design studio
the design studio specializes in corporate design,
DVD conception, motion screen design and web design
with a forte in the music industry.

publishing house
the publishing department is firmly dedicated to creating,
designing, publishing and distributing books and other media
on contemporary visual culture. since its founding in 1995,
dgv has published more than one hundred and fifty titles
documenting vital design movements in graphic art and
photography. its books remain on the cutting-edge of
visual publishing, translating the latest developments in
these fields into experimental yet professional publications,
which are compiled, edited and designed by graphic designers.

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robert klanten
co-founder and publisher of die gestalten verlag, robert klanten
spoke with designboom about the company's projects.

what is your personal background?
the three of us (markus hollmann-loges and andreas
peyerl) studied industrial design and went into
CAD and desktop publishing and graphic design at an
early stage. I was playing in some indie rock bands and
had a music studio, but I earned my money with design
so I switched over to permanently at the age of 21.

how did dgv evolve into what it is today?
in 1990, my partners markus hollmann-loges and andreas
peyerl began to curate and organize prototype design
shows at the frankfurt consumer fair. I have some
background in writing and design theory and so they
asked me to contribute an article for the exhibition catalogue.
we did three shows together and afterwards, markus
and andreas moved to berlin where they started doing
graphic design work for local record labels and clubs.
I started my first book project around that time -'localizer 1.0',
a comprehensive and strong visual survey of the techno
and electronic music scenes. I decided to move to berlin
and while andreas and markus worked on the music and
culture related design and production services, I started
working on the publishing branch.

how is dgv organized?
we are around 35 people with editors, designers and
people handling production, distribution and accounting.
we have regular meetings and have dirty dishes in the
kitchen… pretty standard.

... and your role
I'm the publisher and editor-in-chief of our publications.
I have to decide which international design projects are
published and how they are designed and produced.

how do you normally select titles, themes, etc?
we have our antennas constantly probing and surveying
all aspects of contemporary visual culture. when we find
topics that are especially intriguing, we focus on them and
do in-depth research until we feel that the project is
worth pursuing.

how do you usually work with the featured
designer/artist/photographer on a publication?
we approach a designer or firm and suggest collaboration.
if the answer is yes, we put together our thoughts on
the collaboration and start a discussion. we explain
technical and editorial requirements at an early stage.
designing a 220-page book can suddenly become
extremely intimidating if you have a bad start.
at a certain point, the author starts to realize that their
book will 'actually' be made public and its public reception
(clients, mom and dad, friends, etc) might have a big
affect on them. it might even become the most personal
project they have ever worked on. I think it is a great
advantage that we are designers and not white-collar
business people. in a way, we know what goes on in
an author's mind and can support them with what
they are doing.

and when there's creative differences?
the people we work with are great talents and some
are divas but in the end, they are all creative people
who listen to us with our suggestions as experts,
if it means help developing their project.

could you tell us more about the work that dgv does
other than publishing?
we work on a lot of film jobs mainly for the music industry,
filming live concerts, editing them and producing dvds.
we also do corporate design and consulting for brands and
agencies to develop and produce multi-media projects from
a-z (print, motion, web, marketing, distribution).

which have been you favorite project(s) so far?
I don't believe in charts ;-) and honestly don’t like
rankings either. I find them linear, limiting and unfit in
reflecting or describing creativity or the people
who are responsible for it.

your work covers both web and print, how do you
think they might progress in relation to oneanother?
photography has liberated painting. the internet liberates
material. the internet has a huge effect on the way we
share information. we spread news, we communicate
and we are entertained. this is very appealing, but this
is not everything. material and space have become
more important through the increase of digitalization,
not less. any media should and will do what its best at.

finally, do you have any advice for young designers?
work hard and never stop exploring!




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designboom book report


'furnish'
furniture and interior design
for the 21st century


see the designboom book report
on one of dgv's latest books