Karen Pisoni is a Swiss-Mexican scenic designer who explores the boundaries between light, space, and materials while questioning past and present symbols with a strong commitment to storytelling. Her work finds expression in a variety of projects that merge art, design, and craftsmanship, with a particular focus on multidisciplinary processes.
Her professional journey began with a graphic design apprenticeship, followed by a bachelor’s degree in Media and Interaction Design from ECAL – Lausanne. She further refined her skills in space design at HEAD – Genève, completing the MAIA program in 2021. Pisoni resides and works in Lausanne and has recently joined the Pulse Incubator HES, where she leads the Pisoni–lab, a project dedicated to creating sustainable scenography solutions with an inclusive approach. Whether designing retail spaces, movie sets, or event scenography, she seamlessly integrates art and set design into her creations, collaborating closely with artisans and fellow artists.
Diploma Project
Il Convivio
Il Convivio is an Italian term meaning banquet, derived from the verb “convivere”, which translates to “to live together”. This word carries a strong symbolic meaning, merging the concepts of celebration, togetherness, and sharing food. Through Il Convivio, Karen explores the theme of staging rituals as a simulacrum of heritage. Inside a reinterpreted nomadic structure, a group of people is invited to experience the “Convivio”. The furniture and objects within the structure are designed using various techniques to facilitate a total engagement of the senses through space, light, sound, food, and beverages. Contemporary industrial processes, in parallel with ancestral handmade techniques such as ceramics and wood carving, are employed to underscore the power of combining different forms of creation.
