Distaff Studio

The 14th @hansesongfestival is in a few days and for us it is already the 5th time we designed the festival identity and campaign. When we started designing we went through the last years and came up with another approach to evolve the existing principles of colour and form into a new concept.

The poster for the exhibition “On the Roof of Himmler’s Guesthouse” is built around a historical photograph of the villa itself — duotoned in orange, it renders the building simultaneously familiar and estranged. An American flag visible on the rooftop anchors the image in 1945, the very moment the exhibition traces. The leaflet accompanying the exhibition maps the garden as a space to be moved through. Seven stations, each marked by a direct quote from Fritz Traugott's letters, guide visitors across the site. The bilingual map echoes the poster's palette while shifting registers: from public announcement to intimate document. The Audio Walk is available at the reception of @hausderwannseekonferenz , or via QR code on your own device. With: Judith Alberth & Deborah Hartmann (Curatorial Team), Graphic Design: Distaff Studio (@sarah_frck & @lea_siev ), Typeface by @omni.type

The exhibition “On the Roof of Himmler’s Guesthouse”, shown in the garden of the villa at the Gedenk- und Bildungsstätte @hausderwannseekonferenz , offers a new perspective on the history of the site. At its center is Fritz Traugott, a German Jew expelled from Hamburg in 1938. He returned to Germany in 1945 as a U.S. soldier and member of the so called “Ritchie Boys.” Through the shown documents and an audio walk, his story becomes tangible: in letters to his wife Lucia, he reflects on his experiences in the summer of 1945. The exhibition explores what these sources reveal about the liberators’ perspectives on a defeated Germany and how history can be told through fragments. Across seven stations, visitors move through the exhibition as a walk in the garden. The spatial and design concept, developed in close collaboration with the curatorial team, treats the garden as an active part of the presentation: architecture and nature enter into a living dialogue. The modular structures of the architecture make visible that historical narratives remain incomplete — absences are part of the story itself. The stations can be approached from any direction, their permeability means that views of the villa remain present throughout: the current site is always visible alongside the historical narrative. For the realisation of the exhibition modules, we collaborated with Simon Stanislawski, Jonas Maria Droste, and Till Ronacher — who translated our spatial and design concept into material form with great precision and sensitivity. The exhibition can be visited in the garden of the Memorial and Educational Site until summer 2026. With: Judith Alberth & Deborah Hartmann (Curatorial Team), Exibition design: Distaff Studio (@sarah_frck &@lea_siev ) with Simon Stanislawski (@simon.stanislawski ), Jonas Maria Droste (@jonas_maria_droste ), and Till Ronacher (@tillronacher ) (physical objects) Typeface by @omni.type Image Credits: Marvin Systermans (@marvin.systermans )

Designing an exhibition begins with reading a place. Alongside analysing the concept, text structures, and material of the planned exhibition, we examined the site that would carry the narrative. Together with the team of the Memorial and Educational Site, we walked through the garden of @hausderwannseekonferenz multiple times — the space where the exhibition would unfold. We considered how the individual stations could be positioned, what views visitors would have of the house and the landscape, and how historical photographs relate to the site as it exists today. How can spatial design connect past and present? How can the story an exhibition seeks to tell enter into dialogue with its surroundings? These questions shaped both the spatial and conceptual framework of the exhibition. For the realisation of the exhibition modules, we collaborated with Simon Stanislawski, Jonas Maria Droste, and Till Ronacher — who translated our spatial and design concept into material structures with great precision and sensitivity. From the first prototype module to the installation on site, the process was defined by close and careful collaboration. The exhibition can be visited in the garden of the Memorial and Educational Site until summer 2026. With: Judith Alberth & Deborah Hartmann (Curatorial Team), Exibition design: Distaff Studio (@sarah_frck & @lea_siev ) with Simon Stanislawski (@simon.stanislawski ), Jonas Maria Droste @jonas_maria_droste , and Till Ronacher (@tillronacher ) (physical objects) Image Credits: Image 1: Nicolas Rösener, Other images: Distaff Studio

