We're excited to unveil our latest project - the vibrant transformation of a flood pump station in Backnang, a charming town in southern Germany! When we first arrived, we were greeted by a dull, grey concrete structure by the River Murr. Though it served its purpose of protecting the town from flooding, it was utilitarian and unattractive.

The mayor invited us to create an artwork that would honor the pump station's important role and prime location on a busy road. Initially, we weren’t sure how our vibrant style would fit on such an utilitarian building in a small town, or how it would be received by the council and locals.

To our surprise, after presenting a range of ideas from subtle to bold, the council and residents unanimously chose our most vivid artwork, wanting it to have a powerful impact.

Now, as you drive by, you're greeted by an explosion of colour and positivity. The installation reflects our belief in the transformative power of public art to uplift, connect, and inspire. We've received incredibly positive feedback, and want to thank the city of Backnang for their enthusiasm and openness in helping to bring our vision to life!

Hey, we’re Petra and Nicole Kapitza, and our story starts in a quaint village in Southern Germany. Surrounded by nature and not much else, we developed vivid imaginations and a deep love for creativity.

But soon, our small village felt too small for our big dreams. We wanted more—more adventure, more art. So, with a mix of excitement and nerves, we packed our bags and moved to the buzzing city of London, determined to make our mark.

In London, we studied at top art schools and gained incredible hands-on experience with the BBC, MTV, and leading New Media agencies. These gigs sharpened our skills but didn’t quench our thirst. We wanted to make a bigger impact, to share our love for color and pattern on a grander scale.

In 2004, fuelled by a shared vision and a lot of bravery, we founded Kapitza Studio. We were probably a bit naive, with no clients and just our passion for design and art. The early years were tough—really tough. We struggled to find clients and get noticed. There were moments of doubt and many sleepless nights.

To get our work out there, we decided to self-publish our art in beautifully crafted books. It was a bold move, but it paid off. Our books gained international acclaim, and suddenly, big brands like IKEA, Clinique, and Swatch were knocking on our door. Collaborating with these giants opened up amazing opportunities to create art for a variety of products and environments.

Each project, from designing unique Swatch watches to creating bestselling IKEA textiles, was a thrilling adventure. One of our proudest moments was transforming a soulless ward at the Royal London Hospital into a bright, uplifting space for patients. Every project showcased our creativity and commitment to excellence, providing personalised solutions for each client.

After over 20 years of running our studio, we’ve become experts in color theory and its positive impact on wellbeing. This knowledge is at the heart of our mission: to make the world a brighter, happier place through our art.

Today, Kapitza Studio is a buzzing hub of creativity and innovation in London. Our passion, dedication, and constant reinvention continue to transform spaces and inspire communities worldwide. Our journey from a tiny german village to the global stage proves that with bravery and belief in your dreams, anything is possible in the real world.

Join us in our mission to color the world with positivity and joy. Let’s team up and bring happiness and vibrancy to your next project!

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]]>From Sleepy German Village to Vibrant London StudioNicole KapitzaMon, 07 Aug 2023 10:09:27 +0000https://www.kapitza.com/blog/782023kapitza-x-designmilk51f7dc0ae4b03d20c9b45b42:59ef205cf6576e332c8824b8:64d0c25db255fa52a962a7a0

How lovely to be invited by Designmilk to create an exclusive design for their August edition of Designer Desktops.

We were inspired by one of our favourite artists, Vera Molnár, to create this exclusive artwork NEW WAVES featuring colorful wavy lines crossing and meeting each other to create a calming, flowing rhythm.

Download it now and enjoy the calming vibes every day!

We proudly introduce our third Art Card set DOTS. Featuring ten intelligent polka dot artworks in surprising color combinations, these cards exude fun and happiness.

The modern, duotone artworks are a result of our ongoing exploration with geometric shapes in mathematic and random arrangements and ever evolving color combinations.

With only one hundred sets printed per edition, these are strictly limited - when they’re gone they’re gone!

We are so excited to release a very limited and collectable edition of TIC TAC TOE Monoprints, each is unique and there are only ten available!

The woodblock artworks are the result of our experimentation with printmaking exploring compositions of basic geometric forms circle and square. We arranged wooden shapes in unique compositions on the printing press, then each composition is printed only once resulting in a one-of-a-kind work of Kapitza art.

This will be a beautiful addition to your collection and a unique investment.

Here is a sneak peek of what we’ve been up to in the studio and various workshops :)

We have been busy learning about working with wood for our submission for this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. It is a wall sculpture titled RE-CONNECT, made from pine wood and acrylic paint, size 40 x 70 x 4 cm.

