Achieved. Archived. Our mahi is done.

by Catherine Griffiths

We have made a bittersweet decision to deactivate and archive the Designers Speak (Up) project.

Almost six years have passed since the formation of Designers Speak (Up) in 2018, soon after project founder Catherine Griffiths protested against the Designers Institute of New Zealand and its flagship Best Awards with three type specimen posters, 40/3, Archive, and Jury, highlighting the systemic writing-out of women in Aotearoa’s design history. 

Through the volunteer-run platform and its projects, we stimulated and stirred up the design community giving rise to unprecedented action and achievement with determination, humour, the occasional tear, friends gained, friends lost. Not surface-level, but deeper and meaningful, purposeful, relevant and tangible.

A brief six-year chronology:

2018: Catherine Griffiths releases three protest posters, 40/3, Archive, and Jury, highlighting the systemic writing-out of women in Aotearoa’s design history (and more); the formation of Designers Speak (Up), “an open and democratic platform for all designers in Aotearoa New Zealand to have a voice” with a core team of volunteers, including Alice Connew and Katie Kerr; Action 40/3, our courageous protest outside the 2018 Awards with the support of Auckland Feminist Action; the launch of the Directory of Women* Designers the following day on the 125th year of women’s suffrage (now on the cusp of 600 entries!); the volunteer silkscreen-printing of protest posters; our online SHOP goes live . . .  *[women/womxn/wāhine/-identifying and non-binary]

2019: Figures that don’t add up, Eye, the international review of graphic design features our project to mark IWD; the #ff3333 Poster Call goes out just two days before the Christchurch attacks; launch of the 2019 poster project and exhibition hīkoi up and down the mōtu \\\ Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa /// with 115 posters (117 contributors), six commissioned essays (Lana Lopesi, Chloe Geoghegan, Desna Whaanga-Schollum, Elle Loui August, Michelle Wang, Emma Ng), six galleries and venues (Ramp Gallery, Laurel Project Space, Te Pū O Te Wheke, Britomart Works on Paper with Phantom Billstickers, Ilam Campus Gallery, Enjoy Contemporary Art Space); Jinki Cambronero’s DSUp Instagram residency To Be Continued (TBC) video interview series; Catherine Griffiths represents DSUp at the Design for Social Innovation symposium, ‘Aotearoa Design Upholding Te Tiriti and Diversity in Design’ with Desna Whaanga-Schollum and Lucy Tukua, Ngā Aho Māori Design Professionals Inc; and in Melbourne at Transformations: Action on Equity, ʻGet Organised! action at the grassroots’, invited by Parlour Inc and Melbourne School of Design (MSD) . . .

2020: extracts from To Be Continued (TBC) focuses on racism, a ten-day segment by Jinki Cambronero . . .

2022: the successful application by Catherine Griffiths (with the support of Chloe Geoghegan, Bruce Connew, Sophie Davis, Philip Clarke and Megan Lyon) to Creative New Zealand for funding to edit, design and publish the eponymous project . . .

2023: ‘Present Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa — a paper record.’ published by Vapour Momenta Books with the support of, CNZ and Lost Time Project; and launched at Ramp Festival followed by Enjoy Contemporary Art Space, Te Tuhi and Smash Palace — enormous generosity by each, supportive of our kaupapa, with kai and kōrero brought to the table; The Spinoff publishes Emma Ng’s essay Disappointing the past and failing the future as an extract; Saying the quiet part in 72pt font by Theo Macdonald is published under Culture Etc. in North&South; and book reviews appear in ArtNews, and Art New Zealand.

In and out of this chronology we published essays, poems, interviews, letters, responses, critical writing and much more on the Designers Speak (Up) blog. We continued to encourage designers to stand up, challenge comfort zones, to find alternative paths. Our previous post, “I join my voice to millions of others across the world in my appeal to you” collected the work, both historical and current, of those active in our community in response to the horrors in Palestine. Along with this rich and diverse published material, our book ʻPresent Tense : Wāhine Toi Aotearoa — a paper record.’ remains an enduring flag, testament to this mahi, in red ink on paper.

Achieved. Archived. Our mahi is done. Āe.

Ngā mihi nunui, thank you to everyone who has contributed, played a part, supported, and who will persist with real change, and display real courage. Who knows, a reactivation is never off the table.

What this means 

From 1 April 2024, our online presence will be static, but kept available as a record and resource for reference and research. The Instagram and Facebook pages will be inactive but remain online. The online SHOP and Directory will remain active. If you would like to be in touch, please email us. Feel welcome to comment, message us, share the news, and celebrate for yourselves!

Kia kaha, kia maia, kia manawanui.

Catherine Griffiths for DSUp

a note on the posters: one of our very early international supporters was Svenja Prigge, founder of POSTERWOMXN (the logotype typeset in Magnet, a typeface by Inga Plönnings). As a nod to this early connection, I settled on Inga’s Messer (Knife) to articulate the messages in my two type specimen posters for DSUp. — CG.