Non-Format

Interview with Non-Format

Non-Format's date of birth : June 2001

Kjell Ekhorn

Jon Forss

- How did you meet and start the company?

N: We were introduced by a mutual friend; another Norwegian. We began discussing design ideas and realised we had a similar approach to design and similar ambitions. It wasn't long before we were working together and, once we accepted the commission to art direct and design The Wire magazine in 2001, we set up EkhornForss Limited, which later became known as Non-Format.

- What have you been doing before start the company?

N: We both started out working as designers in advertising agencies: Kjell in Norway and Jon in the west of England. We then both later moved into the arena of design for the publishing industry.

- Where did the name ''NON-FORMAT'' come from?

N: It comes from an article in the US design journal Emigre. The issue dealt with data storage and made the claim that even the mighty DVD would one day be replaced by a 'mythical non-format'. We loved the notion of being a non-format, almost as much as we loved the notion of being mythical.

- What influenced you to be a graphic designer? What are your art roots?

N: We both come from an arts-based background. Kjell's father was an architect and Jon's father worked for many years as a sculptor and furniture-maker so we were both surrounded by art and design books, magazines and tools of the trade. As students we were both immensely influenced by the work of 1960s Pop artists, in particular Andy Warhol. Warhol instilled in us a great appreciation for the graphic quality of everyday objects and made us aware of the power of multiples - we still get a kick out of seeing huge stacks of identical pieces of our work.

- What grabs you, and how is that expressed in your work?

N: We're always searching for the unusual and the original, plus we're never happy treading water - we like to keep things moving along rather than repeat ourselves too much so we always have one eye looking towards the horizon, scanning for new exciting aesthetics or approaches to design.

- You work on many different fields, Art, Music, Fashion and Company Advertisement, do you have any favorites and which project are you most remained in impression?

N: For us it's all about being given the opportunity to express ourselves. The field of music packaging, especially for the smaller independent labels, has been immensely rewarding on a creative level but it's also great to see our work appear in the larger arena that advertising can offer. Some of the typographic work we produced for The Wire magazine's headlines were incredibly rewarding and moved our work in a completely unexpected direction but it was fantastic to see that work later on being extended into part of the advertising campaign for Orange mobile phones. Other projects we have found particularly rewarding are the Back To Black LP packaging for London's Whitechapel art gallery, the identity work for Nike's Zoom LeBron III basketball shoe, the LoAF music packaging, our on-going design for Varoom magazine, to name a few.

- Which artist are you most influenced by?

N: The paint-splatterers of the fifties, the pop culture magnifiers and the ultra-minimalists of the sixties, the detail obsessives and the big thinkers of the seventies, the turn-it-all-on-its-head-mongers of the eighties, the animal-picklers and model-makers of the nineties, the-next-big-things of the noughties.

- What are you interested in or what is your favorite thing except Design?

N: Snow. Riding motorbikes (but not in the snow).

- Do you think you will still be designer after 10 years?

N: Yes. To a greater or lesser extent.

- What are your career plans, any future goals?

N: Expanding Non-Format to include a studio in Minneapolis, MN has been a huge step. We always look forward to new and exciting opportunities to collaborate with other designers, image-makers and, of course, generous and indulgent clients.

- Message for reader please…

You are our inspiration.

Website : http://www.non-format.com/

Written by Toshimi Takaishi