Interview

Ada Sokół’s masterpieces put the admirer in immediate awe: super sleek and close-to-perfection renderings, soft pastel colors, and bizarre motives allow the viewer a glance into her extraordinary imagination. The Warsaw-based artist evokes an ultra-sensory experience that often ties play in futuristic settings or fantastic sceneries as she doesn’t like to be restricted by our realms. Influenced by all things beauty and maybe a little bit by growing up as Poland's first 3D designer’s daughter, Ada Sokół has mostly taught herself the magic of 3D art and since has been working on her own projects as well as for clients like Burberry Beauty. Meet a very unusual bread of an artist!

The independent German publishing house Slanted focuses on publications on contemporary art, illustration, design, photography and typography. With their own Slanted magazine, they aim to cover a broad spectrum of the creative industry and its designers and artists. Get to know Slanted, its publications, (maybe upcoming) projects and thoughts about the creative industry and its constant change and development. We talked to Julia Kahl a Partner, Editor and Graphic Designer at Slanted Publishers.

With “A Thousand Breaths,” the Logische Phantasie Lab (LoPh) is developing an innovative NFT project that creates an artistic registry for breathing injustices, questions how breathing is valued, and develops funding tools for advancing a Right to Breathe. “A Thousand Breaths” is one of the winning projects of the Vienna Business Agency’s 2022 Content Vienna Competition.  We talked to co-director and head of research Daniela Gandorfer about LoPh’s work and approaches.

With the project “Big Data und das Gebaute Erbe Wiens" (Big Data and Vienna's Built Heritage), artist and architect Alunovic Oliver presents an artificial intelligence that independently designs architectural projects. The project uses the city of Vienna's open data on all realised projects of the so-called Wiener Gemeindebau (Viennese communal housing), on which the neural networks used are trained. The aim is to make the Wiener Gemeindebau sustainable as a digital content creation tool, to pass on the cultural heritage of the Wiener Gemeindebau and to offer architects a tool for creating high-quality communal housing.

Kelly Anna spoke at Forward Festival Vienna about her work-life balance as a mother in the creative industry. She knows how to manage not only herself, but also the life of a mini version of herself and her projects as a designer all together. Kelly not only manages to do that, she also gets inspired in every way possible and is not afraid to take on new challenges. This interview gives you a sneak peek into her life as a designer, sports fanatic and mother.

EASYdoesit a film production that not only cares about outstanding content, but also wants to make a positive contribution, which is why every project is carbon neutral, thanks to their Green Production Guidelines. Dimitri Hempel gave us the honor and answered a few questions. So, let him guide you through the world of EASYdoesit.

Vincent Schwenk about his abstract and colorful 3D creations that bring joy and fun to this world. His journey started as a 2D designer and evolved into more than just a 3D artist. He combines many 3D programs to create even more abstract artworks that also have a certain naturalness and also lets the whole world learn with him. With Patreon he has found a platform to share his knowledge and expertise.

Dada-Projects believes in an alternative future for 3D design. As a woman-led studio in a male-dominated industry, Christina Worner wants to advocate for more diversity in the industry to inspire broader change. The studio is always trying to push the boundaries of any 3D tool and experiment beyond the expected. This desire to make a difference and her love of 3D have given birth to Dada-Projects.

Looping Lovers is a multidimensional artist-duo represented by Philipp Ries and Thomas Mayer. Their unique style includes elements that float and move freely in digital space, but not just in digital spaces. One of their new projects includes an exhibition in a museum. In this interview, Looping Lovers talk about how they manage to use nonverbal communication in the form of body language in their projects and what tools and workflows they use to achieve a digital sensuality.

