We want to change the web for the better.

We’ve got one thing in common with Hotel California: One can checkout at any time but (almost) never leave. Especially the good ones are not allowed to desert. And so it came to pass that Sarah abandoned us once but is still around. Fräulein Moser talent in project management is more than welcome. Not only every project she gets in her different long fingers turns into gold, also her delicious banana bread tastes especially.

Cathy (German pronunciation please!) hails from the, loved by hipsters and top-knot-clad youths, city of Berlin. She moved to Hamburg for love and found another love, in the beautiful Hansestadt. Cool as a cucumber, she has meditated her way through many a pilgrimage, walking miles and miles through the mountains of Spain and Portugal. Needless to say, Cathy has found her zen here at Fork!

Jalma is somewhat ubiquitous as you will find her in Hamburg and her Doppelgängerin in Munich – her twin sister. Rest assured, the Jalma you’ll find in Hamburg is a design enthusiast, a Pinterest devotee and struggles to say no to a Bellini. Having spent time in Australia and Britain, she has accumulated a lot of experience and is very driven person. DISCLAIMER: Although German at heart, I would steer clear from asking her about Bielefeld’s existence.

Girl meets code and nothing stays the same. Julia was a designer down-on-her-luck in the no-go areas of Offenbach, when she met Code, who asked her to strap her hands across his engines, and run with him. It’s a romantic story of a metamorphosis: From south to north, from design to code (with occasional relapses). We’re proud that Julia considers us to be her vanishing point.

What’s this ‘FF’ all about; two letters printed on almost all of his outerwear? Does it refer to the German ‘Effeff’, meaning that someone is mastering his craft to perfection? Would fit, when it comes to campaign ideas. On the other hand, Arne might also just be a foo-fighting metalhead.

Björn cherishes ‘ornithography’ – an art combining the study of birds with creative shenanigans. His heart lifts whenever he hears a great tit tweet or a German tongue-twister like ‘Mietpreisbremse’. At Fork he’s a jack of all trades as he can work in many different departments, from strategy to copywriting. He’s walking between the lines of briefings. Therefore he sometimes shrinks himself ‘Ant-Man-style’ to the size of the letter ‘B’.

Born in Indonesia Firyal isn’t put off by an archipelago of tongues. At Fork he jumps right into a junction of low and high-level languages, design vocabulary, as well as the grammar of responsive web-design. We are so happy to have him aboard our quest for an inspirational Esperanto of design.

Welcome to ‘Li-La Land’! It’s Lisa’s sovereign territory, a queendom where numerous great ideas are being implemented (in time and budget). Sure, project management is far from being a musical, but Lisa’s managerial skills come with rhythm, tone, and depth. If there was an Academy Award for project managers (and if it was up to us), it would definitely go to… (imagine a drum roll here): Lisa Landowski.

Matt is something like a North Star to Fork’s creation. A passionate Creative Director and (emotion) designer who won’t give up until true quality is achieved. There are few people who have dug deeper into the soul of the Fork Brotherhood and as with every celestial body, Matt comes with a mysterious share of shining light and a dark gravity.

Viola in Twelfth Night is shipwrecked while voyaging the Mediterranean Sea. ‘Our’ Viola’s journeys have all been accident-free, so far. Nevertheless she also washed up on foreign shores (the ones of our consulting team) one fine day. Unlike her namesake, she does not need any cross-dressing or pretending to fulfill her manifold roles. ‘Our’ Viola’s ”I totally can”-attitude, her openness and cheerful character are all it takes. One does not need to have studied psychology, to recognize a Shakespearean heroine in ’our’ Viola.

Form follows Förg. Peter is the impersonation of design process. He’s got the components, he’s got the patterns, he’s got the grammar, and he’s got the system. Every layout saved on his hard-drive works like clock-work.

Andreas is a classic gent with a modern twist. A certified and tattooed tech-wizard, he’s the Gandalf to our Frodo and never fails to guide us through the maze that is the world wide web. Although not the loudest here at Fork, when you hear his bike’s engine growling in the courtyard, one thing’s for certain: Andreas has left the building.

