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Lecture: The Future is Now


With Julia Koerner


Saturday, May 21st, 2022, 10am PT

Presented In-Person *and* Virtually via Zoom Koret Auditorium, de Young museum, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco

In-Person Tickets: Free to TAC Members, $5 General Admission.

Virtual Tickets: Free to TAC Members, $5 Members of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and Students; $10 General Admission

Zoom link will be emailed to all TAC members


Julia Koerner will spotlight her ongoing research into plant based materials and sustainable manufacturing processes in fashion and product designs which are reshaping the landscape of design and manufacturing towards a new future. The recent advancements in additive manufacturing, digital design and low carbon production are expanding the boundaries, whether in architecture, product design or fashion. With her brand JK3D, recently founded in 2020 - the ambition is to focus on local, on demand, just in time production and the sourcing of local materials while at the same time implementing digital design workflows and processes. This enables her to build upon novel digital aesthetics while also having a positive impact on our cultural heritage, society and environment.


Trained professionally as an Architect at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and holding a Master of Science in Emergent Technologies and Design from the Architectural Association in London, Koerner will speak about her career development spanning the past fifteen years entering the fashion and costume design realm. As well as her academic career teaching for a decade at the top public University in the US, University of California Los Angeles where she holds an Assistant Adjunct Professor position and is the Director of Summer Programs.

Julia Koerner Collaboration with Costume Designer Ruth Carter for Black Panther, 2018.

Furthermore, Koerner will showcase her collaborations with Haute Couture Fashion Houses in Paris as well as her cutting edge collaborations with the Hollywood movie industry, such as Marvel’s Academy Award winning film Black Panther. In addition to recent technology collaborations with 3D printing companies such as Stratasys innovating on textile 3D printing and Swarovski’s early research on 3D printing with glass.

Julia Koerner is an award-winning Austrian designer working at the convergence of architecture, product and fashion design. She is internationally recognized for design innovation in 3D-Printing, Koerner's work stands out at the top of these disciplines. Her designs have been featured in the National Geographic Magazine, VICE, WIRED and the New York Times among other publications. In 2019 ARCHINECT named Julia Koerner "Architecture’s Queen of 3D Fabrication”. Museums and Institutions which have exhibited her work include the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (MET), the Art Institute of Chicago, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, Museum of Applied Arts MAK Vienna, Ars Electronica, among others. The constantly intriguing aspect of Julia’s work is its embodiment of a beautiful organic aesthetic.

Koerner is founder of JK Design GmbH and JK-LA LLC, specializing in digital design for 3D-Printing. In 2015, she launched an entirely 3D-Printed ready-to-wear collection entitled ‘Sporophyte’. Her collaborations involved 3D-Printed fashion pieces developed with Haute Couture Houses for Paris Fashion week and 3D printed costumes for Hollywood entertainment productions such as Marvel’s Black Panther in collaboration with Ruth Carter which recently won an Oscar for Best Costume Design. She further recently collaborated with Swarovski on a showpiece which displays Swarovski’s continued strive for innovation and the early developments of 3D-printing technology with glass. In 2021 she is launching her brand JK3D together with her partner Kais Al-Rawi which is focused on 3D printed fashion accessories, products and home decor.

Born in Salzburg, Austria, Koerner received master degrees in Architecture from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and the Architectural Association in London (EMTECH). She is currently based between Los Angeles and Salzburg and has previously practiced in London and New York. Since 2012 Julia has been a faculty member in the Architecture and Urban Design Department at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) where she also is the Director of Summer Programs. She previously held academic appointments at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna, Lund University in Sweden and the Architectural Association Visiting Schools in France and Jordan.

Koerner is also contributing architecture editor at THE UNSEASONAL Magazine | Los Angeles since 2016.


Image Credits 1. Julia Koerner, Setae Jacket for Chro-Morpho Collection by Stratasys, 2019. Photo by Ger Ger.
2. Julia Koerner Collaboration with Costume Designer Ruth Carter for Black Panther, 2018. Photo by Marvel, Disney.
3. Julia Koerner. Photo by Pia Clodi.

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