Cachetejack is Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul, a Spanish freelance illustration duo with a nomadic lifestyle working together since 2011. The crew has always been about more than just the illustration, making women professionals more visible and celebrating simple pleasures of life. Cachetejack explores, discovers and brings hidden gems to the surface while making progress in a variety of mediums like books, magazines, clothing, painting and illustration. We asked them some questions to get to know the creative duo better. Cachetejack will speak at the Forward Festival Vienna in September. Next to them, you will be able to hear Creatives like Alice Isaac, Fons Hickmann, Ju Schnee and many more.   First off, back at your Art Uni time, how did you end up creating a duo and what do you think made you such a good pair? What did you see in each other that made you want to start working together? It was in our last year of uni 2011 that we wanted to work together. We were so angry with the university system that we decided to create art manifestos to stir our minds and those of our classmates, that’s how Cachetejack was born as a secret persona who wrote art manifestos. We were united by our humor and critical sense when it came to seeing the world.     How did things begin to kick off for you at the very beginning? And so how do you approach and percept your work now? In the beginning, we started to try many ways of discovering our own style. We have made progress in the synthesis and learned how to focus on where we want to head to. There was a lot of chaos and obsession, but, on the other hand, a lot of enthusiasm and energy that are helping us to stay afloat today.   Cachetejack has a strong and humorous identity in terms of the work you make and some of that seems to come from your bio. Where does your love for drawing stem from? Humor comes from our personality and us being together, it multiplies. We have always considered that the image must have a clear and direct message, and we prefer to use it with humor. The less good things also go better with humor and it is accessible to everyone.     Your latest NFT ‘ Goddess Temple ’ of the collection ‘The pleasure is all ours’ is dedicated to women’s visibility and their eternal power. How would you describe being a female artist in a creative industry? Would you like to change or tuck in anything about it? Being women artists within the NFT world where the majority are men, we wanted to focus on the visibility of women and our rights and freedoms, to expose female pleasure without hesitation. We work in our daily lives to respect our environment and ourselves and we have to do the same in the professional world. It is a commitment to ourselves.   What do you think is the key to a successful artistic career? And what does it mean to be successful for you? The key to success is believing in yourself and trusting in what you have inside. Be true to your instincts and be honest with yourself, be ready to stumble many times so as to get back up again. Also enjoying what you did like as a child is being successful.     In your opinion, what makes a creative concept outstanding? When something excites us from within, stimulates our senses and stands out.   You both are originally from Spain. Any hints for the best spots where to enjoy art there? In Spain, everything you can see around inspires you: a lot of humor, irony, people and, of course, their expressions in the way of talking. The sun and the blue sky are also always inspiring because you feel a lot of energy. The cheerful color and lifelong traditions such as long meals with friends and family make time enjoyable and shared. In terms of the illustration world in Spain, we have been to many self-publishing festivals like Gutter fest (Barcelona), Graf, Tenderete (Valencia), or urban art festivals like Festival Asalto (Zaragoza) and Poliniza (Valencia).     You work across a range of different commercial projects as well as gallery shows, exhibitions, workshops and talks. What do you prefer doing the most? When are you at your happiest? We like to have a balance between these two things: having commercial jobs (where we expose our style & message) and our drawings. We also need our creative side totally free while playing around without judgment. We really enjoy making our exhibitions and experimenting with unlimited creativity in any medium.   What will the future of illustration look like? We observe that more people resemble each other, that their styles are being unified and very few people take their time and dedicate themselves 100% to be unique in the world of illustration. We hope that in the future quality and respect for art and not TRENDS will be valued more.     We were wondering if you had any advice for anyone from the creative industry on how they can make a better effort to educate themselves? Our advice is to listen to yourself, trust your talent and experiment without fear.   Creating a duo such as yours is a dream for many artists. What are your hopes for the future now, despite what you have already achieved? What’s up next for Cachetejack in the nearest few months or years? Cachetejack still has a lot to tell and many ideas to show. We would like to enter the world of art with sculptures, parks and paintings. Cachetejack is on a large scale!  

When Reebok wanted CG renderings of visuals and animations for their FW20 line, they reached out to Black Math, asking the design studio to come up with creative ways to connect the shoemaker’s heritage look with today’s styles. Playing with CG in various environments and playgrounds, a design-first company of digital wizards connected past and future for the iconic running shoe brand. Maxon talked with Black Math Executive Producer Evan Fellers about how they approached the retro campaign, particularly the workflow challenges they had to overcome and how Cinema 4D helped them stretch boundaries of commercial work in new and exciting ways.

From the abstract painting to the manifested sculpture with augmented reality and back to the digital world. Interdisciplinary artist from Austria Ju Schnee is thrilled when the boundaries blur. Her alien-formed, near-breathless sculptures can have a tactile therapeutic effect, while her Augmented Reality works enable new perspectives and create an interplay of analog and digital. Ju is always reinventing herself and continues to experiment with her visual language. We talked about creating the cornerstones of art while being out of pocket, using artificial intelligence as an idea generator, and what it means to create in a constantly changing world. Ju Schnee will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in September. Next to her, you will be able to hear Creatives like Alice Isaac, Fons Hickmann, Anna Ginsburg and many more.

