Richard Niessen teaches Graphic Design at the Bachelor Graphic Design programme of the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK).
Richard Niessen (1972, 1972, Edam-Volendam, The Netherlands) graduated from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in 1996. As a graphic designer, he is known for his colorful posters and expressive typography, innovative identities and his collaborations with other artists.
In 2007 he created TM-City, a traveling retrospective for the Festival International de l’Affiche, Chaumont, France. In 2014 he expanded this overview with the book and installation A Hermetic Compendium of Typographic Masonry, a portfolio of 26 richly layered designs for Une Saison Graphique in Le Havre, France. Besides working in commission, he initiates his own projects like Based on Bas Oudt, 1:1:1 or Jack.
Richard Niessen started The Palace of Typographic Masonry in 2015, a project which brings together experiment, research, connection with other disciplines and the embedding of graphic design in a broader cultural history.
“By stacking and ordering typographic elements, he creates interweaving linear patterns that have virtually no equivalent anywhere else in the Dutch graphic design field.”
Practicing as an artist and designer, Niessen has conducted workshops with students and designers around the world, and he has lectured and exhibited his work widely.