Annemarie Piscaer is a designer, researcher, and educator fascinated by dust— tiny particles that float invisibly in the air, forming ever-changing clouds. She views these particles, which have existed for eons, as fundamental building blocks of life, including our own. Dust, and by extension air pollution, represents a tangible consequence of daily human choices. Through her work, she explores the systems driving these choices, using materials and craftsmanship to unravel and understand them.
Annemarie is a PhD candidate in the Doctoral Program at KU Leuven, LUCA School of Arts in Genk (supervised by Dr. Vrancken, Dr. Claes & Dr. van Dartel). Her research Aerial and Airing, a Situated Design Approach: Mapping Environmental Data through Material will address the urgent and complex issue of mapping environmental data, particularly through the lens of ‘Air’. The research focus on materiality, challenges conventional approaches to data representation and will integrate principles of situated knowledges and pedagogy into design practices. This situated approach is crucial in moving beyond traditional, hierarchical, and often detached methods of data visualization towards more inclusive and participatory frameworks.
She holds a BA from the Design Academy Eindhoven and a MA in Education in Arts from the Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam -with the research As a Designer I’m an Expert, I’m an Amateur, which investigated real life learning networks, the City Labs, and the professional and amateur roles designers take in this.
Currently, she teaches at St. Joost School of Art & Design, Avans Creative Innovation, where she developed the minor Material Ecologies. In st. Joost she serves as a researcher at Caradt (Centre of Applied Research for Art, Design and Technology), involved in the Situated Art, Design and Technology research group. Her past work includes research with the Biobased Art and Design group, focusing on more-than-human learning environments, The Garden that Sees, Smells, and Hears (2022-24).
Annemarie previously lectured at the Design Academy Eindhoven (2018-2023) and Artemis Academy (2014-2016). She has been visiting lecturer in several institutions, including Willem de Kooning Academy Rotterdam, the Summer School Design Campus by the Kunstgewerbemuseum in Dresden, and Summer School LT Ranch in Lithuania, Summer School at the Institute of Creativity and Innovation (ICI), Xiamen University China. She lectures about her practice at institutions such as Piet Zwart Institute (NL),LUCA School of Arts Genk (BE), Weißensee School of Art and Design Master Design an Experiment (DE), Unibiz Bolzano Master Eco and Social Design (IT), University of Edinburgh (UK), LUCA School of Arts Ghent (BE), Hochschule für Gestaltung und Kunst Basel (CH).
She has served as an external commission member for organizations like the Creative Industries Fund NL (Open Call City Lab 2018-19) or Crafts Council (2025). Currently she is member of the supervisory board of the international post-academic work center and research center for ceramics, the EKWC.
She is co-founder of Lab AIR with Iris de Kievith, a design collective dedicated to exploring air-related issues. Their first project, Smogware, involved creating ceramic tableware colored by air pollution, linking everyday objects to environmental impact -developed at the Ceramic residency Sundaymorning@EKWC. Pieces from the Smogware series are bought by institutions including the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Museum Rotterdam, Amsterdam Museum, Design Museum Ghent, Berlin Haus der Culturen der Welt, among others. The project has been on show at many international exhibitions such as WATERSCHOOL by Studio Makkink&Bey, Droog Design New Material Award and has had more than 100 national and international publications.
In 2015-20 Annemarie was member of the City Lab Air Quality (Stadslab Luchtkwaliteit in Dutch). A group of committed citizens engaging with the air quality in Rotterdam, that experimented with spatial designs and shared knowledge. The City Lab was winner of the Job Dura prize 2018.
Previously -2011-14 she was an Industrial Textile Designer at Desso and had her internship (2003) at Trend Forecasting Agency Studio Edelkoort Paris.