Im Freien Felde 5 | 38895 Blankenburg | OT Derenburg
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Gerhard citizen

Foundation

The Gerhard Bürger Foundation was established in 2013. The purpose of the foundation is to promote science and research, art and culture, the preservation of historical monuments, and the promotion of education, vocational training, and student assistance. Among other things, the foundation is intended to support projects that serve the preservation and further development of the tradition of glassmaking.

For this purpose the possibilities of the HARZKRISTALL Glass Manufactory and the ELIAS Farbglashuette Lauscha are to be used for the purposes of the foundation and joint projects with artists, students and universities are to be implemented. The board of trustees is made up of well-known personalities from the Harz region. With years of experience in the fields of business and art, the diverse interests of the foundation are thus represented.

Glass can ...

4th Glass Design Award

International design competition for students from design-oriented and creative courses of study

After three successful design competitions, the 4th Glass Design Award of the Gerhard Bürger Foundation will be announced in 2025/2026.

Under the competition title “Glass can ...”, participants are invited to highlight the special properties of glass and, where possible, create connections to other raw materials. The participants are allowed to incorporate their creativity and individuality into their designs and can put their knowledge, skills and techniques learned during their studies into practice.

The Glass Design Award gives the participants space to research and experiment, allowing them to explore the limits of what is possible. The entries can be artistic or product design-oriented. Participants of all nationalities and genders are welcome and invited to take part in the competition!

Go directly to the registration

More information and condition of participation (PDF)

Student competition for the

Preservation of the art of glassmaking

Since 2016, the Gerhard Bürger Foundation has regularly organized a design competition. The previous competitions (2016, 2018 and 2024) have been very well received, so that the field of participants included students from Germany, Poland, Finland and France.

In the area of art and culture, the Gerhard Bürger Foundation also supports various artists who realize a wide variety of projects in glass.

Current

Funding projects

Laura Muth, Dagmar Gerke - Un-folding

Inspired by Japanese craft techniques, Laura Muth and Dagmar Gerke create a symbiosis of the folding technique origami and the colouring technique shibori in combination with glass.

The study examines the interplay of structures created by folding and colour gradients inspired by textiles. The focus is on the transfer of fold patterns, such as the unfolded origami crane, to glass surfaces.

These forms are created by using fireproof textiles, sewn ceramic fibre fabric, plaster moulds and metal moulds that can partially unfold. In this way, traditional craftsmanship can be combined with modern design and bridges can be built between European-Western and Japanese cultural techniques.

Photos: Laura Muth, Dagmar Gerke

 

Further sponsored projects

You can create a

Apply for funding

Are you a student:at a European university and working on your final thesis, for example? Are you looking for a partner to realise your designs in the field of glass design? Are you a lecturer at a university and would like to organise a workshop on the subject of glass? We would be happy to inform you about the possibilities of funding through our foundation.

Submit a funding application

 

Contact us

Gerhard Bürger Foundation

c/o Glasmanufaktur Harzkristall

Im Freien Felde 5

38895 Blankenburg (Harz) OT Derenburg

stiftung@harzkristall.de

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Cooperation with

Universities

As part of the foundation's work, it supports and promotes universities, student work and artists or art associations who work with glass. Current projects of the foundation are shown in the gallery space at the Harzkristall glass manufactory.

In addition to freelance artists, the foundation works closely with universities in the fields of art and design. Over the years, this has resulted in intensive cooperation with various art colleges.

Bauhaus University Weimar

HAWK Hildesheim

Anhalt University of Applied Sciences

Hamburg University of Fine Arts

Düsseldorf University of Applied Sciences, Department of Design

Harz University of Applied Sciences

Berlin Weißensee School of Art

Burg Giebichenstein School of Art

Museum "The Glass Factory" in Sweden

 

Executive Board & Board of Trustees

The founder, Gerhard Bürger, is an entrepreneur and investor from Hildesheim. Gerhard Bürger took over ownership of the Harzkristall glassworks from the state of Saxony-Anhalt in 2004 and transferred it to his foundation nine years later. Gerhard Bürger has owned the ELIAS Farbglashütte Lauscha since the 1990s and also transferred the glassworks to the foundation on 1 January 2020.

 

Foundation board

Dipl.-Ing. Clemens Aulich, Managing Director of the Aviation Museum Wernigerode

Board of Trustees

Maik Berke, Managing Director of Harzdrenalin GmbH

Susanne Bürger, freelance artist and art therapist

Andreas Ebert (advisory member), Managing Director of STRATIE-Bau GmbH, Blankenburg

Matthias Lykaitis, Certified Public Accountant

Siegfried Schröder, Managing Director of Bürger Bau- und Heimwerkermärkte GmbH