Carlos De los Rios Munich 32 Memoiren des Geflügel Exodus, 2007, collage 180 181 Nach dem Streit, 2012, oil on canvas, 90 x 70 cm. Courtesy Gallery Stephanie Bender Munich
Mirko Borsche Unplugged - Design Works! Bureau Mirko Borsche, 2012, poster for the exhibition at The international Design Museum Munich We meet Mirko Borsche in his office: a spacious, brightly lit alcove tucked into a residential complex. We’re in Au, south-east of the tourist centre and bier steins for sale, in a quiet neighbourhood that’s seen a gradual increase of designers, architects, photographers and artists in the past two years. That’s what we’re told, anyway. unlike other cities, Munich has no signs directing artists (and art journalists) to the ‘cheaper’ or ‘underdeveloped’ parts of town. In Munich, those areas don’t really exist. Borsche is among the most internationally recognized names from this city. Having opened his graphic design studio, Bureau Mirko Borsche, in 2007, he cites names as varied as industrial designer Stefan Diez, the record label Gomma, the renowned Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, BMW Group, and the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit among his clients. Among his friends, he counts Konstantin Grcic, fashion designer Ayzit Bostan, musicians Jonas Imbery and Mathias Modica (AKA Munk, founders of Gomma music collective), and others. ‘Munich is a friendly place to work’, says Borsche. ‘We all know each other and admire each others’ work.’ Bureau Mirko Borsche’s projects reach across the aisles between magazines, books, posters, typefaces and fashion, but Borsche has also participated in several exhibitions – most recently at The International Design Museum Munich [Die Neue Sammlung] inside the Pinakothek der Moderne. There, the Bureau had a solo show called ‘Unplugged. Bureau Mirko Borsche. Design Works!’, for which Borsche filled the hall with handpainted, blackandwhite posters. Still, Borsche tells me that design is design and art is art. At least in Munich, that’s the case, he says. Then, I suppose in order to understand this case, we first need to talk about the city. — Have you seen Munich change? There was a long stretch, in the eighties, when there were movies being made here and publishing houses turning out books, big newspapers and famous people. But it all started to dry up in the nineties, which is why I left Munich for something like 15 years at that time. Ten years ago, it was so boring here, there was no way we could have opened an office like this. It just wouldn’t have been possible: there was nothing going on in the city. — Where did you go? I went to study in London, then went on to Amsterdam, Hamburg for a while, Berlin, and then I came back because I was going to have a child in Munich. So I did return. But from a professional point of view, I was nervous about it. Apart from having no good design opportunities, there wasn’t any life in the city, no clubs or pubs in the centre itself. The city didn’t want it, which created big areas outside the city with something like 150 clubs and 60 bars all in one area. That's not very nice, is it? It took a while for a good club scene to come back here, because of the rent. Finally, in the last two, three years, I have seen things really happening here again. — What makes it possible to have a studio like yours now? Other than the city improving, maybe the answer is as simple as the internet. We’re not based in Berlin, which doesn’t help for publicity, but our website still has something like 90,000 visitors a month. That’s a hell of a lot. I’m sure it’s a lot of graphic design students, but they would never see our work if it wasn’t online. That made it possible for me to start this company with just one intern and no clients. And because the first client to come to us was Die Zeit Magazin, after that we didn’t have to advertise our company anymore, because anyone who read in German knew about us. Now we have about 15 people working in the office, including five interns, and they come from everywhere: Sicily, Paris, we’ve had people from Singapore and Hong Kong. Normally, Munich is not the type of city that people just move to for something new. They go to New York, Berlin. But once they come here, they start to love it. — Many artists have told me that galleries are moving to Berlin, is there a similar kind of exodus in the design world? Of course the galleries are moving to Berlin. It's loads cheaper there. It’s probably a better place for artists, who need a cheap place to work more than anything. But we need clients. We need people to work with, and we need a good airport. We need surroundings in which clients feel comfortable. Of course, abroad, clients often think that Munich is only 10km from Berlin [laughs] and everybody just assumes we’re from there, since Munich is still perhaps known more for Biergartens than its design scene. — Is there tension between the designers in Munich and Berlin? There are a lot of talented people in Berlin, but there is a lot of work being done in Munich. Two of the best industrial designers in the world live and work here [referring to Konstantin Grcic and Stefan Diez], which is brilliant for this city. I feel that if Munich has five or six internationally known designers, that’s all it needs, it’s very strong already. Plus, our situation is that I’m in Munich maybe, three or four days a week, and then I travel to where our clients are – New York, 182 183 Munich But we need clients. We need people to work with, and we need a good airport Bureau Mirko Borsche exhibition, 2011
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