Slanted Special Issue – 
Rhineland-Palatinate

Above all, Rhineland-Palatinate stands out for its wine with 65 percent of German wine being produced there. But what about design? Following the Special Issues of Babylon (2013), Marrakech (2016), and Rwanda (2019), we were curious to find out more about our Heimat Germany and highlight regional differences.

The first destination of our journey took us right across the Rhine, to Rhineland-Palatinate. In its state capital Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg invented letterpress printing and delivered the first printed Bible in 1456, and probably drank a pint of wine on it. The state was formerly founded from the French occupation zone after a referendum on the state constitution on May 18th, 1947, two years before the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany. The black, red, and gold of the flag of the Hambach Festival, the first democratic demonstration, are still the colors of the Federal Republic of Germany today.

The state has a long tradition of arts and craftsmanship, supported and kept alive by a strong middle-class as well as strong regional institutions and cultural drivers. Awards such as the State Prize for Arts and Crafts promote, amongst others, outstanding gem and jewelry designers, ceramists, silversmiths, carpenters, barrel makers, and textile designers of the region.

With the help of descom—Designforum Rhineland-Palatinate we sourced designers, photographers, illustrators and makers—all people who love their region and are passionate about what they do. So yes, beyond beautiful landscapes with vineyards, rivers, forests, and castles, Rhineland-Palatinate is a shining example of design in Germany, that moves with time while sticking to its roots.

Slanted Magazine #35—L.A.

From the perspective of a European, Los Angeles is the opposite of our old metropolises. The sprawling multi-dimensionality is alien, and for many, gets on our nerves: the tangled network of highways and the constant driving around (damn you, General Motors streetcar scandal!), the emphasized nonchalance and never ending optimism of everyone, the sunny weather, the ingenious modernist architecture, the film industry, the tourists and the shitty art museums ... perhaps, just perhaps everything about this city gets on our nerves. Despite, or maybe because of all of this, L.A. is a fucking awesome city, both in the Biblical sense and the slang sense. This staggering awesomeness is fucking undeniable.

We wanted to meet Ed Ruscha to talk about his mysteriously seductive and motionless-looking reductive paintings. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but his piece “Hollywood is a verb” inspired the three different titles/cover variations of this issue. We would also have liked to see David Hockney, who fled the austerity and grey oppression of England (an early Brexit) to Los Angeles to discover a sunny and hedonistic city. No dice there, either. But hey!, in a town like L.A. and on a production like Slanted’s, not everything has to work out. Often, the best things happen when they’re not planned, just as they did here.

We hung out with the wonderful actor Udo Kier and learned a lot about Hollywood and his life. We spent a superb evening with Sarah Lorenzen and her husband, photographer David Hartwell, who meticulously restored the Neutra VDL Studio and Residences, the home of architect Richard Neutra (see our video interviews), and a number of other luminaries.

Our partner-in-crime Ian Lynam introduced us to tons of great designers, artists and teachers, who all—really, all—when asked where their allegiance lies: with N.Y. or L.A., yelled “L.A.!!!” without batting an eyelid. We knew that numerous German intellectuals chose L.A. as a refuge from the Nazis. Among them were Bertolt Brecht, Marlene Dietrich, Fritz Lang, Heinrich and Thomas Mann, and Billy Wilder. Artists from other countries found their home here, as well. Luis Buñuel, Jean Renoir, Igor Stravinsky, Arturo Toscanini and many others took up residency in Tinseltown. The emigrants made the Los Angeles of the 1940s a lively centre of European culture. They lived their individual and collective dreams ... because it was possible.

And it’s true. Everything seems to be possible in L.A., and thus, America, even if today seen with a deeper irony and a hyper-acuity to the politics, the sleaze, and the darkness.

After our time in Los Angeles, we left the horizontal city behind us and headed east through the Nevada desert, on roads as if pulled invisibly and intangibly away from a place that brought tears to our eyes: that city on the Pacific which might just be the end of the world.

Slanted Special Issue – Rwanda

Many asked us: Why the hell did you go to Rwanda and how did you even get the idea? To answer these questions, a little segue into the past is necessary. Way back in 2012 Lars Harmsen was sitting in the jury of the Design Award Rhineland-Palatinate, awarded by the descom Design forum Rhineland-Palatinate. In 2018 Julia Kahl has been invited to be part of the jury and it was there that she found out about the project to showcase Rhineland-Palatinatean design in Rwanda–and the other way around. To this end, descom has conceived an exhibition that has been implemented in cooperation with the Partnership Association Rhineland-Palatinate/Rwanda (Jumelage) in Kigali and showed projects from both countries.

This project has gained our attention and we wanted to take a look at the up-and-coming creative scene in Rwanda ourselves. But the country also impressed us in other ways: Plastic bags? They are absolutely forbidden there since 2004. Environmental management is being decentralized from the political to the local level, leading to a widespread understanding on how to preserve the environment. On the last Saturday of the month, for example, every citizen is obliged to tidy up the streets. Since this year, no more old clothes from the West may be imported to Rwanda—this could create around 25,000 new jobs and the textile industry is flourishing.

To see a developing country implement and carry out such legislations is ground-breaking. It goes to show; anything can be possible if the political will really exists and true efforts are made. So, we have to say it again: Rwanda showed us how it’s done!

It’s now our honor to present a few outstanding personalities as well as many good stories besides some “design eye-candy” in this Slanted special issue.

