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Clone of ‘● PA(P)P: Swedish (independent) publishing ’ (from @konst-teknik)

Wed, 13 May 2015 14:11:22 +0000

The Circle Studies

Tue, 03 Feb 2015 13:40:00 +0000

At ABF Stockholm this February: Cirkelstudien (‘The Circle Study’), an exhibition where 14 artists have made works relating to the history and current role of ABF (Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund — ‘The Workers’ Educational Association’), initiated in collaboration with Konstfrämjandet and Konstfack in Stockholm. One of the thematic starting points has been the ‘peoples’ educational movement’, where study circles have played a central role.

Paul Renners’ original drawings of Futura

For the printed matter and the signage system of the exhibition, we decided to delve into the history of the building from a typographic perspective — particularly the use of the typeface Futura on all signs. As ABF — and study circles in particular — are about the sharing of knowledge, we decided to look for alternatives to Futura that could teach us and the visitors a thing or two about the typeface itself. Via design studio Node Berlin Oslo, we came across the work of Austrian based type designer Stefan Ellmer and his take on Renners original Futura drawings from 1927; the finished typeface was released in 1928.

In our research we noted that the Swedish Typographer’s Organization (Typografiska föreningen) is considered to be the first Swedish union, founded in 1846 — something our friend, artist — and Uglycute member — Jonas Nobel also has picked up in his current (splendid) exhibition at Gallery Charlotte Lund — funnily enough located only a few minutes walk from ABF. If you’re in Stockholm the coming month, don’t miss out!

‘Cirkelstudien’, January 30 – February 22 2015, ABF Stockholm, Sveavägen 41, Stockholm
‘Katedral? Fabrik?’, Jonas Nobel, January 15 – February 28, 2015, Galleri Charlotte Lund, Kungstensgatan 23 6tr, Stockholm

Capitol Complex / Ulterior Vistas

Mon, 18 Aug 2014 20:37:00 +0000

We are very happy to invite you to the release of Tris Vonna-Michell’s latest publication, designed by Konst & Teknik and published by Focal Point Gallery and Mount Analogue, accompanied by a film installation and DJ-set by Tris Vonna-Michell and Martin Konie Ehrencrona. The publication is constructed around the two works, Capitol Complex (2012–2014) and Ulterior Vistas (2012–2013), both of which are encapsulated on a ten-inch vinyl record. The spoken-word compositions are enclosed within a gatefold design and accompanied by the Capitol Complex manuscript as a booklet insert and a bound series of Ulterior Vistas photographic montages. Read more about the publication here.

21 August 2014, 18:00–22:00
Riche (Lilla Baren), Birger Jarlsgatan 4, Stockholm

2014

We unfortunatley have neglected our website over the last year but have actually been rather busy; We have worked on books for the X-border Biennial, Natur & Kultur, and Värmlands Museum, an identity for Stockholm Fringe Festival, websites for Utopia Arkitekter, Roll the Dice, Carsten Höller, Örnsbergsauktionen, and Baltic Art Center. We are working on the future of P.A.P.P, the small-scale publishing network initiated by us in collaboration with Matilda Plöjel and Sara Teleman. In May we re-published ‘Att välja’, a book on decision making in graphic design originally published by us in 2007 through our micro-publisher Andperseand, and have a few web projects up our sleeves with Martin Ström. And one day we will find the time to properly update our website with images and texts. Until then, have a great August!

Proposal: Free Public Wi-Fi

Wed, 26 Mar 2014 16:21:00 +0000

Click the image for a better view

‘Free Public Wi-Fi’ is a project proposal we have been pitching to a few different institutions in Sweden on and off over the last couple of years. As the last discussion recently fell through, we decided to instead post (a slightly modified version of) the proposal here. We would love to see this happen in collaboration with a forward thinking institution, kunsthalle, or maybe makerspace, preferably one with a café and an open Wi-Fi network that people use on a daily basis. Interested in talking about this more? Don’t hesitate to contact us here

Concept

We see the free, public wireless Internet connections available inside many cultural institutions cafés as valuable and well-used resources for its public and local community. While the content of network names and passwords are often visible and utilized in daily life via our laptops and smartphones they are rarely thought of as anything more than transient information. Utilizing the existing Wi-Fi signals we propose to mobalize it as an artistic context in and of itself.

Precisely because a Wi-Fi network name is not where you would expect to experience meaning or a work of art, it is a place where an interesting and unexpected encounter can occur. We believe that technology engaged inside the context of the art institution can allow these kinds of public ‘spaces’ to be considered in a new way. Building upon and drawing attention to an institutions’ existing Internet infrastructure, the project would invite artists to create and exhibit a work for this particular context.

5–10 wireless Wi-Fi routers inside an institution will each send out a signal that anyone can see when trying to access the Internet on a laptop or smartphone. The artists would then utilize these 5–10 lines of text in the form of network names and passwords as the medium for their work, bound by its existing the technical and textual limitations.

One new artwork every month, will be coordinated by Konst & Teknik, and installed inside the space. Konst & Teknik will additionally create a wall guide for the work, explaining its basic concept and crediting each artist. This guide will exist as a template and can be easily updated and reinstalled each month by the cafe staff as the artwork, network names, and free Wi-Fi password changes.

PA(P)P: Poland

Fri, 28 Feb 2014 12:48:36 +0000

Publishing as (part-time) Practice in 2014: moving on!

Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:10:00 +0000

Dear friends of PAPP

PAPP is currently in transition. Since our incarnations as a seminar (in collaboration with Iaspis, in May 2012), a travelling exhibition (Oct 12–Nov 13) and a publication (that as of now can be ordered here), we have managed to receive support from both Innovativ Kultur and Kulturbryggan.

This means that we can start building a web based platform for small-scale Nordic publishers active within the cultural sector. It will have several functions. One is to be a marketplace where you as small-scale publisher can advert new publications. Presented like that, they will make for a steady flow of new books and which will attract the continuous attention of an audience that can be hard to maintain when you, as a part-time publisher, publish only a few titles titles every year. At the same time PAPP will be a forum for exchange of knowledge and hopefully also the organization of collective activities (f ex participations at international book fairs, readings, book releases, catalogues, lectures and workshops).

PAPPs old website will stay as it is, intact, as a kind of archive of previous activities. If you are new to PAPP it might be a good idea to check it out:

http://publishingasparttimepractice.tumblr.com/

A new (as for now) simple website can be found on the new PAPP address:
http://www.papp.to/

Until the new platform is up and running (hopefully sometime this year) you can keep track of our activities on our Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/publishingasparttimepractice

And please don’t hesitate to contact us. At this time you are more welcome than ever with questions, answers and feedback on what PAPP could and should become: info@publishingasparttimepractice.se

Matilda, Mattias, Sara and Peter

Female typeface designers (pls add more!)

Mon, 25 Nov 2013 08:39:01 +0000

Two and a half mentions

Mon, 18 Nov 2013 11:48:00 +0000

Some short but fun news:

1) We are happy having been invited to the Bergen Art Book Fair this weekend, where we will show the PAPP exhibition and give a presentation on Thursday. Would love to see you there! More info @ http://bergenartbookfair.no/About-Bergen-Art-Book-Fair

2) We were just granted funding by Kulturbryggan and are super excited about that, more info on what that means will follow!

