April 27-August 26, 2012

By examining the process of "TEMA (effort)" and "HIMA (time)", the spirit that still exists in the art of hand works in Tohoku region, the exhibition aims to identify the keys that leads to future design. It will focus on the "foods and living spaces" of the Tohoku region as seen through the eyes of graphic designer Taku Satoh and product designer Naoto Fukasawa, both directors of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, together with Issey Miyake.

Organized by: 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT, THE MIYAKE ISSEY FOUNDATION
exhibition directors: Taku Satoh, Naoto Fukasawa

http://www.2121designsight.jp/en/program/temahima/

JOMONESE
at National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo Japan
April 24 - July 1, 2012

Based on the subject of Jomon people’s bones, art and science are united to seek for a new exhibition style. The actual bones of a pair of Jomonese man and woman will be displayed together with the pictures of their specimen taken by the photographer Yoshihiko Ueda.

These photographs rendered from an artist’s point of view, differing from that of documentary photography, will be shown alongside with explanation of Jomonese view of life, and anthropological features recognized from the images.

The project started out from Taku Satoh’s proposal to the National Museum of Nature and Science, and it crystallized with his overall work. Satoh took charge of planning, total art direction, exhibition floor planning, graphic design and book design.

open : 9:00 to 17:00 (to 20:00 Fridays) to 18:00 (April 28 - May 6; to 20:00 May 4)
organized by : National Museum of Nature and Science

exhibition director: Taku Satoh

Photograph: Yoshihiko Ueda
Collection of Date city Funkawan Culture Research Institute 

Taku Satoh exhibition [Light Walker]
at gallery Kobou, Ginza Tokyo
April 23 – May 5, 2012

Taku Satoh has created a humanoid robot that concentrates to walk very slowly on a small amount of energy gained through a tiny solar panel. Two types of robots are displayed at the gallery; one that walks on solar power, and another on electric light source. The robot was co-development with Takaratomy-Arts Co.,Ltd. as an intermediate work between the field of art and amusement.

open : 12:00 to 19:00　（final day to 17：00）
cooperation: Takaratomy-Arts Co.,Ltd.

Photo: Hiroshi Iwasaki

Markus Weisbeck’s works reflect on the history of visual communication in the 20th century, from Bauhaus to MIT in Cambridge, while also revising them for current times. Adopting the approach of a contemporary artist, he succeeds like no other designer in formulating basic questions regarding space, language, time, light, movement or authorship within the “applied” arts. This in turn causes the viewer’s thought processes to be set in motion. Weisbeck’s works play an important role in visual culture and have assumed a firm place within the discourse of contemporary art.

4. Mai– 30. Juni 2012

Kai Middendorff Gallery
Niddastrasse 84
60329 Frankfurt 
Germany

http://www.kaimiddendorff.de/

In 2009, Ruedi Baur, Design2context, and the renowned Elisava School of Design in Barcelona launched a call for “Questions on Design” in order to create a typographical wall in the entrance area of Elisava. About a hundred persons from all over the world, designers as well as students, took part in the exercise. As of today, more than 700 questions have been gathered and put onto the wall. Among them, Vera Kockot and Ruedi Baur have selected the wittiest questions for this publication. They scrutinize different facets of design which are currently relevant in diverse fields, such as the natural sciences and society as a whole. The book documents the typographical wall with various photographs. A text explains the idea and the realization of the project.

In order to preserve the history and heritage of Swiss Graphic Design (ca 1930 -), this foundation was established 2006. Exhibitions and publications will be organised in collaboration with the Swiss National Museum (SNM), the new home of all the historically relevant collections of Swiss designers.

The general aim is to collect, make visible and accessible to the general public the history and development of graphic design as an important factor in commercial and cultural life of Switzerland. 

The following Swiss AGI members belong to the SGDF:

Ruedi Baur, Zürich

Hermann Eggmann, Wernetshausen

Richard Feurer, Zürich

Fritz Gottschalk, Zürich*

Ernst Hiestand, Zollikerberg*

Hans-Jürg Hunziker, Auxerre

Melk Imboden, Buochs

Werner Jeker, Lausanne

Ruedi Külling, Zollikon*

Lars Müller, Baden

Edgar Reinhard, Gockhausen

Jean Robert-Durrer, Zürich

Ruedi Rüegg, Zürich

Niklaus Troxler, Willisau

Founders*

www.sgdf.ch 

Following a series of five exhibitions/books Erkmen’s published biennially between 1990 and 2000, he exhibited the works he’d made between 2000 and and 2004 in the framework of an exhibition and a book entitled “Recent Works” in 2004.

Among the works that can be seen at the “Recent Works 2” exhibition, with its predominant concentration on cultural and artistic projects, are: the tile design exhibited in the National Tile Museum in Lisbon, signage for street names and door numbers of Istanbul;  “A Play For Two” conceptualized and designed for the 15th International Istanbul Theatre Festival and the 4th Theatre Olympics; and the design for “Istanbul” chocolate bars. 

The exhibition also features cover designs Erkmen has designed nonintermittently for the last 15 years for the architecture magazine Arrademento Mimarlık, the latter part of which has been concentrated on building metaphorical associations using ready-made materials; the poster series developed with three different concepts for three seasons of the Istanbul State Theatre repertory; the designs of exhibitions held in the Ottoman Bank Museum and new exhibition designs of the Ottoman Bank Museum. 

Other works include posters entitled “Frida and Diego”, “Fukuda”, “Tomaszewski” and “Iran’s Elections”, identity design for Hrant Dink Awards, the book entitled “Hepimiz Hrant Dink’iz” (We Are All Hrant Dink), “Hand-Made Books” series designed for Ferit Edgü and “Akın Nalça Books” series which have now totaled 8 volumes. 

The posters “Berlin” and “Istanbul” from the Metropolis series by Erkmen who opens with his works new ways of seeing, are designed in pursuit of a synthesis of “labyrinth/kufi script” and can be seen also in the exhibition along with logos and posters for “Frankfurt Book Fair Guest Country Turkey” and “Becoming Istanbul”, as well as the chocolate series designed for Kahve Dünyası and the stage design for “A Play for Two”. 

A section of the exhibition is dedicated to the video of a talk Erkmen delivered as part of “Newspaper Design Days”. 

The “Recent Works 2” exhibition by Bülent Erkmen can be seen at Milli Reassürans Art Gallery between 20th of March and 5th of May 2012. The book with the same name, encompassing the entire the exhibition content, will concurrently be available for purchase. 

Graphic designer and illustrator Bruno Oldani has been appointed a Knight of the 1st Class of the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

The Royal Norwegian Order of Merit was established by King Olav V in 1985. The Order is awarded to Norwegian and foreign citizens for outstanding service in the interests of Norway.

The appointment took place at Grafill in Rosenkrantzgate 21, Oslo, Norway, on Thursday 19th April 2012 at 4 pm.

So this year the Academy staged a fine exhibition on Crouwel’s works in its premises and published an interesting and pleasantly designed book on the typographic aspects of Wim’s oeuvre.

Wim Crouwel/Gerrit Noordzij Prize

17x24cm

64 pages

Publishers De Buitenkant

ISBN 978 90913 20 5

€ 17,50

Also available through Nijhof+Lee, Bijzondere Collecties University of Amsterdam (UvA)

The Kwadraat-bladen dealt with graphic design and typography, architecture, lithographic art and various kinds of artistic experiments. Sometimes they were published on the occasion of exhibitions in the canteen of De Jong & Co. The Kwadraat-bladen and the exhibitions had a great continent-wide reputation. The vernissage of the exhibitions attracted a crowd of the international design elite. 

Unit Editions (London: Tony & Patricia Brook + Adrian Shaughnessy) has published a book about the 36 editions of the “KBs”. It includes works by celebrities like Chagall, Buckminster Fuller, Sandberg, Bons, Munari, Rietveld, Crouwel (the New Alphabet), Beeke. 

http://www.uniteditions.com/shop/kwadraat-bladen

Bruno Monguzzi. Fifty Years of Paper, 1961—2011.

Texts by Antonio Boggeri, Pierluigi Cerri, Louis Danziger, Ikko Tanaka, Dieter Bachmann, Phil Baines, Mario Pagliarani, Nicoletta Ossanna Cavadini, Claude Lichtenstein, Giovanni Anceschi, Franc Nunoo-Quarcoo, Bruno Monguzzi
Italian/English
256 pages, Skira Editore, Milan 2011

"The best book about design we saw in a long time".
–Cyan

Bruno Monguzzi. Maestro of Form and Function.

