Friends of graphic design and illustration flocked to Altes Finanzamt in Vienna’s seventh district to attend the Werkschau für Grafisches und Illustratives last weekend. Over 50 graphic designers, illustrators, typographers, printers, digital and visual artists presented their works – each of them in a different room of the charming and a bit dusty former tax office. Of course we had to pay a visit and discovered some very interesting new artists along some good old friends.
The first room I visited was occupied by Bilderbox, the book and comics shop from Vienna we visited last year in September. They mainly presented their great selection of gestalten books – from Printing Things, a very cool book about 3D printing, to Just Married, a book on how to celebrate your wedding in style. I could have spent hours there but there was so much more to see!
Just next door I fell in love with the stationery and prints of Carissimo Letterpress, a design and print studio from Vienna run by Alessandro Carissimo & Ana Kaan specialized on letterpress. Next to fluffy cotton paper, the duo likes to use natural and recycling papers. My personal favorite was the old typing machine with the lines I love Spaghetti (and you). I was also eying with some of their larger prints which were diplayed on hangers on the wall. As they just bought a new bigger printing machine they will soon offer more of them, so make sure to check out their webshop.
My next stop was the room of Agent Azur, a creative platform and agency representing national and international illustrators founded in 2013 in Vienna. On show were illustrations of AHAOK, Burn Bjoern (second photo below), Efer Hebenstreit, Katharina Hüttler (third below), Lena Gold, Maria Prieto Barea, Mateusz Lesman, Philipp Comarella, Sophia Nicoladoni, Vinz Schwarzbauer & Zoran Pungercar. A great selection! I am sure we will hear more of these artists in the future and interview one or the other for our blog.
Very interesting for me was the work of Raffael F. Lehner, who exhibited both his graphic designs as well as his art, both in a quite eclectic way. I enjoyed flipping through and exploring the different letterheads, posters and stationery projects which the designer had stuck to the wall.
One my way through the different rooms a paper installation captured my attention. It was a city made of small cardboard elements by Verena Hochleitner, a graphic designer and illustrator of childrens’ books. I liked the installation’s many and also humorous details and imperfections.
I spent quite a lot of time in the two rooms which were dedicated to sudents’ projects from Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien as well as from FH Joanneum Graz to explore the many great printed books and funny posters.
I really enjoyed my afternoon at the Werkschau. It was great to see this old building filled with fresh and inspiring art – I am already looking forward to the next edition!
Photo courtesy Design & Paper, Agent Azur, Werkschau, Raffael F. Lehner