½) This website will soon be updated with proper status of all things PAPP — sign up for our newsletter to keep yourself updated with the progress.

A note on the fall updates

Mon, 07 Oct 2013 20:52:00 +0000

A little while back we updated our website with new work and a new projects section that includes most of our self-initiated projects from the last couple of years. The website is finally completely responsive and now scales smoothly between phones, tablets and desktop computers (actually some of the content changes too). We are also working on a few blog posts and hope to be able to update this space soon again.

Have a great fall!

Photoboth for iPhone

Thu, 11 Jul 2013 08:00:00 +0000

We are happy to announce our latest collapporation with Martin Ström:

Photoboth is a new iPhone app that lets the user snap a photo with both cameras in just one tap, and to combine the two photos in different ways by overlaying or masking the photos in many combinations. The application includes super simple sharing to Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Get the app here for a special introduction price right now, find more info here and follow Photoboth on Twitter here!

Enjoy!

This weekend: Visions of the Now, Stockholm Festival for Art and Technology

Fri, 24 May 2013 10:20:00 +0000

This weekend a very special event takes place in Stockholm: Visions of the Now, Stockholm Festival for Art and Technology. Despite its name, it is not a festival in our honor — but a reconsideration of the 1966 festival and congress Visioner av Nuet. This updated version takes place nearly half a century later, in a world that is fully immersed in the technology that in 1966 was still called ‘the new’. What are our visions of the present — now, and what do we imagine for the future? Lectures and performances by Goodiepal, Laurel Ptak, Katarina Elvén, Hannah Heilmann, Magnus Larsson and many more.

For the festival, we designed the identity and a catalogue we will — with the help of a very special digital pen — ‘sign’ at the festival. Hope to see you there!

Friday May 24 2013 17:00 – Sunday May 26 20:00
Fylkingen, Söder Mälarstrand 27 118 25 Stockholm, Sweden
www.visionsofthenow.com

We are very happy to announce that Publishing as (part-time) Practice has, as 1 of 13 projects, been...

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:47:42 +0000

We are very happy to announce that Publishing as (part-time) Practice has, as 1 of 13 projects, been granted founding by Innovativ Kultur in order to continue develop the project into its next phase; researching how a collective platform for independent publishers (in Sweden) could work. We are greatful and happy to live in a society where projects of less commersial nature — like PAPP — can be given a chance to flourish, and we take our task very seriously.

As a part of the research, we would love to get in touch with more people involved in small-scale publishing activites, in Sweden and abroad, to hear about good and bad experiences with publishing and wishes for a collective initiative like PAPP — don’t hestiate to get in touch with us at papp@konst-teknik.se!

PAPP in Oslo!

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:23:00 +0000

The books from the Stockholm and Copenhagen exhibitions will be on display, and a selection of Norwegian small scale publishers are joining in.

Matilda Plöjel, Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström will be present and give us the story of PAPP.

Also, Jessica Williams + Espen Friberg (NSEW) and Aslak Gurholt Rønsen (Aki Books) talk about their publishing initiatives.

Please join us at Grafill R21, Saturday April 20, 13.30. The exhibition will be on display until the end of April.

Organized in collaboration with Grafill grafisk design.

PAPP @ It’s a Book, it’s a Stage, it’s a Public Place

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 19:39:00 +0000

We are happy to show the PAPP exhibition at this years' It’s a Book, it’s a Stage, it’s a Public Place — unfortunately for the last time this year. Come by and have a look at tons of amazing books, both the PAPP exhibition as well as many many others.

Centraltheater, Leipzig, Germany, March 16, 2013

Hope to see you there!

P.A.P.P at Motto Charlottenborg, Copenhagen DK

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 10:47:00 +0000

«Publishing as (part-time) Practice» highlight graphic designers who are also publishers, and pursue a discussion of the designer’s changing professional role as both author and publisher. It started as a one-day seminar in Stockholm, May 2012, initiated and organized by designers / small-scale publishers Matilda Plöjel (Sailor Press) and Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström (Konst & Teknik / Andperseand) and Iaspis.

At Motto Charlottenborg there will be an exhibition of a fine collection of books from Danish and Swedish small scalepublishers, the Swedish ones previously shown in Sweden and at the New York Art Book Fair 2012.

Louise Sidenius (Internationalistisk Ideale, Monade), Matilda Plöjel, Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström will talk about smallscale publishing initiatives, as well as similarities between the Danish and Swedish independent publishing scenes.

Wednesday February 20, 18.00– 20.00 pm.
Admission Free

www.publishingasparttimepractice.se
www.iaspis.se

Publishing as (part-time) Practice in Copenhagen, Leipzig and Oslo

Sun, 10 Feb 2013 16:10:00 +0000

See you soon Copenhagen, Leipzig and Oslo.

We are very happy to announce that the P.A.P.P exhibition showed at last years’ New York Art Book Fair in September will go on a small tour over the coming months:

February 20: Copenhagen (DK), at Motto/Charlottenborg.
March 16–17: Leipzig (DE), at «It’s a Book, it’s a Stage, it’s a Public Place» (Leipzig, DE)
April 20: Oslo (NO), at Torpedo Books / Grafill.

(via publishingasparttimepractice)

Publishing as (part-time) Practice in Copenhagen, Leipzig and Oslo

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 16:32:00 +0000

We are very happy to announce that the P.A.P.P exhibition showed at last years’ New York Art Book Fair in September will go on a small tour over the coming months:

February 20: Copenhagen (DK), at Motto/Charlottenborg.
March 16–17: Leipzig (DE), at «It’s a Book, it’s a Stage, it’s a Public Place» (Leipzig, DE)
April 20: Oslo (NO), at Torpedo Books / Grafill.

More info will follow shortly.

Andperseand releases ‘Small Catechism for the Underclass’ by August Strindberg as e-book

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 14:25:00 +0000

My view now is — everything is shit! Hopeless! The skein is too tangled to be unravelled. It can only be sheared. The edifice is too solid to be pulled down; it must be blown up. And it shall be!
— August Strindberg, Christmas Eve, 1884

Andperseand is proud to announce the publication of August Strindberg’s Small Catechism for the Underclass, a venomous political tract from Sweden’s ‘national author’ directed against his country’s entire establishment.

Strindberg self-identified as ‘the son of a servant’ and his sense of enmity with the Swedish overclass is palpable throughout his oeuvre. In Small Catechism for the Underclass, Strindberg directs his ire at the overclass and the tools and techniques they’ve developed to exploit and repress the underclass, including morality, law, religion, and culture.

The book is exemplary as a vitriolic and iconoclastic attack on everything existing by the ‘father’ of Swedish literature. As inequality has emerged once again as a central political issue, Strindberg’s screed is remarkably relevant for the present, precisely one hundred years after its author’s death.

Small Catechism for the Underclass was written sometime during 1884 and 1885. The text would go unpublished in Strindberg’s lifetime, not appearing until 1913 when his 55-volume complete works were published in Sweden by Bonniers. This is the text’s first publication in English (as far as we can tell) and has been translated by Jeff Kinkle and Janina Pedan. The first small print edition is sold out, but it is currently available as an eBook with a second print edition to be released in the near future.

