MUNICH—In the Middle Ages, European craftsmen who had just completed their apprenticeship would venture out into the world for three years and one day to gain professional and life experience by offering their services and skills in exchange for food and accommodation.
 

This May, two young designers from Bavaria plan on keeping this tradition – known as auf der walz – alive by knocking on the doors of creative agencies from Vancouver to Montreal and offering their formidable design services and skills to willing art directors in exchange for food and possibly “a glass of beer or two after we finish work.” 

Limiting each visit to two weeks and one day, Karen Zeiger and Nadja Küpper of Munich will take to the road “armed with nothing but a Power Mac and a fistful of pencils…with the mission to unite the design of two countries.”

Zeiger and Küpper have chosen Canada to get a non-European perspective on design, and because they had “only heard very positive attributes about the Canadians: open-minded, very friendly, communicative. These are important basic prerequisites for such an unusual project and will make it much more easier to realize,” says Zeiger.

To prepare for the trip, which will last anywhere from three and six months, Zeiger and Küpper have familiarized themselves with the work of some of Canada’s top agencies. “We are totally enthusiastic about the work of Paprika. Moreover, the adverts from Rethink Communications and Taxi are great, humorous and intelligent," says Zeiger. "Last year we listened to a speech by Stefan Sagmeister in Munich. He told us about his collaboration with Marian Bantjes, also a great Canadian designer.” Contact: www.ting-a-ling.de