Texts by Antonio Boggeri, Majid Abbasi, Bruno Monguzzi
Farsi/English
120 pages, Momayez Foundation, Aban Book Publisher, Tehran 2011

Bruno Monguzzi. Vibrant Silence.

Texts by Makie Kubo, Bruno Monguzzi
Japanese/English
in Idea 351, Seibundo Shinkosha, Tokyo 2012

Read each year around the Seder table, the Haggadah recounts through prayer and song the extraordinary story of Exodus, when Moses led the ancient Israelites out of slavery in Egypt to wander the desert for 40 years before reaching the Promised Land.

"A superb example of Oded Ezer’s work"
–Etapes International

"The book’s minimalist design, by Oded Ezer, looks like a catalog for a MoMA typography exhibition"
–The New York Times 

"The serious commentary is leavened by the handsome design which has Hebrew letters floating across the pages"
–NY Daily News

For more information: http://storyboard.me/oded-ezer-hagadda   

 

Tomoko passed away peaceably on Friday, February 10, 2012.  A long-time resident of New York City, she established her firm in 1974, and renamed it Tomoko Miho Design in 1982.  Over her long and distinguished career as a graphic designer, Ms Miho received many awards, including the AIGA Gold Medal in 1993. She served on the AIGA Board of Directors and was a long-time member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

Her work has been exhibited in both the United States and Europe, and is in the permanent collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Tomoko spent her early years in Los Angeles, three years in Gila River, Arizona during WWII, and finished high school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her inspiration and appreciation for the art world began when she enrolled at the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles.

She is survived by her brother Paul Kawakami of Los Angeles, and her nieces and nephews.

–Eric Breitbart/Paul Kawami

Link to a beautiful article about her by Veronique Vienne written on the occasion of her AIGA medal.

http://www.aiga.org/medalist-tomokomiho/

Book sculptures situated between notation and construction
Including a sculptural work by the artist

Since the seventies at the latest, the book has played an increasingly prominent role as an artistic medium. Helfried Hagenberg was one of the first artists to work with paper in a sculptural context. His conceptual works retain the essential form of the book while at the same time taking it to different dimensions. The artist reflects the interplay between form and content, and regards his work as an “eternal search that takes place between vision and meaning.” With the most delicate of techniques and mathematical precision, he creates so-called psaligraphic sculptures—sort of three-dimensional works that portray the nature of the book. Containing various groups of works, sculptures, and collages, this extensive publication shows a different side of the book—not least through an integrated psaligraphic sculpture—in the truest sense of the word.

Edited by Wolfgang Wittrock, texts by Martina Dobbe, Helfried Hagenberg, graphic design by Iris Grazikowske, Helfried Hagenberg, Christian Odzuck

German/English
2012. 208 pp., 204 ills., 120 in color
22.10 x 27.20 cm
hardcover
ISBN 978-3-7757-3187-4

 

 

 

 

 

 Mariscal has an exhibit of his iPhone and iPad drawings at 

La Sala Vinçon (Exhibitions hall)
Passeig de Gràcia, 96
08008 Barcelona

Tel. (+34) 93 215 6050 (Ext. 222)

Wednesday, February 29–March 31, 2012.
from 17:00 PM. 

http://www.vincon.com/web/en/sala/la_sala_vincon.htm

To us, the movement "occupy" is not really having a strong support and clear directions. We believe that not everything has been expressed and created about this matter yet. The main issues on which it is based are not new, were here before in history and will not disappear in the future.

Our main focus on "Occupy" are directed toward "What's next" ? We hope that through this competition, with your help, and the motivation of your students, posters that propose ideas and solutions for a sustainable future will be created and ideas for a dialogue about social inequalities will be expressed.

The first posters are already coming in and we are exited to announce that we have decided to offer this poster competition for FREE.

The deadline is May, 31.

We are very proud to have cast a great Jury and we plan to present their individual selection online. The best 99 posters generated from this competition should be exhibited and receive awards and prizes. We are in the process of refining the competition, so awards have not been defined yet. Check out our website or facebook account for upgrades.

http://Occupywhatsnext.org/

In the action, Erik had the idea to create a sort of non-profit organization called "NextbByDesign" based on the idea that design can help to change the world. We hope that this first competition will be the first of a series of events where design will help to make a difference.

Many greetings and thank you in advance to spread the word, Jean-Benoit Levy

115 Social Posters for the Greek Economical Crisis and not only.

The second Book is: Dimitris Arvanitis /  Short Stories about Design ISBN978-960-8375-09-3

How it is to work over 30 years on design in Greece: Short stories, interviews, lectures etc. (in Greek Language).

 info: www.grammabooks.gr

"As a student in Czechoslovakia in the 1980s, Bilak was often frustrated by the fact that his language wasn’t supported by most typefaces. Even though it’s a Latin-based script, “all the accents weren’t available for Czechoslovak,” he says. “I had to make my own letters to complete the fonts.” He went on to develop typefaces for Russian and Greek, but the real breakthrough came with Arabic…

"When Bilak presented his work with Arabic at a design conference in India in 2006, people began to wonder if something like that could work in India, a country with over 100 languages, at least 12 scripts, and provinces that can each designate its own official language in addition to English."

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20120125/game-changers-peter-bilak

The curator of the Department of Architecture & Design, Mr. Aurelien Lemonier, has selected 35 original Reisinger supergraphics for the permanent collection of Pompidou Centre, Paris.

Eight works are now on show in the gallery devoted to Color in Architecture. Others are undergoing restoration before being exhibited in May.

DESIGN WEEK IN HOLON

Within the framework of Design Week (31/3 - 7/4/12), a Reisinger exhibition The Art of Design will be held at Beit Meirov Gallery, Holon. The exhibition will show aspects of Reisinger's contribution to visual identity design in Israel - as created for leading companies and cultural institutions such as Teva, El Al, Iscar, Delek, Tambour, Habimah and more. 

In some cases, preliminary sketches will be shown, to demonstrate the design process. The exhibition will continue until 31/5/12.

At the same time, 60 Reisinger posters will be displayed along the Dov Hos Boulevard, Holon.

JEWISH HERITAGE MUSEUM, LENDAVA / SLOVENIA

After the Nazi occupation, only two synagogues remained standing in Slovenia. The one in Lendava has recently been restored and adapted to serve as a museum devoted to the heritage & history of the Jewish people. In accordance with the vision of Mr. Gerics Ferenc, artistic director of the museum,  Reisinger has donated an edition of Scrolls of Fire prints & texts to the museum. The original "Scrolls of Fire" is a collection of 52+1 paintings (by Dan Reisinger)  and texts (by poet Abba Kovner), depicting 52 chapters of persecution and fortitude of the Jewish people throughout history; they are on permanent display at Beit Hatefutsoth Museum in Tel Aviv. 

For Years Javier Mariscal has been working on a feature-length animated film, Chico & Rita.

Now Chico and Rita has been nominated for the Academy Awards. It is the first time that an animated feature film from Spain gets this nomination. The ceremony will be held on February 26th in Los Angeles. This nomination comes after a lot of awards and great recognition from all over, like a Goya and an EFA from the European Film Academy among others.

So keep your fingers crossed for Javier on that big night!

See more about the film here.

"We three daughters spent last night taking turns reading him his favourite author F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby. He had read the novel at least 50 times in his lifetime and we thought he should hear it one last time.
[...] His passion for art, movies, football and fashion spanned decades from the Big Band Era in music to the rapper fashion style of today's youth. Making a statement wherever he went. He always stayed contemporary which kept him young at heart. I'm sure it is with  much sadness that he was never able to see his beloved Buffalo Bills win the Superbowl  although they got awfully close a few times.
"As my father always said… you can Google him as long as you respect him in the morning."

Theo was a friend of mine via the internet although sadly, I never met him in person. But I have no doubt that the feisty, energetic and funny man I knew by email was true to his personality. In September 2010, I wrote an article for the AGI website about Theo and his bold, graphic work, steeped in the history of Art Deco, with a glorious evocation of '70s illustration style. That article will serve as my personal obituary for Theo.

