FK chats to the fabulous typography collaboration MASH Studio, working together across three countries they bring together their creative talent and love of fonts with their fantastic range of type goods! Check these guys out when they come together debuting at the Sydney Markets!
Tell us about your label Mash Studio and what the concept is behind it?
We are a typographic collaboration of four font fanatics that create designer prints and brands that incorporate beautiful custom lettering. With typography being rather specialist in the design industry, particularly in New Zealand where we all originate from, we formed a collective whereby all the projects are focused on creating custom type. The Mash name for our studio is an acronym of our four members first names – Mary Faber, Alice Lo, Saranna Drury & Haylie Gray. Hams didn’t quite have the same ring…
What are your backgrounds and how did you start working together?
All graphic designers, we met while studying and decided to combine our love for typography in a collaborative project, MASH by MASH. Creating a custom decorative alphabet, we shared our project via social media and showcased our project in an exhibition. Following its success we continued to build our label by collaborating on more projects, which you can check out here: mashstudio.co.nz
What do you love about working with Typography? What keeps you creatively motivated?
It’s difficult to describe why anyone would become as obsessed as we have with typography, but we love every aspect of it. Type design can be harshly structural or organically fluid, a dynamism that makes it so exciting. Communication through the medium of type is everywhere – we aim to make that presence more engaging.
Our motivation stems from passion, and working in a team of devoted, inspiring individuals with similar aspirations enhances that.
What is your workspace like and what is your creative process?
Working from three different countries our workspaces all differ – generally a minimalist desk with a Mac, sketchbook and a constant supply of hot beverages (with the odd cold one thrown in).
We meet via Skype once a week to discuss ideas and goals, and then work on designs before our next meeting. We are all quite tactile in our approach, generally starting by sketching and then progressing to screen development.
What challenges have you faced starting your own label, and what are some things you love about it?
The major difficulty we face is living in different countries – finding time to meet with disparate time zones and motivating ourselves individually can prove challenging. To counteract this distance we keep in touch throughout the week to drive one another and continually seek effective methods to enhance our communication.
What we love about Mash Studio is working as a team. Bouncing ideas off each other brings unique creative solutions and being a group we can tackle larger projects. We all bring something different to the creative table and have a lot of fun working together, whether that be in the same continent or not!
What can we expect to see from MASH at the upcoming Sydney Markets?
An original collection of designer prints, cards, wrapping paper, tote bags and more, featuring charming custom-type throughout. Tote bags are a popular flavour of ours, combining luscious lettering with fun wordplay, and these can be teamed with matching or mix-matching our themed cards and wrapping – the quintessential stylised gift combo. Our unique designs will tickle the taste buds of type-troopers and letter-lovers alike. Come check out our stall and feel free to talk type with us! See you soon…
