The lecture series Elisava Masters’ Talks gets to its fifth edition, organized by Elisava’s Masters and Postgraduates area, in collaboration with Disseny Hub Barcelona. This edition will receive some of the most important names in present-day design, art, innovation, architecture, and communication, as protagonists of today’s forefront of design, engineering, and research internationally.
Jonas Janke (Germany, 1991) is an architect and partner at b+ (Berlin), a collaborative architecture practice led by himself, Arno Brandlhuber, Olaf Grawert, and Roberta Jurčić. He has a diverse background in architecture, was trained as an architectural draughtsman before pursuing his studies in Hamburg, Stockholm, and Berlin. He gained valuable experience as a tutor and assistant in various departments including design & typologies, building construction, and structural design. He was part of the team 2038, the German Pavilion at 17th Venice Architecture Biennale 2021. His early teaching experiences include guest studios at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) and Politecnico di Milano (Italy). He is regularly invited to give lectures and guest critiques at universities, cultural institutions, and public institutions. His focus is on new ecological construction materials and methods for adaptive reuse and renovation projects, seeking pragmatic and efficient technical and mechanical solutions that use material and construction thoughtfully.
The lecture Love me one time, two times … X times ! is not a conventional showcase of selected projects from their daily practice, but rather aims to provide a broader insight into the network of actors in which b+operates, how they understand the contemporary way of an architectural practice and scope of work of an architect, and how they approach their projects. In short: who b+ is and how they work, what their values are, and what the understanding of their duties and responsibilities as architects is.
Color defines her work. Ornament is her language. Form is her grammar. India Mahdavi creates environments that live, breathe, and delight—spaces in constant metamorphosis, shaped by light, mood, and memory. Based in Paris, and of Iranian and Egyptian heritage, raised across continents, she embodies a polyglot and polychrome sensibility: a synthesis of cultures and histories distilled into spaces, objects, and experiences that leave a lasting impression on the senses. Her practice spans interiors, furniture, scenography, and exhibitions, combining rigor and joy. From the Bishop stool to Sketch in London and Bar Nina in Milan, each project engages with its context and culture.
India Mahdavi presents Typologies of Intuition, a conversation with Omar Sosa, exploring a practice shaped by an attentive reading of place and experience. From the vernacular minimalism of Siwa to her reinterpretation of Villa Medici, her work reflects an ongoing dialogue between past and present, where each project emerges from its context. Intuition guides this process as a flexible, human way of thinking beyond fixed rules. In Paris, this approach extends into an ecosystem of spaces that brings the studio into the street, fostering exchange, accessibility, and new forms of engagement with a wider creative community.
Kathy Ryan will choose a handful of photographs that stand out in her mind from the pages of The New York Times Magazine during the 39 years she worked there. She will share the backstory for each picture to give insight into how that image came into being. The photographs will cover a wide range of subject matter including international news, lifestyle stories, and culture coverage.
Ryan will also show and talk about some of the photographs from her Office Romance series that she made during the last decade she worked at The NYTMAG. They are a love poem to her colleagues and a celebration of the radiant light in the Renzo Piano-designed New York Times building.
Karel Martens (1939) is a Dutch graphic designer and educator. He studied at the Arnhem Academy of Art and Design, graduating in 1961. From 1977 to 2020, he taught internationally at ArtEZ, the Jan van Eyck Academie, and Yale University, and co-founded the Werkplaats Typografie in 1998. Martens designed the award-winning OASE magazine from 1990 to 2021. His work is held in collections including SFMOMA and The Art Institute of Chicago, and has been shown in solo exhibitions at P! (New York), Kunstverein München, 019 (Ghent), and Platform-L (Seoul). He received the BNO Piet Zwart Prize in 2023.
Thomas Castro (1967) is a graphic designer, educator, and curator, and since 2019 Curator of Graphic Design at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. There he initiated the Post/No/Bills public poster circuit, curated the exhibition Karel Martens: Unbound, and edited the collection book Stedelijk Museum Posters by Color. Previously, he co-founded the multidisciplinary studio LUST and LUSTlab in 1996, which was awarded the BNO Piet Zwart Award in 2017 for their two-decade oeuvre. His practice connects making, education, and curating, with a focus on expanding the graphic design canon.
Despite not always being entirely comfortable with the label “designer,” Ronan Bouroullec is undeniably among the most prolific and admired practitioners working today. For more than three decades, his Paris atelier—led with his brother Erwan until 2023—has produced a remarkable series of “singular objects,” often in collaboration with leading design manufacturers such as Alessi, Artek, and Vitra.
In a special conversation with journalist Anne Quito, Bouroullec will reflect on the arc of his career and explains how his drawing practice has remained a central pillar of his life and work. Vignettes from his latest monograph, Ronan Bouroullec: Day After Day (Phaidon, 2023), will be a highlight of the evening.
In this talk, Dries Depoorter delves into his world of his art, blending the boundaries between technology and creativity. Attendees will be taken on a journey through Depoorter’s recent and upcoming projects, offering insights into the conceptual and technical processes behind his works. Dries will showcase live demonstrations of his art in the form of giving away likes or followers. This lecture offers a unique opportunity to learn more about the projects that have brought him worldwide recognition.
Belgian creative technologist and artist Dries Depoorter, based in Ghent, creates thought-provoking work about technology, surveillance, AI and social media in a playful way that makes people laugh while delivering serious messages in an accessible way. His projects explore digital culture that can inspire marketers: privacy challenges, artificial intelligence applications, surveillance and authentic social media projects.
