SMED·WAGNER

A long-term investigation into shared authorship, knit development and early-stage brand formation.

Between 2019 and 2021, SMED·WAGNER evolved from a BA graduation collection into a multi-year design laboratory operating across education, industry and entrepreneurial incubation.The projekt was developed in collaboration with Patricia Wagner.

Initially developed as the Bachelor collection “Dimension Explorers”, the project continued through a shared MA at the University of the Arts Berlin, where the focus expanded from collection-making to sustainability theory, authorship structures and business model development. The work later entered a start-up incubation phase at DesignFarm Berlin.

Rather than functioning solely as a fashion collection, the project operated as an experimental framework investigating:

Shared authorship within a design practice

Integration of knitwear development and tailoring

Sustainable production structures

Early-stage brand formation and business modelling

The collection itself was structured as a full-spectrum system — spanning from performative showpieces to wearable ready-to-wear garments, and from monochrome compositions to high-saturation color expressions within a defined chromatic logic. Visual coherence across garments, print, surface and silhouette was developed as a structural principle rather than a stylistic gesture.

My primary contribution focused on knitwear development and technical execution, including:

Knit structure research and material selection

Yarn sourcing and shaping strategies

Technical sheets and production communication

Pattern construction, cutting and garment assembly

Sustainability research and development of a shared design methodology

The project operated at a semi-industrial level, involving European manufacturers and collaborators across knit production, textile printing and weaving. This period marked my first intensive engagement with industrial knit development and structured production pipelines.

Over time, the investigation into shared authorship clarified my own structural position within collaborative systems. The project ultimately became a turning point — not only in scale and professionalisation, but in defining the importance of clear frameworks, technical authority and independent direction in my later practice.

Collaboration & Division of Roles

SMED·WAGNER was developed as a joint project between Patricia Wagner and Sara Smed between 2019–2021, spanning BA, MA and early venture incubation phases.

The collaboration was structured around shared conceptual development and distributed technical responsibilities.

Shared responsibilities