Buy the book here: For Kindle (via Amazon) or as a package with both E-pub and PDF (via Andperseand).
More info on the book can be found here.

August Strindberg (1849–1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, essayist, poet and painter.
Jeff Kinkle is a writer and translator based in New York and a founding member of Andperseand.
Janina Pedan is an artist based in London.

Andperseand is a small-scale publisher set up in 2009 by design studio Konst & Teknik (Stockholm), writer Jeff Kinkle (New York) and artist Emanuel Almborg (London). www.andperseand.se

From the archive: Mr Mudd & Mr Gold

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 08:36:00 +0000

Two years ago we designed the graphic identity for Mr Mudd & Mr Gold, a clothing store located a couple of blocks away from our studio in Stockholm. The identity — completely set in Radim Peskos beautiful typeface Larish Neue — was more or less finished when the production of most units was canceled. The one part of the identity we were the most sad not being able to see for real, was the paper bags we designed for the store; on one side the logo, on the other all the nouns in the lyrics of the song that gave name to the store. As Menno (we miss you!), who worked with us at the time, made a few amazing mockups of the bags, we decided it would be about time to give the identity a certain — if completely photoshopped — life, here below… Enjoy.

Crititical Web design

Tue, 06 Nov 2012 10:58:03 +0000

Brief / Relief - In Response

Swedish small-scale publishers

Fri, 26 Oct 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Here is a list of Swedish small-scale and independent publishers (etc) or institutions working with publishing, both the ones exhibited as the Publishing as (part-time) Practice and others. Feel free to add to the list of you know of ones we don’t.

Publishing as (part-time) Practice — members

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 16:38:17 +0000

Info: http://www.publishingasparttimepractice.se.

📖 International publishers & publishing/book fairs

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:55:54 +0000

Small-scale, (semi-) indie publishing

Fri, 19 Oct 2012 15:15:38 +0000

Once and for all, we are going to try and index every single small-scale publisher we come across. Feel free to add.

Thoughts on pitching

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:14:00 +0000

En svensk version av den här texten kan läsas här.

We were invited to pitch on (compete for) a new project earlier this year. Over the years of running the studio, we have participated in a couple of pitches, always feeling slightly awkward with this method of working. This time the conditions were rather unreasonable; no less than seven other designers/studios had been invited, the pitch was unpaid, it came without guarantee of any of us eight would actually win the commission, and the copyright of everything presented would belong to the commissioner.

We felt that the situation was a result of an insecure relationship between commissioner and designer, rather than a result of a well thought through way of working. That the pitch-approach came from it being the expected way to work, rather than the right way to work. Instead of turning the pitch-offer down, we decided to reply with an explanation of why we can’t work under these conditions, and suggest other solutions.

We didn’t win that pitch (for obvious reason), but we believe that what we wrote could work as a foundation for discussions on the working conditions of freelancers and small studios (graphic designers and others); a conversation we think should happen more frequently and publicly. We have therefor decided to publish a (slightly modified) version of our reply here below.

If you have opinions on pitches, experiences (good or bad) or just think we are right or wrong, don’t hesitate to write a comment on Facebook or Twitter or send us an e-mail. You definitely don’t have to be a graphic designer as we are interested in hearing all kinds of voices, regardless of profession and context. We have also started a linklist with a few articles on the subject for further reading on the topic.

* * *

[…] We guess the culture of pitching is something that has reached us via the worlds of advertising and architecture. There it is often considered a natural part of the working process; in many cases an agency has to pitch on several projects every year and even though they probably will loose most of them, once a pitch is won it comes with great margins and easily compensates the time put into previous pitches. The difference is huge compared to the kind of commissions we as graphic designers get, as our budgets and margins often are quite small. Advertising agencies often work with accounts rather than projects, and a won pitch could mean a secured income for a long time. With graphic design, our experience is that these kind of accounts are less easy to come by — with a lot of insecurity as result.

When we try and picture why one would decide to initiate a design pitch, we can see the following reasons:

It seems difficult to commission a designer before having an idea of what the final result will be — the commissioner wants to see different directions before deciding on who to proceed with.
The commissioner wants to make sure the commissions are divided democratically. The projects should be shared equally and many designers should have a chance to show and compete for a commission (this option is probably mainly applied on Swedish state-run institutions).

With the first reason, we find it difficult to reply with an idea of a relevant direction before we’ve had the time to completely research and engage in the project. The discussion and collaboration with the commissioner is a very important part of the process for us, and we don’t think we can do a proper and great job until we’ve completely dug into everything together. When asked to reply to a pitch, it feels like working in the dark, and the likelihood for nailing bulls eye is rather slim. The working process becomes somewhat randomized — something we have a hard time relating to. The chance of our knowledge becoming reduced to only form and taste is also bigger. We would never claim to not having certain aesthetic preferences and guidelines, but we aim to challenge and adjust our way or working to each project. The risk of us making the wrong decisions due to not knowing our commissioner and project properly is so big that we doubt it’s worth the time and energy we need to put into it.

We also believe that it is problematic giving away the part of our work we have invested most (time and money) into; the actual ideas. We would claim that what differs us as professional designers from the self-taught ones many times is critical relationship to ones work and ideas. Graphic design otherwise easily becomes just eye-candy. Our working method is built on research, analysis and development of ideas and in many projects this is where the most time is put. By giving away this work for free, we actually devalue the work we think we can contribute with, which goes against what we stand for.

When it comes to the democratic selection processes and the idea of sharing the projects, we completely support this idea — but it has to be done under the right circumstances.

As we see it, there are two possible ways of working that should result in interesting, long-term exchanges and collaborations, where neither designer nor commissioner feel exposed or mistreated.

A. Ask one designer

If a commissioner asks one design studio and initiates a collaboration from the start, the risk of misunderstanding and speculation becomes smaller and the chance of a giving, long-term exchange many times bigger. If one feels insecure on how to ask the right designer/studio, a suggestion is to add an expert to the working group. It could be a designer who previously worked on a related project, or a design teacher who based on his/her knowledge and network more easily can make a decision on who to commission.

B. Payed pitch to a small amount of designers

If one necessarily wants a few different proposals, we’d like to suggest a few guidelines:

Ask a maximum of three designers. The chance of one winning the commission is bigger, and the chance of engagement becomes greater.
Play with open cards. Let everyone invited know who the others are and for what reasons they have been asked to pitch.
Pay everyone who is pitching. Better symbolic then not at all, as it is incredibly important to feel that ones work is valued, regardless of outcome.
Guarantee that one of the invited designers wins the commission.
Make sure the rights to the ideas belong to the designer, not the commissioner, especially in the cases of symbolic compensation.
Invite the designers to come and talk about the pitch after it’s done, even the ones who didn’t win. We believe that many designers would then feel that they at least got something out of the situation, as we do like to talk about our work and hear about how it is perceived.

Tankar om pitchande

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 08:13:00 +0000

A version of this text in English can be found here.

Tidigare i år blev vi inbjudna att pitcha på (tävla om) ett nytt projekt. Under åren har vi deltagit i ett par pitchar och alltid känt oss aningen olustiga inför arbetssättet. I det här fallet var omständigheterna extrema och för oss orimliga; hela sju andra designers/studios var inbjudna, utan ersättning, ingen garanti att någon av oss åtta skulle få jobbet och rättigheterna till allt vi förväntades presentera skulle tillfalla uppdragsgivaren.

