Studio Manuel Raeder is an interdisciplinary design studio based in Berlin since 2003. Its activities include a wide range of formats, exploring the boundaries between exhibitions, ephemera, books, type design, editing and publishing to furniture design, as well as curatorial praxis.
Studio Manuel Raeder is concerned with the construction of narratives, both in the form of books, exhibition and communication design. Books can be used as carriers of information, or experimental devices to document or conceive narratives. In a similar manner, exhibition design can trigger different sensorial experiences, thus leading the visitor through a spatial narrative. The studio is interested in the meaning of books within space, the archive and also the future of libraries. How do different forms of organising and categorising define or alter history? Most of the furniture pieces, as well as several exhibition display systems, started as questions on how to deal with books and archives within space.
Studio Manuel Raeder has been engaged in designing, publishing and editing over 200 artist’s books in close collaboration with artists and has been responsible for the communication strategies and graphic identities of several cultural institutions and galleries including Kölnischer Kunstverein (2007 – 2011), Kunstverein München (2010 – 2015), Para Site Hong Kong (2012 – 2014), Artists Space New York (2009 – 2018), Galerie Neu Berlin (since 2005), Mendes Wood DM São Paulo/Brussels/New York (since 2014), kurimanzutto Mexico City (since 2016), as well as the fashion label BLESS (since 2004).
In 2011, Manuel Raeder founded the publishing house BOM DIA BOA TARDE BOA NOITE to distribute and publish artists who have a strong interest in exploring the format of the artist’s book. In doing so, the studio has developed longstanding collaborations with artists such as Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, Mariana Castillo Deball, Haegue Yang, Nora Schultz, Danh Vo, Heinz Peter Knes, Leonor Antunes, Abraham Cruzvillegas, Eran Schaerf, and Sergej Jensen, amongst others.
In collaboration with ELGARAFI, the studio runs a small book shop that also hosts regular events and talks around artist’s books. ELGARAFI BOM DIA is located at Linienstraße 158, 10115 Berlin, Mitte.
Studio Manuel Raeder are Sylvia Lee, Lucas Liccini, Sophie de Saint Phalle and Manuel Raeder.