Studio Cabrio

posted by Emily Gosling May 27, 2021

Studio Cabrio seems to be rooted in both carefree pleasures—the wind in your hair as you’re cruising about in a flashy sports car being a key thing that informed the studio’s name—and the serious business of making visually engaging, conceptually thoughtful design work. The studio’s three co-founders, Juliane Windbiel, Kahyan Mac and Berenice Gaß, met while studying graphic design at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart and decided to start a studio together soon after they graduated.

Each member finished styling between 2019 and 2020, meaning Studio Carbio began life under the less-than-hospitable conditions of a global pandemic. Not that that’s stopped them: the trio’s already produced some superb work across the cultural sector, for the most part. We had a chat with Mac about setting up the studio, designing in Stuttgart, the importance of finding time for self-initiated projects and more.

What’s the design scene in Stuttgart like?

People know and support each other, either because you studied at the same university or because Stuttgart is a small city so you go to the same events and quickly have friends in common, mostly from the creative field. It’s nice to see how you can grow together and help each other.

We also see great potential in Stuttgart: the cultural scene continues to grow, slowly but steadily. We want to be part of this emerging cultural scene. That’s one of the reasons we founded a shared working space with other creatives last summer, which also offers space for events such as exhibitions or workshops.

You’ve previously said there aren’t many female-led studios in Stuttgart. Why do you think that is?

That’s a difficult question that we cannot answer directly. We don’t think that it’s a special Stuttgart-related thing. But because the city and its design scene is relatively small, it’s of course even more noticeable that there are only a few female-led studios here, although there are a lot of female graphic design students. One point could be that there are not many role models and therefore few dare to do it. It would be helpful if there were more female professors at art academies and universities, as it is also a role model function.

You were friends and classmates before sounding a studio together – what’s a key to maintaining a successful working relationship, too?

Indeed, our friendship is a great part of our successful working relationship. It is very important for us to talk openly about professional and personal matters. The natural result is that we take great care of each other and have a lot of fun together. In addition, it is very important for us to be our own bosses and to be free in different decision-making processes.

We would normally work in a studio community with other creative people. At the moment, however, [because of the pandemic] we mainly work from our home offices and meet in person in the studio once a week when we’ve taken a Covid test. We’ve noticed how important it is for us to see each other in real life, not only on screen; and how badly we need our coffee and croissant dates to bring each other up to date, in business but also in private matters. It is usually not a very effective working day, but it is fun and worth it.

Why the name Studio Cabrio?

The idea of driving a cabriolet with three seats in the front, the fresh breeze on your face and a lot of fun are just a few points that form our vision as Studio Cabrio. In our opinion, driving a “Cabrio” (which means Convertible) is about dreams, a feeling of freedom, fun and good weather.

How would you describe your style?

We wouldn’t say that there is one particular “Studio Cabrio Style” but something all our projects have in common is that we care a lot about finding the right tone for that specific project. We see each one as a chance to learn something new and to develop ourselves further. In one project we might learn a lot in terms of content; in another we might develop our technical skills, which is why all previous projects have been important to us in their own way. You could say that the most typical thing about the “Studio Cabrio Style” is that it’s always evolving. Getting further through learning is something we firmly believe in.

What sort of projects do you most enjoy working on and why?

Since we’re all book lovers, it’s always a pleasure to us to design books. The durability of books in contrast to our increasingly digital surroundings, and the infinite design possibilities of “a few bound sheets”, fascinates us each and every time. We very much like to look at the book as an object—to think about its materials, its print finishing, its weight, how it will later lie in the hand, how it will feel… When this part of designing a book is done comes the “nerdiness” as we turn our eyes to clean typography, which is very important for us, too.

We particularly appreciate the projects in which we work with the client very closely. We believe that a design that is integrated into a project is always better than one that is simply imposed on the project. Overall we most enjoy working in the field of culture and creativity. Because of the pandemic, we have hardly been able to do exhibition, festival and event design. That is something we would really appreciate doing again.

Do you find much time for self initiated work? If so, why do you think it’s important? How do you find the balance between those sort of projects and commissioned work?

At the moment we don’t have much time for self-initiated projects; but we have many projects right now that are exactly what we like to do. Nevertheless, it is always important to do self-initiated projects to get jobs you want to do and to position yourself. It is also important to give your own voice the space to be political and to be able to stand up for something. Besides some projects that we have in mind and which are just waiting to be tackled, it’s important to us to take on low-paid projects if we find the context exciting and it seems important to us to make our contribution.

Can you tell me a little more about a couple of recent projects you’ve been working on?

We are currently working on an exhibition catalogue for an art exhibition focusing on photography and another art catalogue for a performance artist. We are also doing a poster series with an illustrator friend, Kati Szilagyi, to raise awareness of Section 218, which describes the abortion law in Germany and has been around for 150 years. Furthermore we are working on some websites, including a site for an interactive sound installation and another for a musician/artist.

For 2021 we planned to drive full speed ahead down the exciting road of graphic design, sun shining, fresh breeze on our faces, the wind in the hair, some nice tunes on…

What are the biggest things you’ve learned since forming? Any major triumphs or mistakes?

We have worked on some big jobs that we couldn’t have done alone and are very happy that we have the power of three hard working women. But the biggest triumph for us is the supportive and encouraging environment we’ve created. Fortunately, we haven’t had to experience any big mistakes or defeats yet. Fingers crossed that running our studio in the future is as easy as it’s been so far.

What advice would you give to young designers hoping to set up a studio like yours?

Have the courage and just do it! And also be nice and stay true to yourself! <3