How we use digital technology today determines how we experience it in the future. That’s something, but still very little about Wang & Söderström - artist and design duo who creates imaginaries of the present and future through digital narratives. Natural forces, microbes, virus attacks, habitats and parasites… Anny Wang and Tim Söderström are investigating the relationship between living things, digital technologies and materials in the current and future digital and ecological shift. We talked about doing things the wrong way and how their synthetic realities translate into sculptures, visual imagery and installations that bring craft, body, nature and technology together. Wang & Söderström will speak at the Forward Festival Vienna in October. Next to them, you will be able to hear Creatives like Deutsche & Japaner, Ada Sokol, Jim Stoten and many more.

How do Wade and Leta make music for your eyes? What drives them to keep trying new things, and how did they get to this point? Having started as graphic designers, Wade & Leta did not stop there. The couple and their work are constantly adapting, changing, and striving for the next new thing, and thankfully they have no plans to change that or stop anytime soon. Explore their world of Color, Movement, and Emotion using all possible disciplines of design, art, fashion, and architecture. In this conversation with Wade and Leta, you'll find in-depth answers about your favourite dream team. Wade & Leta will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in September. Next to them, you will be able to hear Creatives like Alice Isaac, Anna Ginsburg, Grilli Type and many more.

From having studied design, photography and philosophy, founding a design Studio “Fons Hickmann M23”, over to holding lectures and workshops at several universities, to being a professor at Berlin University of the Arts. Fons Hickmann does it all! He is a member of the Art Directors Club and the Type Directors Club New York. His studio focuses on corporate design for cultural events, they work for clients such as the State Opera Munich and the Vienna State Opera House. His books are about communication design or everything that hovers around design and aesthetics. One thing is certain - Fons won’t stop anytime soon. So get to know this multitalent better in the following interview where he talks about his background before launching a studio, important features in a design, and how he developed many visually unique designs. Fons Hickmann will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in September. Next to him, you will be able to hear Creatives like Eike König, Anna Ginsburg, Mr. Bingo and many more.

Are you ever struck by the transcendent mysticism of life and the human condition? Stefanie Moshammer explores these little moments of wonder through memories and formulates them to the outside. Incorporating photography with moving images, pre-existing material and textile elements, Moshammer’s work reveals various life structures, sparks intrigue and a warm rush of feelings. Her ability to make subtle observations shines through her personal work and collaborations with Harper’s Bazaar, Atmos, Fendi, Numero China and many others. We chat with Stefanie about her visual language, workflow and insights on her latest solo show. Stefanie Moshammer will speak at the Forward Festival Vienna in October. Next to her, you will be able to hear Creatives like Kelli Anderson, Erik Kessels, Kelly Anna and many more.

Established in 2014 by Martin Kerschbaumer and Thomas Kronbichler, Studio Mut is now one of the most influential and vibrant graphic design studios in Italy. Their design work includes identity, print, editorial and digital design for clients spanning art, culture and commerce. Besides Studio’s workflow, Thomas told us about restoring creative spark, revealing a techno cult poster as a marvelous futuristic cacophony of cultural symbols, and why everything in life, that looks easy is actually hard. We also discovered the secrets of keynote and sketchbooks, and why mood boards and Pinterest are fucked. Studio Mut will speak at the Forward Festival Vienna in October. Next to them, you will be able to hear Creatives like Deutsche & Japaner, Foxdog Studios, Wang & Söderström and many more.

After having worked for over 10 years in admin related roles, Alice Isaac is pursuing her career in collage and animation realm, creating evocative and juicy works which triggers wide spectrum of moods in the viewer. With a growing audience’s splash and an impressive clientele that includes brands like Prada, Nike and Reebok, as well as a singer Billie Eilish, Alice creates unique imagery ranging from ethereal animation to surreal stills. We caught up online to discuss her approach to self and work, the mixed media blessing, and why you don’t have to expect work to land in your lap swiftly. Alice Isaac will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in September. Next to her, you will be able to hear Creatives like Cachetejack, Charlotte Rohde, Anna Ginsburg and many more.

