About
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We use the term work-life balance a lot, although it’s kind of misleading. That’s because work is actually a part of our lives (and yes, only a part). The trick is to find a balance within work that people enjoy coming to; to search for something interesting in every job, find some fun in it (the wisdom of Mary Poppins), get into the flow, and keep going.
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Simplicity
Playfulness
Action
Craft
Empathy
Soul
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Arsselan
Arbabzadah
Working Student
Pory
Rezai
Simon
Apfl
Account Strategist
Tamara
Meyendresch
Office Manager
Steffen
Köpper
Commercial Manager
Jeremy
Sy
Trainee
Sèlim
Taieb
Senior Project Manager
Wolf
Serwaty
Senior Project Manager
Lena
Matinski
Senior Project Manager
Johanna
Hain
Senior Project Manager
Katharina
Helmke
Account Director
Gesa
Heitmann
Account Director
Wiebke
Wegner
Account Director
Carola
Gierse
Account Director
Lisa
Landowski
Head of Project Management
Jonas
Leonhard
Frontend Developer
Artur
Neufeld
Frontend Developer
Andreas
Höpcke
Frontend Developer
Joachim
Schole
Backend Developer
Erik
Pöhler
Senior Backend Developer
Kai
Broenstrup
Senior Fullstack Developer
Olaf
Twesten
Lead Backend Developer
Christian
Ebert
Technical Director
Siegfrid
Förster
Technical Director
Holger
Meyer
Head of Technology
Roman
Hilmer
Creative Director
Jan
Kruse
Managing Creative Director
Dirk
Lanio
Managing Director
Luna
Brumund
Strategist
Robert
Burtzik
Interface Design Decoder
Lea
Egeler
UX/UI Designer
Dimitra
Megas
UX Designer
Susanne
Hoffmeister
Senior UX Designer
Johann
Mikkat
Head of UX
Finn
Holland
Junior Motion Designer
Firyal
Purwanto
Art Director
Mark
Huff
Head of Motion Design & AI
Sophie
Mende
Working Student
Marleen
Heine
Junior Designer
Elena
Dick
Designer
Nicole
Vetter
Designer
Florian
Borgers
Designer
Nadine
Gerloff
Art Director
Susanne
Kloß
Art Director
Dominik
Pander
Senior Art Director
Martina
Massong
Senior Art Director
Hedda
Gerdes
Pasqual
Schillberg
Creative Director
Tobias
Schaub
Creative Director
Ania
Bui
Senior Art Director
Alexander
Gradl
Senior Copywriter
René
Zimmermann
Senior Art Director
Klára
Michalská
Art Director
Odile
Kaché
Art Director
Klaudia
Plettner
Art Director
Peter
Förg
Creative Director Design
Karin
Kreuder
Lead Designer
Alexandra
Steinert
Creative Director Art
Paul
Taggart
Creative Director
Picture
yourself here
Open Positions
yourself here
Arsselan Arbabzadah
Working Student
Pory Rezai
Simon Apfl
Account Strategist
Tamara Meyendresch
Office Manager
Steffen Köpper
Commercial Manager
Jeremy Sy
Trainee
Sèlim Taieb
Senior Project Manager
Wolf Serwaty
Senior Project Manager
Lena Matinski
Senior Project Manager
Johanna Hain
Senior Project Manager
Katharina Helmke
Account Director
Gesa Heitmann
Account Director
Wiebke Wegner
Account Director
Carola Gierse
Account Director
Lisa Landowski
Head of Project Management
Jonas Leonhard
Frontend Developer
Artur Neufeld
Frontend Developer
Andreas Höpcke
Frontend Developer
Joachim Schole
Backend Developer
Erik Pöhler
Senior Backend Developer
Kai Broenstrup
Senior Fullstack Developer
Olaf Twesten
Lead Backend Developer
Christian Ebert
Technical Director
Siegfrid Förster
Technical Director
Holger Meyer
Head of Technology
Roman Hilmer
Creative Director
Jan Kruse
Managing Creative Director
Dirk Lanio
Managing Director
Luna Brumund
Strategist
Robert Burtzik
Interface Design Decoder
Lea Egeler
UX/UI Designer
Dimitra Megas
UX Designer
Susanne Hoffmeister
Senior UX Designer
Johann Mikkat
Head of UX
Finn Holland
Junior Motion Designer
Firyal Purwanto
Art Director
Mark Huff
Head of Motion Design & AI
Sophie Mende
Working Student
Marleen Heine
Junior Designer
Elena Dick
Designer
Nicole Vetter
Designer
Florian Borgers
Designer
Nadine Gerloff
Art Director
Susanne Kloß
Art Director
Dominik Pander
Senior Art Director
Martina Massong
Senior Art Director
Hedda Gerdes
Pasqual Schillberg
Creative Director
Tobias Schaub
Creative Director
Ania Bui
Senior Art Director
Alexander Gradl
Senior Copywriter
René Zimmermann
Senior Art Director
Klára Michalská
Art Director
Odile Kaché
Art Director
Klaudia Plettner
Art Director
Peter Förg
Creative Director Design
Karin Kreuder
Lead Designer
Alexandra Steinert
Creative Director Art
Paul Taggart
Creative Director
Milestones
1996
Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft
Fork kicks off in 1996 as Studio for Unstable Media in Hamburg. What starts as a Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft evolves into an agency renowned for balancing community, culture, and commerce while staging extraordinary brand experiences. These are wild, free years – a brief moment in time before social media. We are part of a vanguard: a decentralized, well-connected movement of international design studios shaping the aesthetic of the commercial internet. Three Fork projects are acquired for the Permanent Collection for Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Our "do-it-yourself" mindset, enthusiasm, and naivety blur the lines between Fork and life, giving rise (sometimes much to our own surprise) to design and interaction principles still used across the World Wide Web today.
