the studio
Made In Space is a design consultancy, owned by April Greiman. Moving from New York City in the 1970s, April based her business in Los Angeles to explore new paradigms in communication design, which she continues to do today.
Made in Space brings a unique approach that blends technology, science, word and image with color and space providing design consultancy for identity, architectural branding, and color. These projects range from signage and exhibitions to the development of color and materials palettes, three-dimensional works and various art commissions.
Collaborators include architects Barton Myers, Frank Gehry, RoTo Architects, Ken Smith and Mia Lehrer, both landscape architects.
Current clients include Channel 35 TV, Art Papers, RotoLab, Woodbury University School of Architecture, Harley Ellis Devereaux, and the Belmont Pool and Aquatic Center.
april greiman
April Greiman is a thinker, designer, and artist whose transmedia projects, which address all areas and scales of design from communications to textiles and from architecture to new media, together with her innovative use of advanced digital technology, have made her a leader in the design world.
Originally from New York, April studied design and painting at the Allgemeine Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland, and the Kansas City Art Institute in Missouri. In 1976, she moved to LA where she established her practice, Made in Space. Her radical visual identity and publication projects for such progressive schools as Cal Arts — where she was chair of Visual Communications program 1982–1984 — and SCI-Arc are notable for their pioneering use of Macintosh computers and software, as well as their emphasis on novel video and digital exploration.
April Greiman actively challenges interdisciplinary boundaries, investigating the parallels and intersections between art and design in all aspects of her work, which has appeared in print in Newsweek, Time, The New York Times and USA Today, among others; on television networks including CNN, PBS, and ESPN; in the monographs April Greiman: Floating Ideas into Time and Space and It'snotwhatAprilyouthinkitGreimanis, Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Arts, and Something from Nothing, among others. April's work has long had a relationship to architecture and she has collaborated with such renowned architects as Frank Gehry and RoTo architects to produce signage, exhibitions, and color palettes for both interiors and entire building complexes. Her interest in both print and virtual space has led to projects for furniture manufacturer Vitra's Workspirit Magazine, the MAK Center for Art and Architecture in Los Angeles, and fashion label Dosa, among others.
Professional Organizations
2011 The Trusteeship, International Women's Foundation, member
2003 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Fellowship
1998 American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) Medalist
1986 Alliance Graphique Internationale, (AGI) member, former executive committee member; American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) member, former National Board, President Los Angeles Chapter
Honorary Doctorates
2012 ArtCenter College of Design, Pasadena, CA
2003 Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
2002 Lesley University,
Boston College of Art, MA
2001 Kansas City Art Institute, Kansas City, MO
Greiman has been included in various group shows-'Between the Lines: Typography in LACMA’s Collection' at Lacma (2019,) 'West of Modernism: California Graphic Design 1975–1995' at lacma (2019,) 'Typeface to Interface' at SFMOMA (2016,) and recently in 'Physical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s' at LACMA (2016;) 'Designing Modern Women' at MoMA (2013;) 'Elle@Centre Pompidou' at Centre Pompidou (2009,) and solo exhibitions that include Visual Arts Gallery at the School of Visual Arts, New York (2008;) Pasadena Museum of California Art (2006.) In 2007, Greiman completed her largest single work to date: a public art mural, Hand Holding a Bowl of Rice, that spans 7 stories of two building facades marking the entrance to the Wilshire Vermont Metro Station in LA. In 2011, she had her video-still/offset-lithographed journal, Does it Make Sense, Design Quarterly #133 on display in the 'Elle@Centre Pompidou' Exhibition. Does it Make Sense, Design Quarterly #133 is currently on display at LACMA's exhibition, 'Physical: Sex and the Body in the 1980s.'
She has exhibited in varied cultural institutions, lectured academically and professionally, generated public artworks and participated in juries worldwide. Her ideas and work have appeared in articles, interviews, reviews and broadcasts in the media, ranging from Newsweek and Time, to The New York Times and USA Today to CNN, PBS and ESPN.
Books have included April Greiman: Floating Ideas into Time and Space, Hybrid Imagery: The Fusion of Technology and Graphic Arts, It’snotwhatAprilyouthinkitGreimanis, and Something from Nothing.
April Greiman was born in Metropolitan New York City and studied at the Allgemeine Kunstgewerbeschule (General Arts Trade School) in Basel, Switzerland and the Kansas City Art Institute. She moved to Los Angeles in 1976, establishing her multi-disciplinary practice, currently called Made in Space.
Greiman's work has been recognized with numerous awards including the Medal of the American Institute of Graphic Arts and the prestigious Chrysler Award for Innovation and is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Modern Art; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum; Pompidou Center and Library of Congress.