Wilma Stärner is a Swedish designer and architect whose practice explores the intersection of spatial design, interior architecture, and product design. She holds a Master's degree in Design from HDK-Valand Academy of Art and Design and a Master's degree in Architecture from KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.
Her work is driven by an interest in participation and the ways design can create opportunities for people to engage with and shape their surroundings. Inspired by simple geometric forms, colour, flexibility, and interaction, she develops objects and spaces that remain open to interpretation, encouraging imagination, dialogue, and unexpected use.
A central project in her recent practice is Bridging Dance & Community / Participation in Urban Planning, featuring the installation Ballet Backdrop. Developed as a series of participatory prototypes, the project explores social sustainability through collective exploration and temporary dance spaces. Rather than proposing fixed solutions, the work invites users to actively shape and test spatial possibilities together.
Wilma's design process often begins with a specific place, situation, or community. Through observation, dialogue, and participation, forms emerge in response to context. Working primarily with wood, MDF, and plywood, she values prototyping as a way to learn, communicate ideas, and explore possibilities. Her process can be summarized as: meet people, learn, draw, relearn, draw again, build prototypes, and test together.
What distinguishes Wilma's work is her view of design as an open-ended process rather than a final outcome. By combining spatial thinking with participatory methods, she creates projects that foster conversation, collective exploration, and new ways of engaging with the built environment.
