Opened in 2010, the Direktorenhaus is an exhibition house for applied arts in Berlin. It was founded by Pascal Johanssen and Katja Kleiss, and beyond its own permanent collection, it hosts temporary exhibitions that make tangible the special aura of things. The various floors of the Direktorenhaus are home to showrooms, ateliers, workshops and studios. The Direktorenhaus hosts various exhibition projects in which art, design and handicraft intertwine – perspectives that strengthen one another when they come together under the right conditions.

The temporary exhibitions held at the Direktorenhaus attempt to create a symbiosis. On the one hand, they analyse traditions that enable an examination of time and history. On the other hand, they look past our current horizon towards the future. There are research fellows from various disciplines who work at the Direktorenhaus. Their ideas flow into the conception of the exhibitions, which are developed from two points of view: the first is a design ethnology perspective, focusing on the exploration of past and established cultural forms; the second is the perspective of speculative design, from which emergent themes find their way into the exhibitions in the form of unique pieces and prototypes.