Digital Art & Design Studios Builders Club are masters of going beyond what is possible in terms of creating, producing and frankly imagining ways to tell compelling stories. Drawing from backgrounds in photography, film, design and digital art, Builders Club reinvent media in all its shapes and forms. Their dynamic and eruptive style is mainly driven by mixing old and new technologies and challenging the status quo. We shot the founders of Builders Club Jonas Hegi and Julian Simshauser some questions and asked them about their take on navigating growth, collaborating creatively and pushing the industry's standards to establish your own. Builders Club will speak at the Forward Festival Berlin in September. Next to them, you will be able to hear Creatives like Mitchell Eaton, Charlotte Rohde, Looping Lovers and many more.

The new second album “In Between Places” by Viennese producer B.Visible in collaboration with a designer Daniel Triendl not only makes us feel up high, but also challenges our thoughts, gives us a sense of hope and calls to action. Ticklish and melancholic sounds gently harmonize with a cover artwork by Daniel, who seems skillfully translating his credible bold design throughout music and merge with it. We spoke to the guys about creative process and their mutual approach, confidence, doubts and bond of design and music. Here you can check out the blending sharp electronics of the album and buy vinyl.

Street photography became his inevitable creative escape in 90’s when the former Yugoslavia and Boogie’s crib was facing a civil war. Since then he has been granting his audience rare access to a real world, often defined by truth, poverty and passionate documentation of life as it is. Being exhibited and published all around the world, Boogie collaborates with high profiled clients like Nike, Gucci, Adidas, HBO and others. From Belgrade to Brooklyn - where he was born and is currently based, his intimate images reveal a vivid portrait of metropolitan cities and their raw culture. We caught up online to talk about his aspirations, workflow and addictive dark side. Boogie is also one of 30+ speakers at Forward Festival Berlin on September 22nd-23rd.

How Donald Trump ended up becoming the 45th President of the United States still remains a mystery to some. The documentary by James Fletcher pictures Trump’s way from kicking off the campaign to actually beating Hillary Clinton. The intro sequence is created by GeeFX Studios’s Graham Clarkin, who designed a visually compelling sequence using the Maxon-tools Cinema 4D, Redshift and Red Giant.

From doing corporate design to creating film graphics for Wes Anderson real quick! As a stickler for details, Erica Dorn didn’t have to think twice when the director asked her to design for his masterpiece Isle of Dogs and then again for Anderson’s latest strike The French Dispatch. In our interview with her, Erica Dorn dives deep into the working and creative process of The French Dispatch, explains how she manages to stay true to her personal design style and about making the film industry (visibly) more female.

Designer and illustrator Alex Trochut needs no introduction. His works have a crispness that makes them instantly recognizable, and cover the whole spectrum, from cutting-edge brands to type geeks. Through his design and typographic practice, Alex has developed his expressive visual style and aesthetic sensibility with a prescient cultural understanding. In our interview with him, the artist speaks about his career highlights, the future of 3D art and what tools he uses to create his distinctive visuals.

Agency Wieden+Kennedy has been at the forefront of bold and strong advertising. You know, that kind of advertising that gives you goosebumps, really gets under your skin and gets you thinking about the bigger picture behind the spot. We talked to Zeynep Orbay, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam and the one responsible for impactful ad campaigns for the likes of Nike and Montblanc, about what’s behind those strong advertising campaigns. Zeynep Orbay will speak at the Forward Online Festival. this March.

Gabriela Namie’s design and art direction work scale globally, radiating distinctive authenticity along with striking geometry and a hypnotic color palette. The New York-based designer currently works at Google as YouTube Music’s art director, where she crafts the groundbreaking visuals and leads the branding. Aside from 10 years of experience of helping brands come to life, Gabriela co-founded the Barca Studio and was a Senior Designer at Sagmeister & Walsh. We had a chat with the art director and Forward Online Festival speaker to get a better insight of her background, creative thinking and inspirations.

Maxon’s acquisition of Academy Award-winning ZBrush is finalized and bound to revolutionize the entire 3D animation industry. Both ZBrush and Cinema 4D are to benefit from this move, as well as the entire creative community worldwide using them.

Graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill combines a knack for simplicity that packs a punch with analogue craft skills and positive messages. Anthony is known for his persuasive, up-beat style of communication. He likes to ask questions rather than give the answers, and always looks for a powerful connection with the audience. Burrill’s practice is the longstanding passion for creativity and a natural curiosity about the world and the people in it.