Participants: Maggie Andresen, Timothy Wandulu / Concept Arts Studio, Mihir Bhatt / Creative Communications Rwanda, Abdi Latif Dahir, Carolin Dürrenberg und Silke Philipps-Deters / descom – Designforum Rheinland-Pfalz, Pierra Ntayombya / Haute Baso, Katharina Hey, Matthew Rugamba / House of Tayo, Innocent Nkurunziza / Inema Arts Center, Umuhire MweneMuntu Isaac, Judith Kaine / Kurema Kureba Kwiga, Jacques Nkinzingabo / Kigali Center for Photography, Niyunkuru Canda & Manzi Jackson / Kuuru Art Space, Moses Turahirwa / Moshions, Lynn Harles, Michael Nieden / Partnerschaftsverein Rheinland-Pfalz – Ruanda, Nelson Niyakire, Guillaume Sardin, Chris Schwagga, Daniel Sommer, The Economist

Karl-Heinz Drescher (born on October 7, 1936 in Quirl; died on May 19, 2011 in Berlin) was a graphic artist working at Bertolt Brecht’s world famous theater Berliner Ensemble as a graphic designer for almost 40 years. In addition to his work at this house, Drescher also worked for other organizers, museums, galleries, and theaters, amongst others the Akademie der Künste der DDR, the Maxim-Gorki-Theater, and the Deutsche Staatsoper in Berlin. His catalog of works today comprises over 400 posters, about one third printed with letterpress.

In a one-year research, the designer Markus Lange contacted Drescher’s family and conducted various interviews with companions and friends to find out more about this talented designer, who studied from 1955 to 1960 in the former GDR at the same school as he did (Burg Giebichenstein, formerly Hochschule für industrielle Formgestaltung).

For the first time, this book summarizes most of Drescher’s (typographic) posters in one comprehensive volume and contains texts and interviews by various authors such as Dr. Friedrich Diekmann, Dr. Sylke Wunderlich, Helmut Brade, Niklaus Troxler, Gerd Fleischmann, Jamie Murphy, Erik Spiekermann, Ferdinand Ulrich, Götz Gramlich, Peter Kammerer, Vera Tenschert, Cesarina and Alessandro Drescher. “Karl-Heinz Drescher—Berlin Typo Posters, Texts, and Interviews” serves as a review of the life of an extraordinary theater graphic designer but also as an inspiration for the here and now.

Die Europäische Union mit ihren 28 Mitgliedstaaten steht heute vor schwierigen Zeiten: Finanzkrise, Flüchtlinge, Verlust von Verbündeten und Ausstiegsszenarien führen zu Angst und Unsicherheit. Vor allem aber erleben wir auch, wie die digitale Revolution ein neues Bild einer Gesellschaft schafft, deren technische Möglichkeiten die Ambitionen haben, über das hinauszugehen, was politisch und moralisch geboten ist.

Bisher widmete das Slanted Magazin alle Ausgaben einzelnen Ländern oder Metropolen, um die an den jeweiligen Orten bestehende Design- und Kunstszene abzubilden. Diesmal reagieren wir auf die Notwendigkeit, für ein vielfältiges Europa zusammenzustehen und unsere Stimme zu erheben, um die Freiheit und die damit einhergehende Lebensqualität zu schützen, die andere für uns erkämpft haben.

Das Slanted Magazin #34 – Europe ist ein Plädoyer für ein facettenreiches und lebendiges Europa, vor dem Hintergrund eines Europas der Nationen, des Rechtspopulismus und der nationalistischen und egoistischen Politik. Es ist ein Inventar, bestehend aus den Kommentaren, Perspektiven und Gefühlen von Illustratoren, Fotografen, Autoren und Grafikern aus ganz Europa.

In August 2018, the Slanted editors and photographer Dirk Gebhardt took a close-up look at the contemporary design scene of Prague. They had a number of good reasons to visit Prague: They wanted to meet some good friends and great designer—but also wanted to immerse themselves in history and culture, see Josef Koudelka’s documentation of the Velvet Revolution, experience the disturbing world of Franz Kafka, enjoy the musical elegance of Dvorak and save their souls by inhaling the aura of UMRPUM, Prague’s Academy of Art, Architecture, and Design.

Far away from overtourism at Old Town Square, Charles Bridge, or Prague Castle, Slanted met some of the most amazing designers who know where they’re from and their roots give them a clear vision of where they want to go. They are the ones shaping the new Prague. You can find their brilliant works in the new issue, and a deeper look at their opinions and views through video interviews that can be watched online on our video platform for free: slanted.de/prague.

Illustrations, photography, interviews, essays, and a huge appendix with many useful tips and the best Czech typefaces complement the issue thematically.

Slanted Magazine #33 comes with contributions by 20YY Designers, Patrik Antczak, Anymade Studio, Artishock, Michal Bačák, Peter Bankov, Filip Blažek, Braasi Industry, Briefcase Type Foundry, Tomáš Brousil, Monika Čejková, Čezeta motors, Anežka Hrubá Ciglerová, Design Herynek, Displaay, Petra Dočekalová, Kristina Fišerová, Fontstore, Karel Haloun, Heavyweight Digital Type Foundry, Martin Hrdina, Jitka Janečková, Kolektiv Studio, Jan Šrámek Kolouch, Linda Kudrnowská, Laboratoř, Františka Lachmanová, Zuzana Lednická, LINOSTOCK, Ian Lynam, Dermot Mac Cormack, Matýaš Machat, Man—Machine Type, Master & Master, Simon Matejka, Monsters, Veronika Rút Nováková, Oficina, OKOLO, PageFive, Parallel Practice, PBG, Pavla Pauknerová, Tomáš Pospiszyl, ReDesign, Rosetta Type Foundry, Side2, Radek Sidun, Adam Štěch, Storm Type Foundry, Studio adela&pauline, Studio Marvil, Studio Najbrt, Studio Novák & Balihar, Studio Petrohrad, Suitcase Type Foundry, Superior Type, superlative.works, Marta Sylvestrová, taketaketake, Tomski&Polanski, TypeTogether, uathentic, Rostislav Vaněk, and _ZVUK_.