Catalogtree is a multidisciplinary design studio based in Arnhem (NL). It was founded in 2001 by Daniel Gross and Joris Maltha who met at Werkplaats Typografie. Nina Bender was part of studio from 2011 until 2020. The studio works continuously on commissioned and self initiated projects. Highly interested in self-organising systems they believe in 'Form Equals Behaviour'. Experimental tool-making, programming, typography and the visualization of quantitative data are part of their daily routine.
Recent endeavours include recycling pink plastic toys to create a way-finding system, turning a pocket calculator into a metal detector and designing a GIS route to the best spot for dropping a seventeen ton marble rock into the Mediterranean. Daniel Gross and Joris Maltha teach at ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Arnhem (NL) and have taught and lectured widely. The work of Catalogtree is in the collection of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Museum of Design (NYC, USA), The Archive of Het Nieuwe Instituut (Rotterdam, NL) and the Museum of Design Zurich (Zurich, CH).
Lectures & Workshops
2019
- Workshop ‘Sort & Filter - Search & Destroy’ at Hochschule der Künste, Bern (CH)
- Workshop ‘Coding Karaoke’ at FH Bielefeld, Bielefeld (DE)
2018
- Workshop ‘Science fiction’ at Basel School of Design, Basel (CH)
2017
- Lecture and Workshop at ‘Open Set Lab 2017’ at St.Joost Master Institute, Den Bosch (NL)
- Lecture ‘Mapping Masses / Messy Mapping’ at ISIA Urbino, Urbino (IT)
- Workshop ‘Science fiction’ at ISIA Urbino, Urbino (IT)
- Lecture at 33pt conference at KISD, Cologne (DE)
- Lecture ‘52°30’06.2″N, 13°24’09.1″E’ at TYPO Berlin, Berlin (DE)
- Lecture ‘Double Dutch’ at HMCT Art Center, Pasadena (US)
- Lecture ‘Designing for Truth’ at BCNM Commons conversations, Berkeley (US)
- Lecture at Basel School of Design, Basel (CH)
2016
- Lecture & Workshop at ‘Creativities Unfold’, Bangkok (TH)
- Workshop ‘The System’ at Fontys Hogescholen, Eindhoven (NL)
- Lecture at ‘Dutch Design Daily LIVE #7’, Amsterdam (NL)
- Lecture at Luca School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
- Lecture at FUR ‘Masterclass & Dialoog #05’, Maastricht (NL)
- Lecture at ‘Coded Matter(s)’, Amsterdam (NL)
- Workshop ‘The Map is not the Territory’ at New Design University, St. Pölten (AT)
- Workshop ‘Science Fiction’ at Luca School of Arts,
Brussels (BE)
2015
- Lecture at ‘What Design Can Do’ São Paulo (BR)
- ‘The Secret Garden’ Summerschool for students from STOUT, University of Wisconsin (US)
- Lecture ‘Horizont #42 /TALK’ at FH Aachen, Aachen (DE)
- Lecture at ‘Design Talks’ at Scuola Politecnica di Design SPD, Milano (IT)
- Workshop & Lecture at Ravensbourne, London (GB)
- Workshop at Luca School of Arts, Brussels (BE)
2014
- Workshop at New Design University, St. Pölten (AT)
- Lecture at ‘Means of production – Symposium’, Eindhoven (NL)
- Lecture at HfG Offenbach, Offenbach (DE)
- Lecture at 'One Design Week', Plovdiv (BG)
2013
- Workshop at 'Open Set Summer School', Breda (NL)
- Workshop at Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Vienna (AT)
- Lecture at 'SEE conference', Wiesbaden (DE)
- Lecture at 'CoDeArt', Tilburg (NL)
2012
- Lecture at 'Out of Balance: Critique of the Present - Colloquium', Leipzig (DE)
- Lecture at 'DDW goes Digital', Eindhoven (NL)
- Lecture at 'From data to meaning for people', Eindhoven (NL)
- Lecture at 'Graphic Design Festival', Breda (NL)
- Lecture at 'Stilvorlagen °7', Hamburg (DE)
- Lecture at 'Dutch Design at CCA', San Francisco (US)
- Lecture at 'Les Rendez-vous du cinéma québécois', Montréal (CA)
- Workshop & Lecture at 'Unbox Festival', New Delhi (IN)
- Lecture at 'Eurosonic Noorderslag', Groningen (NL)
2011
- Lecture at Yale school of Art, New Haven (USA)
- Lecture & Jury at 'Data In Sight', Adobe, San Francisco (USA)
- Lecture at z33, Hasselt (BE)
- Lecture at Fachhochschule Aachen, Aachen (DE)
- Lecture at HfG Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe (DE)
- Workshop 'Visible Data', Bratislava (SK)
- Workshop at HEAD Geneve, Geneve (CH)
- Workshop at Hochschule für Künste Bremen, Bremen (DE)
- Lecture at 'Beamlab # 22', Amsterdam (NL)
2010
- Jury at Postgraduation of École Supérieur d’Art et de Design, Amiens (FR)
- Workshop at École des beaux-arts de Rennes, Rennes (FR)
- Workshop at Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam (NL)
- Workshop at Crosslab, Willem de Kooning Academie, Rotterdam (NL)
2009