Ines Alpha likes blurring the frontiers between reality and fiction. And by being a 3D makeup artist she makes reality more fantastic and surreal. We had a chat with Ines Alpha about her 3D makeup routine, Kim Kardashianesque beauty standards and about creating an Alpha planet.

What makes Sucuk & Bratwurst one of the most successful 3D artist collectives out there? Sure, there is the fact that Denis and Lukas Olgac, Alessandro Belliero, and David Gönner have been friends since kindergarten and one day decided to join forces and create cool animated things. They haven’t stopped since and over the last years have gained loads of experience creating awesome designs for a wide variety of clients like Mugler, Rihanna or Nike just to do the obvious name dropping. Probably though, the most important ingredient for Sucuk & Bratwurst’s recipe for success is how the artists translate humor into their work and therefore managed to create a very distinctive visual language. Lukas Olgac tells us more.

Malika Favre’s art is all about humor, re-imagining the ordinary, and a touch of sexiness. The illustrator gained attention with her extensive use of bold colors, and minimal style, achieved popularity with her Alphabunnies and took the scene’s hearts by storm by empowering women through her art. In our interview, Malika Favre speaks about sources of inspiration for her distinctive style, the female body, and choosing the perfect colors for her work.

Swiss photographer, publisher and graphic designer Nicolas Polli has a magnificent style, bold contrasts and emotional attached compositions in his still life creations. In 2012 Nicolas and Salvatore Vitale founded YET Magazine, which later became the recipient of the Swiss Design Award. After his studies in Art direction at ECAL in Lausanne, Polli found his own publishing house CIAO PRESS, which became a laboratory to push his ideas even further and work with photographers, artists and designers with a similar approach and fresh energy. Nicolas told us about his garden in Biel/Bienne, lack of rules and why he never looked for clients himself. He has almost revealed the secrets of a perfect still life, but, you know, how rotten your aubergine is - is only a tiny part of the perfect composition.

The current times sure are scary ones to live in. Social injustices, climate change, and a pandemic shape our present into an unpredictable future. Austrian designers Sophie Falkeis and Kris Hofmann have made it their mission to impact the world around them positively with what they do. With AR and multidisciplinary design, both of them are at the forefront of impactful art and trying to bring complex topics to a wide audience. Both have been awarded with this year‘s Content Vienna production grant for outstanding digital design projects. Content Vienna is a funding program by the Vienna Business Agency, a long-standing partner of Forward Festival, and dedicated to the production and ongoing development of digital projects ranging from games to virtual reality and animation. In an interview, Sophie and Kris speak about how design can make the globe a better place.

With the fashion industry as well as Berlin changing at fast pace, VooStore in Kreuzberg remains a constant in both terms. Ever since Yasin Müjdeci founded Voo over a decade ago, it not only stands for fashion besides mainstream but mostly for a special Voo-flavoured lifestyle, that is established way across Berlin’s borders. For our “Featured by #jungbleiben”- series, Yasin Müjdeci speaks about the Voo-way of living, setting trends while sticking to your values and fashion as a chance for inclusion.

Paula Scher is one of the most influential graphic designers in the world and a Pentagram Partner. You might have seen her in the Netflix documentary “Abstract: The Art of Design” where she gives a glimpse into her daily work routine and challenging projects. She developed the graphic identities of Tiffany & Co and Citibank and worked for a broad range of clients like Microsoft, Coca-Cola, The Museum Of Modern Art,  among many more. We talked to the inspiring graphic designer about the biggest work challenges for women, the importance of atmosphere in a room and global design trends. Interview by Catherine Hazotte

With her face filter Beauty 3000, she broke the internet: Johanna Jaskowska’s futuristic, hyper-shiny, highlight-perfect filter adorned over 500 million faces all over Instagram, including the ones of Lady Gaga, Kendall Jenner, or Billie Eilish. The artist seems to have a sixth sense when it comes to setting trends and creating hypes in the field of AR. Her creations stretch our perceptions of reality and show us how it can be changed and enhanced. Drawing on cutting-edge tech, Johanna Jaskowska has established herself as a creative at the forefront in the field of extended reality, creating viral face filters, the first-ever digital haute couture, or avantgardist NFTs. In our interview, she speaks about her passion projects, the hybrid reality we live in, and where AR can take us.