Meanwhile, at AGI, Bob Appleton sent out a request to designers for memories of Theo, and we have been overwhelmed by the outpouring of insightful, funny, wonderful anecdotes and essays from AGI members and Canadian designers and friends who knew him (including the Eulogy from his daughter, designer Nicole Dimson). We got enough for a small book, so I have had to edit and eliminate, or this post would be several thousand words long:
 
"I remember him so well, his character, his mannerisms and the beauty of his work will remain for ever in my memory. I am sure that all our friends at AGI will miss him too. How appropriate to read the Great Gatsby on his deathbed" 
—Massimo Vignelli 

"Theo had a strong flair for the dramatic.  In his facial expressions.  In his body language.  His speech.  His thought.  His dress.  And he was always a practising thespian. He was a man of many parts.  He appreciated and delved deeply into history, astronomy, politics - especially of the United States – and literature, film, music, architecture.  His questing intellect ranged over the whole spectrum of human endeavours. A contemplative inspection of Theo’s work reveals this intellect, which, along with his visual perceptions, formed and powered his work – it was not just surface manipulation of colour, line and form.  It was challenging both visually — and intellectually!"
—Allan Laing, who knew Theo for 68 years, from his beautiful 1,200-word Requiem to Theo.

"During the time I spent working with Theo, which was around three years ['63–66], I turned out some of my best work ever. A very exciting art department and a very exciting time! […]
Theo was an extraordinary individual: a perfectionist, intelligent, gifted, funny, generous, and loving. I feel extremely lucky to have had him for a friend. The world won’t be quite the same without him.
— Arnaud Maggs

"Theo will likely be known for his posters, but when I arrived, as someone with experience developing graphics for large retail department stores, I saw and loved how a designer, Theo, was the reason Eatons became a retail brand like no other in the world. I loved the combination of illustration and graphics he epitomized. In a sense Theo became Eaton's visual brand. Remarkable. He created graphics and ads with a unique, timely and appropriate sense of beauty resulting in a winning brand that worked so well for the store."
— Rod Nash
 
“Theo Dimson was a passionate football fan (his favourite team was the Buffalo Bills), a flamboyant and engaging individual with a unique, if always evolving, sense of personal style and a superb designer with great taste and talent. He was a good friend and colleague for more than 50 years. I will miss him.”
— Jim Donoahue 

And in Theo's own words, posted to his Facebook page:
"It is with great sadness that I leave this Earth. I enjoyed my time on this planet and have no regrets. Take away memories… London ON, Family store on the Danforth, Allenby Theatre, Danforth Tech, OCA, Lis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Erté, Buffalo Bills, Stan Kenton, Frank Sinatra, Dr. Jay, Fred + Ginger, TCM, Fashion, Admiring the universe through my telescope, as well as all the beauty in the world"

And finally, from Nicole Dimson, a piece her dad loved from Shakespeare's  Romeo and Juliet:

And when he shall die.
Take him and cut him out in little stars
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun.

From the New York Times obituary by Douglas Martin: "In 1976, he helped devise a bigger, more visually expansive and, to many, more appealing New York Times…. It was a rethinking of the paper that was as important to its future then as the Internet is today, and one that influenced newspaper design nationwide….  Tom Bodkin, the current art director and an assistant managing editor of The Times, said Mr. Silverstein elevated newspaper design from a trade to a profession."

The full obituary can be read at The New York Times

Deborah Sussman spearheaded and curated this show, in collaboration with graphic designer Andrew Byrom, and a
team of passionate  designers and fabricators, including former long-term Eames staff members. 

Its concept is based on Charles Eames’ quote, "the uncommon beauty of common things". Its design is deliberately not "as though Charles and Ray would have done it", but instead, presented with 21st century eyes and spirit.

“The onslaught of the county museum show finds a highly focused counterpoint in “Eames Words” at the fledgling Architecture and Design Museum, in a climate-control-free storefront across the street. All but devoid of art, the show succeeds on sheer curatorial imagination. With quotations from the Eameses displayed across walls, a few films and some alluring displays of everyday objects and raw materials, it is like being inside the designers’ heads.”

– Roberta Smith, The New York Times, November 13, 2011

More at:
The New York Times, November 2, 2011

The Architect's  Newspaper

KCRW

Dwell

New York City Subway; December 2011

Designed by George Tscherny for the School of VISUAL ARTS

"Ronald Searle, the British cartoonist and caricaturist whose outlandishly witty illustrations for books, magazine covers, newspaper editorial pages and advertisements helped define postwar graphic humor, died on Friday, December 30th in Draguignan, in southeastern France, where he lived. He was 91.

"His family said in a statement that he had died in his sleep after a short illness. 

"Lampooning the foibles of the English class system as well as clerics, politicians and even other artists, Mr. Searle was often described as a latter-day version of the 18th-century British graphic satirist William Hogarth. His cartoons combined an ear for linguistic nuance with a caustic pen and brush. With just a few well-placed lines, he pierced the facades of his targets without resorting to ridicule or rancor."

—Steve Heller, an excerpt from the full obituary in The New York Times

There is a blog for Ronald Searle here, which contains images, references and links to many other obituaries, including The Guardian, The Independent, Creative Review, Eye Magazine ...

His war drawings are collected here at the Imperial War Museums site. 

 

December 16, 2011 - April 30, 2012

The exhibition presents about 30 international designers from Europe, Asia, and the US whose works map out new territories and encourage a new discourse about the role of design in shaping the world of tomorrow. Some of these designers also address – under the umbrella of Critical Design – social, political, and environmental concerns. The three invited Graphic Designers are Sagmeister, KarlssonWilker and Fons Hickmann m23.

Location: Israel Museum, Cummings Building for Modern and Contemporary Art

Curator: Alex Ward

The Image: The "NEW BERLIN FLAG" at the Israel Museum.

  

Some words from curator Ruth Klotzel about the Typocreatures exhibition:

"Oded Ezer's work take us to wonderland, to a place where inanimate objects gain the right to be part if the living world.  Letters can be generated in a biological system and raise up from the surface becoming live creatures.

"Working restless, he reveals the real meaning of experimentalism, so banalized nowadays, discovering new paths, new meanings, new attitudes. Summarizing, as he himself affirms, he plays seriously, like a 6 year old boy."

 

And here is a video of Oded Ezer.

Gunter Rambow has an exhibit  at Muzeum Plakatu W Wilanowie in Warsaw, Poland
December 8, 2011–February 5, 2012

also in

Galerie der HBK SAAR in Saarbrücken, Germany
December 15, 2011–January 21, 2012

120 posters by Dan Reisinger

will be showing at the Hungarian Jewish Museum in Budapest

Dec 12, 2011 – Jan. 12, 2012 

Exhibition opening: 12th Dec. at 17.00 hours.

AGI Alliance Graphique Internationale, German Members, Deutsche Mitglieder, 1954-2011
publisher: hesign (Berlin)

ISBN 978-3-9810544-4-6

For the first time, the 46 AGI-members living in Germany are introduced in a book of 384 pages in the order of their appointment to the AGI since 1954. We owe this tryst to the German AGI member Jianping He from China. In 2010, he had the idea to publish a book about the German AGI members’ doings on the occasion of the founding anniversary in 2011. The book shows the different forms of expression of graphic design and visual communication of the last 60 years in Germany with 682 images. With the help of the autobiographies, work samples and texts about the respective members' works, one is now able to realize their influence on the history of graphic design in Germany. Each member, "dead or alive" is represented on 8 pages. A more or less long "short story" (by the author) reports on the history of the German AGI and the identity and aims of the AGI in general. Paula Scher was kind enough to write a short foreword. 

By the way: The collecting of data and facts, the selection of the images, editing the texts and credits in English and German and not least the design of the book was not only a lot of work, but an endless imposition. So I am happy now that it is finished and is printed and if you like to buy it: Just do it. 

– Uwe Loesch
President of the German AGI members

GRAPHIC DESIGN AWARD 2011 TRIESTE, 29 November. Tassinari/Vetta received the silver medal of the International Taiwan Graphic Design Award for the graphic design for the two Venice exhibitions 'The world belongs to you' and 'In Praise of Doubt', at Palazzo Grassi and at Punta della Dogana centre for Contemporary Art. The international jury of the Taiwan International Graphic Design Award, organized in cooperation with Icograda, decided to assign the Silver Medal in the Corporate Identity section to the identity and editorial project for the two exhibitions curated by Caroline Burgeois for the Francois Pinault Foundation. The identity and communication project was designed by Leonardo Sonnoli with Irene Bacchi and Anna Dalla Via, while Paolo Tassinari with Lucia Pasqualin designed the catalogues.