For RE-CONNECT we were lucky enough to have access to an amazing wood workshop. A two-dimensional Kapitza artwork was separated into individual components and bespoke made in wood. The resulting artwork can be connected and re-connected in multi ways, resulting in different compositions and configurations.

Below you can see pictures of the making process.

If you are interested in commissioning or purchasing an original Kapitza artwork, please get in touch.

Spring is in the air and pops of color are appearing everywhere. To celebrate the vibrancy of nature awakening, we proudly introduce our second Art Card set POP FLOWERS. Featuring ten unique geometric floral designs in fun color combinations, the cards exude happiness and positivity.

We have just launched our Limited Edition Kapitza Art Cards 1-10. Each card features an unpublished artwork which is numbered as part of an ongoing series.

Collect them, frame them, send them!

The first set ‘TIC TAC TOE’ is a clever interplay of the most iconic geometric forms: circles and squares. We loved the endless compositional possibilities of the dynamic form and color combinations.

The edition is limited to 100 sets, so don’t miss out and start collecting now!

How exciting: Our limited edition Kapitza Calendar 2022 just came back from the printers and is ready to ship.

Secure your copy now and enjoy our carefully curated favourite Kapitza artworks throughout 2022.

*each calendar ships with a cool freebie ‘THANKS’ card, while stocks last.

Hey Kapitza Friends! The long wait is over: our brand new calendar brimming with color positivity is finally here! Twelve colourful and monochrome Kapitza artworks to brighten up your days in 2022. Shipping worldwide from our shop.

Our new collection for mt masking tape is launching in the UK soon. Find out more about our work with mt in this interview: https://www.mtmaskingtape.co.uk/blog/news/mt-meets-nicole-and-petra-kapitza

Calling all Colouring Fans!!

We have created a new colouring book especially for you. It’s a selection of our favourite geometric artworks for you to explore your own colour compositions.

It was so much fun compiling this collection and we hope you have as much fun dreaming up amazing colour combinations and colouring in with your favourite pencils, pens or paints.

Each design is printed on a single-side page to prevent bleeding and to allow you to frame your many masterpieces!

Shipping worldwide from our shop.

Pop Flowers take inspiration from nature and are entirely constructed of geometric shapes. This creates a reality of it's own that evokes a magical atmosphere. With this tutorial you can design as many flowers as you like and combine them in colourful collages to frame and bring colour and fun into your room.

Our site specific installation for Vienna design Week is featured in Digital Arts magazine. It’s an in-depth article about the process from conception to realisation of this large scale installation. Read all about it.

We loved answering Creative Boom’s interview questions for this feature. It made us reflect on the past 15 years of running a creative studio and made us feel very grateful for still being on this amazing journey.

Read it here:

https://www.creativeboom.com/features/kapitza/?p=8b1bf

We are very proud to be included in the book : ’Designs of our Time’ published by the Design Museum. Our ‘Organic’ book was nominated by writer and curator Liz Farrelly for its innovative approach to pattern design utilising mathematical formulas and developing custom software. We are honoured to be in great company with innovative and thought-provoking designers and architects from around the world such as Heatherwick Studio, Irma Boom, Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec and Vitra.

It’s been great fun to create this mini collection of striped prints. We visualised it as a short story of stripes featuring four characters. The colour theme is navy / blue and of course we added some sidekicks (purple and green) to the mix to keep it interesting!

We have been experimenting with Risograph printing for a while as we love the color vibrancy. There is only a limited number of colors available and inks can only be mixed by printing on top of each other, which creates the unique ‘Riso’ look. The limitations of colors has been our inspiration to create brand new collections of 1, 2 and 3 color patterns. Some of these new prints make their way out into the world as our studio’s seasonal greetings. Happy Holidays!

Colour proofing is a big thing at Kapitza studio. When designing at the screen, we know exactly how we want the colours to print. We literally ‘see’ them. So, when a colour proof arrives in the studio, we are always curious to see how far apart the result is from our imagination, or how close. As we have extensive experience specifying colours for printing, the results are usually really close and just need a bit of tweaking. These proofs are for one of our new ‘mt masking tape’ designs ‘Symbols’.

It's great to finally see our exclusively designed prints on paper! For this commission of art prints, we worked closely with the interior architects to complement the interiors of a newly build apartment hotel in Munich. The prints add a splash of colour and interest to every room. We developed a concept for the motifs, colours and grouping of prints in every apartment, and the outcome is stunning. The prints have left our studio this week and we can't wait to see them on the walls!

We have been working on an exclusive textile collection for the retail, hospitality and health care sectors. It’s been a great challenge to create a unique design that works in large spaces and many different environments. To this end we have developed a timeless modern stripe pattern in five distinctly different color ways.