Industrial Design is a conceptual activity whose aim is to determine the formal properties of objects intended for industrial mass production. ‘Formal properties’ refer to the external characteristics and structural relationships that make an object coherent for both user and manufacturer. The discipline encapsulates the interactions between collective aspirations, technical progress, social and economic contexts, eco-responsibility and artistic development, placing the human being at the heart of its concerns.

At the intersection of these fields, students act as creators of form and meaning, alert to the means of communication specific to any given context. Studying Industrial Design at La Cambre allows students to unlock their creativity through materials and reflection-based processes. 

As part of an art school, students can benefit from the artistic richness of other disciplines taught at ENSAV La Cambre.

The three-year Bachelor’s and two-year Master’s programmes are designed to provide students with a high degree of independence and to professionalize the skills and practices inherent to the discipline. 

The teaching, conducted in studios by active industrial designers, takes the form of complementary courses, synergies within the school, and external interactions such as industrial collaborations and inter-university exchanges.

Industrial Design at La Cambre aims to train young designers who can work in industry, join design studios, and put their skills to use in the small-scale or industrial manufacture of objects.

Pedogagical coordination

Jean Paternotte, professeur responsable du Bachelier
Giampiero Pitisci, professeur responsable du Master

Pedogagical staff

Teachers
Marion Beernaerts, Lucile Soufflet, Thomas Billas, Julien Renault, Solange Thiry

Assistants
Nel Verbeke, Thomas Vancraeynest

Lecturers
Yves Voglaire, Olivier Wathelet, Steve Jakobs

Teachers of optional support courses
Xavier Lepot, Sylvain Busine, Benoît Regniers et Richard Thommeret

Industrial Design study programme

B1

Initiation and introductory year

During this initial year, students will gain a clearer picture of industrial design by discovering the multiple applications of this creative activity through a variety of approaches. They will nurture their own unique facets and skills, developed during the course of their studies. 

B2

Exploratory year

In this year, students who have completed the introductory year will for the first time be able to study products that can be manufactured in series, accompanied by a full, personalized analytical report. Special emphasis is placed on the management of creative drivers.

Projects are mainly chosen to highlight the hand and its gestures, to facilitate the initial implementations, to structure thought, to develop organizational skills and independence in response to a request, and to bring about the first real contact with the different technologies. B2 also marks the start of studies on eco-sustainability and societal issues.

B3

Confirmatory year

This year focuses on the technical aspects of industrial design while developing the concepts of analysis and synthesis, emphasizing the creative and innovative nature of the discipline. 

B3 confirms the development of perceptive skills, original proposals, and the integration of a work methodology, completely independently. It also highlights the ability to design a product that integrates the technical and economic criteria of industrial reality.

Master’s (2nd cycle) (2 years)

The two-year Master’s programme aims to professionalize skills and support students in industrial collaborations (Master’s 1) and in their personal approaches and topics (Master’s 2). 

This course is made possible thanks to the complementary skills of the different teachers and guest lecturers.

Teaching at the Master’s level is based on both internal synergies specific to the school (focusing on cultural exchanges and technical knowledge, as well as collaboration between studios and students from different courses) and on synergies outside the school (industrial collaborations, compulsory internships in companies, and inter-university exchanges such as the Erasmus and Triaxes programmes). 

Students combine their formal and technical skills with sociological reflections, technological innovations and the challenges posed by eco-design, in order to develop a fruitful dialogue with the ever-changing worlds of industry and craft. 

Presentation of Master’s projects: https://di-cambre.news/

Triaxes programme

This optional Master’s programme is offered in conjunction with ULB (Université libre de Bruxelles) and brings together four different institutions (École Polytechnique, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Faculty of Law and Criminology, and Industrial Design at La Cambre). This unique training programme allows students from each institution to collaborate on the development of a product that can be manufactured in series, so that they can learn the trade and working methods of the other three disciplines. At the end of the Master’s 2 programme, students submit a thesis and present their work to an external multidisciplinary jury.