“You have to think of Sisyphus as a happy man”. Karsten Henze likes to refer to this quote by Albert Camus when he looks back on his 35 years in design. For him, design means above all attitude.

Prof. Karsten Henze is an industrial clerk and studied social and business communication at the Berlin University of the Arts. After working as an advertising consultant at Siemens, design manager at MetaDesign and account director at Pixelpark, he joined Deutsche Bahn in 2001. There he was responsible for the Group’s global image as Head of CI/CD and Creation until 2018.

Henze also brought his diverse experience to teaching at an early stage, including as a part-time professor of design management at the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences.

He has been Chairman of the Board of the IDZ | International Design Center Berlin since 2006 and has also been on the Board of Deutscher Designtag (German Design Day) since 2019. With his voluntary work, he aims to further promote interdisciplinary exchange between designers, politics and companies.

In addition to regular jury and lecture activities, Henze now works as a freelance consultant in the fields of design management, branding and communication.