The project is based on a three languages message - the tri-lingual title of the exhibitions - in which letters and words switch in order to reflect the actual meaning of the title. In the exhibition 'The world belongs to you', which proposes - as Bourgeois recalls - ''a reflection on the dizzying upheavals of the modern world, fed by nomadism, cosmopolitanism and miscegenation'', the visual combination of the Italian, English and French reads 'Il world appartient to you', 'Le mondo vi belongs', 'The world vous appartiene'. In the exhibition 'In Praise of Doubt', "opening as a route on the strength and fragility of the human condition'', the graphics designed by Tassinari/Vetta works out the idea of doubt by flipping the letters of the title.

 István Orosz has an exhibit in New York at the Hungarian Cultural Institute

Opening: December 14, 7:00PM 

December 14 – Jan 21, 2012

447 Broadway, 5th floor.  

http://culturehungary.org/index.php/events/upcoming 

That’s the title of a small book full of big surprises. At least for me, and I have known ‘Henry’ for some thirty years. 

Just over A5 size, only 96 pages and yet bringing a huge wave of most interesting, fine works, many of which I’d never seen before. The other day it has been published by the Antique Collectors’ Club in Woodbridge, Suffolk, and is part of a series, with titles about Paul and John Nash, Edward McKnight Kauffer and David Gentleman, all names with the same ‘prefix’: DESIGN.

Henrion doesn’t need any introduction in his own AGI and Icograda circles, nor in the world of corporate identity programs, in which he pioneered. These books (I haven’t yet seen David Gentleman’s issue, but I am sure that will be another gem), simply can’t be missing on our bookshelves.

(Henrion ISBN 978-1-85149-632-7)

And the good news is: there is much more to be come about him; This one is, however, a tasty starter.

— Ben Bos

In Traces: On the Road Again, anothermountainman (Stanley Wong) explores the persistence of the past in the face of tumultuous change. Images of the desert landscape around Dunhuang in Gansu Province, China, photographed in 2010, are juxtaposed with images of Chinese characters taken around the world over a period of fifteen years. The exhibition suggests that history can never be erased, while attempts to impose an order on the present will always be disrupted by what has come before. Dunhuang was once a thriving commercial and spiritual centre on the ancient Silk Road leading from the north China plains to Mongolia, Southern Siberia, Tibet, India and further Westwards to Europe. Although it may feel remote today, these images remind us that the desert is alive with memory and meaning: tracks, roads, telegraph wires, satellite dishes and fading signage are the traces of an enduring human connectivity.

11am - 8pm, Tuesday to Sunday, 18 November - 18 December 

Address: 21/F Ho Lee Commercial Building, 38-44 D'Aguilar Street, Central, Hong Kong 

Isolde Monson-Baumgart died on 3rd November 2011. One month ago, on 2nd October 2011 I had the honour to open Isolde's last exhibition in my gallery in Guestrow. This was also the opening of the "Guestrow Art Night".

We had wonderful autumn-gold weather and in front of my gallery the Guestrow Jazz Bigband consisting of 30 youngsters, played their new pieces of jazz and occupied the complete street. The Guestrow Art Night is quite popular and we had approx. 300 art-interested visitors during the opening. Isolde arrived here one day earlier and so she was relaxed and smiling she joined the crowd. I try to remember the keynotes of my speech at the opening:

“I feel as it was yesterday, a young first-year student going on a pilgrimage to the cinema, it must have been 1959, they showed the films of “Neue Filmkunst Walter Kirchner”. A great many students in whole Germany, at least in university cities did the same.  In the cinema lobby we could see posters we had not seen before. These posters forced everyone to look at them and were studied most intensively. I’m talking of the posters of my teacher  Hans Hillmann and of Isolde Baumgart, and they did these posters for many years.

"Even today I can still discuss the strong feelings we had in front of these posters with many fellow students of the fifties and sixties all over Germany. These posters formed some kind of visual homeland, they were something like a poster school. Isolde's posters had a very special effect on me, I think because her work had a female, gentle and sensitive handling of drawing, photography and typography. Of course the Hillmann school was her background but her works nevertheless had a different and very independent position.”

During the whole night we had visitors coming and going, a really good Jazzband performed and then Isolde's nephew joined in—he is a famous pianist in Munich. It was a great poster party and there were six German AGI-members admiring Isolde's work.

Isolde Monson-Baumgart has left us now but her posters will remain and will comfort us in our grief.

—Gunter Rambow

The exhibition “Mapping the Process”—the special project from Porto's Congress 2010 with members' visual maps of the creative process—is in the well-known biennale “Experimenta Design” in Lisbon, Portugal.

After its exhibition in Porto, during AGI Open 2010, with 1000 visitors, and in Coimbra, in February 2011, “Mapping the Process” makes a new stop at Lisbon, in Palácio Quintela, a beautiful palace in the heart of the city. It has registered about 6000 visits.

This important biennale is dedicated to design, and includes street interventions, lectures, special projects and a cycle of exhibitions.  The show will stay till 27^th November 2011.

Word reaches us today announcing the sad news of Ruedi Rüegg's passing.

Ruedi, a outstandingly gifted designer, had exceptional educational
credentials, from Design School Zurich to Nippon Design Center to Paul Rand.
His office Designalltag was a beacon of Swiss Design, serving clients who
ranged from Zurich Airport to SwissMail to Westinghouse. In many ways, the
most impressive aspect of his practice emanated from his attitude. Neither
brash nor stylish, always honest and to the point, he exemplified Swiss
design at its best, with a truly international touch.

Beside his family and profession he had a great love for AGI. Ruedi served
as International Secretary from 1996-2000. He fulfilled his function by
bringing to the equation a unique understanding, at the same time powerful
and demure. In 2000 he was awarded the first ³AGI Henry². And rightfully so.

Ruedi suffered from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) an illness which is
difficult to understand and even tougher to accept and live with. Ruedi was
a giant in how he dealt with such a burden. His wife Anni and his children
supported him in every way. While his health became increasingly frail, his
mind and natural enthusiasm remained impressive and strong.

I last saw Ruedi and Anni a few weeks ago. I found him in excellent spirits,
still at work in his beautiful studio in Feldbach. His body was clearly
growing weaker but, his wonderful designer mind still looked toward the
future. At that meeting, Ruedi gave me a copy of his penultimate book
³Spuren 2 (Tracks 2)². Ruedi, Anni, my wife Ilse and I shared a glass of
wine together.

I recall so many good times with Ruedi, in all four corners of the world. In
my mind I remember one particular canoe trip in Northern Canada, perhaps
thirty years ago, in the dark days before cell phones! The two land bobbers
paddled off into the wilderness, the breeze behind us, easy enough on the
way out, near impossible as we struggled to get back against the wind. We
almost didn¹t make it. However, Ruedi¹s natural determination carried us,
like in life or in design. Afterward, we congratulated each other on the
dock.

Dear Ruedi, a truly wonderful human being, you are already missed, and so
well remembered.
We send all the very best to your wife Anni, children and grandchildren.

Fritz Gottschalk
Zurich, 19/10/11 

Since 1964 he designed many publications, catalogs, posters, as well as exhibitions for the Stuttgart Institute for Foreign Affairs on behalf of the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany. Since 1983 he was responsible for the concept and realization of the memorial "Deutscher Widerstand Berlin" (a permanent exhibition about the resistance to National Socialism) as well as topical updates, special exhibits and publications. He worked his life long for many museums among others: the Hegel-House in Stuttgart, the Georg Elser memorial in Koenigsbronn, the Bert-Brecht-House in Augsburg and the Martin-Heidegger-Museum in Messkirch.

His work correlated to his high demands of himself. In 1988 Peter von Kornatzki described the work of Hans Peter Hoch, as follows: "Wether stamp or exhibition, poster or signage system, signet or brochure – none of his visual concepts appears to be unsubstantial or glutted, formalistic or compliant in any way. On the contrary: all of his sketches are unusually balanced with regard to semantics, syntax and pragmatism, and seem coherent. This is also the source of their high intensity and aesthetic quality."

Few months ago I talked with Hans Peter about his work on the occasion of a book about the German AGI-members. So I am sad at heart, that he won't be able to see it. We will miss him.

