Atelier Carvalho Bernau is a design studio based in The Hague, the Netherlands, established in 2005 by Susana Carvalho and Kai Bernau. The studio mainly works for the culture and publishing fields, both locally and internationally.

The studio keeps a small structure, which allows it to work closely with clients while maintaining a flexible and rich structure of collaborators who work with us whenever the job requires: mainly programers, editors, photographers. Susana and Kai manage their time between commissioned projects, teaching and self-initiated projects.

Approach

Atelier Carvalho Bernau’s focus is on reading* experiences across traditional, current and future media – from typefaces to user experience.

To that end, the studio develops book and editorial design, typography, typeface design, web and interaction design, concept development and content strategy and research.

The studio sees any assignment as an opportunity to question the state and understanding of design: each project is a tight-rope walk between applied realism and free-form research.

We give form to meaning. Content is as important as form, and we don’t mind design that is invisible every once in a while, and lets things speak for themselves.

* for a rather wide-ranging definition of “reading”.

Contact

Clients (selection)

  • 2×4 Design, New York
  • Brill Uitgevers, Leiden
  • Baumeister Magazin / Callwey Verlag, Munich
  • Commercial Type, New York/London
  • Culturgest, Lisbon
  • Esquire UK, London
  • Esquire US, New York
  • Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge/MA
  • House Industries, Yorklyn/DE
  • Midway Art, Minneapolis
  • Mumok Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna
  • Munich Re Group, Munich
  • New York Times Magazine, New York
  • Octavo publicaties, Amsterdam
  • Phaidon Publishers, London
  • Prix de Rome, Amsterdam
  • Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam
  • Stroom, The Hague
  • Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, Cologne
  • W139, Amsterdam
  • Works That Work Magazine / Typotheque, The Hague
  • Witte de With, Rotterdam

Exhibitions (selection)

  • Designs of the Year (Works That Work Magazine), Design Museum London (2014)
  • This is the school and the school is many things, Royal Academy, The Hague (2013)
  • Split Fountain, The Physics Room, Auckland, New Zealand (2013)
  • Millennium Magazines, MoMA, New York (2013)
  • Open Books, Royal College of Art, London (2011)
  • Typopass – Critical design and conceptual typography, Dorottya Gallery, Budapest (2009)
  • 10 years of Stroom prize laureates, Royal Academy, The Hague (2007)
  • Paraat/Nieuwe oogst collective exhibition, Gallery W139, Amsterdam (2005)
  • Neutrality at tangential programme, ExperimentaDesign biennial, Lisbon (2005)

Publications (selection)

  • PLI Arte & Design, Portugal (2013)
  • DOC Magazin (FH München), Germany (2012)
  • “The Future of Type Design — Kai Bernau & Nikola Djurek”, Print Magazine, USA (2011)
  • “Under cover: Atelier Carvalho Bernau & Octavo publicaties”, The New Yorker, Book Blog, USA (2011)
  • Form No. 238, Germany (2011)
  • idPure No. 25, Switzerland (2011)
  • Creative Review, “The Type Annual”, UK (2011)
  • Graphic No. 16, Korea (2010)
  • Idea No. 343, Japan (2010)
  • Blue design #8, Portugal (2009)
  • étapes #159, France (2008)
  • Icon #40 and #61, UK (2008)
  • “Future Talents - The Graduate Directory”, Wallpaper*, UK (2008)
  • “Best fonts of 2007”, Grafik, UK. (2008)
  • Graphic magazine, UK (2007) (yes, it’s a different one)
  • “Type Design special issue”, idPure No. 12, Switzerland (2007)
  • identity matters, Netherlands (2006)
  • Page, Germany (2006)

Teaching

Susana teaches graphic design in the Graphic Design BA course at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague; she also previously taught typography in the BA programme Graphic Design at ArtEz Academy, Arnhem.

Kai teaches type design, and occasionally publication design, at the MAAD Master of Art Direction at Écal in Lausanne.

We have lectured and set workshops at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon, Écal in Lausanne, the Typographic Society in Vienna, the Danish School of Media and Jounalism, the Arnhem ArtEz design school, the MICA in Baltimore, ELISAVA in Barcelona, among others.

Typefaces

Some of the typefaces we design are proprietary for our clients (You could be one of them!) and are not available for licensing.

With the exception of Jean-Luc, which can be downloaded here, our typefaces are published by Commercial Type: Atlas and Lyon, and Typotheque: Neutral

Internships

We have no more placements available until January 2015.

We occasionally offer paid graphic design or type design internships for 3-month periods, about twice a year. To apply, please send us a PDF portfolio or a link to your website. All internship applications require an in-person interview.

Past interns:

Eline Makker, Jonas Hegi, Bernd Volmer, Søren Wibroe, David Ortiz, Aaron Harris, Hugo Marucco, Ohri Ogi. Thank you, guys! ♥

Grants

  • Documentation Subsidy, Stroom Den Haag, 2005
  • Project subsidy by Fonds BKVK, 2008
  • Documentation Subsidy, Stroom Den Haag, 2010
  • Practice subsidy by Fonds BKVK, 2012
  • Documentation Subsidy, Stroom Den Haag, 2013

Newsletter?

(Around 2 – 3× per year, brief, amusing, many pictures)

Colophon

This website and the works shown here are Copyright © 2005 – 2014 Atelier Carvalho Bernau

Principal photography on this site is by Nadine Stijns. Some photography by us.

Built by Atelier Carvalho Bernau, based on Emil Olsson’s Hi-Response.

The typefaces used are Atlas Typewriter (everywhere), designed by Susana and Kai, and Lyon Display (in the Current Affairs section), designed by Kai. Both are available from Commercial Type.