Ruth Carter and "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" win Oscar for Best Costume Design, featuring work by AUD's Julia Koerner

Following the international success of Marvel Studios’ 2018 “Black Panther,” AUD's Julia Koerner collaborated again with famed costume designer Ruth E. Carter on “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," creating a new 3D-printed crown and neckpiece for Queen Ramonda. And, as with "Black Panther," Carter went home with the Oscar for Best Costume Design at the 95th Academy Awards on Sunday, March 12, 2023.

Carter and Koerner previously collaborated on a 3D-printed crown and shoulder mantle for “Black Panther”’s Queen Ramonda, portrayed by Angela Bassett. Carter received an Academy Award for Best Costume Design in 2019 for bringing Afrofuturism to the big screen.

For “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” Carter and Koerner developed a new 3D-printed crown and neck-piece for Queen Ramonda. (The film also features the crown from their first collaboration.) The designs were developed using advanced digital design technologies and feature a highly complex and intricate design that can only be made with 3D-printing. The crown and neck-piece were manufactured using selective laser sintering.

Koerner also designed and fabricated the earrings that Carter wore to the 2023 Academy Awards ceremony. The earrings are lightweight, digitally crafted, and fully 3D-printed in one size; Koerner produced a limited-edition set of 100.

"Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and its costume design were also awarded a Critics Choice Award, DiscussingFilm Critics Award, Gold Derby Film Award, and NAACP Award, among other international honors.

Koerner is the founder of design office JK3D, with locations in Vienna and Los Angeles. Koerner researches and designs at the convergence of architecture, fashion, and product design, and has collaborated with fashion designers and brands, costume designers, and global brands such as Swarovski, Iris Van Herpen, and Chanel’s Maison Lesage among others on iconic 3D-printed designs. Archinect dubbed her “Architecture’s Queen of 3D Fabrication.”

Koerner teaches throughout AUD’s curriculum and directs its two Summer Programs, TeenArch and JumpStart. She is currently leading an AUD research studio entitled "Fit for the Future: 3D Printed Sustainable Building Skins," running year-long through the 2022-2023 academic cycle. Ths studio investigates the connections between fashion and the “skins” of buildings, researching how future building skins may be innovated with sustainability and extreme climates in mind. Koerner and the studio were recently awarded AUD’s Charles Moore Traveling Studio prize, supporting studio travel to Vienna; there, the studio will visit both historical buildings as well as cutting-edge digital fabrication sites, including specialists in 3D printing of concrete and various sustainable building materials.

Koerner’s work has been internationally exhibited and published in institutions such as the MET in New York, MAK in Vienna, Phoenix Museum of Art, Ars Electronica, Art Institute of Chicago among others, and published in National Geographic, WIRED, New York Times, among others.

Koerner has previously taught at the Architectural Association Visiting School, University of Applied Arts in Vienna and Lund University. She holds Master degrees from the Architectural Association in London, and the University of Applied Arts in Vienna.