Although controversial, our favourite authentic Hamburger comes with neither fries nor onions, but rather with glasses, an inconceivable knowledge of quality assurance and of course…a whole lotta cheese. Dinner and beer are Dinnebier’s idea of a perfect night in and if you ever find yourself stuck in a rut, unable to remember the lyrics to songs from the 90s, then Jan is your man, so keep him near.

Once upon a time, whilst out night-jogging in the hills of Helsinki, Janek saw a shooting star. He looked at the star and wished that he would one day become one of Cologne’s most esteemed web developers. The Gods of HTML were listening and he’s been with us at Fork ever since, coffee in hand and always in the zone.

Sarah’s parents knew this for sure: If you want a smart girl, you’ll need more than vegetables. That’s why they raised their daughter on ‘Schäufele’ (a cornerstone of the Franconian cuisine) and hence made her stress-resistent, yet dynamic and inspired. Thank you Ms. and Mr. Kaltenhäuser for providing us with a smart account manager who has always lots of sweets on her table.

Johannes has the ability to change his appearance at will: Programmer, photographer, guitarist – it’s all in him. The level-headed character’s comes in style, regardless whether it’s his battle jacket or his ‘staple casual shirt over the t-shirt fashion” matched with impeccably clean ‘nike janowskis’. We happily accept all of J’s identities at Fork. We’re proud to call one of Bielefeld’s men – OUR – fellow.

Bhav is adept in experiencing German culture, but he’s even better at avoiding it. Well, it looks like he’s come to the right place for that. Our ‘apricot prince’ has settled in quickly and his bespoke Britishness adds a new, distinct flavour to the legendary Fork stew. With semantic skills that make Drake sound old-school, we’re thrilled to collaborate with this chap from Crawley.

Jan ‘Icke-bwana’ Gehrke, a true master of digital products, adds a little Berliner Schnauze to Fork’s Babylonian confusion of languages. For the sake of THE perfect product, the reliable, grounded, and practical character fuses together all the right people – Mokume-Gane-Style. For Jan knows, that great products are made by great teams.

Boy on a wireframe. Maurice finger on the trackpad never shakes, his face sits tight and still, and he’s quite as mouse when setting out to work on the future user experience of any given client. Wireframe-fame is guaranteed, a bright future is awaiting this fellow.

Our one and only local hero of the ‘Strom’ (aka Rhine) likes to laugh aloud and often. We can’t tell whether his laughing is related to jokes within the source code or the positive work climate in the AT-AT (aka ‘Kranhaus’). Most definitely it’s not related to the performance of his favourite club (who’s just so different).

Like the Indian goddess Sita who denotes good sign, good fortune, prosperity, success, and happiness. Sita is the beloved dog at the Hamburg headquarters, who despite doing the least amount work in the team is one of our most valued members of the team. She is the heart and soul of our office and we all pray that she will pay us a personal visit to make our day that extra bit better.

Hush! Hush! Look closely! With a little luck you will find Teresa, generally well camouflaged within personae, sketches, or paper click dummies. When it comes to crafting UX concepts Ms. Huschet is a busy bee visiting touchpoint after touchpoint for the pollen and nectar that improves joy of use. It seems like she CAN be everywhere at once, and the best part, she always has a smile on her face.

One of the doglovers at Fork. His long-lasting experience with the bow-wow might be the reason for his mastery in non-aggressive fighting when it comes to resolving conflicts with barking (external) IT departments. In the end, he is always part of the solution.

You know when you’ve been ‘timofeeved’! All of sudden, everything’s feels so clean and neat. Prima project ballerina Elena has the superb ability to (re-) order and resolve almost any kind of tense situation. Somehow, she must have secret techniques of controlling bodies and the minds of people.

Claudia’s a fashion-following, trend-setting aficionado who’s usually directing photo-shoots and showing brands the world over how to create the perfect digital magazine.

Karin is our very own “Alice in Medialand”. She’s the designer to talk to if you’re ever lost in type or need some help with a little CMYK. Plus: as a budding maritime photographer, you’ll often find her on the high seas taking snapshots on container ships.