Felipe Pantone takes graffiti to the next level. With his work, the Spanish-Argentinian artist conveys a collision of an analog past and a digitized future. A prism of neon gradients, geometric shapes and jagged grids are classic Felipe Pantone and adorn murals around the world as well as a 1994 Chevrolet Corvette. We had a chat with the artist about his first graffiti, his until today unknown identity, and the future of street art.

If you were amongst the lucky ones, who saw Kaitlyn Chang’s talk at Forward Festival Vienna (and if not, you can rewatch it here) you surely remember how she entered the stage: with her baby daughter in her arms. With symbolically stressing the problem of being a leading female creative in a man’s world, Kaitlyn Chang of  Accenture Interactive wowed the crowd by speaking about disappearing women from leading positions when having a baby. We had a chat with the woman of the hour!

Conceptual and spontaneous, clever and witty - Christoph Niemann’s designs and illustrations have reached cult status. Whether it be eye-catching editorials for the New York Times or personal Sunday Sketches, the illustrator has the magic touch for a design that goes a long way. In our interview, we talked about creative flows and blocks, the fear of not being good enough, and if it’s actually necessary to overcome those doubts.

Between Swiss rationality and lightheartedness: Type Foundry Grilli Type creates fonts with character and type that conveys meaning beyond the words it spells out. The creators at GT run a type foundry but are at heart graphic designers and all share the love for impactful typefaces. Before his talk at Forward Festival Vienna, we had a talk with Tobias Rechsteiner of Grilli Type about perfectionism, finding original ideas, Comic Sans and the creative process behind their newest strike GT Ultra.

3D filmmaker Nikita Diakur makes beauty ugly. With his very own characterful style the creative developed ugly filmmaking and has defined a whole new approach to the scene. In our interview with him, we talked about perfectionism, finding an idea and about his creative concept behind Ugly.

Studio Deutsche & Japaner sounds like Dolce & Gabbana and what the two of them do have in common definitely is a lot of style. The Mannheim-based studio has proved its puristic and playful style while working for the likes of Jay Z, Nike or Saint Laurent. A holistic approach to a wide spectrum of creative fields as well as the worth of collaboration is essential to the designers at Deutsche & Japaner. We met Julian Zimmermann of D&J for an interview talking about sources of inspiration, teamwork and current projects. Also, catch Deutsche & Japaner at Forward Berlin!

In a world flooded with images, eye- and attention-catching photos are a rarity. With his humorous and on-point photography, Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek has found a way of catching the eye and actually staying in one’s mind. After interning with photo agency Magnum, de Koekkoek started working as a freelance photographer focusing on fashion and animals. Welcome inside the creative mind of Austrian artist Daniel Gebhardt de Koekkoek!

Stephanie Dewhirst aka “stephDAwurst” is a 3D designer and Head of 3D at animation studio Art&Graft. The independent team of talented and ambitious creative minds makes colourful and quirky characters come to life and tell us visual stories. Art&Graft is the studio behind powerful motion graphics campaigns for global brands like HP, Playstation and Virgin Media. Before her talk at Forward Festival Berlin, we had a quick chat with Stephanie about her early career, her favourite project and about how she finds inspiration in everyday life.

Graphic designer, artist, and professor, father, partner, and above all human being; this is Eike König. Growing up in Germany in the 1970s, he lived through exciting eras, but also emotional ups and downs have made him the person he is now. Linguistically, Eike König is absolutely in his element and admires the aesthetics and the art of sport. We had a chat with him for our series “Featured by #jungbleiben magazine“.

Sven Marquardt is one of the most prominent figures of the Berlin underground scene. Back in the ‘80s he was portraying GDR’s underground scene using black and white film and an analogue camera. These days he is steeped in the club scene which he perfectly captures mostly in black and white. You might also know him from the documentaries Beauty and Decay and Berlin Bouncer about his photography, his contribution to the infamous Berlin club scene and making Berghain one of the most famous clubs in the world. We spoke to him about his art, changes in the cultural world and how the pandemic has affected it all. by Ana  Maria Carabelea

Johann König likes to do things out of the ordinary. Art has always been a constant in his quite extraordinary life with lows - as a child he almost lost his sight - as well as highs. One of them being König Galerie Berlin, which is one of the most prestigious galleries of Central Europe. Why? Johann König wants to make art accessible to everyone and that you can see in everything he does with the gallery. We talked about his so-called megalomania, his approach to art, and the digitization of the scene.

