Fresh Talent: Jana + Koos

WORDS Malibongwe Tyilo

Our final Fresh Talent profile for Youth Month is on hard-to-pigeonhole Joburg design duo Jana + Koos.

Punching illustration and graphic design out of its two-dimensional straightjacket is Jana + Koos. The talk-of-the-town Joburg duo recently finished work on a Nike concept store in Braamfontein and were responsible for hat brand Simon & Mary’s launch campaign. Earlier this month, on 5 June, they also took their exhibition, City of Gold Diggers: JHB Hates You, for a well-received one-night-only show in New York. We caught up with them to chat all things “here and now”.

There’s a definite edge to your work, which says “here and now”. What is it about your approach to the design practice that sets you apart from the pack?

Our approach is simple. It’s concept driven and about strategic ideas. We will never do something purely because it looks nice or because it’s “cool”. We work as a consulting team who works with the right (best) suppliers to realise ideas, but this is important because it means that we are 100% invested in the brands and projects that we take on. A big part of setting up our business was to allow time for personal projects and collaborations, including art and fashion, and our keen interest in culture is probably what reflects as “here and now”.

Do you think you would be producing vastly different work if you didn’t live in Jozi?

Yes and no. On the one hand, we fight hard against having a “style” that is uniquely ours, because briefs come as problems to solve. You build a personality and brand image based on who and what that brand or project is, and not based on who or what Johannesburg or Jana + Koos are.

On the flipside, Johannesburg is really important to everything we do in a personal capacity (side projects, art, collaborations). It’s a city that allows you to experiment and try new things and push, because it’s in that state of defining itself, and coming into its own. This is evident in the underground music and art scene that has a uniquely Joburg look, feel and sound. The kind of side projects we do start to influence the commercial side of what we do because it brings in brands and projects that are after that sort of influence, and many of the brands we work on are Joburg based.

Do you two take on different responsibilities in your business?

We do have vastly different skills, interests and personalities, polar opposite at times, and we naturally divide work with regards to who writes better, who illustrates better, who presents better, who designs better and who is the least hungover. But, the majority of the time – and the thing that amuses people the most – is that we actually both work on every job. We brainstorm and develop concepts together, and then actually pass design files back and forth, adding to and changing each other’s work. We know we’re on to something good when we reach the point where we have stopped screaming at each other and poking holes in each other’s ideas, and heated debate becomes genuine excitement.

What are some of your career highlights?

Taking the leap to leave our jobs and do things in a new way, and still be going strong more that three years down the line, will always be our biggest career highlight. It felt like a big scary risk, especially because we were trying to create something that to our knowledge didn’t exist or function the way we do now, back then. The fact that we get recognition for the work we do is icing on the cake for us. 

janaandkoos.com 

Celebrate Youth Month with us and browse more of our Fresh Talent profiles here.