People » Cultural Library Team

Since 2001 Philipp Heidkamp is full-time Professor for Interface Design at KISD (Cologne University of Applied Sciences) in Cologne; from 2002 to 2006 responsible as Head of School at KISD. Since 2006, he is Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. In 2008, he became the Head of the new international MA Programme »Integrated Design« that started in 2009. He has been visiting professor for Semiotics, Visual Communication and Interface Design in Spain, Austria, Brazil, Taiwan, Japan, South Africa, Kenya and Australia, where he has also been consultant for the development of academic programmes.  In 2005, he joined the Cultural Library and realized projects in Tokyo, Taipei, Cologne and Nairobi. In 1995, he  co-founded the studio syntax design, focussing on interface and information design for a wide range of national and international clients.

Jessica Stihl studied Design at KISD and at the Instituto Superior de Diseܱo Havana in Cuba. She has developed concepts for different events and exhibitions, conducted teamwork and project management courses and participated at several intercultural research projects in Germany, Cuba and Taiwan. For her diploma thesis she was awarded the Kölner Design Preis 2009. She ran the International Cooperation Center at KISD and since 2009 she has been project co-ordinator of Cultural Library. She has directed projects at KISD and in Brazil and is responsible for the advancement of Cultural Library with regards to its contents, structure, research methods and the intercultural network.

Wan-Ru Chou received her Masters degree in Product Design from Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna. Since 1994, she has been a full time Associate Professor in the Department of Industrial Design at Shih-Chien University (SCID). Since 1994 and has served as Chairperson of SCID from 1999 till the present. She is also Design Columnist for Taiwan‘s magazines, a member of various design competition juries, Coordinator of international design workshops and Project Leader of University-Industry Cooperative Projects. Ms. Chou has been leading several workshops for the Cultural Library project in Cologne, Taipeh and Tokyo. She presently lives in Taipei, Taiwan.

Prof. Kuan, Cheng-Neng received his Masters degree in Industrial Design (MID) from the Pratt Institute in New York. Prof. Kuan founded the Department of Industrial Design at Shih-Chien University (SCID) in 1992 which was the first of its kind with special emphasis on innovative curriculum design and approaches. He has served as Vice President of Shih-Chien University since 2008, he was the Dean of School of Design from 1997 to 2004 and the Chair of SCID from 1992 to 1999. Alongside his academic experiences, Prof. Kuan is also as representative of Educational Member of International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), in 1995, he was Organizer for Young Designers’ Workshop of ICSID Taipei. He held the position of 16th Chairman of the Board, China Industrial Designers Association (CIDA), Taiwan and member of the Board, Chinese Institute of
Design.

Worked as a film producer in Cologne from 1990 to 1997. Thereafter, he studied Philosophy, German Literature Studies, Film and Theatre Studies in Cologne, Rome and Bolo-gna. From 2001 to 2005 he worked on a research project on Art and Film Theory. Since 2007 he has been the director of the Goethe-Institut Kenya.

Paul John Mpungu is a Kenyan lecturer and is currently director of the vertical studio III programme. In March 2010, he celebrated 20 years of practising architecture, and links his enjoyment of design to a combination of things: an early introduction to using the gattegno rods introduced to him in Grade 7 by his late father, who had just returned from studies in Israel; his introduction to the cradle of civilization among the ruins of Old Babylon in winter 1976; his exploration in the summer of 1978 of Istanbul, and the cities of Ainos, Phillipi, Thessalonica and Athens in Greece on a shoestring budget.As a student, he worked on installations under Keith Harrington at the Nairobi school, and on renderings of Architectural works at Vamos Partnership in the early 70s.

Aguinaldo dos Santos graduated at Engenharia Civil from Universidade Federal do Paranܡ (1992). He received his Masters degree at Multidisciplinary from Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (1995) and his ph.d. at Gerenciamento da Produܧܣo from Salford University (1999). He has experience in Industrial Design and acts on the following subjects: design sustentܡvel, design, habitaܧܣo de interesse social, sustentabilidade and produtividade.