Snarare än ett genomtänkt upphandlingsbeslut, upplevde vi att situationen var ett resultat av ett osäkert förhållningssätt mellan designupphandlare och designers; att det kom från en kultur där man som designbeställare ’förväntas’ agera på det här sättet, istället för att föra dialog med formgivare om hur man ’bör’ jobba. Så istället för att tacka nej (eller ja) till pitchen beslöt vi oss för att återkomma med en förklaring till varför vi inte kan jobba under de här villkoren, samt att föreslå ett par andra arbetssätt vi tror skulle vara mer givande för alla involverade.

Vi vann (naturligtvis) inte pitchen men tror att det vi skrev skulle kunna fungera som diskussionsunderlag för arbetsvillkoren för frilansare och småstudios (grafiska designers och andra); ett samtal vi tycker bör föras oftare och mer publikt. Därför har vi valt att publicera ett (något omskrivet) utdrag av vår respons här, med just den ambitionen.

Skriv gärna en kommentar på Facebook, Twitter eller via mail om du har åsikter om pitchar, egna erfarenheter – bra som dåliga – eller tycker att vi har rätt / fel. Du behöver verkligen inte vara grafisk designer; vi är intresserade av alla åsikter och erfarenheter, oavsett sammanhang. Vi har också startat en länklista med mer att läsa på ämnet.

* * *

[…] Vi gissar att pitch-kulturen är något som har smugit sig in in i våra sammanhang via reklambyrå- och arkitekturvärlden. Där har den ofta blivit en naturlig del av arbetsprocessen; i många fall måste man pitcha ett visst antal jobb varje år och även om man förlorar de flesta så vet man att när man väl vinner är marginalerna så pass stora att det kompenserar tiden lagd på tidigare pitchar. Vi upplever att det är en väldigt stor skillnad mot de jobb som vi som enskilda grafiska formgivare får, då våra budgetar och marginaler oftast är ganska små. Inom reklambranschen jobbar man mycket med konton, då kan en pitch innebära att man har en säker inkomst under i många fall ett par år, samma sak gäller inom arkitekturen. Vår erfarenhet är att det är väldigt ovanligt för formgivare att uppdrag löper så länge – med osäkerhet som resultat.

När vi försöker föreställa oss varför man bestämmer sig för att genomföra en pitch så ser vi följande större anledningar:

Man är osäker och tycker det är svårt att upphandla en tjänst innan man fått en uppfattning om hur slutprodukten kan tänkas bli. Uppdraget är helt enkelt ganska öppet och man vill få in fler olika förslag på vägar att gå innan man bestämmer sig.
Man vill försäkra sig om en demokratisk urvalsprocess. Jobben ska fördelas lika och man vill se till att många får möjlighet att visa upp sig och få chans att få ett visst uppdrag.

När det gäller första anledningen så upplever vi att det är väldigt problematiskt för oss att lämna ett förslag på en relevant riktning och idé innan vi verkligen har fått tid att sätta oss in i ett projekt på djupet. För oss är diskussionen och samarbetet väldigt viktigt då vi inte tror oss kunna göra ett bra jobb förrän vi har vänt på alla stenar tillsammans med våra uppdragsgivare och kommit fram till bästa sättet att gå vidare på ihop. När vi blir ombedda att göra ett förslag utifrån en brief är det som att jobba i blindo, och sannolikheten att man träffar rätt är minimal. Det blir ett väldigt slumpartat sätt att arbeta på och något som vi har svårt att förhålla oss till. Vi upplever också att vår kunskap på så sätt lätt reduceras till smak och estetik. Vi skulle aldrig hävda att vi inte har vissa estetiska preferenser och generella visuella riktlinjer, men vi strävar alltid efter att anpassa våra estetiska val till varje enskilt projekt. Risken att vi ’väljer fel’ bara på grund av okunskap från vår sida, på grund av att vi inte lärt känna vår samarbetspartner och projekt tillräckligt väl, är så stor vid en pitch att vi är osäkra på om det är värt tiden och engagemanget för oss.

Vi tycker också att det är svårt för oss att ge bort den del av vårt arbete som vi faktiskt har investerat mest (tid och pengar) i själva; själva idéarbetet. Vi skulle vilja hävda att det som just utmärker oss som professionella formgivare från de självlärda många gånger är sättet att analytiskt förhålla sig till sitt arbete och sina idéer. Formgivning tenderar annars att bli endast form. Vårt arbetssätt bygger mycket på research, analys och idéarbete och i många projekt är det just där den mesta tiden läggs ner. Genom att ge bort det arbetet gratis nedvärderar vi det arbetet vi faktiskt tror oss kunna bidra med, vilket går emot vad vi vill jobba för.

När det gäller demokratiska urvalsprocesser och principen att dela på jobben (gäller främst statliga institutioner) är det något vi absolut stödjer fullt ut, men det måste göras på rätt sätt.

Som vi ser det finns det två vägar att gå, som borde resultera i mer intressanta, långsiktiga utbyten och samarbeten, där varken designer eller beställaren känner sig utsatt eller utnyttjad.

A. Fråga en designer

Om man vänder sig till en designstudio och inleder ett samarbete från början blir risken för missförstånd och spekulation mindre och möjligheterna till ett givande, långsiktigt utbyte många gånger större. Känner man sig osäker på hur man frågar rätt studio/person kanske det kan vara ett bra tips att ta med en sakkunnig i arbetsgruppen, som kan göra research och fatta beslut kring vem förfrågan ska gå till. Det kan förslagsvis vara en designer som tidigare jobbat med ett motsvarande projekt, eller en lärare inom ämnet som baserat på sin kunskap och nätverk kan göra en bättre gallring och granskning kring vilka som bör tillfrågas.

B. Betald pitch till färre antal designers

Vill man nödvändigtvis få in ett flertal olika förslag skulle vi vilja föreslå ett par riktlinjer:

Fråga max tre olika formgivare. Chansen blir större att man får jobbet, vilket ger större chans till engagemang.
Spela med öppna kort – låt alla tre få veta vilka de andra inbjudna är och anledningarna till att just de tre är tillfrågade.
Betala skissarvode. Hellre symboliskt än inte alls, men det är otroligt viktigt att känna att ens tid värdesätts.
Garantera att någon av de tre får jobbet.
Rättigheterna till idéerna tillfaller designern, inte kunden, i alla fall om ersättningen är främst symbolisk.
Erbjud ett samtal efter presentationen för alla inbjudna, även de som inte vann. På så sätt tror vi att många formgivare ändå skulle känna att de får ut något av att delta. De flesta är intresserade av att prata om det man gör och höra om hur det uppfattas.

Over-Booked: Drucksache — The Gradient — Walker Art Center

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:20:00 +0000

Over-Booked: Drucksache — The Gradient — Walker Art Center:

An interview with PAPP publisher Drucksache on the Walker Art Center the Gradient blog.

New York Art Book Fair is over — thanks for showing up at our booth!

