Studio Spass from Rotterdam designs identities that wrap themselves around trees, let letters dance across walls and transform typography into sculptures, always encouraging the public to get involved – and to have lots of fun.
Daan Mens and Jaron Korvinus met at the de Kooning Academy in Rotterdam. They studied illustration, but as this soon felt too limiting, they switched to graphic design, typography, and 3D, and have been pushing their boundaries ever since.
Especially since founding their own studio in 2014, they have shown that there are no limits when it comes to media and materials, nor to the constantly growing size of their works.
They transform fairs, festivals and public spaces into much happier places and invite people to have fun. And since that is the focus of their work, it’s no coincidence that they’ve even expressed this joy in their name. We spoke with Jaron from Studio Spass about the superpower of fun, how it shapes their process, inspires their ideas – and helps them build the connections that are essential to their work.
PAGE: How did a Dutch design studio end up with a German name? Of all things?
Jaron Korvinus: (laughs) Daan and I found each other in the printmaking workshop at the de Kooning Academy. It was under pressure of being closed down, because the computer was the new cool tool designers have to use. But we really loved it there – the physicality of the work, the space to experiment, and especially the fun we had with the design process. We connected strongly with it and when we made a list of potential names for our own studio, this fun experience kept coming back. Combined with the word Studio the german translation Spass just sounded right and also like the fun studio we are.