Being a child of the far North, it is astounding how ‘Doc’ Martens managed to stay away from Schnapps. Somehow strange that Sebastian is collecting whiskey without drinking it, he doesn’t give the impression of being part of the hardcore subculture. But he definitely is a straight-edge wonder-boy operating on the cutting edge of creative technology, including pyros and confetti bombs.

Wolf is one of those friendly and soft spoken fellows. But do not let that fool you into thinking that he’s a pet wolf. He’s a hunter for content – hygiene, hub and hero content. Goodness, what big eyes you have! The better to find the best content for you, responds Mr. Hinsch.

We love designers who approach work with a calm mind, rather than allowing themselves to be distracted. Jens is one of those decent fellows. Anytime our kitchen turns into Hell’s kitchen, he simply presses play and enters a state of flow. Fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n – Musik for Autobahns (and design studios) – and he gets things done.

With being a badass at analogue photography, Robert installed the first darkroom at fork (of course for developing photos). With tastings of dark chocolate and his all black everything attitude, we can say that he fits perfect in our deep, culty family. But we have to admit: he is pretty bright himself and a designer with more than black in his palette.

As you may have suspected, Indra’s beginnings are rooted deeply in a far off kingdom: Baden-Württemberg. Thanks to open boarders between the German Federal States he was able to join our Cologne team, where he has become the epicenter of creative thinking and free sketching. With a brief hiatus in 2017 Indra has built a reputation for being the ‘hardest workshopping man in digital business’. Upon request he might even organize ‘Maultaschen with chopsticks‘ or ‘Käs’spätzle with Kimchi’ in-between work-sessions.

Having grown up to the sounds of Bowie and Bush (no, not the politician), Sina has developed a glittering and bubbly personality on the inside, matched with funny tattoos on the out (e.g. an avocado). Our Sina is an avid chocolate lover, who enjoys all the sweet things life has to offer and it goes without saying, without her in the team very few would be able to brighten up our day like she does.

“Who put that plug there?”, “That milk doesn’t open properly”, and “This lift is not compatible with my expectations as a user” – Wanda’s mission is making the world a better place. Lucky us, she decided to bring in her skill and labor, helping us to change the web for the better. ‘User Experience’, for Ms. Martini, is a higher calling on behalf of those struggling with the ubiquitous digital layer; and all the users sing: “Aaand after all, you’re my Wanda-wall.”

Apparently it never rains in California. So you can imagine our surprise when we managed to attract a real-life California Guy to rainy Hamburg. And not just any old California Guy either. On a quest for the holy grail of script, we’ve instated Mr. Jason Lee Rogers as our newest code-crusader. And just like his 0s and 1s, Jason’s a lean, mean variable machine.

One sometimes can’t exactly tell what happens inside the skull of a programmer (until it’s too late). But what happens on top of Alexander’s scalp really amazes us. He must own a dozen different caps and hats, and each one is a message that awaits to be decoded. Be it a Shtreimel, Fez, or Boss of the Plains – This black box comes in style.

Tattooed stray kitten goes from abandoned to loved. Yeah, this would make a good headline for our story with Susanne. Having picked her up in our backyard, one rainy-day, she turned out to be creative Wonder Girl. We can’t tell who’s luckier, the girl with the ship on her forearm or her new people.

Lukas is our unapologetically quiet work student, who is a lean mean fitness (and coding) machine with a highly functioning brain! On his brain you will find one of his signpost caps: black (leave me alone) or floral cap (sup yo), as he enjoys all the things in life that every smart man should: Star Wars, Back to the Future, IT and (unlike most millennials) reading!

Niente di nuovo sotto il Sole? Far from it! Our tech team has been spiced up with Mediterranean flair. Marcello, a full-blooded virtuoso simpatico, ‘autentico’ from ‘macchina’ to ‘baffo’. We were ‘insoleroed’, almost immediately.

Although he does play in a band, we’d like to go on record and confirm that Olaf is in no way related to ex-Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones. Although he doesn’t speak much, Olaf prefers to do his talking in the source code. Just like any other accomplished backend programmer.

Don’t underestimate the drive behind her tranquil guise. When it comes to project management, consulting and user experience, Katrin’s versatility and efficiency would give even the sharpest Swiss army knife a run for its money. And a lot like a female MacGyver, she can handle any situation with composure, finesse and charm.