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Thanks to everyone who showed up at our Publishing as (part-time) Practice booth at the NY Art Book Fair; we met some wonderful people who (mostly) seemed very enthusiastic about the books we were showing! Images will be uploaded over the coming weeks here.

The show now goes on to Signal in Malmö, where PAPP will be on show starting October 11 — if around, don’t miss out!

Don’t forget to watch this space for future updates on the project.

October 11: PAPP at the Sailor Press evening at Signal in Malmö

Tue, 02 Oct 2012 18:14:22 +0000

Come listen to a talk between Matilda Plöjel/Sailor Press and Karen Grønneberg & Marte Meling Enoksen from the bookshop Motto in Copenhagen and join us for the book release of We Look and We See by Lotten Pålsson and Kristina Bengtsson. This very evening we are also proud to present a collection of books from twelve Swedish small scale publishers brought together earlier this year for the seminar on independent publishing Publishing as (part-time) Practice.

Konst & Teknik: Publishing as (part-time) Practice at the New York Art Book Fair + release of Small Catechism for the Underclass by...

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Konst & Teknik: Publishing as (part-time) Practice at the New York Art Book Fair + release of Small Catechism for the Underclass by...:

konstochteknik:

Yet again, we are very happy to invite you to a ‘Publishing as (part-time) Practice’ event; this time at the New York Art Book Fair!

Konst & Teknik & Matilda Plöjel — with the support of Iaspis — are bringing an exhibition with books from 12 small-scale Swedish publishers to…

Publishing as (part-time) Practice at the New York Art Book Fair + release of Small Catechism for the Underclass by August Strindberg

Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:35:00 +0000

Yet again, we are very happy to invite you to a ‘Publishing as (part-time) Practice’ event; this time at the New York Art Book Fair!

Konst & Teknik & Matilda Plöjel — with the support of Iaspis — are bringing an exhibition with books from 12 small-scale Swedish publishers to show at the fair; A5 Press, Andperseand, B-B-B-Books, Drucksache, GUN, Museum Paper, Nilleditions, Orosdi-Back, Tree Fruit Press, Oyster Press, Pionier Books and Sailor Press; over 40 titles in total, as well as four of the publishers present in person.

Besides looking at some of the best of small-scale designer-run book publishing currently happening in Sweden, an extensive catalogue that brings together the exhibition with the previous seminar in Stockholm will be distributed (for free!), with essays by Sara Teleman and Andrew Blauvelt (Walker Art Center) and a keynote by Georg Rutishauser (Edition Fink). K&T&Matilda have also invited 3 international designers / publishers — Project Projects / Inventory Books (US), Markus Dressen / Spector Books (DE) and Onomatopee (NL) — to contribute a question to an interactive poster project, also shown at the stand.

A new title by our own small-scale publisher Andperseand will be shown for the first time at the fair; ‘Small Catechism for the Underclass’ by August Strindberg, translated by Jeff Kinkle and Janina Pedan. The book has never published in English before, is produced as a not-for-sale-yet edition of six hand-made books, soon to be released to a broader audience as e-book. Keep an eye at the Andperseand website for future updates on the book.

Friday 28 September – Sunday 30 September 2012
D:11, MoMa PS1, 22–25 Jackson Avenue at 46th Avenue, Long Island City, NY, USA

More info on PAPP can be found at www.publishingasparttimepractice.se

Hope to see you there!

Publishing as (part-time) Practice at the New York Art Book Fair

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:53:00 +0000

In May 2012, Publishing as (part-time) Practice was a one-day seminar in Stockholm (May 25, 2012), organized by designers / small-scale publishers Matilda Plöjel (Sailor Press) and Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström (Konst & Teknik / Andperseand) and Iaspis. The keynote speakers, in addition to author and curator Andrew Blauvelt (US) were: Georg Rutishauser from Edition Fink (CH), Elin Maria Olaussen and Karen Christine Tandberg from Torpedo Press (NO), Matthew Stadler from Publication Studio (US), and Nille Svensson from Nilleditions (SE). The seminar brought together artist-run initiatives in the fields of literature, photography and visual art as well as design, to share experiences of publishing.

New York Art Book Fair sees the participation of a number of Swedish publishing houses run by graphic designers – represented by publications selected by Jakobsson, Ström and Plöjel:

A5 Press, Andperseand, B-B-B-Books, Drucksache, GUN, Museum Paper, Nilleditions, Orosdi-Back, Oyster Press, Pioneer Books, Sailor Press and Tree Fruit Press

The purpose of the seminar in Stockholm and the participation in NYABF is to highlight graphic designers who are also publishers, and pursue a discussion of the designer’s changing professional role as both «author» and «publisher». Iaspis’ ambition is to bring together both practitioners based in Sweden and abroad to facilitate exchanges of experiences and ideas. At NYABF, we extend an invitation to an ongoing discussion on the topic, with Swedish and international graphic designers/publishers.

Time: September 28–30, 2012
Place: MoMA PS1, Long Island City, Queens, New York, USA

Info in Swedish here.

Photo

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Printers, in Sweden and abroad, recommended by us and our friends

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 07:57:05 +0000

Publishing as (part-time) Practice: the full program

Fri, 25 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

SCHEDULE
14.30 The doors open & coffee
15.00 Introduction by Andrew Blauvelt (US) & Mattias Jakobsson, Matilda Plöjel, Peter Ström (SE)

Publishing in Practice
15.30 Talk by Georg Rutishauser, Edition Fink (CH)
16.00 Talk by Matthew Stadler, Publication Studio (US)
16.30 Break
17.00 Talk by Elin Maria Olaussen / Karen Christine Tandberg, Torpedo Books / Press (NO)
17.30 Talk by Nille Svensson, Nilleditions (S)
18.00 Break with a light dinner

Publishing as Practice or Practice?
18.30 Short presentations by Swedish publishers Andpereseand, B-B-B-Books, Drucksache and Sailor Press
19.00 Discussion
19.45 Summary by Andrew Blauvelt
20.00 The discussion continues at Folkbaren

PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES
Torpedo Press
Torpedo is a non-profit (project-based) organization devoted to the promotion and production of artists books, art theory and critical readers in contemporary art. Situated in Trelastgata, Oslo, Torpedo is both a publisher and a bookstore, and occasionally a venue for exhibitions and concerts related to book launches and the process of publishing, or discursive activities like panel discussions and debates. Founded in 2005.
Elin Maria Olaussen, artist and co-founder of Torpedo, educated at KHIB, Fine Arts Academy, Bergen. Lives and work in Oslo. Karen Christine Tandberg, art historian and co-founder of Torpedo, Master degree in Art History UIO, University in Oslo. Lives and work in Oslo.

Publication studio
Publication Studio was founded 2009 by Matthew Stadler and Patricia No. Based in Portland, Oregon, the studio also visits other cities to collaborate with like-minded fellow travelers and found sibling studios using the same equipment and approach. Currently there are six Publication Studios. Publication Studio print and bind books on demand, creating original work with artists and writers. They use any means possible to help writers and artists reach a public: physical books; a digital commons (where anyone can read and annotate the books for free); eBooks; and unique social events with. Publication Studio is a laboratory for publication in its fullest sense not just the production of books, but the production of a public.
Matthew Stadler is a writer and formerly the literary editor of Nest Magazine and co-founder of Clear Cut Press. He has written four novels and received several awards and fellowships in recognition of his work. More recently, he has compiled four anthologies about literature, city life and public life. His essays have been published in magazines and museum catalogs around the world, and focus on architecture, urban planning and the problem of sprawl.