We were invited to pitch for the communication campaign of the exhibition “Freiheit. Eine unvollendete Geschichte” at the Deutsches Hygiene-Museum Dresden. Although our proposal was not selected, we are pleased to share a glimpse into the “engine room” of our design process. Based on Karel Miler’s work Blíže k oblakům (Closer to the Clouds), we developed a poster series that plays with the tension and ambivalence between title and artwork. Is the figure at the center jumping—or falling? Reaching upward, following its gaze? By zooming in, these ambiguities are amplified, encouraging a multiperspective reading. The typography echoes the dynamic of the motif: emphasized verticals and subtle shifts along the horizontal axis give the design a floating quality. In this way, the composition—like the very notion of freedom—remains suspended, caught between ascent and descent, proximity and distance.

The exhibition “Freiheit. Eine unvollendete Geschichte” at the @dhmdresden approaches freedom as a constructed concept: fragile, contested and never fully realized. This perspective is directly reflected in its design: spatial structures expose layers, titles float within them, and the scenography underscores freedom as an ongoing process rather than a fixed state. The catalogue continues this approach and translates the curatorial idea into book form. Its open spine and soft cover materialize the notion of fragility and construction as a design gesture. The three exhibition chapters are echoed in three distinct editorial sections: “Zeichen der Freiheit” recalls the classical art book tradition with images set against dark backgrounds; the chapter on “Handwerkliches der Freiheit” mirrors the free interplay of images and texts from the exhibition, weaving them into a collage-like composition; “Solidarität” presents contemporary artistic perspectives with generous white space that gives clarity and focus to the works. The volume is framed by an entry and exit sequence of current protest images, situating the theme of freedom firmly in the present. With: Dr. Viktoria Krason, Philipp Bürger, Kathrin Haase, Laura Schmidt, Bettina Beer (Curatorial Team), Sarah Fricke (@sarah_frck ), Lea Sievertsen (@lea_siev ) (Distaff Studio), Pawel Wolowitsch (@studio.wolowitsch ), Kooperative für Gestaltungspolitik (Exhibition Architecture & Concept) Image Credits: Distaff Studio

As the second direction we developed for our pitch for the German Youth Photo Award, we chose a deliberately different path. Instead of unsing concrete photographic imagery, we turned to illustration to leave more conceptual openness for the participants. For this approach, we collaborated with the fantastic team of graphicrecording.cool: Tiziana Beck and Johanna Benz. What if “Ein Haus. Ein Auto. Ein Boot.” were not just a list of possessions, but the beginning of a story? Our concept invites viewers to reconsider this familiar narrative. In this direction, a strong typographic framework sets the stage with the annual theme slogan, while the illustrations bring a humorous, sharp-witted and inviting perspective to the topic. They offer initial points of orientation yet leave ample space for personal interpretation. Illustration and typography interlace, and a bold, high-contrast color palette strengthens visual recognition. www.graphicrecording.cool @graphicrecording.cool__

Earlier this year, we worked on a pitch for the poster campaign of the German Youth Photography Award and developed two distinct design directions. Even though the proposal wasn’t selected, we wanted to share the process. After all, everyone in our field has a sizeable drawer of unrealised ideas. One direction explored AI-generated imagery, a decision we questioned intensely: Is it responsible to use AI images for a photography competition? Could it undermine emerging photographers or blur the line between photographic practice and synthetic visuals? Or can AI be justified when it enables ideas that would be nearly impossible to realise physically? The possibility of imagining fantastical, utopian spaces made AI feel like a fitting tool here. It opened doors to speculative worlds that conventional photography could never have brought into being. We’d be happy to hear your thoughts on this. Conceptually, our design reinterpreted the Sparkasse slogan “My house, my car, my boat,” which ties happiness and success to ownership. We flipped this logic and created an alternative visual world: sandcastles, bounce houses, and „tree houses“ as playful spaces where creativity, and togetherness hold value. These motifs merge into a counter-narrative that imagines futures grounded not in possession, but in connection, playfulness and the simple joy of creating something together. Visually, we used ABC Stefan, a typeface @stefanmarx created with @abcdinamo , based on his handwriting, to deliberately disrupt the smoothness of the AI aesthetic. For anyone interested in taking part, the call for entries is still open — you can find more information on the award’s website. All images AI generated with midjourney.

