Carlina Rethwilm (*1999, Berlin) is a designer studying product design at 
Bauhaus Universität Weimar and Pratt Institute New York. Her work mainly takes place in the mediums of clay and porcelain, where she works at the intersection of ancient craft and digital fabrication, exploring the ways in which we come together to eat (and play with) food. Her projects are rooted in an experimental and process-based design approach, embracing mishaps and unforeseen surprises.

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2021 - present
B.A. product design Bauhaus- Universität Weimar and Pratt Institute New York

2023 - 2024
student assistant, 
Chair for Emerging Technologies, 
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

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2024 
The Melting Point, Winterwerkschau & Go4Spring, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

2023/24 
MOSCHVER Shelter for the Homeless,
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

2023 
Prehistoric Postdigital, Museum für 
Ur-und Frühgeschichte Thüringen, 
Weimar

2023 
Misfits, summaery23, 
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

2022 
Anschluss, summaery 2022, 
Bauhaus-Universität Weimar

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crethw@gmail.com
carlina.rethwilm@uni-weimar.de

© Carlina Rethwilm 2025

Carlina Rethwilm

vitrified explores the interaction of two ancient materials, glass and clay, at the intersection of craft and digital fabrication by using 3D printed ceramics as molds for glassblowing. A series of experiments showed in how far ceramic 3D prints could serve as molds for glassblowing, resulting both in material composition of glass and clay, and ceramics serving as waste molds, being removed from the glass after blowing. Remnants of digital fabrication were left as subtle imprints on the glass, like the surface structure created by 3D printed layers and imperfections like seams, embracing the irregularities stemming from using a Grasshopper script to slice the geometries.

2023/24, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar,
Glasmanufaktur Harzkristall

ceramic 3D-print, glass
Fachmodul/ The Melting Point +
Freies Projekt/ Grasshopper with Grace Hopper

shapeshifters explores two approaches to arranging wooden shingles (cross cut and longitudinally cut), focusing on a chair as a case study. The project aims to rethink the act of sitting in Walter Gropius Bauhaus director's room. The chair’s seat and backrest provide testing grounds for different systems. For this, leftover timber (misfits) is cut and systemised into a stock that arranges shingles as efficiently as possible, intending to minimise milling waste.

2023, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
timber, steel tubes, aluminium joints
70x75x85cm

Projektmodul/ Misfits

Collaboration with Niklas Danler

trickle is a vessel that plays with the themes of ritual, gathering and sharing. The project found its origins in a vessel with three drinking holes that served an early Christian drinking ceremonial and grew out of a series of experiments with the ceramic 3D printer. 
The extent to which the ceramic 3D printer can unassistedly print individual layers in the air without the clay, and thus the mold, caving in was investigated. This resulted in a perforated surface that serves as the pitcher's dispensing mechanism. After the drink is poured into the pitcher, it seeps down three sides into three underlying cups each, which are fitted into the vessel like a puzzle.

2022/23, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
ceramic 3D-print, 18x18x26cm

Projektmodul/
Prehistoric ≈ Postdigital? Speculative 
Practices and Tools for Ongoingness

ecquibamba is a rocking bench designed specifically for the product design courtyard at Bauhaus Universität Weimar. It is developed to bring people together, enable rest and relaxation and passive work in a turbulent working atmosphere after isolating years lined with social restrictions.
Since the campus culture thrives off of exchange and coorperation the goal was to provide an alternative, playful space for working which does not solely focus on active working and productivity but rather on the progress that happens while we relax, talk and take a breath of fresh air.

In collaboration with Leran Tao
2023, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
timber, steel tubes, aluminium joints
200x120x86cm

Projektmodul/
Anschluss. Study Need = Work Need

caleta is a plate for antipasti and snacks such as olives, olive oil and nuts (as well as their leftovers). caleta is a communal plate designed for sharing food.  The core was turned on the plaster wheel and then acted as a positive form to cast the negative mold.

2024, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
glazed porcelain, 25x25x5cm

Fachkurs/ Der Gute Geschmack

grasshopper with grace hoppper project explores the unique features of the menstrual cycle.  Hormonal cycles of menstruating and non-menstruating people were numerically transferred to vessels in order to show the second biological rhythm that menstruating people have in addition to the 24-hour rhythm, which extends over the length of the entire menstrual cycle.

2023/24, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
ceramic 3D-print, 25x7x8cm

Freies Projekt/ Grasshopper with Grace Hopper

post digital pole goddess is a collaborative design sprint aiming to familiarize students with Fusion360 aided CNC-milling. A reclaimed oak beam was divided into eight parts, each part to be designed by a team of two students. The only design constraint was that the individual sections had to transition seamlessly.
Linus Enzmann’s and Carlina’s section was inspired by Oskar Schlemmer and the intersection of human and technology - a human head confined within a cube looking out into the world. 

2022/23, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar
oak beam, 180x40x40cm

Projektmodul/
Prehistoric ≈ Postdigital? Speculative
Practices and Tools for Ongoingness

polymer playscape is a sculptural toy designed for Gowanus Sponge Park (Brooklyn, NY), addressing the consumption of single use plastics and the inherent pollution of New York’s waterways. It questions how we as a society have come to regard plastics in our everyday lives. The three toys are divided single use plastic objects (plastic bag, milk carton, water bottle) that can be puzzled together along the tubes. The blue of the tubes and base represent New York’s waterways. 

2024, Pratt Institute New York
MDF, acrylic glass, PLA
100x100x80cm

Design for Parks/
Prof. Swati Piparsania