 – Uwe Loesch, president of the German AGI-members

I think this image adequately expresses how we all felt about the AGI Congress in Barcelona this year. The Barcelona team, with Patrick Thomas, Mario Eskenazi, Javier Mariscal and his brothers at Palo Alto, Pablo Martín, Astrid Stavro, Andreu Balius and all the other volunteers delivered a fantastic series of events for us.

AGIOpen was held in the magnificent Coliseum Theatre, packed to the balconies with students and professionals from all over Europe and other parts of the world.

Monday morning opened with the brilliantly witty and ever-amusing Christoph Niemann, here giving us a look at his dreaming life.

Paul Sahre hypnotized the crowd with his mesmerizing graphics, gigantic muttonchops and supernatural abilities. None of us can remember the 15 minutes following his lecture.

Due to my obligations with the IEC, I was unable to see most of AGIOpen, but you can read the glowing reports of it from Eye Magazine, Grafik Magazine  and the Design Indaba blog part 1  and part 2. 

On Tuesday night we were transported up a hill, climbed into gondolas and floated gently down to the beach to the murmer of digital camera-clicks and the occasional muffled scream. It was sunset and the views were spectacular.

The Congress opening party was at a beach bar where we were entertained by gypsies (and Javier Mariscal). The guitar player was extraordinarily good-looking. I'm just saying ...

The Congress took place at Arteria Paral-lel. The most moving presentation was by Alan Kitching who remembered his wife, Celia, and showed the marvellous works they had made together, as well as a book he created about her, Celia Sings.

Some unintended comedy dogged the presentation by guest speaker, architect Carme Pinós, as she struggled with what appeared to be a rather heavy pole she was given as a pointing device after Patrick Thomas proved unable to jump high enough for her purposes.

Those of us who saw it will fondly remember this scene from Alejandro Magallanes' hilarious test of our patience with his animated film. 

What would an AGI Congress be without a boat trip? Well it would be Porto, I suppose, but after last year's lapse/reprieve all was set in motion again with a little trip around the harbour on our way to the secret dockside restaurant at Port Vell. Many little sea creatures were consumed.

New members Joost Grootens (Netherlands) and David Smith (Ireland) meet and quickly become absorbed into the AGI family.

The famed chef Ferran Adrià was one of our special surprise guests. He talked about his uncompromising creative process and desire to keep moving forward in the exploration of new ideas. He is essentailly an experimentalist who works with food and taste rather than a "chef" per se. Most fascinating.

Now I missed this, but another special guest at the Congress was Pep Guardiola, coach/manager of Barcelona Football Club. He was described to me as "A god. One of the most successful coaches in the history of club football. He is the most prolific in terms of trophies-per-year ratio. The current Barcelona team—under his direction—is arguably the greatest in the history of football (American: soccer)." Well, I'm not going to get caught up in any football arguments, so fans of other teams will just have to let that rest. However, football fans at the Congress were suitably impressed by Guardiola's presence! He appeared in conversation with David Trueba, award-winning novelist, film director and screenwriter.

Thursday night was the opening of the Modular exhibit at  Sala Vinçon. Those who had grumbled over the specification restrictions for the project had an "Aha!" moment when they saw how stunning they all looked together on the walls and in the book. The book was designed for the easy collection of autographs, so I decided to be a fan for a change and spent the evening getting signatures from everyone I could find who had contributed a piece.

Ron Arad (right), the famous industrial designer/architect, was another of our surprise guests. After his presentation of his glorious, technologically adventurous work, he stayed with us for the rest of the Congress. He was very taken with our friendly atmosphere and told us that the camaraderie that exists between us could never happen in the architecture or industrial design world. No surprise to me; I've always thought graphic designers are exceptionally lovely people.

Thursday was also Paula Scher & Patrick Thomas's birthday. Of all the photos I've yet seen from the Congress, this is one of my favourites, as Patrick gives Paula a birthday kiss. Do they not look suitably happy?

Friday was our day off, and while I slept in and went to the wonderful Museu Frederic Marés, it would appear that several people showed up for the AGI Tennis Open. I know that Jan Wilker is very, very competitive and I wouldn't want to go up against him in anything. But can someone tell me, did Anthon Beeke change into his shorts and give these guys a run for their money?

Friday night was movie night! This was held at the Estrella Damm brewery, so  there was a lot of beer plus popcorn and hotdogs! We watched the recent Herbert Matter film, a few minutes of Stefan Sagmeister's Happy Film, titles from Arnold Schwartzman, and upstairs were some smaller films and "the making of" Javier Mariscal's wonderful Chico & Rita.

On Saturday we got down to serious business in the morning and afternoon with the General Assembly. A very proper report of those proceedings will be coming in the near future.

While the room above looks very severe, it was housed in a gorgeous old library with a beautiful courtyard outside. During breaks in the General Assembly we returned to the usual AGI business of socializing.

Whoa! Was ist das? Saturday night was the final party held at Palo Alto, the beautiful complex of offices, courtyards and gardens that houses Estudio Mariscal. This final night was a full-on Mariscal production. As we wandered through the main courtyard we became aware of strange goings-on in various nooks and crannies. Theatre, dance and music awaited us at every turn. 

We funnelled from the courtyard into a large concrete building where more performances took place. The last was this strange-looking man with an amplifier rigged to be sensitive to light, and a bunch of wah-wah pedals which he controlled to make very loud, reverberating feedback sound. Awesome! I spoke to him afterward, and this was his first performance. He was very sweet and not weird at all.

After the wall of sound, we were ushered out into a beautiful garden area flooded with lights and lined with long tables. The food, I remember, was excellent, but the conversation even better. This is what I love about AGI: all of these brilliant designers from different countries, talking and laughing together.

After dinner, there were fireworks and Chinese drummers in the garden with a lion which proceeded to do the lion dance up and down the rows of tables. This was Spain's official passing of the baton to Hong Kong for next year's Congress and AGIOpen. Someone from the Spanish team whispered to me "You ain't seen nothin' yet" - or something to that effect.

The Chinese drummers were followed by a wilder, looser band of drummers, and with a beat that was impossible to ignore we were led out of the garden area by this band and a couple of "demons" on stilts carrying torches of fire.

We were herded into the main open courtyard and met by more demons on the ground and on stilts carrying fireworks and dancing to the music. 

What followed was an astonishing display of fireworks which were held by hand or on poles, showering us with sparks! It was absolutely fantastic! Like being right inside a fireworks display! It was particularly exciting because it was completely insane! This would never, ever be allowed in North America, and I happen to be particularly fond of the things that North Americans consider to be too dangerous to be enjoyed. I was slightly worried about whatever my Japanese dress was made out of but I figured if I went up in flames there would be lots of people to put me out.

After the smoke cleared we were led to another courtyard and building with lots - and I mean lots and lots of liquor. Plus a live Cuban band!

Oh yes, there was dancing! Anthon Beeke and Anette Lenz are doing the Monster Mash, while Melchior Imboden prefers to Waltz...

I made several new friends this year, and here I am with one of them, Alvin Chan; and I'm wearing a fantastic silver scarf given to me by Cordula Alessandri.

If you were in Barcelona this year, I hope this helps you remember the days and nights. And if not, well, Hong Kong in 2012, n'est-ce pas?

– Marian Bantjes 

Good travel in the future Dear Freddy

—Dimitris Arvanitis

Frederick Vincent Carabott was born in Athens in 1924. In 1943-1945 he took part in the Resistance, was imprisoned and taken to Germany. Later he studied graphic design at the Chelsea and St. Martin’s schools in London. Upon his return to Athens he worked in advertising, publishing and graphic design. From 1958 to 1967 he served as art advisor to the National Tourist Organisation; his work for the NTO was awarded in international competitions. This was followed by the establishment, together with Μ. Katzourakis, D. Tsopelas and P. Kannavos, of “Κ&Κ - Athens Advertising Centre” and by a series of Rizzoli awards (1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968 and 1969) for the best Greek advertisement. In 1965 the Greek State presented him with the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix for his outstanding contribution to the development of graphic design in Greece. In 1968 he became member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI). After 1979 he works as a freelancer. His work has been hosted in many international and local exhibitions and published in Greek and foreign publications.

I never met Walter Ballmer, but his clever, sharp and colorful work made for Nava, Valentino, Pirelli, La Roche and Olivetti has been a stronger point of reference for my education. Especially his work for Olivetti—he designed the last logotype—is an extraordinary example of clever, and not easy, evolution of the Pintori's design.