Three things cannot be long hidden: the sun, the moon, and Katja‘s talent as a creative person. When she first appeared at Fork for a one week work trial, the sun turned into darkness. Well, we accepted this sign from above.

tobitatze to us, Tobias to you. Our new account director has two babies; his daughter and FC Schalke 04, both of whom he loves dearly and sincerely. Whilst studying Social Sciences at uni, he spent a semester in Finland, but he didn’t (Hel)sink(i), he swam right to the surface and found Fork on his journey home through the cool, blue waters.

Well blow me down, if it isn’t Alex Steinert from Westfalen. As a child, her mum would say ‚Alexandra! If you want to be a Senior Art Director and extreme techno enthusiast one day, then you have to eat your spinach!‘ With her dreams in sight Alex listened to her mum and hopped on the green hype all the way to Hamburg. As strong as a stone, but with more personality, Alex can take on anything and we’re happy to have her.

Jan-Snow-Vincent holds and guards the ‘Wall of Screens’, a special multi-monitor setup which separates the real world from the digital realm beyond. As if it were nothing, this developer transcends frontiers – you shoulda see him levitating his longboard from frontend to backend – and manages to smuggle poetic scripts from beyond the screens.

Holger is a living database when it comes to the silver screen. And over the years, he’s breathed life into dozens of database-driven websites – some of which proving to be real blockbusters in their genre. We’re also pretty sure that this is the only photograph of him in existence.

A programming and managerial powerhouse, Siggi’s a talented bass player and resolute technical project manager who packs a punch both on-stage and on digital projects.

Whoever said that money makes the world go round obviously hasn’t met Dominik Schu(h); shoes and caps my friend, that’s where it’s at. The Michael Jordan of Project Management, if he’s not dribbling various projects or out golfing, then he’s working on his smooth as caramel phone voice, that or avoiding public transport. Either way, he’s a definite Hole-in-One for Fork.

You want something done? A video tutorial is all Paula needs to accomplish the task, any task (including triathlon)! Born and raised in Transylvania, this redhead knows no fear. Like a bloodsucker she is very thirsty for good design and beautiful art. We love her design-skills and all of us dig the Transilvanian ‘paulapop culture’ she brings to our table.

Being around Tania has a soothing effect. The Brazilian-born designer is the quiet eye of the miniature hurricane meandering our studio, from time to time. Stand-up meeting, coffee grinder, ”That chocolate cake, is it vegan?” – the more ambient noise, the more Tania seems to immerse herself into creation. She transforms atmospheric energy into ’ouro puro’. Pure gold that waits to be discovered on the Internet or experienced outside the browser.

The miller’s daughter prefers pixels over corn. Although young in age, Maria is a great designer and it’s hard to imagine our creative team without her. A word of caution: If you should ever enter our studio, don’t let the sight of this fairy damsel lure you into walking against the wall of our server room.

Sometimes the melody is just as important as the meaning. Louisa is a writer, so she knows. Take ‘bumblebee’ as an example. Onomatopoeic or not, if done artfully, this word alone can brighten up a sentence. Should ‘bumblebee’ not suffice, Louisa simply draws another golden word out of her sleeve. Even running out of words doesn’t seem to make Schroeder nervous. After all, she knows how to conjure her expecto patronum.

Roman is known to lead his fellowship without any unnecessary shilly-shally. He’s managed to balance the formalities of business with his own brand of creative flair. His rule is often associated with extravagance but never tyranny.

I love it when a plan comes together” – both Hannibal and Wacken’s own ‘LL Cool J’ both say. LL is an account director by day and an urban culture ambassador by night! Lena is urban in every way shape and form: she prefers AESOP to A$AP, B&W to “bunt”, quirky longline clothing to your bog standard office worker. Her humour is second to none and her idiosyncratic personality is very refreshing our studio. Keep doing you Lena!

