Thomas Manss
Purple suit with a dash of cyan and black framed glasses, Thomas has been practicing the art of 'Ordnung & Eccentricity' for years.
Son of two architects, he started to design buildings at the age of 12, but with seven years of studies and 20-30 more years before a major project would be built, the measured pace of architecture had limited appeal. About his choice of graphic design Thomas is inclined to quip, 'I joined the shorter queue'. His professional career started at Erik Spiekermann's Metadesign and continued at Sedley Place and Pentagram, where he worked with Alan Fletcher.
Few can match Thomas' pace of thinking, designing or even walking, the momentum producing the 'inevitable' design for which he is best known.
Photograph Deniz Saylan
Thomas Manss started his career at Erik Spiekermann's Metadesign in Berlin. During his five years at Sedley Place Design he ran design projects for some of Germany’s leading companies including Volkswagen, Schering, Deutsche Bundespost and Deutsche Bundesbank. In 1989 he joined Pentagram in London and collaborated with Alan Fletcher on design programmes for Scandinavian Airlines, The Barbican Arts Centre, Shakespeare's Globe and a competition entry for a new City of Berlin identity.
In 1993, Thomas Manss & Company London was founded followed by offices in Berlin, Florence and Rio de Janeiro. Thomas Manss & Company’s work has won numerous awards in the UK, US and Germany as well as having been selected for the Biennale for Graphic Design in Brno. Thomas Manss’ personal reputation is reflected by invitations to lecture in Europe, Russia and Brazil. In 1994, he was appointed Visiting Professor for corporate identity at FH Potsdam. He was elected a Fellow of the Chartered Society of Designers and has been a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, a member of the D&AD and the Society of Typographic Designers since 1996.