- Workshop at Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, Chongqing (CN)
- Workshop & Lecture at CCA, San Francisco (USA)
- Lecture at FH Mainz, Mainz (DE)
- Lecture at Ecole des Beaux-Arts, Bordeaux (FR)
- Workshop at California College of the Arts, Amsterdam (NL)
- Workshop at University of the Arts Bremen, Bremen (DE)
2008
- Lecture at University of the Arts Bremen, Bremen (DE)
Exhibitions
2017
- Grind the Gap at DDW, Veemgebouw, Eindhoven (NL)
- Grind the Gap at Graphic Matters, Parade 12, Breda (NL)
2014
- Means of Production, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin (DE)
- All Possible Futures, SOMArts, San Francisco (USA)
2012
- Graphic Happiness, Nanjing/Guangzhou/Shanghai/Beijing/Chengdu (CN)
- Mapping America, KK Outlet, London (GB)
- Biennale Gelderland, MMKA, Arnhem (NL)
- De Wodanseiken, Raadsgalerij, Oosterbeek (NL)
- Transnatural Festival, NEMO, Amsterdam (NL)
- Vitra Confrontations - Contemporary Dutch Design, Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein (DE)
2011
- Graphic Design: Now in Production, Walker Art Museum, Minneapolis (USA)
- Rotterdam Design Prijs, Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam (NL)
- Vedute in Arcam, Amsterdam (NL)
- Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, Guangzhou (CN)
- Dutch Design Awards Show, Eindhoven (NL)
2010
- Gelders Balkon 8, MMKA, Arnhem (NL) – solo exhibition
- Plaatsmaken, Arnhem (NL)
- Chaumont International Poster Festival, Chaumont (FR)
- Type Directors Club, New York (USA)
2009
- Social Energy - Contemporary Communication Design from the Netherlands, Peking / Shanghai / Shenzen / Shengdu / Hong Kong (CN)
- Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, New York (USA)
- Plaatsmaken, Arnhem (NL)
- Multiverso, Turin (IT)
2008
- International Biennial of Graphic Design, Brno (CZ)
- Dutch Design Awards Show, Eindhoven (NL)
- Todays Art, Den Haag (NL)
- Multiverso, Turin (IT)
Publications
2017
- Verborgen Landschap, Jap Sam Books, Heijningen (NL)
2016
- Dude magazine 'Autonome Datavisualisatie', BNO, Amsterdam (NL)
- Graphic #37 — Introduction to Computation, Propaganda Press, Seoul (KR)
2014
- All Possible Futures, Bedford Press, London (UK)
- form Magazine #255, Frankfurt (DE)
- InformForm / Information design: in theory, an informed practice, Mwmcreative, London (UK)
- Thoughts on Designing Information, Lars Müller Publishers, Zürich (CH)
- Understanding the World, Taschen Verlag, Cologne (DE)
2013
- Out of Balance - Kritik der Gegenwart, Arch+, Aachen (DE)
2012
- Breakthrough!: Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination, Princeton Architectural Press, New York City (USA)
- Graphic Happiness: 100 years of Dutch Graphic Design, Museum Hilversum (NL)
- Information Graphics, Taschen Verlag, Cologne (DE)
- NOVUM Magazine, Munich (DE)
- The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design, Phaidon Press, London (GB)
2011
- Graphic Design: Now in Production, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (USA)
- I Read Where I Am: Exploring New Information Cultures, Valiz/Graphic Design Museum, Breda (NL)
- items Magazine, #1, Amsterdam (NL)
- Precursor: The Creativity Watchlist, Gestalten Verlag, Berlin (DE)
2010
- DATA FLOW 2, Gestalten Verlag, Berlin (DE)
- étapes: magazine #176, Paris (FR)
- Form+Code in Design, Art, and Architecture, Princeton Architectural Press, New York City (USA)
- Neshan Magazine #23, Tehran (IR)
2009
- EXTRA, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel (CH)
- IDN Magazine, Hong Kong (CN)
- form Magazine #226, Frankfurt (DE)
- Infographics, Utrecht (NL)
- Sketchbook: Conceptual Drawings from the World's Most Influential Designers, Rockport Publishers, Minneapolis (USA)
- Task Newsletter #2 / Not what if: what if not, Task Newsletter (USA)
2008
- Bright Magazine, Amsterdam (NL)
- DATA FLOW, Gestalten Verlag, Berlin (DE)
- SEED magazine, New York City (USA)
2007
- Area 2, Phaidon Press, London (GB)
- Design 360°, Volume 9, Hong Kong (CN)
- étapes: magazine #148, Paris (FR)
- PAGE magazine, Hamburg (DE)
- Super Holland Design, Actar Publishers, Barcelona (ES)
- The Layout Look Book, HarperCollins Publishers, New York City (USA)
- Tactile, Gestalten Verlag, Berlin (DE)
2006
- I.D. Magazine, Volume 53, #1, New York City (USA)
- Idea Magazine, #316, Tokio (JP)
- items Magazine, #5, Amsterdam (NL)
- Form Magazine #210, Frankfurt (DE)
- Pen Magazine, #184, Tokyo (JP)
- Serialize, Gestalten Verlag, Berlin (DE)