This graduate of Hogwarts School of Programming and Wizardry is Leon-(h)arder than you think! It actually is frightening to realize how skilled now days cubs are. Already at a young age they are capable to challenge us alphas, to end our reign with a single stroke of their paws. Fortunately, we are still hearing the sound of a gently-purring Leo…

Some years back, at SXSW, we managed to rescue a distraught young man from the clasps of a rather unsavory hotel room, in which he’d begun to pupate within the confines of his trusty sleeping bag. Since his liberation, Henning has repaid us by flourishing within Fork’s creative walls, shining with his accomplished design skills, forward- thinking and ongoing drive for innovation.

Ha! Ho! Let’s go! Hanne is the girl rocker of our little endeavour. Away from the mud of festivals she is a guarantor for clean and reusable code. We’re talking separately maintained version of reusable assets, here. Don’t you dare call this ‘Mädchen-Informatik’ (#likeagirl).

We happen to exist in a matriarchal system and Franziska is not only our ‘Jeanne d’Fork’ but also a wanderer between worlds, shuttling between motherhood, parent company and subsidiary. Like every mom, she juggles. But besides being a super- heroine herself, she can rely on a great family support system.

Frederic is a bit of a live wire. Plug him in and he’ll deliver cutting-edge art direction. He’s an inexhaustible source of energy and a great inspiration to our design team. “Fork Fab Freddy” re-introduces our design standards to the left bank of the Rhine. Do kanns zaubre, Freddy!

On a cold December morning, 3 wise businessmen were lost in Köln and couldn’t find their way to the Fork office. Instead of following a star they were guided by project manager Daniela’s infectious laugh, which can occasionally be heard from Hamburg. When they arrived they were each greeted with an enviable hi-5 and left with a mixtape of Kakkmaddafakka. Daniela, you are the star!

“All systems go” is a phrase we wouldn’t hear very often if it weren’t for Michi. With his infectious laughter, he’s always the friendly ghost in the system, master of the machines and guardian of spare parts. Oh and make sure you leave a note when you drop something off on his desk.

Carl “Charly” Reinhardt is to account management what Jean “Django“ Reinhardt was to playing the jazz guitar. Despite their finger issues – Django having two of his fingers disabled, Charly having the weirdest pencil grip since the invention of writing in ancient Mesopotamia – both men became stunning virtuosos in their trade. Buen trabajo, Hermano.

Sandra is the soul of our Hamburg studio and our very own female version of Clark Kent; part time ‘Girl Friday’ part time Super-Heroine. Moving paper mountains, taming nerdy egos and mending broken hearts is all in a days work for Ms Müller… we’re actually thinking about releasing a set of ‘Wonder-SMÜ’ action figures.

Werkstudentin Laura from Weserbergland is our very own Wunderkind. Why? Because she can do absolutely e v e r y t h i n g ! At 163cm Laura is one of the shorter members in the Fork Fellowship, but when it comes to getting the job done, this ‚Typonerd‘ always reaches the heights of the mountains from which she hails.

Simply the vest! Patrick is a sharp-dressed man with an equally sharp mind. The Jón Gnarr-lookalike knows how to wow clients with sophisticated concepts and persuasive arguments. The patented P.O.W.W.O.W.-methodology allows P.O.W. to turn user experience into user delight. W.O.W!

When it comes to code, Lennart’s brain is more receptive than the IKEA drawer unit of the same name. Norm-core on the outside, soft-code inside (dreaming of Californication!?). Every now and then, Len wraps himself in a special div, and gets lost. But that’s not much of a problem, since he always resurfaces at the same place: Stadthausbrücke station.

Most people connect the term ‘agency’ with some sort of business and then there’s Verena who has the amazing ability of turning profane agency work into poetry. Everything ‘Ms. Spelling’ touches – be it words, photochemistry, or bread-and-butter – will become more than just a prosaic ‘job done’. How does she do it? We’re twisting our minds trying to figure out what Verena’s magic power is but still haven’t cracked the code yet.

Project Management by day, motorbiking by night, this angel gives ‘em hell as a team leader, colleague and beer-drinking companion. With at least 20 visits to the US under her belt, she’s a packing pro. And boy does she pack a punch!

