February 2009
The European Commission has declared 2009 the European Year of Creativity and Innovation.
One of the official ambassadors of the initiative is Berlin’s own designer and typographer, Erik Spiekermann.
The aims of the initiative are to use projects, conferences and action campaigns to foster and profile Europe‘s creativity and capacity for innovation and its significance in the development of the information society.
A host of institutions are part of the European Year of Creativity and Innovation under the aegis of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.
“I don’t expect much from a state initiative”, Erik Spiekermann said about his commitment to the initiative, “but because it is no good just to complain all
the time, I’m doing it and I will try, at the many events, to show the skills and methods that we designers use to describe and solve problems."
"We can contribute much to the process, but that is not of any use if nobody knows about it”.
In addition to Erik Spiekermann, other leading figures in society, culture, design, architecture and science that have been appointed ambassadors for the EU initiative include Spain’s premiere molecular chef Ferran Adrià, Belgian choreographer Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker, Dutch architect and urban planner Rem Koolhaas, Italian neurologist and Nobel laureate Rita Levi Montalcini and British writer Edward de Bono.
Erik Spiekermann holds an honorary doctorate from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA.
He is an honorary professor at the Bremen art college and serves on the board of international design institutions.
In 1979, he founded MetaDesign, which he built up into Germany’s largest design company before leaving in 2001.
In 2007, he was inducted into the European Designers Hall of Fame and awarded the title of Honorary Royal Designer for Industry from the British Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce.
Erik Spiekermann is a partner and creative director of Edenspiekermann, the new branding and design agency set up by SpiekermannPartners (Berlin) and Eden Design & Communication (Amsterdam).
The company provides a full range of services including communications strategies, corporate design systems, websites, magazine layout and proprietary font design.
Edenspiekermann can boast among its clients ABN-AMRO Bank, the Berlin Philharmonic, Bosch, CNN, German Rail, Gravis, Lufthansa, n-tv, Nokia, the Frankfurt Trade Fair association, Pioneer Investments, Rabobank, the Stedelijk Museum, TCHO and ZDF.
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