He was one of the great designers of the Studio Boggeri in Milan, one of the links between the italian and Swiss culture, blended to produce our golden age in communication.

We'll miss the light of another star of our best history. 

– Leonardo Sonolli 

Dear Walter,

You have been a master of systems design here in Milan. We started to dream our job through your typography and concrete art (for us, as students, the Swiss  "Kunstgewerbeschule" was like a mirage) that you represented here in Milan.

I met you when I was still a student in 1948 at the Gandolfi printer in Mercalli street. I remember you introduced me at the AGI yearly congress in Greece, 1976, together with Franco Grignani (president of the Italian chapter).

We all have learned from you and to you we're grateful, and the rest is history.

A hug,

Heinz Waibl 
October 10th 2011 

George Roger Gallery
University for the Creative Arts
at Maidstone, UK

The close working relationship between the University for the Creative Arts (UCA), Maidstone and the international typographics magazine Baseline is the subject of an exciting new exhibition.

In the last 17 years Baseline has employed 20 students and graduates from UCA Maidstone’s Graphic Design: Visual Communication and Illustration courses. 

Baseline’s editor and art director, Hans Reichert, said: “The relationship with UCA Maidstone has been hugely beneficial. We have worked with some incredibly talented and skilled people over the years. During their stay at Baseline the students experienced first hand contact with AGI contributors such a Arnold Schwartzman OBE RDI AGI, Alan Fletcher RDI AGI, Alan Kitching RDI AGI, Adrian Frutiger, Ken Garland, David Gentleman RDI AGI, Ivan Chermayeff AGI, David Carson AGI, Neville Brody, Sir Terence Conran  and best selling author Steven Heller to name a few.”

“We wanted to celebrate this collaboration by putting on an exhibition of the work that has been created over the years.”

The exhibition, entitled ‘Baseline/UCA, students and graduates: 17year collaboration’, will take place in the George Rodger Gallery at UCA Maidstone from 10 October to 4 November. It will be free of charge and open to the public.

Hans, who is himself one of UCA’s honorary graduates, added: “There will be a diverse range of work on display, including some striking covers, posters layout and web designs.”

The prize has been awarded for the identity design for Napoli Teatro Festival Italia – the major theatre festival in Italy –, a design which already got the Icograda Excellence Award at Taiwan International Poster and Ci Design Award in 2009.

The project, developed in 2008 through 2010, was based on a logotype and evolved each year in a full range of products, from posters to magazines, merchandising and environmental graphics.

Published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Foreword by Simon Winchester

In stores, October 18, 2011  

est une exposition de dessins de tous horizons (dessin reproduit, dessin original, dessin in situ), du poétique au politique réunissant 21 artistes:

Pierre Di Sciullo, Sophie Dutertre, José Maria Gonzalez, Honoré, Benoît Jacques, Andréas Marchal, Mezzo, Muzo, Laurent Okroglic, Paëlla, Annalisa Pagetti, Gianpaolo Pagni, Placid, Chloé Poizat, Michel Quarez, Rocco, Shoboshobo, Bruno Souêtre, Tetsunori Tawaraya, Catherine Viollet, Catherine Zask.

 http://www.catherinezask.com/works/dessins-de-crise.html

Vernissage mardi 6 septembre 2011 à partir de 18 h 30

navette de la sortie RER A Fontenay-sous-Bois jusqu'à la Halle Roublot
à 18h15, 18h45, 19h15, 19h45 et 19h55.

Exposition du 6 au 24 septembre 2011

à La Halle Roublot
95 rue Roublot - 94120 Fontenay-sous-Bois
ouverture mardi, mercredi, jeudi et samedi de 14h à 19h
vendredi nocturne de 16h à 21h et sur rendez-vous

www.lagaleru.org
01 49 74 79 10

une publication est éditée à l'occasion de l'exposition

accès

* par le métro : ligne 1, descendre à Château de Vincennes puis prendre le bus 118 jusqu'à l'arrêt "Les Rigollots"

* Par le RER A : descendre à Val-de-Fontenay puis prendre le bus 118 jusqu'à l'arrêt "Les Rigollots" -- ou descendre à Fontenay-sous-Bois et marcher 15 minutes

Ville de Fontenay-sous-Bois, service culturel, Fontenay-en-Scènes
avec le soutien de la Drac Île-de-France

Born in 1922 in Berlin, he studied under Prof. O.H.W. Hadank at the Staatliche Hochschule für bildende Künste (State Academy for Applied Arts) in his hometown from 1945 to 1949, where he also met his later wife Ruth. Subsequently, both of them became staff members in Hadank’s studio in Hamburg before starting their own “Bureau for Visual Design” in 1954. They worked together alone. She is his most appreciated critic. Their daughter Carola was born in 1960.

Bruno K. Wiese was known especially as a successful package designer for notable business companies. He received first prize in numerous competitions for brand logos, product packaging and special issue stamps. In 1971 and 1982, he won the international poster award of the Kiel Week (Kieler Woche), to which each year a selection of the best designers from all over the world are invited. Afterwards, he was a jury member of the Kiel Week for many years. He was admitted to the AGI in 1974. One year later, he won the competition for the logo design of the German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics (German Space Agency) which is still being used today. Since 1978, he was also active in lecturing and teaching. In 1980, he got a professorship for Communication Design at the Fachhochschule Kiel (University of Applied Sciences Kiel), which he held until 1987.

Bruno K. Wiese belongs to a generation of designers developing a distinct form language after World War II. He turned into a master of simplification in the finding and inventing of highly aesthetic iterations. It remained his lifelong passion to express much with little means. As a perfectionist, he was always looking for the better idea. “The good is appropriate.” Up until old age, he nourished the joy of sketching reflected in the trial and error and the variation of form and color. The new media he called sarcastically “the triumph of mediocrity”. Whoever had the privilege to know him personally, cherished his unerring wit and his critical mind. He will be sorely missed. 

—Uwe Loesch, President of the German AGI members

Here is a link to a documentary about Bruno K. Wiese , made by Jens Muller and Karen Weiland. 

But also, through his long-standing relationship with Grupo Tragaluz, he's created the design work for many of Barcelona's best hotels and restaurants. I was in Barcelona in June and just walking down the street I took the opportunity to photograph Mario in front of some of his designs.

Here he is in front of the wonderful Hotel OMM.

And his fantastic work for the restaurant Mordisco.

Another restaurant La Xina.

and Bar Lobo. Had we gone one street over I could have got him in front of a few more. And of course in October 2011, we will be surrounded by more of the work that he did for the AGI Congress.

 Mario is originally from Argentina, but has lived and worked in Barcelona since 1974. He is a self-described hippie, who does some of the biggest and best commercial work in Barcelona, with a restrained, modernist sensibility. He has a weakness for stencil fonts, but always used with a crispness and order that belies their radical origins. A bit like Mario.

He's got a wonderful studio in the heart of Barcelona, with a staff of four. To reach it, you go up a beautiful, old, rumbling elevator. Whenever I've been, Mario is waiting at the door to his high-ceilinged studio, usually with light streaming in across the warm wooden floors. The walls are lined with books and ephemera, and he's got the most wicked-looking paper cutter I've ever seen. 

And this is the view from his window and balcony: of the Barcelona Cathedral! The glow of computer light shines down onto mediaeval walls.

This is where Mario sits.

And here's his collection of "caganers". Ask him about them when you see him in Barcelona.

I met Mario at my first AGI Congress, 2 years ago in Istanbul, and we've been great friends ever since. When you come to Barcelona, keep an eye out for his work, and of course for Mario himself.

Mario Eskenazi & Marian Bantjes.

235 Queens Quay West, Toronto, ON M5J 2G8, Canada 

With the support of The Association of Registered Graphic Designers of Ontario (RGD) and Ontario College of Art & Design (OCADU)

The Persianissimo Iranian Contemporary Poster Exhibition, will be on display at Tirgan Iranian Festival 2011 21-24 July in Toronto, Canada. The exhibition curated by Majid Abbasi includes 34 Iranian designers + 10 honorary Iranian artists. Many of the selected designers are top international award winners - two of whom have received Icograda lifetime achievement awards and three of whom have won Icograda excellence awards during last decade.

Persianissimo was first displayed at the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Art - 28 posters by 28 Iranian designers - as part of the 16 Colorado International Invitational Poster Exhibition in 2009 - hosted by Colorado State University. The exhibition is now part of the permanent collection there.