If you see playful yet minimalistic designs in popping colors that are fondly animated, chances are design studio Illo is behind it. The Italy-based collective was founded by Ilenia Notarangelo and Luca Gonnelli back in 2012 and since then has grown to a team of 15 people, all of them thriving on getting the best out of the combination of design and technology. Before their talk at Forward Festival Hamburg, we had a chat with Ilenia Notarangelo about what’s behind all those fun animation designs.

Agency Wieden+Kennedy has been at the forefront of bold and strong advertising. You know, that kind of advertising that gives you goosebumps, really gets under your skin and gets you thinking about the bigger picture behind the spot. We talked to Zeynep Orbay, Creative Director at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam and the one responsible for impactful ad campaigns for the likes of Nike and Montblanc, about what’s behind those strong advertising campaigns. For the first time, Zeynep Orbay will speak at the Forward Festival Hamburg this July.

Mirko Borsche is known to set trends within the industry and in order to have reached this status with some of the most relevant designs for Supreme, Givenchy or lately football club Inter Milan, the creative has a reputation of always being on the go. It’s no different when we catch up with him for a quick talk about his latest projects, his sources of inspiration during a pandemic and his upcoming talk at Forward Festival Hamburg. “This is Mirko speaking”, he says when we reach him, of course, in-between two meetings. So what has Mirko Borsche been up to lately?

Grand Budapest Hotel, Isle of Dogs, Tudors: Annie Atkins is indispensable in the film industry. With her unique graphics and designs for many Wes Anderson films, the designer has made herself a permanent fixture in the industry. In this interview, she talks about inspirations and habits for new projects, about her creativityflow, and how she turned Covid-19 into a new project with a charity aspect. We had a chat with her for our series “Featured by #jungbleiben magazine“.

Ever since 2016 the Forward Festival and the Gartenbaukino are a perfect match. The home of our Vienna Festival impresses with its gorgeous foyer, the unique powder room, and the giant cinema hall, which has seen iconic speakers such as Stefan Sagmeister, Erik Kessels or Oliviero Toscani. Now, the Gartenbaukino is getting a glow-up: Under the motto “Back to the future”, the Grande Dame of cinemas is being renovated.

Maša Stanić has made a name of herself within the creative scene with kind of a laissez-faire approach to photography. Her photos often show nudity, middle fingers, and the most ordinary motives. While some may see her as a provocateur, the artist would never describe herself like that. We had a chat with Maša about what she is doing, doubting, and what she is dreaming of.

It’s here! The 2021 Forward Festival Main Titles by Found Studio just celebrated its release and wants to inspire people to keep moving. In this interview with Clayton Welham, creative director at Found Studio, he told us about the idea and concept behind the clip, technologies, and challenges his team faced when creating the Main Titles.

Somewhere in between art, science, technology, and new media, Ouchhh has found its place. Working with highly advanced artificial intelligence, the new media art studio creates magical immersive art installations. Ouchhh has made a name for itself over the past years by designing and programming prestigious projects such as the world's biggest AI data sculpture. We had a chat with Ouchhh-founder Ferdi Alici about the very beginnings of working with AI, its boundaries, and future projects.

Former competitive swimmer Max Siedentopf sees things from different angles and loves what he does. He is a cosmopolitan, the youngest partner in the history of KesselsKramer and a master in creating creative, provocative and above all unique works. Max is who he is and that's a good thing. We had a chat with him for our series “Featured by #jungbleiben magazine“.

Ferry Gouw is a an illustrator, graphic designer, and art director based in London. He was the art director of Major Lazer and one of our favorite Forward Festival speakers. We interviewed him after his inspiring talk at the Forward Festival Vienna 2018 and spoke about drawing, his career, and his favorite comic books.

Anton Rahlwes and Nina Sieverding share the new position of editor-in-chief at design magazine form. We have talked to the two of them about design journalism, their new adventure and changes in print due to crisis and digitization.

Micol Talso is the Art Director of Toiletpaper Magazine, a label that can be applied to a variety of objects and situations, starting from a magazine to a party, a girlfriend or a design object. We spoke to her about Toiletpaper as a project, her workflow and how to juggle several roles in life.

Kaitlyn Chang, a real award winning advertising professional, just started working as Brand Innovation Lead at Accenture Interactive, right before the corona lock down. We talked to her about the “new normal”, long overdue digital change, home office curiosities, and nerdy habits.

