Fashion, Jewell​ery & Access​ory Design

The Bachelor's degree in Fashion Design at the Geneva University of Art and Design is situated at the crossroads of design and art, science and new technologies, and offers its students a pedagogical network of cross-disciplinary practices.
The influence of contemporary culture and sociological changes on fashion aesthetics is one of the main focuses of the Fashion Design program, as is the international opening in partnership with major fashion universities and renowned designers. Fashion design is a global industrial sector that is as rich as it is complex, and the challenge of the Fashion Design program is to provide its students with the tools they need to think about the industry and make it their own. 

HEAD – Genève is the only university in Switzerland to offer a bachelor’s course in Jewellery and Accessory Design, specializing in personal products: watches, jewellery and accessories in the broad sense of the term, including ‘smart’ products. The design and manufacture of such products – from single items to whole ranges – form the core of a course in which acquisition of technical skills and knowledge of materials is combined with mastery of the process of design and project methodology. Watch Design is taught in partnership with watch manufacturers or experts from the watchmaking sector; HEAD also offers courses in watch culture and specialized lectures.

he Watch Design Chair offers a specialised course dedicated to watch design and culture. Watchmaking, the Swiss heritage industry par excellence, is a complex field of expression that mixes history with technique, creativity and economy. In fact, there is not one watchmaking industry, but several: the luxury watch, the entry-level watch, the professional watch, the lifestyle accessory. All these watches revolve around a same centre of gravity, design: the heart and soul of everything that makes Swiss watches unique, and its underlying creativity and ability to reinvent itself constantly.

The aim of the programme is to train designers capable of providing new aesthetic impulses, whether running their own clothing, accessory or jewellery brands or as artistic directors of established firms. 

The course focuses on design projects for the human body connected with the individual’s identity and social status issues, activities and needs, and more generally issues of lifestyle and Zeitgeist. It sets out to strengthen designers’ creative skills in appropriating their own language, stylistic vocabulary and world. They must be able to translate these elements into collections and products that respond to contemporary or future social issues and put them to use in various contexts. 

The Watch Design Chair offers a specialised course dedicated to watch design and culture. Watchmaking, the Swiss heritage industry par excellence, is a complex field of expression that mixes history with technique, creativity and economy. In fact, there is not one watchmaking industry, but several: the luxury watch, the entry-level watch, the professional watch, the lifestyle accessory. All these watches revolve around a same centre of gravity, design: the heart and soul of everything that makes Swiss watches unique, and its underlying creativity and ability to reinvent itself constantly.