Vibeke Riisberg is an associate professor in the Institute for Product Design at Designskolen Kolding.

Sustainable design is one of Vibeke Riisberg’s long-term interests. Since 1992, she has worked with sustainability in a wide range of contexts. Based on her own work as a textile designer she is interested in exploring how aesthetic features such as ornamentation, colours and textures can interact with function and sustainability.

Vibeke Riisberg’s Ph.D. dissertation from 2006 is titled Design og produktion af trykte textiler – fra analoge til digitale processer (Design and the production of printed textiles – from analogue to digital processes). In her dissertation Vibeke Riisberg studies ornamentation and sustainability both historically and in a future perspective. Among other things, she studies the potentials in using digital technologies for the design and production of textiles, including the impact of digital production processes on the designer’s aesthetic space of possibility.

In her project Regulering af dagslys i offentligt miljø (Regulating daylight in the public space) Vibeke Riisberg has explored new solutions for regulating daylight in office buildings since January 2007. Both the amount of daylight and the aesthetic design of the environment play an important role for well-being in the workplace. Therefore, the project seeks to combine function and decoration. The goal is to promote the use of daylight in order to save energy while also ensuring a pleasant influx of daylight that can be regulated to match the users’ individual needs.

An essential factor in the project is the assumption that it is possible to achieve optimum daylight regulation through a flexible combination of total screening, filtration, diffusion and full daylight influx. The project also addresses the need to reduce the temperature during the summer months when the rays of the sun can raise indoor temperatures well beyond the level of comfort. One possibility that Vibeke Riisberg and her fellow researchers are exploring experimentally is the use of heat-reflective materials in combination with light-regulation patterns and various types of textile materials. They use new fibres and new technology where it is relevant – either for regulating light or temperatures or for enhancing the aesthetic experience. The project receives support from the research fund under the Danish Ministry of Culture, the textile enterprise Kvadrat and the Danish Centre for Design Research.

Vibeke Riisberg is also involved in the research project Brugerdreven Innovation og kommunikation af tekstile kvaliteter (User-driven innovation and the communication of textile qualities). In addition to Designskolen Kolding this project involves the Technical University of Denmark, the Danish Design School and the private enterprises Kvadrat and Trevira-Neckelmann. The project, which runs from 1 May 2008 through 30 March 2011, receives support from the Danish Enterprise and Construction Agency.

Vibeke Riisberg graduated from the School of Arts, Crafts and Design in Copenhagen in 1977 with a degree in textile design. Since then, she has done additional studies, including studies in computer graphics at the Visual School of Arts in New York.