Vincent Schwenk about his abstract and colorful 3D creations that bring joy and fun to this world. His journey started as a 2D designer and evolved into more than just a 3D artist. He combines many 3D programs to create even more abstract artworks that also have a certain naturalness and also lets the whole world learn with him. With Patreon he has found a platform to share his knowledge and expertise.

Sarah Illenberger gives new meaning to everyday objects. As an artist, illustrator, and designer, she explores areas that cannot be defined by a common job title. In our interview for #jungbleiben magazine, she tells us why Italians allow more creative freedom than Germans.

A couple of months ago, Artefact created an AR app for our festival. One of the functions of this app was to augment artworks you can find in our Print Magazine. Now that there's no festival, you might not have our Print Magazine (you can order it here). Here's the good news: These artworks are online in our Moon Exhibition, so you can discover them from home. Find out how to do it. 

Advertising in a perfect world? Nonexistent, says Spanish artists Vermibus, who is particularly known for his adbusting. Using solvent, he brushes away faces, flesh and branding, and creates art that criticizes advertising and its effect on society. 

As fireworks illuminate the sky of London, the city is bathed in a strawberry-flavored cloud. Sounds fictional, but it's actually the work of Bompas & Parr, a studio for multi-sensory experience design. Sam Bompas and Harry Parr combine food with a wide range of creative disciplines and thus create works of art and experiences for all senses. We had a chat with them for our series “Featured by #jungbleiben magazine“.

By day, Gavin Strange is a senior designer for the interactive arm of Aardman Animations, producing internationally beloved characters such as Wallace & Gromit or Shaun the Sheep. Via his night alias JamFactory, he works on his passion projects as designer and director. Forward met him to hit him with some questions, with answers worth listening to.

Musician, painter, DJane, student, curator, boiler room member, cult survivor - Sofie Fatouretchi moves in various commercial and artistic circles and cannot be put in a box. Still, her definition of safe space is "myself, alone at home". After living in California, she is now back in Vienna and more creative than ever before. We had a chat with her in her favorite Viennese coffee house to find out more for our series "Featured by #jungbleiben magazine".

Jessica Walsh is the founder and creative director of &Walsh, one of the few creative agencies around the world that are led by women. She talked to us about sexism in the creative industries, role-models and her approach to dealing with stress. This is an extract of the 2020 Forward Print Magazine. Find the full interview here.

Graphic artist, print-maker and designer Anthony Burrill is best known for his “Work Hard & Be Nice To People” poster. The thought-provoking phrase has become something of a mantra within the design community. It reflects the persuasive and up-beat style of communication that we connect with Anthony’s work and that we have all come to love.   Interview by Marco Markovic

How do you convince your client that your solution works best for the job, and what do you do when your best friend stops talking to you because your creative ideas take up too much of your personal life?  Mirko Borsche has been part of the Forward Festival line-up several times now. He is the founder of Bureau Borsche, a Munich-based graphic design studio offering design and communication consultancy for clients from all fields of interest while creating original works within the scope of art, subculture, and design. In our series "Featured by #jungbleiben magazine", he explains how his team handles idea-finding and why speed is the main requirement for a graphic designer.

We have met with Artefact, an up-and-coming mixed reality company from Vienna to talk about this new medium, their work and approach to projects, and the recent collaboration with Forward Festival.

Lately we haven't been able to get to work without noticing certain posters all over town. With the start of the new season at Burgtheater, quite a lot has changed; not only the program or the people working on it but also the entire look and feel. Less of a fortress, more of a theatre, more inter-, less national. Artistic director Martin Kušej is on a mission to erase the term „Burg“ for Burgtheater - a vision that needed its visual identity to go along with.

Tobias van Schneider is a German multi-disciplinary maker of useful, curious and beautiful things. Born in Germany and raised in Austria, he now lives and works in New York City. After dropping out of school and teaching himself design at the age of 16, he worked as hard as he could to become who he is today: designer, founder, speaker, mentor and maker.

DXTR the Weird is a Berlin-based artist and freelance illustrator. Starting out as a graffiti artist, he now works for multiple brands and is one of the founders of the art collective THE WEIRD. Translating his style between wall and print, DXTR is a well known entity in the Forward universe. We met him after his talk at Forward Festival Vienna 2018 and asked him some questions.