- Sectors
- art & culture, not-for-profit
- Services
- book & editorial design, signage & map design Collaborations
Illustrations by Sophie Daxhelet, workshop at Ihecs for Master 1 students in the Macs section, cardboard stencils By ERG students in typography
Clients- Mélanie Godin, L’Arbre de Diane
Project context
Between 2017 and 2019, Piknik Studio, a graphic design studio based in Brussels, collaborated with Mélanie Godin on an inspiring cultural initiative — the creation of four poetic maps for a “poetry treasure hunt” across Brussels. These artistic maps indicated the location of ephemeral poems spread throughout several neighbourhoods of the city.
Collaborations and partners
The project’s initiator, Mélanie Godin, also publisher at L’Arbre de Diane, invited Piknik Studio to design the project’s visual identity and editorial layout. Illustrations were created by Sophie Daxhelet, stencils were produced by typography students at ERG, and a creative workshop was conducted with IHECS Master 1 MACS students.
Concept and graphic approach
This participatory art project combined typography, urban signage, and editorial design. The poems, written during community writing workshops by both emerging and established poets, were printed on cardboard stencils and applied in public spaces. Using custom-designed typefaces and a rain-activated ink, the words appeared magically on pavements, stairs, and walls — a form of ephemeral urban poetry celebrating transience and memory.
A poetic and collective experience
The aim of the project was to make poetry visible in the public space, while bringing people together through a shared artistic experience. Through its poetic mapping design, Peauésie captures the fleeting nature of art and the fragility of human experience. The cultural graphic design and poetic signage developed by Piknik Studio visually express the delicate balance between appearance and disappearance.
Award
Peauésie received the Bruocsella Prize in 2017, recognising its innovative artistic concept and social engagement.
Between 2017 and 2019, we worked with Mélanie Godin on an exciting guerilla cultural project which involved creating 4 maps for a ‘poetry hunt’ around Brussels. Project leader Godin, who is the publisher at L’Arbre de Diane, sought out Piknik to take care of the graphic design while Sophie Daxhelet made custom whimsical illustrations.
The poems, which were written by both established poets and novices, were printed on cardboard stencils and applied to discrete corners in public spaces. Using custom typefaces and ink that only becomes visible in contact with water, the poems appear under the rain as if by magic. Then they disappear again, waiting for their next flush.
