To celebrate Women’s History Month, we asked a few Kilograph team members to share their thoughts on a woman who has inspired them. Here, see what we have to say about the women who have influenced our creative pursuits:
“Besides being an a brilliant and well-deserved internationally awarded graphic designer and multimedia artist, her life itself is a work of art. Lead by extreme passion and staunch conviction for justice she speaks through design, giving visual voice to narratives that desperately need it, creating work that is equally captivating and sobering. Her work and her energy is like a pack of wild horses. Rebecca Mendez has some of the most powerful energy I’ve ever encountered, and she relentlessly uses her powers for good.”
– Jen Agosta, Senior Graphic Designer
“Deborah Berke is an architect and founder of Deborah Berke Partners in New York City. She is such an influence in the industry, and she designed one of my favorite buildings in Columbus Indiana, called the Irwin Union Bank. I had the pleasure of meeting her when she gave a lecture at my college. Then, I was invited to go out to dinner with her and a group of faculty and fellow students after the presentation; I was just so amazed by her. She was warm but incredibly knowledgeable and thought provoking. I will never forget that dinner and what an impression she made on me.”
– Ali Chidester, 3D Artist
“Deborah taught an upper-level sculpture class for a semester as a guest professor when I was in college. I couldn’t get into her class because I didn’t meet the prerequisites at the time (which I’m still salty about to this day). Even though I was not a student of hers Deborah always made herself available to me, or anyone, who wanted to discuss art and it’s process. We chatted a lot. She was incredibly encouraging and would often take time out of her day to see what I and others where working on. Often asking really hard questions about what you were doing and why.
One of the things she instilled in me is how much the process of making art is a conversation. It’s a conversation with everything, the materials, the colors, its environment, most importantly with yourself. You need to open yourself up and be willing to have that conversation.
I will always be grateful to Deborah for the time she was willing to spend with me as a young art student. I wasn’t one of her students and she didn’t have to. But those conversations and her encouragement was really an important gift to me at the time.”
– Mark Englund, Senior Environmental Graphics Designer
“I love Susan Kare’s story. It’s kind of a creative’s dream come true – she was a visual artist who barely understood computers, was following her own passions and working as a sculptor, when a childhood friend offered her a job at his computer company… a small but growing business called Apple. Fast forward a few decades, and her icons and typography have become a shorthand we still use today. By applying a fine art sensibility to a computer science task, she created an iconic (hah) example of economy of design.”
– Cody Mackenzie, Studio Manager
“Anni Albers was a Bauhaus textile artist who was instrumental to the development of abstract art, education and theory. Also a bad ass designer!”
– Keely Colcleugh, CEO & Founder
“My grandma, Norma Vande Kamp, always has held education of high importance. She is active politically. She is outspoken and often writes letters to the editor of her local newspapers.”
– Sarah Vande Kamp, Marketing and Sales Manager
“In 2004, Zaha Hadid became the first Woman who won a Pritzker Prize; she took the strongest materials in the world and manipulated them to form objects that appear soft and sturdy at the same time. She has completely changed the way we conceptualize and design modern architecture.”
– Riccardo Zerbinati, 3D Artist
