The École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ÉCAL) is a university of art and design located in the

Renens Renens () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland. It is located in the district of Ouest Lausannois District, Ouest Lausannois, and is a suburb of the city of Lausanne. It is the fourth largest city in ...

suburb of

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, Switzerland. It was founded in 1821 and is affiliated with the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland (HES-SO). The designer Alexis Georgacopoulos is the director of ÉCAL.

History

A precursor to ÉCAL called the "Ecole Cantonale de Dessin" was founded in 1821, and situated in Cité-Devant. The school was relocated to the newly built in the centre of Lausanne twenty years later. Over the next century the school moved to various locations and went though changes of management and name before eventually taking its current name and location in 1986. Under the directorship of the graphic artist from 1995 to 2011, ÉCAL became, "one of the world's most influential design schools." The building in which the school is housed was designed by the architect

Bernard Tschumi Bernard Tschumi (born 25 January 1944 in Lausanne, Switzerland) is an architect, writer, and educator, commonly associated with deconstructivism. Son of the well-known Swiss architect Jean Tschumi and a French mother, Tschumi is a dual French ...

in what was once a

pantyhose Pantyhose, sometimes also called sheer (textile), sheer tights, are close-fitting legwear covering the wearer's body from the waist to the toes. Pantyhose first appeared on store shelves in 1959 for the advertisement of new design panties (All ...

factory.

Studies

ÉCAL offers a foundation year, bachelor's, master's, and master's in advanced studies degrees in different fields.

Foundation year

Preparatory year for students who wish to work in the fields of art or design. The course is designed to provide the skills required for a Bachelor's program at ÉCAL or another university.

Bachelor

* Visual Arts * Cinema *

Graphic Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of ...

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in adva ...

* Media &

Interaction Design Interaction design, often abbreviated as IxD, is "the practice of designing interactive digital products, environments, systems, and services." While interaction design has an interest in form (similar to other design fields), its main area of foc ...

* Photography

Master

* Visual Arts *

Film Studies Film studies is an academic discipline that deals with various film theory, theoretical, history of film, historical, and film criticism, critical approaches to film, cinema as an art form and a medium. It is sometimes subsumed within media stud ...

, in collaboration with the Haute Ecole d'Art et Design (HEAD) in Geneva *

Product Design Product design is the process of creating new Product (business), products for businesses to sell to their customers. It involves the generation and development of ideas through a systematic process that leads to the creation of innovative products ...

* Photography *

Type Design Type design is the art and process of designing typefaces. This involves drawing each letterform using a consistent style. The basic concepts and design variables are described below. A typeface differs from other modes of graphic production su ...

* HES-So Innokick (Integrated Innovation for Product & Business Development)

Master of Advanced Studies

* Design for Luxury & Craftsmanship * Design Research in Digital Innovation

Notable alumni

Graduates of ÉCAL include: * Alfredo Aceto, Italian artist * Fabrice Aragno, Swiss director, producer, and cinematographer * Ini Archibong, Swiss-American artist and designer (ÉCAL adjunct lecturer) * (Augustin Scott de Martinville, Elric Petit, and Grégoire Jeanmonod), design company * Claude Barras, Swiss director, producer, and writer * , Swiss artist who received the 2017 "Grand Prix" of the Vaud Cultural Foundation (FVCP) * Jean-Stéphane Bron, Swiss actor and film director * Thilo Alex Brunner, Swiss industrial designer * Irena Brynner (1917–2003), Russian-born American sculptor, jewellery designer, mezzo-soprano, and author * Loucia Carlier, artist * Rodrigo Caula, Canadien industrial designer and entrepreneur * Michel Charlot, Swiss industrial designer * Étienne Chambaud, French artist * Jung-You Choi, Korean designer (Luxury & Craftsmanship) * Claudia Comte, Swiss artist and sculptor * , author and illustrator * , Swiss-Danish filmmaker * , Swiss director, screenwriter, producer, musician and actor * Andreas Fontana, Swiss film director and writer * Gilles Gavillet, Swissgraphic designer * Alexis Georgacopoulos, Greek industrial designer and ÉCAL director (2011–present) * Christophe Guberan, Swiss product designer * Moisés Hernández, Mexican designer * , Swiss film director * Jonas Kamprad, Swedish designer and entrepreneur * (1945–2019), Swiss graphic artist and ÉCAL director (1995–2011) * Fiona Krüger, watch designer (ÉCAL adjunct lecturer) * Thomas Koenig, artist * Maria Jeglinska-Adamczewska, Polish designer (Office for Design and Research) *, Swiss painter and animator * Bertille Laguet, Swiss product designer * Nicolas Le Moigne, Swiss designer (ÉCAL faculty) *

