Marian Bantjes (born 1963) is a Canadian designer, artist, illustrator, typographer and writer. Describing her work as graphic art, Marian Bantjes is known for her custom lettering, intricate patterning and decorative style. Inspired by illuminated manuscripts, Islamic calligraphy, Baroque ornamentation, Marian Bantjes creates detailed work, often combining the forms of her disparate influences. Marian Bantjes has published two books.

Biography

Born in 1963, Marian Bantjes grew up in

Saskatchewan, Canada Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. She studied art for a year in 1982, before dropping out. She started working in the field of visual communication in 1983 and worked as a book typesetter from 1984 to 1994 for Hartley & Marks. She became well known as a talented graphic designer from 1994 to 2003, when she was a partner and senior designer at Digitopolis in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada, where she created identity and communication designs for a wide range of corporate, education and arts organizations. She owned and ran the design firm, with a small staff. In 2003 Marian left her firm and "strategic design" behind to embark on the work that she has since become internationally known for. Describing herself as a

graphic artist A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography, or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, p ...

, working primarily with custom type and ornament, Bantjes' highly personal, obsessive and sometimes strange graphic work has brought her international recognition and fame as a world-class visual designer. Bantjes is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, obsessive hand work, patterning and highly ornamental style.

Stefan Sagmeister Stefan Sagmeister (born August 6, 1962) is an Austrian graphic designer, storyteller, and typographer based in New York City. In 1993, Sagmeister founded his company, Sagmeister Inc., to create designs for the music industry. He has designed alb ...

calls Bantjes "one of the most innovative typographers working today," and Noreen Morioka calls Bantjes "the

Doyald Young Doyald Young (September 12, 1926 – February 28, 2011) was an American typeface designer and teacher who specialized in the design of logotypes, corporate alphabets, lettering and typefaces. Work The typefaces designed by Doyald Young inclu ...

of her generation." In 2005 Bantjes was named one of 25 up-and-coming Designers to Watch (''STEP Magazine'', January 2005). Bantjes' clients include

Pentagram A pentagram (sometimes known as a pentalpha, pentangle, or star pentagon) is a regular five-pointed star polygon, formed from the diagonal line segments of a convex (or simple, or non-self-intersecting) regular pentagon. Drawing a circle aroun ...

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

, Bruce Mau Design, Young & Rubicam Chicago, Anni Kuan, Houghton Mifflin, ''

Print Magazine ''Print'' is an American design and culture website that began as ''Print, A Quarterly Journal of the Graphic Arts'', in 1940, and continued publishing a physical edition through the end of 2017 as ''Print''. As a printed publication, ''Print'' ...

'', ''Wallpaper* '', ''

WIRED ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...

'', ''The Guardian (UK)'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', among others. She has also worked on design materials for

AIGA The American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) is a professional organization for design. Its members practice all forms of communication design, including graphic design, typography, interaction design, user experience, branding and identity ...

, TypeCon 2007, and the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC). Her work has been featured in ''STEP'', ''étapes'' (Paris), ''Azure'', ''Matrix'' (Quebec) ''Tupigrafia'' (Brazil) and ''Print'', ''Fontshops Font 004, and ''Eye magazine'' (#58). She has written the design book "I wonder", published by the

Monacelli Press Phaidon Press is a global publisher of books on art, architecture, design, fashion, photography, and popular culture, as well as cookbooks, children's books, and travel books. The company is based in London and New York City, with additional of ...

, which was dubbed one of the 13 best design books of 2010 by Fastco design. Bantjes has been honored with numerous awards and her work is now part of the permanent collection at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Bantjes is an accomplished writer on the subjects of typography and design, and was a regular contributor to the popular design website ''Speak Up''. ''Speak Up'' is no longer in publication. Bantjes is frequently invited to sit on design award juries and speak at design conferences – such a
Trimarchi
in 2008 – and design schools around the world. Bantjes says "throwing your individuality into a project is heresy" but she has built a career doing just that, as her signature style is unmistakable. In 2007 she released Restraint, a typeface that integrates her style of ornamentation to be used as shapes and borders. From 2002–2006 Bantjes served as the Communications VP of the Society of Graphic Designers in

. She was also the Chair and Creative Director of the 2006 Graphex Canadian design awards. In 2008 Bantjes was invited back to serve as a judge fo
'Graphex 2008 Canadian National Design Awards'
Bantjes lives and works internationally from her base on Bowen Island off the west coast of Canada, near Vancouver, BC.bantjes.com

Shows

*March 2008 - Included in the exhibit "Rococo: The Continuing Curve" at the

Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum housed within the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 museums that fall under the wing of the Smithsonian Ins ...

(Smithsonian),

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, NY. *Jan–Feb 2009 - Solo exhibit at the University Art Gallery, Department of Art and Design,

California Polytechnic State University California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo (California Polytechnic State University, Cal Poly"Cal Poly" may also refer to California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt in Arcata, California or California State Polytechnic Univ ...

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

, CA *December 2009 - Included in the exhibit "Lubalin Now," at The Cooper Union, School of Art,

New York, NY New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. *April 2010 - One of 14 designers represented in droog’s "Saved by droog" exhibit at the

Salone del Mobile The Milan Furniture Fair ( it, Salone Internazionale del Mobile di Milano) is a furniture fair held annually in Milan. It is the largest trade fair of its kind in the world. The exhibition showcases the latest in furniture and design from countrie ...

in Milan, Italy. *July–October 2010 - Centraal Museum Utrecht, Netherlands in "Saved by droog" collection. *March–June 2011 - Solo exhibit - OnSite Gallery at OCAD,

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD, is a public art university located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's main campus is spread throughout several buildings and facilities within do ...

, Toronto, ON, Canada *June 2013 - Included in the exhibit "Work at Play," at the Chicago Design Museum,

Chicago, IL (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

Awards

* Print’s Regional Design Annual, Certificate of Excellence, with Stefan Sagmeister for "The Vanity of Allegory". 2006. *Communication Arts, Award of Excellence, (as writer) with

for "The Alphabet." 2007. *Print’s Regional Design Annual, Certificate of Excellence, with Pentagram for "Yale School of Architecture, Seduction Poster". 2007. *26th Annual

Western Magazine Awards Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. For illustration "My Dear Can We Work Together" in Vancouver Review. 2008. *Type Directors’ Club tdc2. With

Ross Mills Ross or ROSS may refer to: People * Clan Ross, a Highland Scottish clan * Ross (name), including a list of people with the surname or given name Ross, as well as the meaning * Earl of Ross, a peerage of Scotland Places * RoSS, the Republic of Sout ...

for the font "Restraint". 2008. *Type Directors’ Club 54. For the TypeCon 2007 material. 2008. *

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' is the largest international trade journal of visual communications.Au ...

Design Annual 2009. With Pentagram for Strathmore paper ream wrap.

References

External links

*
Marian Bantjes - Designing Minds - Adobe TV
(video, 8 minutes) * - Intricate beauty by design (TED2010) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bantjes, Marian 1963 births Living people Canadian graphic designers Canadian illustrators Canadian typographers and type designers Canadian women artists Artists from Saskatchewan Women graphic designers

Biography

Shows

Awards

References

Further reading

External links