Polimekanos is a graphic design practice based in London and Vienna. The studio was founded in 2001 by Stefan Kraus and Joseph Kohlmaier. Lisa Stephanides has joined the team in 2013 and is head of the studio in Vienna since 2019. Polimekanos works across a variety of media, from visual identities and books to exhibition design and websites, wayfinding and public realm work, publishing and curatorial commissions. Polimekanos has a reputation for an unusual working method that is research-led – allowing place, history and the immediate context to inform the design process – and at the same time idiosyncratic, open to more unusual references and interdisciplinary, contemporary discourses.
info@polimekanos.com
+44 (0)20 7033 4466
United Kingdom:
8 Ripley House
Rushworth Street
London SE1 0RA
Austria:
Neutorgasse 12
1010 Wien
Stefan Kraus
Lisa Stephanides
Stefan Kraus is an independent artist and director of graphic design practice Polimekanos. He worked in London for Imagination and Nick Bell Design. Before moving to England in 1997, Stefan studied at the Hochschule der Bildenden Künste Saarbrücken in Germany, where he received his degree, and also for one year at the Beaux-Arts de Nancy in France. His main focus of his studies were fine art, art history and design. www.stefankraus.net
Lisa Stephanides joined Polimekanos in 2013 and is head of the office in Vienna since 2019. She has a diploma in communication design from die Graphische in Vienna and holds a BA in Design & Interaction from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art & Design, London. In 2013, she gained an MA in Book Design at the Department of Typography & Graphic Communication, University of Reading with a focus on art publications and exhibition design. Since autumn 2019 she is teaching composition and visualisation at die Graphische in Vienna.
Joseph Kohlmaier
Joseph Kohlmaier was born in Vienna, Austria. He founded Polimekanos with Stefan Kraus in 2001. Joseph studied photography at the Schule für Künstlerische Photographie in Vienna and architectural history and theory in London, where he gained a masters degree in 2005 and where is now a Principal Lecturer and Head of Critical and Contextual Studies. He is also the founding director of Musarc, one of London’s most progressive choral collectives.
Selected Publications
- ‘If You Could Collaborate: Sebastian Wrong and Stefan Kraus’, It’s nice that, 2011
- ‘Polimekanos’, Design Week, June 2010
- ‘Objects of desire: Font Clock’, Grafik, 2007
Awards
Archiboo Live Awards 2021, 'Best Visual Design' for Office S&M Website
Teaching and Workshops
Teaching position, Die Graphische, Vienna, Composition and Visualisation (Lisa Stephanides)
Head of Critical and Contextual Studies, The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design (Joseph Kohlmaier)
Visiting Tutor: Layout Workshop, London College of Contemporary Arts
The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design. Critical and Contextual Studies in Visual Communication
Talk: Designing for the Public Realm, Camberwell College
Studio Talk and Working Life in London, Die Graphische, Vienna
Visiting Tutor: Identity Design project, Camberwell College. In collaboration with Rob Sollis
Colour Dance Workshop, Field Studies, London Metropolitan University
Design Workshop, Escuela de Arte y Superior de Diseño Antonio Lopez, Tomelloso, Spain. Funded by Erasmus
Rhythmic Drawing Workshop, Musarc, The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design
Polimekanos Studio Talk at Spike Island
Rhythmic Drawing and Colour Dance Workshops. Typography Summer School, London
Polimekanos Studio Talk, Central St Martins
