fliegende Teilchen
typography / design / research
typography / design / research
fliegende Teilchen (flying particles) is a Berlin-based design office working in the fields of culture, environment, and scientific research, with the main focus on typography and book design.
Founded 15 years ago in Kiel, the fliegende Teilchen moved to the Netherlands for two years, where André Heers completed his Masters in Type and Media in Den Haag, and Annette le Fort worked on a research project on the relation of voice and typography at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht. This was followed by three years in Lisbon, Portugal.
After 5 years abroad, the »fliegende Teilchen« are back in Germany and working for various publishers, universities, and other cultural institutions. We experiment in and explore border areas of design, internationally and interdisciplinary, giving lectures and workshops.
Since 2009, Annette le Fort and André Heers are Professors for Typography and Book Design at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Kiel, Germany.
Awards / Grants
2014 International Typographic Award ISTD, London (category: posters)
2014 2 x International Typographic Award ISTD, London (category: books)
2013 Artist-in-Residency at the Cité des Arts Internationale, Paris
2011 International Typographic Award ISTD, London (category: magazines)
2011 International Typographic Award ISTD, London (category: posters)
2008 Artist-in-Residency at the Museums-Quartier, Vienna
2005 Comenius-Siegel
2005 Nominated for the Grimme Online Award
2004 International Typographic Award ISTD, London
2004 Daniel Gil Award, Madrid
2003 Grimme Online Award
2003 Award of Typographic Excellence, Type Director’s Club, New York
2002/03 Grant of the Jan van Eyck Academie Maastricht
2002 Red Dot Award
2002 Grant of the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service)
2001 MfG-Award of the bvdm (first prize)
2001 Corporate Design Award
2001 Judge’s choice, TDC New York
2001 Award of Typographic Excellence, Type Director’s Club, New York
2000 b+m Interactive Design Award
1997 Award »Schönste Deutsche Bücher«
Annette le Fort
worked in several theatres and studied communication design and at the interdisciplinary forum in Kiel (under the supervision of Klaus Detjen and Hubertus von Amelunxen).
In 1999, after receiving her diploma, she founded the design bureau »fliegende Teilchen« (flying particles) together with André Heers.
With an annual grant from the DAAD she moved in 2002 to the Netherlands, where she worked for two years on a research project about the relation between spoken and written language at the Jan van Eyck Academie, Maastricht.
Atelier talks a.o. with Karel Martens, John Murphy, Pierre di Sciullo, Armand Mevis, Melle Hammer, Jop van Bennekom, Eva Meyer, Eran Schaerf.
In 2005 she moved to Berlin and made her Master of Art at the University of Applied Sciences, Potsdam in cooperation with the Free University, Berlin.
Annette le Fort lives in Berlin, where she works as an artist and typographer. She is researching in the fields of language and communication, with a focus on the relation between speech and writing, as well as memory, palimpsest, and synaesthesia. She is particularly interested in the ‘materiality of language’ and explores this mainly through video, sound projects, photograms and different forms of performative diaries.
She is the editor of »Parole«, a series of publications revolving around a materiality of language. »Parole #1: The Body of the Voice / Stimmkörper« and »Parole #2: Phonetic Skin / Phonetische Haut« were published at the Salon Verlag, Cologne, 2009 and 2012.
Since 2009 she is Professor for typography at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel.
André Heers
studied communication design with principal emphasis on book design and typography in Kiel and Mainz, supervised by Klaus Detjen and Hans-Peter Willberg.
After receiving his diploma in Kiel 1999, he founded the design bureau »fliegende Teilchen« (flying particles) together with Annette le Fort.
In 2002 the bureau moved to the Netherlands, where André Heers took a master’s degree in »Type and Media« at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten, Den Haag in 2003, supervised by Fred Smeijers, Erik van Blokland, Just van Russum, Peter Verheul, and Paul van der Laan.
In 2003, after two years in the Netherlands, the design bureau moved to Berlin. From 2004 until 2007 André Heers has been living and working in Lisbon.
Since 2007 he works and lives in Berlin, where he focuses mainly on type design, book design and corporate design.
Since 2009 he is Professor at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design, Kiel.