Nilleditions
Nilleditions is a book publishing project founded by graphic designer Nille Svensson in 2011. Nilleditions ambition is to explore publishing as a means of self expression by trying to avoid conventional limitations on how book projects are initiated, produced, spread and consumed, and to embrace the possibilities and restraints associated with publishing in the post press era. Nilleditions publishes each title in two editions one unlimited edition, where every book is printed in one copy every time it is ordered and one limited edition, more to be seen as an artists book.
Nille Svensson is a Stockholm based graphic designer who co-founded the design agency Sweden Graphics and the publishing house Pocky. Apart from running Nilleditions he also runs Studio Nille Svensson and works as art director at Tidningen Konstnren and developer at Publit. His work have been widely published and awarded.

Andrew Blauvelt
Andrew Blauvelt is Chief of Communications and Audience Engagement and Curator of Architecture and Design at the Walker Art Center. Previously, he served as Design Director of the Walker for more than a decade, leading the organizations progressive brand identity. A graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art, he has been a practicing designer for more than twenty years and the recipient of more than 100 design awards. He writes and lectures about design and culture for various publications including Eye, Emigr and Designobserver.com. Before joining the Walker, Blauvelt was a professor of design at several institutions in the U.S. and abroad, developing new undergraduate curricula and graduate study programs. As a curator of architecture and design at the Walker he has organized exhibitions such as Strangely Familiar: Design and Everyday Life (2003), Some Assembly Required: Contemporary Prefabricated Houses (2005), and Graphic Design: Now in Production (2011)

edition fink
edition fink is an independent publishing house for contemporary art, founded in 1994 and based in Zurich, which concentrates on producing artists’ books and art catalogues. What distinguishes edition fink is its close collaborations with the artists on the design and production of the publications. Recently about 8 publications a year result from these collaborations, each in its own unique shape and design.
Georg Rutishauser is a trained artist and worked for several years under the label Rutishauser/Kuhn as an artist group in the field of art. Beyond this he started to design books. After that he practiced both professions for some years: designing books, and later also publishing them, as well as producing art works, installing exhibitions and making performances. Also he was always involved with collaborative curatorial projects. While Kuhn and Rutishauser finished their collaboration in 2001, Rutishauser decided to focus on book projects and publish them through edition fink.

Druchsache
Druchsache is a publishing house in Stockholm founded in 2010 that mainly focuses on poetry and critique, published as printed material as well as immaterial appendixes such as performances, readings, lectures, film, opera, pdfs etc. Publishers are Jacob Grönbech Jensen, Rikard Heberling and Emi-Simone Zawall. Jacob and Rikard work as graphic designers and Emi-Simone as freelancing editor and translator.

B-B-B-Books
B-B-B-Books was founded in Stockholm in August 2011, and takes an interest in the interaction between the different parts of book production. Every new project aims to encourage the convergation of photography, text and production. B-B-B-Books is run by the photographers Klara Källström and Thobias Fäldt and the graphic designers Axel von Friesen, Petter Törnqvist and Marika Vaccino Andersson.

Andperseand
Andperseand is a micro-publisher founded in 2009 by graphic designers Konst & Teknik (Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström), theorist Jeff Kinkle and artistEmanuel Almborg, based in Stockholm and New York. With the aim of exploring the book in both its physical and digital form, Andperseand functions as a platform for the groups collective and individual publishing projects. To this date three books have been published, each release accompanied by lectures and/or exhibitions.

Sailor Press
Sailor Press is founded and run by graphic designer Matilda Plöjel and aims to offer an alternative to publishing restricted by the constraints of institutions or larger publishers. In close dialogue and collaboration with the artists we develop publications that explore the artist’s work as well as the book as a medium. Sailor Press also distributes critical writings on design, craft and art.

On pitching

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:12:05 +0000

PA(p)P — reading list

Wed, 09 May 2012 09:36:54 +0000

Designer as publisher < Hyphen Press

Publishing as (part-time) Practice

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:53:00 +0000

Publishing as (part-time) Practice:

konstochteknik:

Iaspis together with graphic designers and small-scale publishers Matilda Plöjel (Sailor Press) and Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström (Konst & Teknik / Andperseand) would like to invite you to a seminar on independent publishing:

Over the last few years, a wide range of new…

Publishing as (part-time) Practice

Mon, 07 May 2012 08:01:00 +0000

Iaspis together with graphic designers and small-scale publishers Matilda Plöjel (Sailor Press) and Mattias Jakobsson & Peter Ström (Konst & Teknik / Andperseand) would like to invite you to a seminar on independent publishing:

Over the last few years, a wide range of new publishing initiatives have developed within the arts and design fields. New book fairs are emerging in major cities, small publishing houses and independent presses are frequently initiated and the alternative bookshop seems to recurrently be reborn in new forms. Something that seems to tie these activities together, is that they are run by practitioners themselves — photographers, artists, authors and graphic designers — often with a visionary idea of how to redefine the world of publishing.

On May 25th 2012, a few of these interesting and inspiring practitioners have been invited to Stockholm to take part in the seminar ‘Publishing as (part-time) Practice’. Confirmed participating publishers are: Elin Maria Olaussen / Karen Christine Tandberg from Torpedo Books and Press (NO), Georg Rutishauser from Edition Fink (CH), Matthew Stadler from Publication Studio (US), Anna Gerber / Britt Iversen from Visual Editions (UK), Nille Svensson from Nilleditions (SE), Jacob Grønbech Jensen / Rikard Heberling / Emi-Simone Zawall from Drucksache (SE) and more to be announced. Andrew Blauvelt from Walker Art Center (US) will introduce the event as well as provide a concluding reflection at the end of the evening.

What: Publishing as (part-time) Practice — a seminar on independent publishing
Where: Iaspis, Maria Skolgata 83, Stockholm
When: May 25th, 15:00–20:00
How: RSVP to info@iaspis.com before May 16th 2012

A more detailed programme and information about the participants will be announced on the Iaspis web page.

Hope to see you there!
Matilda, Mattias & Peter

Järvaprojektet website launch

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 16:21:00 +0000

Järvaprojektet is an artistic research project that investigates different stories with the starting point in Järva area north of Stockholm; Rinkeby, Tensta, Hjulsta and Kista, Husby, Akalla. The project was initiated as a collaboration in 2009 between Fredrik Ehlin, Patrick Kretschek and Erik Rosshagen.

The website — conceptualized and designed by Konst & Teknik — presents the collected research material of the group, stretching from their work with the book ‘Att ingen någonsin visste exakt vad de talade om’, to the current and ongoing film project ‘Fish’. All material, old and new, is published on the website with the help of the Stacey CMS connected to a shared Dropbox folder. The content on the site is a direct mirroring of the groups’ archive in real time, regardless of whether the material is considered as public or private. The ambition and aim is to invite others to share their research material through the site and to make an expanding archive and map over the Järva area. More on the project in Swedish here.

