KRAFTY WERK Location Sydney, NSW Year established 2001 Founded by Sylvia Weimer { Creative Director } Size of team 4 Staff Website spacelabdesign.com Heritage ~ How was your business formed? After ing my work with Black & White Magazine, I was offered another magazine launch project, so I had to quickly form my own business. It started as a one person business. I turned my living room into a studio, registered the name (inspired by the Kraftwerk album Spacelab ) and started working. Freelancers followed, and now we share studio space and staff in collaboration with Marita Leuver from Leuver design. Ethos ~ Does your business have a design philosophy? Only work with clients and projects you like enough that you could almost work with them for free. That way it never feels like you are working and it helps to maintain the passion to put 200% of effort into every project possible. Aesthetic ~ How would you describe your design style? As simple as possible and timeless, with a contemporary edge. Market ~ What sort of industries / clients do you work with? After moving here from Germany, I launched Spacelab Design. Our focus is on high quality editorial design and creative direction for fashion and lifestyle publications. We also design online and retail campaigns for the interiors, jewellery, fashion and lifestyle sectors. Spruiker ~ How do you advertise your business and latest projects? All our clients come to us by word of mouth, I have never advertised our business. Our latest magazine project came about when the Singaporean publisher sourced one of our international jewellery magazines for Australian company Pearlautore, at the jewellery fair Baselworld in Switzerland. Our clients frequently recommend Spacelab to their network of friends or work associates. Achievement ~ Do you enter awards? Do you think they are valuable? We actually never get the time to enter awards. We have been commended quite a few times in publications for Best Website of the Year and for Best Campaign of the Year. I love judging award shows. Passion ~ What do you love most about the work you do? Inventing stories and art directing. It s such a collaborative process with photographer, stylist, talent, make-up artist and retoucher; all of them so important in the image-making process. Then, trying to find the right frame and crop for beautiful photography to balance with headline and type. design heritages and inspirations ranging from European and American pop culture influences through to the more colourful aesthetics of Asian-Pacific neighbours, which brings about a unique approach to Australian design Hope ~ What would you like to see more of in the industry? More collaborations, get-togethers and exhibitions on design. Whilst studying in Germany, I visited 12 Dutch design studios and, curiously, although they were all competitors, they all knew each other well, often met up and worked together behind the scenes. It gave them a unique and powerful position with clients and ever since then I have been jealous of the Dutch design scene. I would love to see more of this spirit replicated elsewhere. Dreams ~ What s your ideal graphic design project? My own magazine or my own photography gallery. spacelab design studio shot ~ keith saunders. Challenge ~ Describe a challenging project you have worked on? A 200-page, high luxury jewellery publication for couture jeweller, Fairfax & Roberts. After stylist Megan Mortan and photographer Dieu Tan had put so much work into skilfully making our vision of a Caravaggio-inspired feast happen, hours of retouching and designing the pages, countless night hours of press checking to make sure all of the colours came out punchy and magical on the dark backgrounds - then it all came undone in the very last production step. Due to rushing to make our deadline, the s didn t let the ultra gloss varnish dry for long enough. The entire brochure ed up as one block of sticky mess. As a perfectionist, it took me a long time to get over that. Community ~ What relationships do you value most in our industry? A good relationship with all contributors who I invite to work with us, especially photographers and illustrators who I source worldwide. It s also important to have a good broker who understands quality and creativity and can help push boundaries no matter how small the budget. ONLY WORK WITH CLIENTS AND PROJECTS YOU LIKE ENOUGH SO MUCH THAT YOU COULD ALMOST WORK WITH THEM FOR FREE. Change ~ Do you think the rise of online threatens design? They are two sides of the same coin, and ideally are complimentary. Some projects suit approaches and some online, and it s best if each have their unique elements which make them special for that medium. That said, we do love the smell of ink and the texture of beautiful paper, foiling and embossing. Provenance ~ What does Australian design have to offer the world? There seem more magazines per capita in Australia than anywhere else in the world. That interest and variety in magazines brought with it a healthy industry of great photography and talent, which is now very much in demand in the US and Asia-Pacific. Australian design is influenced by such a variety of i am page 088» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~
oriental media singapore jetgala magazine ~ Design logo, branding, masthead, typefaces, grid and 160 pages of bi-monthly luxury magazine for Asia-Pacific audience. cover stock text stock er 220mm x 300mm Cover ~ Matt Celloglase + UV Varnish Inner ~ Satin Aqueous Coated Chinese A2 Satin Art ~ 350 gsm A2 Satin Art ~ 170 gsm KHL Singapore KHL Singapore based on the Didot family + Gotham i am page 089» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~
pearlautore autore magazine ~ We managed the Art Direction for the fashion, still life and travel photography for the 112 page Annual Edition. Plus, we oversaw all of the graphic design and typography for production in 5 language versions (Chinese, Russian, Spanish, Italian and Japanese). cover stock text stock er 230mm x 300mm Cover ~ Matt Celloglase + Pearlescent Foil + Metallic Foil Inner ~ Satin Aqueous Coated BJ Ball Novatech A2 Satin Art ~ 350 gsm { BJ Ball ~ featured on pages 6-9 } BJ Ball Novatech A2 Satin Art ~ 170 gsm { BJ Ball ~ featured on pages 6-9 } Shanghai Shanghai + Garamond + Helvetica Neue i am page 090» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~
fairfax&roberts folio lumiere ~ Design of fashion / art photography coffee table book for couture jewellers Fairfax&Roberts. The brand management and art direction of 12 photography and illustration stories featuring international contributors. We collaborated with Kristina Ammitzboll on the art direction for this project. We briefed 12 unique photographers and illustrators to contribute their work to a magical showcase of creativity and the jewellery. Through whimsical illustration and photography, we explored themes from romance and mistresses, to burglary, haunted houses and ghost stories from Australia s oldest mansion (in Camden). We married world-class visuals and minimal type throughout 180 pages of the soft-cover special edition book. cover stock text stock er 245mm x 295mm Cover ~ Matt Celloglase + UV Varnish Inner ~ Gloss Aqueous Coated A2 Gloss Art ~ 350 gsm A2 Gloss Art ~ 170 gsm Empire Printing Empire Printing Schmalhans i am page 091» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~
fairfax&roberts safir booklet ~ We were asked to manage the art direction and design for Fairfax&Roberts Safir campaign. A scrapbook-style booklet with French folding and handstitched thread binding. This was part of a campaign that also included 7m x 5m window artwork for the Martin Place showroom and a series of editorial adverts featured in financial, lifestyle and luxury publications. stock er photography 165mm x 240mm Self Cover + French Fold + Hand-Stitched with hanging thread Natural Paper ~ 150 gsm e2e e2e + Kalligraphy + Trajan Justin Cooper i am page 092» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~
pearlautore international mondo autore ~ An eight page foldout concertina for Pearlautore International to be shown at the Annual International Jewellery Fair in Basel, Switzerland. qty 10,000 A4 8pg Gatefold Gloss Aqueous Varnish stock A2 Gloss Art ~ 200 gsm er photography styling make up Southern Colour { Southern Colour featured on pages 2-5 } Southern Colour { Southern Colour featured on pages 2-5 } + Garamond + Helvetica Neue Tim Richardson Kelvin Harries Max May i am page 093» bj ball ~ look! 150 gsm / ed by southern colour ~