Fjord is the festival for people who set type at 2am and argue about kerning at brunch. Studios, students, printers, coders and the gloriously self-taught — all crammed into Rotterdam for 72 hours. Expect oversized posters, undersized attention spans, risograph fumes, and the best people you'll meet all year.
No dress code. No badge scanners shoved in your face. Just work that's loud enough to wake the dead pixels.
The program
Three days. No filler.
01Friday 4 JuneOpening salvo
10:00
Doors / Coffee / Chaos
Grab a tote, lose your friends immediately
Main Hall
11:30
Keynote: Ugly On Purpose
Lieke Vermeer — Studio Brak, Amsterdam
Big Room
13:00
Riso Until Your Hands Are Blue
Hands-on workshop · 24 seats · bring an apron
Print Lab
15:00
Type That Bites Back
Panel with three founders who hate the word "clean"
Stage B
17:30
Posters In The Wild
Walking tour of Rotterdam's loudest walls
Outdoors
21:00
Opening Party: Press Start
DJ Helvetica Heavy + free frites till they run out
Warehouse
02Saturday 5 JuneThe deep end
09:30
Hangover Sketch Club
Quiet drawing, loud coffee, zero judgement
Atrium
11:00
Coding For People Who Draw
Mara Okonkwo — creative dev, Lagos/Berlin
Big Room
12:30
The Grid Is A Lie
Talk + heckling encouraged
Stage B
14:00
Bind Your Own Beast
Bookbinding for the impatient · 18 seats
Print Lab
16:00
Brand Wars: Live Roast
Studios redesign each other's logos on stage
Big Room
18:30
Portfolio Night, No Mercy
5 minutes, 5 art directors, 1 buzzer
Stage B
22:00
Saturday Riot
Three rooms, two genres, one very tired sound guy
Warehouse
03Sunday 6 JuneSoft landing
10:30
Slow Morning, Strong Type
Lettering brunch — croissants & calligraphy
Atrium
12:00
Designing For The Next 100 Years
Sven Daalmans — archivist & futurist
Big Room
13:30
Risograph Swap Meet
Trade prints, steal ideas, make friends
Print Lab
15:00
What Now? Careers Off The Map
For freelancers, dropouts & late bloomers
Stage B
17:00
Closing Manifesto + Group Photo
We read it loud. You shout it back.
Main Hall
Where it happens
Eight venues. One loud city.
01
Het Nieuwe Instituut
HQ. Keynotes, big room, the manifesto. Smells of fresh ink.
02
The Print Lab
Risograph, letterpress, blue hands. Aprons provided.