Tirgan 2011 will be the largest Iranian festival outside Iran. The festival is rooted in ancient tradition dating back several millennia and include live performances, galleries, workshops, food, and a traditional bazaar.

Persianissimo uses the -issimo suffix from the Italian, and often borrowed in other languages, to signify the essential or highest form of the concept it describes.

Persianissimo exhibition showcases works by the following designers in Tirgan 2011:

Majid Abbasi, Reza Abedini, Farzad Adibi, Pouya Ahmadi, Tahamtan Aminian, Homa Delvarai, Maryam Enayati, Vahid Erfanian, Siavash Fani, Siamak Feilizadeh, Farhad Fozouni, Amirali Ghasemi, Amirhossein Ghoochibeik, Pedram Harby, Behrouz Hariri, Zeynab Izadyar, Damoon Khanjanzadeh, Ali Khorshidpour, Behrad Javanbakht, Aria Kasaei, Morteza Mahallati, Saed Meshki, Alireza Mostafazadeh, Masoud Nejabati, Kourosh Parsanejad, Peyman Pourhossein, Iman Raad, Mehdi Saeedi, Iman Safai, Bijan Sayfouri, Firouz Shafei, Kambiz Shafei, Parisa Tashakori, Mehran Zamani and ten honorary graphic artists: Aydin Aghdashloo, Mostafa Assadollahi, Khosrow Bayat, Mohammad Ehsaei, Ebrahim Haghighi, Abbas Kiarostami, Farshid Mesghali, Morteza Momayez, Mahmoud Ramezani, and Ghobad Shiva.

http://www.persianissimo.ir/

http://tirgan.ca/

We decided to hold the pilot project of the Regional Design Education Collaboration Programme in Israel and Turkey. Grossman was somewhat experienced in the field as he’d been running for the last three years a design education event called Festivital, at the Vital Design School which he’d founded in Tel Aviv with his partner Yaki Molcho and offered courses in graphic design, illustration, photography and industrial design. Festivital had a programme of workshops led by internationally renowned guest designers to which only Vital students were welcome, and then seminars that were open to the general public. 

 I discussed the matter with my colleagues at the Graphics Department of Mimar Sinan University and the Turkish Society of Graphic Design, offering them a proposal to organize an international event in collaboration with Vital, as part of the ICOGRADA programme. My proposition was enthusiastically received and agreed upon. Our first activity was to go to Tel Aviv in February 1997 with a group of 11 students from various different universities to participate in Festivital. The students attended workshops led by Erik Spiekermann, Siobhan Keanay, Lawrence Zeegen and David Carson and were offered accommodation with the Israeli students’ in their homes. We held in Tel Aviv the “Posters from Turkey” exhbition organization organized by the Turkish Society of Graphic Design. I also held a workshop where I had the opportunity to meet Israeli students, and gave a speech at the Design Seminar. We allocated Saturday (Festivital’s programme was halted due to the Israeli offical holiday which starts on Friday afternoon and ends on Sunday morning) for a visit to Jerusalem. After an exhilarating 10 days of enjoying new experiences and making new friends at this event, we returned to Turkey and kicked off the planning phase of the event we would organize in Istanbul. The students who’d attended Festivital had thoroughly enjoyed and benefited from the experience. 

 Organizing an international graphic design education event required know-how, experience and financial resources. We had very little know-how and experience; and literally no money. Our university’s resources were far from adequate. Nevertheless we wanted to realize this dream and believed that we could. 

Icograda’s Board of Directors chose a different city every three months to host their meeting and Istanbul was scheduled for Spring 1997. We approached this as a valuable opportunity and decided to hold the 1st Grafist/Istanbul International Graphic Design Week on 4th-9th of April, the scheduled dates of the Icograda meeting. This would allow us to  invite Icodgrada board members to the event as guest speakers and conveniently save us the transport and accommodation fees for the guests. Aykut Köksal, Esen Karol, Paul McMillen (a long-time resident of İstanbul) and Yossi Lemel (whom we’d met in Tel Aviv and who suggested to self-subsidize) agreed to lead workshops. Bülent Erkmen and the photographer couple Barbara and Zafer Baran (who lived in the UK) contributed to the seminar as speakers. According to our programme, four workshops were scheduled to run from Monday to Thursday and the final day of the week would be reserved for two seminars to be held on two separate locations, Mimar Sinan University and Marmara University. We also included an exhbition project curated by German designer Helmut Langer: Fax Posters Against Nuclear Trials. The 1st Grafist was attended by twelve students from Israel who were given accommodation in our students’ homes. In conclusion, it was by a very limited means that we managed to organize the Istanbul International Graphic Design Week. But as we had planned, the Grafist organization became in itself a model for Icograda who then went on to organize regional design events a few times a year in different parts of the world.  

Having thus begun as an educational event in 1997, Grafist is now celebrating its 15th year. The Vital School Of Design founded by David Grossman and Yaki Molcho had to be merged with another state school according to Israeli law; and Festivital is no longer organized. Grafist, however, continued to develop and came to be known as one of the most important graphic design education events to take place internationally. Many designers, design educators and students from different parts of the world passed through Istanbul on account of Grafist; and most of those students are now working as design professionals in their respective countries. It would hardly be an exaggeration to speak of a “Grafist Generation” existing now in Turkey and in the world.  

Workshops

Those involved in graphic design education know full well about the benefits of intensive workshops, seminars, debates, exhibitions, workplace visits that accompany a routine training programme. So schools often include such extra-curricular activities to their programme. 

Workshops are one of the fundamental building blocks of Grafist. In 15 years, around 2500 students received training in nearly 100 workshops. At the beginning workshops were open to anyone who wished to attend. But in our third year, when we received a group of 90 students visiting from Lebanon, we were positively confounded, as the available space in our workshops was rather limited. In response to this high level of demand from the universities, we were obliged to define a quota of maximum 20 people to attend each workshop. Even then, we sometimes had more than 30 students attending a workshop. Frankly speaking, we never had the heart to turn anyone away. 

 The distribution of participants across the workshops was carried out with a consideration of the fair and balanced spread of different nationalities and schools. Our main objective was to give students an opportunity to interact with different cultures, overcome prejudices and enjoy working, learning and creating together. 

The works created during these four days of workshops were formerly being exhibited on wall panels in classrooms to be presented in meetings. But through the years, we witnessed a growing interest in these presentations and finally we could no longer fit inside the classrooms. In the end, the presentation of the works was moved to the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University’s auditorium. 

Seminars

The Sedat Hakkı Eldem Auditorium at the Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University can seat 300 people. Every year, for the Grafist Seminar, we welcome here an audience of 400. Students, educators and professionals travelling from many parts of the world and many cities in Turkey including Istanbul, Izmir, Eskişehir, Mersin, Adana, Isparta and Erzurum, to follow this seminar, fill up the entire auditorium. To the extent that there’s no room for manoeuver, so to speak... The world’s most well-known designers give speeches here, show their works and share their experiences. Fukuda, Massin, Piippo, Tartakover, Erkmen, Loesch, Momayez, Altıntaş, Jordan, Troxler, Orosz, Madrelle, Boom, Beeke, Fletcher, Arvanitis, Logvin and many others passed through this hall meeting young people. The Grafist seminar is a true celebration. 

Exhibitions, projects

In these fifteen years of Grafist, we held exhibitions in a number of galleries for nearly 100 artists. As opposed to workshops and seminars which we had to squeeze in the space of a week, the exhibitions could be spread out over two weeks to a month to be enjoyed by a large audience. We programmed exhibitions such as the Korean Posters, Posters Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of  Israel’s  Founding, Posters of Faxes Against Nuclear Trials, Beer Mats, Packaging Design from Japan, Emigre, Five Polish Poster Designers along with many other personal shows. We held a commemorative exhibition entitled “Forget-me-not”  in honour of those artists who’d once been guests of Grafist and are no longer with us, like Alan Fletcher, Morteza Momayez and Shigeo Fukuda. Special exhibitions were held for the works of Adrian Frutiger and Pierre Mendel who could not travel to Istanbul on account of their health. The poster project entitled “İstanbul as felt by...” was organized in celebration of the 10th anniversary of Grafist and welcomed the contribution of all designers whose labour had been very much appreciated in the course of Grafist history. 

