gestus is a visual communication, graphic and social design studio based in Berlin, Germany and Annecy, France.

It has been created by Athena Javanmardi and Paco Camberlin in 2019 after we both finished a year-long internship at image-shift studio in Berlin. During this time we developed before and everything a strong friendship but also found ourselves complimentary in our practices, ethically connecting and mostly enjoying working on projects together.

For us, our practice needs to be focused on partnerships, collaborations and exchanges, not only within our studio but as well in the relationships with our collaborators (activists, cultural, educational or social institutions, associations, unions, artists, foundations...). Our focus is on political, social, cultural and educational topics because we cannot separate our work from our beliefs and feelings. We take seriously and with enthusiasm questions regarding representations, everyday politics, social fights, identities, democratic and counter-hegemonic actions, alternative lifestyles, the commons, cultural and artistic practicies, etc.

We don't want to dictate morals and we also remove ourselves from the marketing and services ideology. Design holds great potentials and that is why we tend to draw our practice beyond solely aesthetics or rhetoric embellishment and bring social relationships to the fore.

As gestus, we are able to work on forms, images and texts, develop communication concepts, strategies and designs, hold workshops, discuss over teas and coffees, in any kind of medias or settings.