A HUGE thanks to Anthony Kolber for not only programming the Stacey CMS but also tirelessly supporting us with the Dropbox connection!

Join us for the launch of the website and the book ‘Att ingen någonsin visste exakt vad de talade om’ (designed by Mathew Newton) on Rutger Fuchsgatan 9 in Stockholm on May 4 between 16.00 and 21.00.

Proposal: One percent of the total cost for development of new websites shall be devoted to net art

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 17:05:00 +0000

The city of Stockholm is currently building a huge new hospital, estimated to be finished in the year 2016. It’s one of the biggest constructions in the city at the moment, and will result in a ~13 million Euro (118.000.000 SEK) art acquisition and commission before 2017, thanks to a rule introduced in 1965;

‘One percent of the total cost for constructions, conversions and extensions shall be devoted to artistic decoration.’
— About the one percent rule

We strongly believe that public space these days extends beyond the physical. As people socialize, hang out, shop, and play both online and offline, many websites too should be considered public spaces. And with many artists working with the Internet as their only medium, why not translate the idea of public art from the physical space to the web?

Konst & Teknik would like to propose that 1% of development costs of new websites shall be devoted to the acquisition or commission of Internet art works, to be installed on those very websites, so that ‘all the people of Stockholm, regardless of who they are or how they live, should have the opportunity to experience art in their immediate environment.’

A few mockup proposals

Rafael Rozendaahls ’Aesthetic Echo’ in the background of the Karolinska Institutet front page.

Olia Lialinas self-portrait gif animations on the 404 (not found) pages of the city of Stockholm.

Oliver Larics ‘50 50’ placed in the footer of the Swedish Arts Council website.

In opposite to physical art, Internet based art works usually don’t exist in a fixed place; they get copied, shared and re-distributed, most times without any control of the artist. This is part of what makes Internet art unique, and we would never want to propose something that changes that idea. This proposal is not about a work being showed exclusively on these websites, but rather about them being showed there too.

Interested in discussing this proposal further? Don’t hesitate to get in touch.

That Which Follows

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:01:00 +0000

This Saturday ‘That Which Follows’ opens at Konsthall C in Stockholm, a solo exhibition by our collaborator and friend, Emanuel Almborg. The exhibition includes works from a two-part project: ‘The Rest is Silence’ (2009) and ‘Nothing is Left to Tell’ (2011), which investigates the relationship between community and communication. ‘The Rest is Silence’ is focusing on the experimental community project in Hackney in the 1970s, while ‘Nothing is Left to Tell’ was performed as a social experiment. At Konsthall C the project will be presented in photography, film and text.

The book Nothing is Left to Tell, designed by us and published by Andperseand, will be released as a part of the exhibition, as well as a poster/catalogue specifically designed for the show.

More info: Konsthall C, Show & Tell or Facebook.

The exhibition runs between March 24 and May 6 and opens on Friday March 23, 17.00–21.00 — hope to see you there.

Five years of Konst and Teknik

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:37:00 +0000

As the title indicates, we are celebrating five years of working together under the same roof. Five years… When we started out in late 2006, we didn’t know if we’d even make five days and never made a plan that stretched this far. But here we are, still the two of us, day after day after day from the same space, slightly older and hopefully with a bit of gained knowledge and experience.

Over this period of time we’ve worked on everything from very quick projects to year long commitments, and we’ve collaborated, re-located, lectured, organized, traveled, fought, and emailed, emailed, emailed. But mostly we’ve tried to constantly question our own ideas of what a graphic design studio can do and be.

We are not young and upcoming anymore, and would probably even be considered established by now, which must mean our former studio mate Kristina Brusa was right. The first time we met and told her about our plans for Konst & Teknik, she said it probably would take us five years to get started. We might have wished for easier advice at the time, but Kristinas words stuck with us and helped us when times were hard and money low. Even though five years can seem like an eternity, we now know that things actually do seem to work out over time — after all. Thank you Kristina, we miss you every day.

A new site

With the five years comes this — our new website. We’ve been busy with it over the last months and are very happy to finally have it online. A huge thanks to Martin who has helped us out with programming of the CSS/HTML framework and Javascripting and for tirelessly answering our annoying questions. ♥

We also want to mention the typeface you are reading right now; It’s called Småländsk Antikva and has been an ongoing project over the last two years. It has made appearances in a few printed projects before but this is the first time we use it online as a webfont. We hope it reads well. One day we might even extend the typeface into a proper family and make it available for commercial licensing.

The JAnte Law posters

To celebrate this new era, we are happy to announce a project that has been hiding in our drawers for a good while:

The JAnte Law poster, 42×60cm, edition of 38

The Jante Law (with a lowercase ‘a’) is a set of rules in the village Jante, taken from the Danish novel ‘En flyktning krysser sitt spor’ (A fugitive crosses his tracks) by Aksel Sandemose, published in 1933:

Don’t think you’re anything special
Don’t think you’re as much as us
Don’t think you’re wiser than us
Don’t convince yourself that you’re better than us
Don’t think you know more than us
Don’t think you are more than us
Don’t think you are good at anything
Don’t laugh at us
Don’t think anyone cares about you
Don’t think you can teach us anything

Even though the rules stem from a fictional novel, they have had a huge impact on Scandinavian culture and could almost be considered part of the definition of many things Swedish, Danish and Norwegian (such as being neutral or not standing out).

In the spring of 2010 we were asked to contribute an image representing our studio for a feature in issue No. 14 of Graphic Magazine. We wanted to take something that actually represented our way of thinking — good and/or bad — and decided to remake the Jante Law by changing all the don’ts to dos. We called our image ‘The JAnti Law’, in an attempt to question our Swedish heritage and in order to see these rules from a new perspective.

A few months later we got in touch Hagelsrums Handtryck, a wallpaper printer that prints with their own stunning colors on brown paper. It seemed like a good idea to turn that image (slightly updated) into a proper poster, as we couldn’t resist the metaphor of turning something that sits in the walls (of our culture) to something that — literally — sits on those very same walls.

To celebrate the new site, ten of the JAnte posters will be given away for free! Tweet us about it before March 10th 2012 and a poster could be yours (the ten ‘winners’ are picked randomly). And the winners are: @AMryga, @jonathanpuckey, @jacobastrom, @ArthurRoingBaer, @smeek, @ludvigfranzen, @persturesson, @syendrys, @ethanbuller & @tahelg! A poster is soon on the way to each of you.

Thanks for reading this far and hope you stay with us to see if we make another five years!

Mattias & Teknik
Konst & Peter

The letter W 7 years!

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 22:35:00 +0000

hen we read about the letter W being included as an official member of the Swedish alphabet a few years back, we thought such a special occasion deserved proper recognition. We contacted Svenska Akademien — the institution responsible — to see if we could find out the exact date when the decision was made, to organize a yearly celebration. And we did: March 3rd — which is soon, so lets celebrate!

March 3rd, 13:00–16:00, at Rönnells in Stockholm

Confirmed presentations, from 13:00:
Anders Djerf, artist
Jörgen Gassilewski, poet
Henrik Nilsson, terminologist
Martin Högström, poet / graphic designer
Mattias Heldner, phonetic expert
Nina Ulmaja, graphic designer
Örjan Nordling, type designer

There will of course be cake and coffee too. More information (in Swedish) can be found at Wdagen.se.