Herbert F. Leary Herbert Fairfax Leary (May 31, 1885 – December 3, 1957) was a highly decorated officer in the United States Navy with the rank of Vice admiral (United States), vice admiral. A son of Rear Admiral Richard P. Leary, he distinguished himself durin ...

, United States Navy vice admiral * Namsa Leuba, Swiss-Guinean art director and photographer * Catherine Leutenegger, Swiss artist and photographer * LeviSarha ( Sarha Duquesne and Levi Dethier), design studio *

Emanuele Luzzati Emanuele Luzzati (3 June 1921 – 26 January 2007) was an Italian painter, production designer, illustrator, film director and animator. He was nominated for Academy Awards for two of his short films, ''La gazza ladra'' (''The Thieving Magpie'' ...

(1921–2007), Italian set designer, animator and illustrator * M/M Paris (Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag studio) * , Swiss photographer * Youri Messen-Jaschin, Swiss artist of Latvian origin * , Swiss painter, sculptor and engraver * Carolien Niebling, Dutch designer * , Swiss film director * Panter & Tourron, design studio * Louise Paradis, graphic designer *

Nicolas Party Nicolas Party (born July 1, 1980) is a Swiss visual artist. He lives and works in New York City and Brussels. He is known for his multi-media interdisciplinary immersive exhibitions. Biography He received his BFA degree from the École canton ...

, Swiss visual artist * , Italian documentary filmmaker * Léa Pereyre, Dutch costume designer * Enrico Pietra, Italian industrial designer and entrepreneur * Maxime Plescia-Büchi, Swiss tattoo artist, graphic designer, and creative director * Laurence Rasti, photographer * Julie Richoz, Swiss-French designer (ÉCAL tutor) * Maya Rochat, Swiss artist and photographer * Adrien Rovero, Industrial designer * Pauline Saglio, French artist and interaction designer * , Icelandic designer * Francine Simonin (1936–2020), Swiss-Canadian painter, engraver, and designer * Annik Troxler, graphic designer * , Swiss artist * (1900–1968), Swiss watercolourist and illustrator * Hongchao Wang, Chinese designer * Giorgia Zanellato, Italian designer

Notable faculty

Partial list of ÉCAL professors, staff, and guest lecturers: * Johanna Agerman Ross * Yves Béhar * Angelo Benedetto * Camille Blin * Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec * * Kim Colin * Alexandra Cunningham Cameron * Konstantin Grcic * Marva Griffin * Mette Hay * Jaime Hayon * Anniina Koivu * Max Lamb * Alberto Meda * Sabine Marcelis * Stéphanie Moisdon * Marcello Morandini * Paolo Moretti * Ravi Naidoo * Karim Noureldin * Hans Ulrich Obrist * Jonathan Olivares * Eugenio Perazza * Alice Rawsthorn * Inga Sempé * Wieki Somers * Deyan Sudjic * Alexander Taylor * Yorgo Tloupas * Skylar Tibbits * Patricia Urquiola * Sebastian Wrong

Exhibitions

An exhibition titled ''How to best teach design today?'' which explored the teaching methods and outcomes of the school was staged at the

Vitra Design Museum The Vitra Design Museum is a privately owned museum for design in Weil am Rhein, Germany. The architect of this building was Frank O. Gehry. His architecture was based on the art movement of the early 20th century, deconstructivism. Making the bu ...

in 2022. The book ''The ECAL manual of style: How to best teach design today?'' was published at the same time.

Publications

* * * *

Notes and references

External links

*
EPFL+ECAL Lab
( Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne design research and innovation centre)
Ville de Lausanne page about ÉCAL

(Exhibition at the

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne Universities of Applied Sciences in Switzerland Art schools in Switzerland Film schools in Switzerland Swiss design Product design Industrial design Design schools in Switzerland