Take a closer look at selected spreads from the publication “Sammlung als Diskursformation”, we designed for Stephanie Regenbrecht. A central theme is the engagement with the Falkenberg Collection and the vision of collector Harald Falkenberg. In the 1990s and 2000s, he built a highly distinctive collection, being among the first to acquire entire rooms as artworks. The featured spreads include works by Jonathan Meese, Jason Rhoades, and Paul McCarthy. The design reflects the clash of controversial positions, referencing historical art publications through an elegant, classic layout concept, disrupted by typographic interventions, printed with a bright orange spot color. Published by Edition Metzel, @_checasino Typefaces by @stormtypefoundry and @camelot_type

We want to thank all of you dearly for supporting the “I do care” project. 🧡🤍🩵 Thanks to your help, we were able to donate more than €500 to @big_e.v_berlin . The non-profit organization protects and supports women and children affected by domestic violence, promotes prevention and advocates for a society free of violence and for the rights of those affected.
Thank you also for sharing your pictures with us – we loved seeing the bandanas out in the wild.

Freedom is never a given. It must be constantly renegotiated and defended. It exists in the tension between personal self-realization and responsibility toward the community, while remaining elusive – a construct, always aspired to, never fully attained. Symbols and narratives have shaped our understanding of freedom for centuries, yet they continue to be claimed for opposing agendas, sometimes even turned against an open society. While people in authoritarian states are still fighting for basic rights, democracies are increasingly debating what freedom actually means. This is the theme of the exhibition “Freiheit. Eine unvollendete Geschichte” at the @dhmdresden curated by Viktoria Krason and Philipp Bürger. The exhibition architecture by @darstellungspolitik makes the constructed nature of freedom tangible: spatial structures lay bare different layers and reveal freedom not as a fixed state but as an ongoing process. We added chapter titles floating on these constructions, rising upward and intersecting from various perspectives, creating points of connection and shifts in perception. The artistic perspectives line the walls and provide the overarching frame, whereas the center of the space is devoted to documentary explorations of different viewpoints, linking past and present. Each chapter is presented on its own architectural element and distinguished by a bright color that aids orientation and sets a distinct tone. The hanging of the documentary material grows from a central axis, extending both upward and downward. Contrasts in scale and playful juxtapositions create tension and dynamic sightlines across the room. Labels act like commas, punctuating the wall collage and structuring the narratives. The scenography and graphic design weave the narrative strands together, guiding visitors through a multi-layered exhibition. With: Dr. Viktoria Krason, Philipp Bürger, Kathrin Haase, Laura Schmidt, Bettina Beer (Curatorial Team), Sarah Fricke (@sarah_frck ), Lea Sievertsen (@lea_siev ) (Distaff Studio), Pawel Wolowitsch (@studio.wolowitsch ), Kooperative für Gestaltungspolitik (Exhibition Architecture & Concept) Image Credits: Gunter Binsack, Isabel Noack

How much influence do private art collectors have on the art market and on the evolution of art itself? What staging strategies do private collectors use to present and position themselves? Stephanie Regenbrecht’s work “Sammlung als Diskursformation” explores this questions. She takes a closer look at Harald Falkenberg – a Hamburg art collector who has divided Germany’s art scene for decades with his collection, his vision, and his persona. The design reflects the clash of controversial positions, drawing on references to historical art publications, using an elegant, classic typeface, interrupted by bold, striking interventions. Published by Edition Metzel, @_checasino Typeface by @stormtypefoundry and @camelot_type