This sentence from Roland Barthes ‘Fragments of a Language of Love’ stood on the house wall of Kochan & Partner in Hirschgartenallee for almost 20 years, continually inviting Sunday walkers on their way to Nymphenburg Palace Park to pause in surprise.
The idea of placing relationships and references at the centre of creativity and originality is deeply in line with our and my understanding of design and communication. And it characterises the things I do - any (following) list of ideas, projects and undertakings, books and articles remains incomplete because they are created in a continuous interplay. As much as I enjoy taking on responsibility and leadership, connecting people as well as companies and organisations worldwide - all of this is only possible because I have the exchange with and support of friends and companions, business partners and employees. I would like to thank them for what we have created together.
Boris Kochan
Boris Kochan
Strategy, Consulting, Design, Text
Boris Kochan designs: companies, organizations, relationships, and connections—as an entrepreneur, designer, author, curator, moderator, and consultant. After his education in layout and typography at the Sternagel graphic studio, he first gained journalistic experience, including at an external editorial office of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, followed by technical experience at the Lothar Wolf typesetting studio and—in lithography and screen printing—at the Jürgen Höflich print workshop. While still a student, he founded a graphic and text office with friends in 1981, expanded it two years later to include typesetting and lithography, Zelig printing in 1989, and the interactive unit Peppermind in 1995. Today, Kochan & Partner is a branding and design agency with about 40 individuals in Munich and a branch in Berlin, making it one of the 15 largest owner-managed CD/CI agencies in Germany.
Since 1986, he managed the company together with Gabriele Werner—at the end of 2022, both handed over sole management to longtime employees Markus Greve and Martin Summ. Boris Kochan remains with the company as majority shareholder and senior advisor, particularly overseeing the long-term client Studiosus Reisen.
Boris Kochan curates and moderates conferences, panel discussions, and round tables, gives lectures around the world, and leads workshops on brand development, communication, and design policy. As president of the international non-Latin script project GRANSHAN, he is responsible, together with Veronika Burian and Toshi Omagari, for competitions and conferences, exhibitions, and publications. In 2011, he initiated the QVED (later EDCH), which has since become Europe's largest editorial design conference, together with Horst Moser. After seven years as the first chairman of the Typographische Gesellschaft München (tgm), he became the founding president of the newly formed umbrella organization of German design organizations Deutscher Designtag (DT) in April 2016. He represents this organization as the spokesperson for the design section and, since March 2019, as vice president in the leading association of German art and culture, media, and creative associations, the Deutscher Kulturrat.
Functions
Founder and Senior Advisor @ KOCHAN & PARTNER GmbH Brand Design Development | Munich and Berlin | www.kochan.de
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief @ 8daw—eight days a week: Exploring Change | A newsletter magazine by Boris Kochan and friends | www.eightdaw.com
President @ DT—Deutscher Designtag e.V.—Umbrella association of German design organizations and managing director of the subsidiary Designtag Servicegesellschaft UG (limited liability) | Berlin | www.designtag.org
Vice President, Spokesperson for the Design Section, and Chair of the Digitalization and AI Committee @ Deutscher Kulturrat e.V.—Umbrella association of German cultural organizations | Berlin | www.kulturrat.de
Co-Initiator, Designtag Representative, and Background Management @ k3d—Coalition of the Cultural and Creative Industries in Germany | Berlin | www.k3-d.org
President @ GRANSHAN Foundation e.V.—Project for non-Latin scripts, typography, design, and communication | Yerevan and Munich | www.granshan.com
President, Initiator, and Curator @ EDCH Foundation e.V.—The editorial design and conference project | formerly known as QVED | Munich | www.edch.de
Chairman of the Advisory Board, Delegate in the Deutscher Designtag, and Honorary Member @ tgm—Typographische Gesellschaft München e.V. | Munich | www.tgm-online.de
German Liaison Committee @ TDC—Type Directors Club of New York | Mainz | www.tdc-ny.de | www.tdc.org
Advisory Board @ MCBW—Munich Creative Business Week | Munich | www.mcbw.de
Board of Trustees @ Stiftung Lesen | Mainz | www.stiftunglesen.de
Delegate of the Deutscher Kulturrat as Corresponding Member @ ifa—Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations) | Stuttgart | www.ifa.de
Media Advisory Board @ RTL Deutschland GmbH | Cologne | www.mediengruppe-rtl.de
k3d Delegate @ Steering Committee Data Space Culture | Munich and Berlin | www.acatech.de/projekt/datenraum-kultur
Advisory Board @ Association of Friends and Sponsors of a Museum for Art and Culture at Schloss Hohenstein | Ahorn | www.kunstforum.schloss-hohenstein.de
Owner and Authorized Representative @ Metastrada GmbH | Brands including prokonVERLAG, ROTIS'SERIE, METACLEAN | Munich | www.prokonverlag.de | www.rotis-serie.de
Past Functions (Selection)
September 2020 to December 2023 | Curator @ Oskar-Hacker-Stiftung for the preservation and careful development of the two monuments Schloss and Park Hohenstein | www.oskar-hacker-stiftung.de
April 2007 to March 2014 | First Chairman @ Typographische Gesellschaft München e.V. (tgm)—Organization for dialogue and education to promote quality in the (printing and) communication industry, founded in 1890 | Munich | www.tgm-online.de
2011 to 2016 | Board Member @ iF Industrie Forum Design e.V.—Design institution founded in 1953 to link business and culture, organizer of the internationally renowned iF Design Award since 1954. In 2018, the association was transformed into the iF Design Foundation | Hannover | if-designfoundation.org and ifdesign.com
July 2003 to April 2017 | Advisory Board Member as an expert in investments in social organizations and marketing and communication @ BonVenture—Investment/financing company for social and ecological investments with societal impact | Munich | www.bonventure.de
February 1997 to May 2002 | Chairman of the Board @ Arbeitsgruppe Buhlstraße e.V.—Community-based child and youth work | Munich | www.ag-buhlstrasse.de
