Duration: After my apprenticeship as a graphic designer in 2010, I gained experience working for various employers. Upon graduating from the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) in 2019, I founded my own studio.

Location: Zurich, Switzerland.

Education: Graphic design apprenticeship, St. Gallen, Switzerland; certificate of advanced studies in typography and print, ZHdK, Zurich; Bachelor of Arts in design with a specialization in visual communication, ZHdK, Zurich.

Career path: As a child, I drew a lot and loved to be creative. I often painted shapes and figures on small square papers and handcrafted little books of my own. From an early age, it was clear to me that I would choose a creative or artistic career, so I started an apprenticeship as a graphic designer at a design agency in my hometown of St. Gallen. Afterward, I gained more experience at other agencies and studios. Due to my interest in typography and editorial design, I pursued a certificate of advanced studies in typography from ZHdK. Then, wanting to deepen and broaden my knowledge for graphic design, I later studied visual communication at ZHdK.

Artistic influences: Swiss typography and Swiss graphic design have influenced me, but art, architecture and fashion also inspire me—as well as contemporary social themes and everyday life with all its many facets.

Favorite projects: My diploma project, Through the Mask, which includes a 200-page publication, a 48-page lookbook and a scarf design. In society, we consciously put on masks, hiding our personal diversities to represent ourselves externally. I made a conscious decision to search for one’s own personal masks—to choose them, to wear them or to take them off. We can use the ambivalent relationship to the mask to protect ourselves at the right moment, but we can also be conscious of when we put it on and have the courage to detach ourselves to look behind it. At the center of the visual exploration are three modern masks whose different details are depicted on both the outside and the inside.

The publication illustrates the phenomenon of the mask, making it visible and recognizing that the mask can be based on cultural and social norms, and values within a social system or under individual circumstances. In the figurative sense, individual experiences can take place regarding everyday masks and disguises in the interpersonal realm.

The textile design, which took on the form of a large scarf, enables potential owners to decide for themselves which parts of the scarf should be shown on the outside and which should remain hidden, playing with visual and emotional perceptions while expanding our individual diversities and possibilities.

This was a transdisciplinary, personal work, and through these experiments, I have developed new, exciting design approaches.

Work environment: My studio is in Zurich, Switzerland. In general, I find exchanges with other graphic designers, as well as with other creative people who work in different fields and disciplines, greatly enriches my creative process. This enables me to reflect on my own points of view and broaden my horizons. Fortunately for me, this is possible because I have many inspiring people around me. Sometimes, I collaborate with other graphic designers as well.

Approach: Oftentimes, I try to find new visual and design approaches through experimental design, where I try out unconventional or analogue techniques. Personally, I find it necessary to make a lot of sketches and manual designs before I start the first digital designs. This helps me find new concepts and offers a more exciting way of dealing with typography—much more so than if I worked with digitally directly. Typography always occupies a central graphic form in my work.

Aspirations: Of course, I would like to constantly further develop my own creative work. In addition, I would like to teach and convey my knowledge and passion for graphic design and typography to other ambitious young people.

Philosophy: To keep an open mind and be courageous with new ideas and approaches; to have the urge to grow at any time; and to constantly develop myself. I want to break new ground in design, so I like to linger in my process and discover its boundaries. These boundaries are precious to me. I like overcoming stagnation in my work, crossing uncharted territory and creating new things.