Interview

The Berlin-based photographer Laura Schaeffer just recently graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and already has an impressive portfolio of clients and projects to offer. We had a chat with her about what's to be found on the camera roll of her phone, how to overcome creative blockades, and her conceptual approach towards photography.

Interview by Ana Carabelea   Best known for her large scale, black-and-white drawings made up of lines that are unmistakable hers, Shantell’s work is often accompanied by text pieces that address and engage their viewer: “Who Are You”, “You Are You”, “Are You You”, or, perhaps my favourite, “If life doesn’t give you a door, climb out of a window.”

At Forward Festival Munich, we invited photographer Stefan Grau to look through his Digital Eyes and take one-of-a-kind portraits of our speakers.  

The current crisis hits us on a global and on a very individual level simultaneously. While everyone is confronted with the same issue, it affects us on different levels, and we have our own ways of coping. We spoke to four talented women of the creative industries, asking them the same questions, gaining different perspectives. 

What would you do, if you have one year of creative freedom? One year, where you don’t have to make money for a living but can create with a purpose? A year, where you can travel and meet people that you would never have the chance to meet? A year where you can speak at conferences and run workshops? A year where you can experiment and find your voice? What would you want to share? What would you want to learn? And what would you want to do?

Ferry Gouw is known as an illustrator, graphic designer, and video director. Personally, however, he doesn't want to restrict himself to any occupation in particular. Having directed a whole visual universe for Major Lazer, we spoke to him about designing for the music industry and learned how he usually creates such immersive narratives.

We skyped with one of our oddest, most favorite and fun Forward speakers: Jim Stoten - and a few seagulls. The illustrator is based in a seaside town on the south coast of England and has worked for Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, Home Festival Venice, Land Rover Magazine, and many more.

We met folding artist Jule Waibel for an interview. The young German designer and passionate yogi has her own label and has already worked for large brands like Swarovski, Adidas, Chanel, and many more. In her two studios - in Berlin and Bali - she creates playful objects and dreams of geometric shapes dancing around the moon.

For Erik Kessels, the right state of mind to create is confusion and not being confident. The founder of the agency KesselsKramer in Amsterdam is always on the go. The restless artist, creator and designer talks about good advertising, why you don’t need a system to collect things and why a good night's sleep clears your head. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

Some people are driven by their passion in life, even before they realize it: Italian born architect and curator Paola Antonelli found her own passion in design, by being a bad student at university at her first major. Her occupation came to her by chance and she is now Senior Curator of the Department of Architecture & Design as well as the Director of R&D at The Museum of Modern Art in New York. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

The world-famous designer and artist has collected virtually every design award. As a product and graphic designer, Bregenz-born Stefan Sagmeister has worked his way up to the very top by mashing up typography and picture language in a fresh, unique and sometimes even provoking manner. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

If you are passionate about typography and design, there is no way around the name of Erik Spiekermann. The Berlin-based creator designed the famous classical font FF Meta and is the author of various typography literature. During his career, he worked on legendary projects like the graphic appearance of the city of Berlin, the control system of Düsseldorf Airport and the corporate design of Volkswagen and Audi. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

One of our special highlights is The Mill's exclusively produced Main Titles for the Forward Festival. The film celebrates the energy and strength to stand out from the crowd - following the 2019 Festival motto: The Odd One Out. We are thrilled that the film made it even to the Staff Picks on Vimeo within the first week of release. So we met Raj Davsi for an interview.

Dutch graphic designer, advertising manager, editor, collector, exhibition curator and artist Erik Kessels is well known for his versatile projects. He is a creator of the digital age who, in his work, pays close attention to the most popular or trivial forms of photography. May this be family albums, commercial documentation or others, normally rejected by canon-defining museums. In his newest exhibition “Group Show” he shows an extensive collection of ‘vernacular’ vinyl records with, simply spoken, large groups of people on the cover.

We are extremely delighted to launch The Forward Boutique in the context of Forward Festival Zurich, taking place from 1st to 2nd of June 2018 at KOSMOS. The Forward Boutique is a culmination of clothing products and fashion accessories from international brands we love, and know our visitors will love too.

You probably have heard of hackathons, where IT-aficionados are competing against each other under time pressure. The team behind the Designathon took this paradigm and translated it into the world of design.

Davide Bortot war: – Philosophie- und Logik-Student (abgeschlossen) – mehr Schwimmer als Leistung – darum bald Schwimmtrainer – Chefredakteur eines Hip Hop Magazins – mitverantwortlich für die Red Bull Music Academy

At this year’s Forward Festivals our attendants were able to join the #ModularLettering workshop presented by Adobe. In this interactive workshop everyone was working collaboratively on an illustrated alphabet, using photos and flat graphics.

Wir haben Roger Stämpfli, Executive Creative Director von Aroma, der führenden Schweizer Agentur für dreidimensionale Kommunikation, über den Ist-Zustand der Branche, modernes Arbeiten und den Digitalisierungswahn interviewt.

From an outside view, people might not even think that Stefan Sagmeister is questioning happiness. He lives in his dream city New York and has achieved anything that a graphic designer could dream of.

DDr. Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Direktor des MAK Wien, im Gespräch über die Rollen der angewandten Künste und des Museums in der Zukunft.   DDr. Christoph Thun-Hohenstein leitet seit September 2011 das renommierte MAK – Österreichisches Museum für angewandte Kunst / Gegenwartskunst in Wien (MAK).