© Tomas Baumgartner
Mara Danz is a fashion and textile designer as well as an art educator. She holds a BA in Fashion Design from the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) in Basel and a Master’s in Art Education from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). In 2021, she founded Studio DANZ. Her professional background includes two and a half years as a designer at Maison Margiela in Paris, under the creative direction of John Galliano.
Based between Zurich and Glarus, Danz works collaboratively with artists and local manufacturers. She views textiles not as neutral materials, but as a political and cultural medium that stores and transmits knowledge, memories, and bodily experiences. Through her artistic-research practice, she examines archival materials and artisanal techniques, translating them into contemporary contexts. In doing so, she challenges power dynamics within art and textile history, the devaluation of textile practices, and linear historical narratives.
Since her studies, she has developed and realized costume designs for various performance and theatrical contexts—both independently and collaboratively—including for ROXY Birsfelden and Schauspielhaus Zürich. Mara Danz creates fashion collections and textile-based works alongside educational projects for institutions such as Aargauer Kunsthaus and the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst. Since 2024, she has served as the Head of Art Education at Kunsthaus Glarus. Additionally, she has been a lecturer in Fashion Design at the F+F School of Art and Design since 2023.
