Astrid Stavro announced as speaker at Design Indaba 2018
Founding partner of design studio, Atlas with partner, Pablo Martin, Stavro is also the editor-in-chief of the British art culture magazine, Elephant. Prior to founding Atlas, she directed the award-winning Astrid Stavro Studio for ten years in Barcelona.
Born in Italy, Stavro moved around quite a bit when she was growing up. From Trieste in Italy to Madrid in Spain, then the Netherlands, Boston and back to Spain. " For me, home is really nowhere. I have lived in so many places that for me, home is wherever my son and I are," she told London-based publishing platform, It's Nice That in an interview.
The designer made Barcelona her home after finishing an MA at the Royal College of Art in London about eight years ago, where she graduated with Distinction. Currently, Stavro lectures internationally on subjects related to design at various institutions around the world. Her work has been lauded internationally and she has received over one hundred creative awards. She is also the co-founder of the publishing house Infolio, specialised in books on graphic design and the visual culture.
Design based on content
According to an AIGA Eye on Design article her passion for design was first ignited when a friend introduced her to Interview magazine. In the article she says, “It was a pivotal moment in my life, seeing how the design brought the content to life.”
In 2014, arts and culture magazine Elephant celebrated the launch of its 20th issue with a stunning new design, created by Atlas. Stavro said in an interview with YCN, that the new designs were “based on the content and not the other way around.” She said: “This may sound simple but it’s actually quite complicated to find the right balance between words and images, creating well considered, responsive, dynamic, thoughtful and playful layouts that respond to the content without feeling dry, formulaic or over-designed.”
An insatiable reader and curious by nature, Stavro defines her design practice as “visual writing.” She told Design Indaba in an interview that for her there's no line drawn between disciplines and as such, no limit to its possibilities. "The British designer Derek Birdsall once told me that 'I always start with a dictionary'. The best designers are capable of adding new layers of meaning, imbuing words with narrative."
Click here for Bizcommunity's special section on the Design Indaba and here for more information on the Design Indaba website.