Sandra’s job is to ensure domestic P.E.A.C.E. (People, Events, Administration, Culture, Etc.) at Fork. And she’s the perfect match for this position. She never loses her good mood and even the occasional ‘kick in the arse’ comes across as an act of thoughtful humanity. Here comes the SUN!-dra.

There are two kind of ideas you can expect of Paul: great ones and even better ones. Our Scotsman (expat-style) has always been one of the most inspiring powerhouses of idea development. Much like a good Scotch in a barrel, he seems to be in the middle of a process of sophistication, no end in sight, yet.

Project management isn’t the only team in Fabian ‚topspin’ Werner’s life, oh no he also makes up one half of Fork’s table tennis team and can often be found practicing his moves after hours in the infamous Party Keller, with the hope of one day joining the ‚International Table-Tennis Association for Project Managers‘. As Bart Simpson once said ‚don’t have a cow man‘ and Fabian certainly doesn’t; get your grammar right and youll get along just fine. I mean you’ll, d’oh!

From Old Schole to New Schole, as long as it’s loud it’s all right with Joachim. Having started his career as a music journalist (think W:O:A reviews!) the metal-head developed quite a talent for writing. Nowadays he’s eloquent in writing code and has finally changed over to the highway to HTML. Jo, we salute you!

The Mikkat is a wunderkind from the shores of the Baltic Sea. Despite his youth he’s a master of his trade. As if it were nothing, he is shapeshifting in-between concept guy, designer and programmer. Soon after hiring him, we realized, this ‘kat’ is complete. At this point, we also realized that it is for us to teach him about the advantages of imperfection. When too perfect, lieber Gott böse.

Steffen’s last name translates as ‘dive’ (headfirst) and that’s what he’s famous for: Jumping in at the deep end of work. No task too difficult, too simple, too exciting, too boring, too whatever. His skill-set is like the primordial soup, almost anything can develop out of it. Any given Friday, there’s an evening meeting in our basement where amateur researchers are monitoring recent developments in Steffens evolution.

Being one of Bavaria’s finest, it would be more than peculiar if Mr. Goppers’s future will be anything other than golden. For our part, we did not hesitate one second entrusting Markus with a responsible task in our Southern outpost. And he rewards us with excellent work. There’s only one thing that needs to be sorted out: How to deal with females envying Markus for his endless, fabulously voluminous lashes.

Fork’s very own ‘DJ Premier’ sets the rhythm for all the floors of our Hamburg office. We’re not a disco (most of the time) but Kai’s approach to leadership is the one of a DJ: Digging for the right humanoid material; setting up inspiring work-n-playlists; manipulating group dynamics to certain levels of ecstasy; being well-prepared but still able to make decisions on the fly; doing at least two things simultaneously; aligning pace, … mike drop!

Everybody knows wolves are back in this ‘Schnitzel-formed’ land of ours. What‘s actually new is that there‘s a Wolf in the Kranhaus and he just recently started to form a pack. You won‘t find a better creature to be leader of pack (aka project manager), neither on the left nor on the right banks of the Rhine river.

Another talented musician, René also hits the right notes when it comes to creating amazing illustrations. From fancy Flash animations right through to atmospheric storyboards, René is our in- house Hergé.

Klaudia’s a bit like a creative boomerang – she keeps coming back with more! Kicking-off her Fork career as a talented copywriter, she’s transformed herself into an accomplished Designer during a few maternal timeouts where she produced her best ever work. A persistent source of creativity and charisma, Klaudia’s an inspiration for us all.

Nina. Junior Project Manager from Franken NOT Bayern. You could describe Nina as a woman of contradiction: the longest of lashes without the need for mascara, the busiest of bees but never tempted to sting and reacher of heights, despite being afraid of them. When it comes to finding Nina, you could say ‘Mia hoan fei an Dussl ghabt’, but ‘We got very lucky’ works too.

For Kat the ‘krass’ graphic designer, any given morning is a kat-astrophe. She’s not a morning person and if you dare disturb her before 12 she’ll make you feel like Hamburg during the G20 summit (lost in dense black smoke). On the contrary, if you’re nice to her she’ll give you an eye-kat-ching design or even invite you to do some kat-poses (Marjaryasana) with her and the other millennials in the park.