We interview Eike König about Hort's 20th birthday show at KK Outlet

Date
12 September 2014

20 years ago in 1994, little known designer Eike König set up his “graphic design playground” Hort, creating a community in the centre of Berlin where creatives could collaborate on ideas and client briefs side by side. Nowadays, the playground is slightly bigger, undertaking work for Nike, The New York Times and Walt Disney among others, but the underlying emphasis on collaboration and experimentation remains exactly the same.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the studio, Hort are exhibiting a selection of brand new work at London’s KK Outlet. How did they go about setting up the show? They all collaborated on as much new work as they could fit into the back of a minivan, because that’s just the way they are. We spoke to founder Eike about his wondrous playground and the different between the Hort of 20 years ago and the one which exists today.

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Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

20 years is a big one! Happy birthday! How do you go about all those years into one exhibition?

Thanks a lot. 20 years… It’s a long time, but it still feels like yesterday. 

We don’t really like the idea of a retrospective, we don’t like shows where we see the same things we see online, so we thought it’d be a good idea to develop a series of artworks just for the exhibition. The connection between each artwork is collaboration. 

The brief was to fit everything we made into a minivan so we could drive the artworks from Berlin to London. Nothing more, nothing less. The van had to be carefully packed, so customs had some problems checking through it. The journey is part of the exhibition; it somehow represents the journey Hort has made over the last 20 years. Learning by doing. 

What are you showing in the exhibition, and how did the selection process work?

We’ll show six different pieces, all of which have been made collaboratively by different members of Hort. Three of them started in Rome where we did a residency last year at the German Academy of Art. 

What has changed since you first started HORT 20 years ago? 

I’m not working alone anymore!

What do you hope will change in the next 20 years?

I don’t really think about tomorrow that much; Hort was always evolving and changing depending on the people working there. So let’s wait for another 20 years and then we’ll see!

How do you feel looking at the work you are exhibiting now?

Critical. Some things could have been made more perfect, but hey, it’s good. There’s a strong conceptual connection between all of them and I’m happy we made it work. It’s a lot about questioning the past and connecting it with now. Diving into other cultures to have a critical look at your own culture. 

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned since you started out?

It’s okay to not be perfect.

We have recently collaborated with Hort on a range of three T-shirts. You can get them from the Company of Parrots shop.

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

Above

Hort: It’s Not a Place, It’s a Feeling at KK Outlet

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About the Author

Maisie Skidmore

Maisie joined It’s Nice That fresh out of university in the summer of 2013 as an intern before joining full time as an Assistant Editor. Maisie left It’s Nice That in July 2015.

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