Julia Stoess

Julia Stoess (born 1960 ) is a German costume designer and graduate designer . Since 2004 she has been making models of insects and arthropods as an artisan entrepreneur .

Life

Stoess grew up in the Nordheide near Hamburg. She studied design at the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences . After graduating as a qualified designer, she worked as a costume designer for the television industry for fifteen years, ten of them for the German edition of the television program Sesamstraße . After three years in advance, in 2004 she turned her long-standing hobby into her main activity, the production of scaled-up models of arthropods and insects for natural history museums . Stoess does not have any training to become a biology model maker.

Nothing is trivial when it comes to the production of the XXL models: even an insect wing curve too high or too deep usually indicates another genre . During the weeks of research, she is not only helped by her terrariums, scientific books and contacts, but also by macro photos and images from a scanning electron microscope . After the insect has been broken down into individual parts, these must be precisely measured, drawn and then shaped to scale in modeling clay. She takes silicone negatives from the individual parts, from which the molds are cast in plastic resin . This is followed by the extremely labor-intensive, natural hair growth of the insect's body.

Stoess built her first scientifically exact model in 2000: a rose beetle enlarged 20 times. When this was bought directly from the Löbbecke-Museum / Aquazoo in Düsseldorf at the exhibition , she got the courage to dare to work independently in this area between high-tech and manual work.

Julia Stoess lives and works in Hamburg-Eppendorf .

Exhibitions

• 2008–: Insects - small animals, really big , long-term traveling exhibition through natural history museums
• 2020: Carola's garden with eight XXL insect models by J. Stoess next to works by the artist Yadegar Asisi in the Panometer Leipzig (January 31, 2020 to the end of February 2021)

Awards

• 2008: World Cup silver medal for your model of a departing cockchafer on a scale of 10: 1 at the World Taxidermy Championships in Salzburg in the model / reproductions category
• 2008: Land of Ideas - Award of the Eppendorfer company insect models Julia Stoess by the Federal President for "inventiveness, implementation strength and courage for the future" (jury)
• René Lanooy Award for exceptional achievements in the field of preparation technology for the documentation on the design of your cockchafer model on a scale of 10: 1.

literature

• Julia Stoess: Insect models for the public. The model maker Alfred Keller as a role model . In: Oliver Zauzig, David Ludwig and Cornelia Weber (eds.): The material model . Wilhelm Fink, 2014, ISBN 978-3-7705-5696-0 , pp. 253-259 , doi : 10.30965 / 9783846756966_028 .
• Stephen L. Dogget: Julia Stoess, Insect Model Maker Par Excellence. Insights from the most talented insect model maker in the world today (and possibly ever!). (PDF) Federation of Asian and Oceania Pest Managers Association, July 2019, p. 13 , accessed on June 16, 2020 . 

Web links

• Julia Stoess' website
• Julia Stoess in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Insect model maker Julia Stoess 'In conversation' (mp3 audio) , Deutschlandfunk Kultur, June 16, 2020
• Julia Stoess - 5th Prize 2008. 5th Prize Winner of the René Lanooy Funding for Preparation Technology eV on rlfev.de
• Giants on 6 legs. Marvel at oversized insects - small animals really big on mueritzeum.de

supporting documents

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Short biography of Julia Stoess , René-Lanooy-Förderwerk Marburg, accessed June 16, 2020
2. ↑ ^{a b} do the fly! , taz of February 5, 2007, accessed June 16, 2020
3. ↑ ^{a b} Insect models: Hamburg cockchafer wins World Cup silver in Salzburg , Die Welt on February 23, 2008, accessed June 16, 2020
4. ↑ Carolas Garten , panometer.de, accessed June 16, 2020
5. ↑ Giant insects in the Leipzig Panometer , MDR from January 31, 2020, accessed June 18, 2020