Artists and designer sisters Nicole and Petra Kapitza founded their studio Kapitza in 2004 in the creative hub of East London and have since gained a global following for their bold and colourful art. They collaborate with international brands and institutions creating large-scale murals, pop up events, uplifting hospital installations, dynamic public art commissions, placemaking, intelligent textiles and colourful products as well as publishing their own inspiring artist books, limited edition prints and innovative studio projects. Over the years, mt Masking Tape have collaborated with Kapitza studio who have created some bold and beautiful tapes for the mt x artist series. The creative duo also created their very own colourful ‘Kapitza World' at Vienna Design Week in 2019 using mt Masking Tape. We were lucky enough to catch up with Nicole and Petra to chat all things pattern design and colour…
You founded your creative studio in 2004, how did it all begin?
We always loved working creatively with each other. After collaboration on a few freelance projects we decided to take the plunge, combine our passion for colour and pattern and started to work together as Kapitza.
We LOVED your ‘Kapitza World’ installation for Vienna Design Week using mt Masking Tape. How long does a large-scale project like this take to realise?
After coming up with the design idea, it took quite a while to work out the exact measurements and to figure out how to realise this very large artwork just using tape. For the installation on site in Vienna we had help from the amazing mt team and it took six people and four days to install!
Photography @StefanieFreynschlag
What is the proudest moment of your career to date?
Right up there is our nomination for the Designs Of The Year by the Design Museum London. What an honour!
What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career?
As new technologies and media evolve all the time, we constantly have to adapt our work and the way we communicate with our audience.
We have seen that you have been creating uplifting wall murals in London during the pandemic. How has the pandemic affected your work and how have you had to adapt during these times?
The lockdown has made us focus on our artist practice and studio research projects, as well as communicating more directly with our audience. We are realising more ideas ourselves, for example we have made Kapitza face masks and are launching a geometric colouring book. It has also made us realise that we really like to create art for public spaces and large scale installations that integrate the viewer and create a positive experience.
The new mt x Katpitza collection is about to drop in the UK. Where did you find inspiration for these tapes?
The inspiration came from our previous project with mt, the installation in Vienna, which was completely made of Stripes. We thought it would be fun to work with another classic pattern design: Polka Dots.
Quick fire questions:
Best advice you have ever been given?
Keep going!
Favourite colour?
As a studio, our favourite colour has always been a vibrant and warm pink. We believe it reflects our work, which is happy, positive and fun.
Favourite Gallery or Museum
Any modern art museum, depending on the city, in London it would be the Tate Modern, Hayward Gallery and the Barbican for their brilliantly curated exhibitions.
If you could have dinner with three artists (past or present) who would they be?
Carmen Herrera, Bridget Riley, Anni Albers
Discover more about Nicole and Petra Kapitza and their creative studio:
NEW mt x Kapitza tapes will be available soon...