Wälkommen to come celebrate with us!

(Independent) publishing and graphic design

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 17:19:02 +0000

Webfonts — Experimental developments & features

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 16:50:07 +0000

Franky

Webfonts foundries

Mon, 07 Nov 2011 21:32:12 +0000

Ongoing collection of foundries with webfonts

Tools

Sun, 06 Nov 2011 17:40:08 +0000

Useful webtype related tools

Home | Design in the browser with web fonts and real content — Typecast

Awesome crafts wo/men in the Stockholm area

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:58:37 +0000

Map Font

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 15:39:41 +0000

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:25:00 +0000

On a rainy October night, Konst & Teknik & (mainly) Martin finally added the last pieces of code and together hit the deploy-button (over iChat screen sharing) of the long awaited, too long taken, new version of CopyPasteCharacter.com — the one website for copying and pasting all those characters we never knew where to find in the computer.

Here is a rundown of all the new features:

Tons of new characters; from ~100 on the old version, to 3894 on the new one!
Because of ⇧, we have introduced a new feature: sets. In nine carefully sorted — and one messier — categories, the characters can easily be found and copied.

An option to sign up for an account, or use Facebook to sign in, to save and edit your own character sets, for easy access of the letters and symbols most often needed.
Easy sharing on Facebook, Twitter and elsewhere, using the new, shorter URL char.nu.
A handy resize bar in the bottom right corner of the site.

More new features and sets will be added over the coming months.

We will host a small release party and presentation in Stockholm at some point over the coming weeks; keep an eye on our Twitter feed and/or newsletter for further info.

* * *

We truly hope and believe that this is the last update on this old website of ours… in fact, we won’t do another update here even if it takes us years finishing the new one. So see you on our new, shiny — and probably quite awesome — website over the coming months.

PℰƮ⊏☈ & ♏⏏✞ⓣ▒ª$

Misuse / new ways of using @font-face

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 09:23:20 +0000

Font Research

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:11:18 +0000

Summer 2011!

Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:46:00 +0000

After a nice and interesting spring working on a few really nice projects, we are off on a summer break, enjoying the few weeks of sunshine we (hopefully) get here in the north. This fall it’s also five years since we started the studio (!), something that askes for a bit of contemplation over the summer. But before we go, we would like to share a few links, images and snippets of text:

Over the last couple of months we’ve had the privilege to work on a catalogue together with and for super cool artist Fia Backström and her participation in the Scandinavian pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale. Fias work is titled Borderless Bastards (multi-culti abc) and consists of ten sculptures spread out over the Giardini, an audio guide and the catalogue, all dealing with nationality and national representation. The catalogue naturally features the lion of Gripsholms slott on the cover (stuffed by a taxidermist who had never seen a lion in 1731) and is published by Moderna Museet and Sternberg Press. It can be ordered here, and a few spreads can be seen here. The exhibition shows all the way until November, so don’t miss out if in the area.

And, and, and, and, and, and & and:

We just got our hands on the first copies of R U International?, a report we designed for Riksutställningar, printed and published by Publit. We don’t know how or even if it’s possible to order the printed books, but there should be a digital version published on Issuu pretty soon…
The new, fifth, book in the Excerpt series, Konsten att handla – konsten att tänka: Hannah Arendt om det politiska edited by Ulrika Björk and Anders Burman, features the typeface Extencil by Göran Söderström for its cover typography and will be published by AXL Books later this summer.
A new book, still a bit secret, published on our Andperseand publisher is at the printers’ too! More about that in September.
Here is a little video we made when asked to make a 5 minute presentation of ourselves for AIGA Chicagos International Small Talkseries a while back.
We collaborated with artist Tris Vonna-Michell on a stereogram print for the exhibition Outrageous Fortune: Artists Remake the Taro, on show between 4 July to 27 August 2011 at Focal Point Gallery in South Essex, the UK.
Last but not least, we (well, actually Martin) are putting the last pieces of code into the new, updated version of our Copypastecharacter.com website, to be launched over the coming weeks. Keep an eye on it or its Twitter feed to find out the latest news on that.
Speaking of Martin, here’s a tote bag we designed for his WWDC visit a few weeks back, featuring 26 abbreviations of programming related… things… we have no idea what most of them mean, and the original WWW logotype turned upside down:

Have a great summer!
Peter & Mattias

Ps. We have an intern position open from September 1st and for 2–4 months; drop us an email with the subject ‘Praktikant september 2011’ if interested.

More Than Words – Konstfack 2011

Thu, 31 Mar 2011 08:44:23 +0000

FREE KEVIN

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:42:04 +0000

Shortcuts to everything FREE KEVIN Stockholm

New Times, Roman?

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 17:01:54 +0000

Type design class at Konstfack. Please feel free to add things you want to share.

Web typography & design

Sun, 31 Oct 2010 11:00:40 +0000

Resources and links on the new web typography, mainly updated in connection to lecturing on the subject, often in Swedish

Future Exhibitions #2

Mon, 17 May 2010 07:45:20 +0000

Swedish Graphic Design studios

Tue, 06 Apr 2010 08:08:16 +0000

For everyone applying for jobs and internships we can’t take on:

Here is a bunch of studios in different corners of the Swedish graphic design (print and/or web) world that might be interesting, both small (usually more experimental) and big (usually more commercial).

The list is a bit unsorted but we will take tare of that... eventually.

Feel free to add more in case you know!

3 mars 2012 — bokstaven ’W’ 7 år: HURRA!

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 10:41:17 +0000

Den 3 mars 2005 beslöt Svenska Akademien att sära på bokstäverna V och W i SAOL, vilket krönte W till officiell 29e medlem (på plats 23) av det svenska alfabetet. Förändringar i vårt alfabet sker ytterst sällan, därför arbetar en grupp inom gillet sedan i höstas med att organisera en dag som uppmärksammar W.

2012 firar W sju år som medlem av det svenska alfabetet. Lördagen 3 mars kl 12–16 kommer detta uppmärksammas med serie presentationer av språkvetare, poeter, skribenter och naturligtvis typografer. Platsen för firandet är Rönnells antikvariat. Givetvis kommer det finnas kaffe och tårta. Välkomna!

Mer information på http://wdagen.se

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Begin forwarded message:

From: Eva Aniansson
Date: 11 januari 2010 11.58.47 CET
To: Konst & Teknik
Subject: Bokstaven W

Hej!

Den rimligaste ’födelsedagen’ är nog 3 mars 2005.

Då fattade nämligen Svenska Akademiens sitt beslut att föra in W som bokstav i alfabetet. Den direkta anledningen var, som du själv påpekar, att den kommande upplagan av SAOL skulle sära på V och W.

Själva bokstaven har ju funnits i långliga tider, men det var alltså i SAOL13, som kom ut våren 2006, närmare bestämt den 10 april 2006, som Akademiens ordlista för första gången hade W som ’en bokstav med egen placering efter bokstaven V’.

Med vänlig hälsning

Eva Aniansson
språkhandläggare
Svenska Akademien

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3 mars 2012 — bokstaven ’W’ 7 år: HURRA!

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