EP.62 (EN) - Anja Kaiser, Nelly Nakahara & Gerrit Brocks on unlearning graphic design and building a toolkit for the 5th Biennale's identity

Épisode de Graphic Matter par Louise Gomez · 24 juin 2025 · 1 h 21 min

In this episode, I sit down with Anja Kaiser, a graphic designer, teacher, and co-author of the book "Glossary of Undisciplined Design". Anja’s practice explores feminist perspectives, collaborative processes, and ways of unlearning the dominant canons of graphic design. Through her own path—from German and Dutch schools to music collectives and activist communities—she’s built an approach that challenges the idea of “good design” and embraces multiplicity, friction, and emotionality.

We talk about deconstructing graphic design and about how text, image, and typography can blur into each other to tell complex and layered stories.

In the second part of the episode, we are joined by Gerrit Brocks and Nelly Nakahara, two young designers who collaborated with Anja on the visual identity of the 5th Chaumont Graphic Design Biennale. Together, we discuss their design process, the idea of creating a visual “toolkit,” and how they navigated working as a trio—balancing their individual graphic languages, embracing contradictions, and building an identity that captures the biennale’s theme: noise.

This conversation is about learning, unlearning, designing collectively, and finding joy in creative friction.

Big thank you to Anja, Nelly, Gerrit and Le Signe's team <3

➡️ @aeni.kaiser @nelly_akane @idontgerrit

References :

- Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle (Saale)

- Sandberg Instituut (Gerrit Rietveld Academie) in Amsterdam

- Anna Berkenbusch

- Andrea Tinnes

- Daniel van der Velden, Meta Heaven

- “Sex Realities. To whom do I owe my body?”, Anja Kaiser

- Glossary of undisciplined design, Anja Kaiser & Rebecca Stephany

- Rebecca Stephany

- Ece Canli

- Jungmyung Lee

- Sheila Levrant de Bretteville

- Sara Kaaman

- Jean-Michel Géridan

- Le Signe

- 5ème Biennale de design graphique de Chaumont

- Andy Warhol, Velvet Underground

- Kurt Cobain

- Mariina Bakic

- Clément Demay

Type cover : FK Grotesk by Květoslav Bartoš

Paid partnership with Le Signe for the 5th Biennale.

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Merci pour votre soutien, on se retrouve toutes les deux semaines pour une nouvelle rencontre.

Conception, production, curation, graphisme : Louise Gomez

Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

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Graphic Matter est un podcast consacré à la scène graphique contemporaine française et européenne. Graphic Matter partage des entretiens et constitue une archive unique et représentative du paysage visuel actuel, créatif, singulier et vivant. Depuis 2022, Graphic Matter valorise les pratiques de…

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