mentioned. The gentlemen have been the ones who have been mentioned rather than the women. 

I think this is where I see as well that we have to fight more for our visibility but surely at the end of the day it is about the work and what you create so it’s not about just fighting for women's rights because at the end of the day you create something and you have your work behind it and this is the visibility we are looking for.

Yeah for me it’s more like that. And we have had really important women in design like Charlotte Perriand, Pergay {did not understand others she mentioned}, so there were a lot of women. It’s just that it’s a society that we know will not change today and will maybe not change tomorrow but we know how it is and we have to work on that. There are also amazing men but society puts everything into a box, so we know that and we just have to show ourselves depending on how we want to be in society. I know I’m doing my work, not for me, but for the next generation and to show that they can do that and fight to do it. It’s not about the ego, it's about thinking of the future depending on how you see the vision of your work and the world.

Do you think women might approach space, materials, or collaboration differently in architecture?  

I think every architect approaches space differently, regardless of gender. But having more diverse voices in the field naturally brings different sensitivities, perspectives, and ways of collaborating,  which enriches the discipline as a whole. 

For many women, freedom is closely connected to economic and professional independence. How important is financial autonomy for women working in creative fields like architecture? 

I think financial autonomy is important for anyone practicing architecture. What concerns  me more is that creative fields often normalize precarity and underpaid work. Architecture  demands a lot of responsibility, yet the profession often struggles with fair compensation  and stability. 

Simone de Beauvoir wrote that financial independence is a key element of women’s freedom. Do you agree with that idea? 

Simone de Beauvoir often wrote about freedom as something that has to be actively  constructed. I think that idea still resonates today — freedom comes not only from  independence, but from the ability to shape the conditions in which we live and work. 

Architecture shapes the way we live together. Do you believe architects carry a social responsibility that goes beyond aesthetics and function?  

Yes, architecture always has a social dimension. The spaces we design influence how people  experience everyday life, so responsibility naturally goes beyond aesthetics and function. 

Can architecture contribute to creating more inclusive and equitable societies? 

Architecture alone cannot solve social inequalities, but it can influence how people share  and experience space. By thinking carefully about accessibility, openness, and how spaces  are used, architecture can contribute to more inclusive environments. 

What role do education and mentorship play in supporting the next generation of women architects?  

Mentorship is important because architecture is a profession that is learned not only through  education but also through experience and exchange. Sharing knowledge and supporting younger  generations helps create a more open and diverse field. 

I completely agree with you that you cannot change society and get women's rights by war. I think it is a matter of education, it is a matter of dialogue, it is a matter of changing it on the inside to have an effect on the outside. Thinking about the next generation and legacy we want to pass on, is there anything you would pass on to the next generation in terms of your experience?

To trust your voice and stay committed to your ideas. Architecture is a long journey, and the  most meaningful work often comes from patience and persistence. 

Never change yourself to do something. Just stay as yourself, with your personality, your qualities and your default will make you the best person to create. Never stop to question yourself, if you are sure of yourself you can fall and you need to be at the border all of the time to create. Believe in your dreams, and push, you need to push. If you want to open windows and open doors you need to find a way to open them yourself. There is all of the time light coming from these opportunities and you need to take the light and grab it, not stop and not be afraid.

Many important things — in architecture and in society — exist beneath the surface. What do you think we should be looking at more carefully today that we might currently be overlooking?  

I think we need to look more carefully at the invisible structures that shape our environments, the  social, material, and environmental forces that exist beneath what we see.