2000
Millennium Bugs
For NIVEA, we develop the blueprint (no pun intended) for international brand websites – including the required internationalization technologies, non-Western European character set displays, an easy-to-use lightweight CMS, CRM systems, and partially automated media asset management. The old millennium transitions into the new without the predicted Y2K bugs, and the bass hums in the Fork Keller during a smoky New Year's Eve party. In the first light of the new millennium, another agency crucial to Fork's later development is born in Hamburg: Ligalux emerges from the fischerAppelt Group in June 2001, setting out to become a leading branding agency in Germany. On September 11 of that same year, two planes fly into the Twin Towers. We sit in front of the TV resting on two Astra Urtyp beer crates in our conference room. Our colleague in our Brooklyn office (184 Kent Avenue, 5th floor) is safe. He sends photos: plumes of smoke over Manhattan.
2005
Flash in the Pan
Flash dominates the web, and we build a CMS that allows traditional German chocolate brand Ritter Sport to strike the perfect balance between motion (Flash) and structure (HTML). With "Pet Sematary," a project for the animal welfare organization NOAH, we activate the anti-fur community using a mix of Stephen King, the Ramones, and Macromedia Flash (we often find inspiration in music and pop culture). adidas's tennis division commissions us to create a dynamic interface that functions as both GUI and branding—powered, naturally, by Flash technology. A serve-and-volley of ball trajectories dynamically builds both the stage (or court) and the navigation. In the summer of 2006, we hear 'SCHLAND! chants outside the Rote Flora in Hamburg's Schanzenviertel and experience the Sommermärchen in our backyard. On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs introduces the iPhone – and Flash is dead.
2011
fAmily Business
Following an initial collaboration during Fork's early days in 1999 – the EXPO 2000 project LAB.01 for DaimlerChrysler, realized with Atelier Markgraph – the fischerAppelt Group acquires Fork in 2011. The merger opens up new opportunities and services to manage brands holistically or across various disciplines. In late 2015, alongside fischerAppelt, we win three pitches for Merck. In the following years, we work to introduce the revolutionary new science and tech brand to 50,000 employees across 66 countries (partnering with Ligalux already then) and launch the Curiosity Initiative, the first global corporate communication campaign in the company's 350-year history. This includes the Brand Dome – a VR experience that shrinks users down to the nano or micrometer level to interact with cells, strands, and microbes under a microscope: 3D visualizations that feel like déjà vu when the COVID-19 pandemic hits in 2020.
2025
Fluxus
After 14 years of a wild romance within the fischerAppelt Group, we join forces with Ligalux in September 2025 (Amore!). Ligalux's branding and design expertise merges with our design and technology capability into a new whole. A new Fork emerges: A unique blend of brand and digital agency. Brands, algorithms, data, tools... paired with the human factor to guide brands through ever-unstable futures. We welcome the new Forkies with a F.LUX.US happening at our Hamburg mothership. But our team grows beyond Hamburg – we also gain fresh brand expertise at the outposts of the Fork galaxy in Cologne and Munich.
2026
New Power Generation
Fork celebrates its 30th anniversary. A lot has happened since our founding, and we have changed as much as we have stayed the same (classical Theseus-paradoxon). To position the new Fork – born from the merger with Ligalux – for the future, we shed the shell of the ol’Fork lobster with a new brand. Our new identity manifests for the first time on this website (plusminus v.10.1, live and exposed). It draws on our roots, scrambles our elementary particles, and lets them react together. The result (hopefully) is a dynamic brand capable of showing up both boldly and well-balanced. Built on a clearly defined code and the necessary flexibility to continue developing ourselves and the brands entrusted to us in unstable media – balancing Community, Culture, and Commerce.
Direct line (human beings)