Young designers and Grafist

We have been especially mindful about enabling young designers’ active participation in the Grafist programmes, encouraging them to be more than spectators, to assume leading positions as creators and organizors. The organization of Grafist is managed by our young colleagues. Young professionals from several different countries realized their own exhibition project  as part of the “Next Generation” programme and gave presentations in seminars. At the Grafist workshops, research assistants from various universities get the opportunity to assist the workshop leaders; they then go back to their respective academies and share their experience with the professors and students there. Every year, in at least one workshop, young designers are also given the chance to run their own workshops. Finally; in the process of selecting guests to invite to Grafist,  we always include young professionals from different countries. 

Grafist’s guests

We aim to achieve a healthy balance of experiences, genders, countries and areas of expertise in our selection of guests; striving towards diversity by bringing together the young and the mature, women and men, neighbouring countries and distant lands, unknown and renowned designers in the same programme. We also take pains to include many fields of expertise like poster design, publication design, illustration, multimedia, design history and theory in our programme. 

Grafist is an organization based on the voluntary spirit. Those who work for Grafist do not receive any payment for the work they do. Travel, food and accommodation expenses of guests travelling from abroad and other cities are covered by the organization, but apart from we are not able to make any other payments of fees. The guest students meet their own travel and accommodation expenses, but attendance to the workshops remains free of charge. 

 Publications

Grafist events are documented as much as possible through publications which began as simple brochures and evolved into a book in 2001. The Grafist Book (15.5 x 23cm) is published every year in both Turkish and English and includes event information, the guest designers’ works and interviews held with them. The editing, design and production as well as the interviews are being handled by our young colleagues. Alongside the Grafist books, a number of special publications including a brochure entitled “Packaging: Design For Sale”, a book “50 Questions, 50 Answers / An interview by e-mail with Rudy Vanderlans (Emigre)”  and “Panic At Times of Getting Lost On the Streets” which was prepared by the students, were published during the years. 

 Grafist Archive

It’s become a celebrated tradition that our guest designers kindly donate some of the works they bring to Istanbul to be exhibited. Thanks to this generous contribution from our guests, we are compiling a rich archive of graphic design which keeps growing both in size and diversity with the valuable addition of autographed books, correspondence letters, samples of handwriting, business cards, paper napkins with dinner-time scribblings, gifts, photographs and videos taken during Grafist activities, seminar records, and students’ works produced at the workshops. Some of the treasured items include the typographic installation created by Rene Knip for Grafist 12, Alan Fletcher’s original print, posters designed and printed by Fukuda and Kari Piippo for the special occasion of their visit to Istanbul, Alain Le Quernec’s giant sized posters and Andrey Logvin’s original sketches... Fifteen years of age, Grafist has already created a great deal of history. 

 How it’s done

Grafist is the first and only example of its kind in Turkey. Organizing an international graphic design event is an expensive and laborious task that requires know-how and experience. Grafist’s organizors were aware of the challenges when they set off on this path. Nevertheless, they were resolved to raise the quality of graphic design education, and contribute towards design students’ and young professionals’ experiences in building relationships with the rest of the world. 

All of Grafist’s expenditure has been met through sponsorship. We’ve been supported by enterprises and private persons. No financial contributions were demanded from the participating students and their universities. The hosting university MSFAU assigned its studios, exhibition and conference halls for our use. Among the collaborating institutions, Icograda, AGI / Alliance Graphique Internationale, Turkish Society of Graphic Design, Bikem Özsunay Graphic Design Foundation, Dutch Consulate of Istanbul are especially noteworthy for their valuable support. 

 The Future of Graphic Design Education

In 2000, Icograda published the “Graphic Design Education Manifesto” which re-defined, as we entered the Third Millennium, the concepts of graphic design, designer and design education. In the organization of Grafist and creating the programme, we are always mindful of the definitions and principles stated in the manifesto. In closing, we think it would be beneficial to remind ourselves once again the section in the manifesto regarding education:  

“(future of design education)
The new design program includes the following dimensions:

• image, text, movement, time, sound and interactivity.
• Design education should focus on critical mentality combined with tools to communicate.
• It should nurture a self-reflective attitude and ability.
• The new program should foster strategies and methods for communication and collaboration.
• Theory and design history should be an integral part of design education.
• Design research should increase the production of design knowledge in order to enhance design performance through understanding cognition and emotion, physical and social and cultural human factors.
• More than ever, design education must prepare students for change. To this end, it must move from being teaching-centered to a learning-centered environment which enables students to experiment and to develop their own potential in and beyond academic programs.

 Thus the role of design educator shifts from that of only knowledge provider to that of a person who inspires and facilitates orientation for a more substantial practice.”

Kurt Weidemann was a polemical man, a master of aphorisms and words, which always have to be balanced. "Wo der Buchstabe das Wort führt. Ansichten über Schrift und Typografie" ("Where the letter leads the word. Views on typeface and typography") was the title of one of his best publications. Above all he was a sought-after speaker at congresses and symposia at which, even in advanced age, he knew excellently to awaken the interest of inquisitive students. Kurt was not only worshipped and admired, but he was celebrated worldwide by innumerous young fans.

Mission-conscious as he was, one day he penned the Ten Commandments for the designer. If you re-read them today you get the impression that Kurt somehow wrote his own obituary. In the first Commandment it says: "Love your profession like yourself and in such a way, that if you are reborn, you don’t want any other profession, even if it is only for the purpose of mending what you did wrong or what you hadn’t finished. Exchange every day of your life for something meaningful. It is irretrievable. The Today can’t be retrieved in the Tomorrow. Future and hope are a sequence of Today. In work lies the chance to find to yourself."

In fact Kurt had a busy life in survival. In 1922 he was born into poor circumstances in East-Prussia, he grew up in Lübeck. As enthusiastic volunteer he participated in World War II and only narrowly escaped death in 1941. Via the shock he lost his voice and had to regain his speech laboriously. From 1945 to 1950 he survived the Russian captivity in a stone quarry at the lower Wolga. In 2002 he published with critical distance the impressions about those years, straight and unadulterated in the book "Kaum ich" (Hardly me).

With scarcely 30 years he began his "second life" with an apprenticeship as typesetter in Lübeck and then studied book design and typography from 1953 until 1955 at The Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. From 1955 onwards he worked as freelance graphic designer, advertising consultant and copywriter. From 1955 – 1964 he worked as sub-editor and type director for the magazine "Der Druckspiegel". Together with Aaron Burns he set up the International Center for the Typographic Arts (ICTA) in New York City at the beginning of the 1960s. And he was the president of ICTA from 1966 to 1972. In the year 1965 he was appointed professor for information and graphic design practice at The Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. The professorship had been established specially for him and he taught there for twenty years. In 1975 he was admitted to the AGI. At the beginning of the 1980s he participated in the foundation of the WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Vallendar and taught there from 1983 onwards. From 1970 until 1972 he was president of Icograda. Furthermore he directed the Stuttgarter Künstlerhaus for 7 years. Apart from lecturing at the WHU he taught from 1991, at the age of nearly 70, at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design.

Kurt never liked to set up a "big shop" for corporate communication. For many years an exceedingly punctual and loyal employee equally called Kurt worked for him. The small, however fine studio in Stuttgart received important jobs from well-known companies. Kurt and Kurt designed or redesigned the corporate design of co-op, Zeiss, Merck, Mercedes-Benz, Daimler-Benz, Deutsche Aerospace, Porsche und Deutsche Bahn. Furthermore Kurt Weidemann designed books for the Büchergilde Gutenberg as well as for the publishers Ullstein, Propyläen, Ernst Klett und Thieme. The "Biblica", "Corporate ASE" and the "ITC Weidemann" are some of his most famous typefaces.

Because of his versatile activities as designer and consultant, professor and author he was awarded with many prizes and honorary memberships, such as:
in 1995 with the Lucky Strike Designer Award of the Raymond-Loewy-Foundation and a year later with the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

In the book "Kurt Weidemann. Biografische Gespräche mit Heike Schiller & Arne Braun" (biographical talks) he discloses also his private family-life. Kurt was married twice. After the tragic death of his second wife he became "single-parent" of his three children. With the exploration of his very eventful biography it struck me that he had a full life in spite of all strokes of fate, so that it is easy for me to say goodbye to him with greatest respect. I think all members of the AGI will remember him with fondness.

— Uwe Loesch
President of the German AGI members

Kurt Weidemann, photo by Dietmar Henneka, 2010