Jan Wilker for Open Flat File

Wilker grew up in Ulm, Germany. He moved to New York in late 2000 to start karlssonwilker, a design studio, together with Icelander Hjalti Karlsson. Jan has taught at Cooper Union, SVA, and Parsons. He frequently lectures and holds sought-after design workshops around the world. Their work has appeared in more than one design publication, and they have received less than a thousand awards. They continue to work with an eclectic list of clients, including A, the B, C, D, E, the F Club, G, H mag, I, J International, and K.

About the event

Doors open at 6:30 PM. Talk starts at 7:00 PM and will be followed by a reception.

This event will be in-person in the Rose Auditorium at The Cooper Union and live-streamed over YouTube.

Registration on EventBrite is required. However, an in-person EventBrite ticket does not guarantee entry as this is a first-come-first-served free event.

About the series

This event is part of Open Flat File, a free 10-part lecture series held on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Herb Lubalin Study Center. Each lecturer was invited to select a single object from the collection to respond to through a free public talk and to design a poster about the object. Lecturers have designed a commemorative poster that will distributed for free at the event. Lectures will be staged during the 2026–2027 academic year.

This series is presented by MillerKnoll with support from Athletics and Gretel.

About the Lubalin Center

Forty years ago, on September 10, 1985, The Cooper Union Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography began with a simple mission: to preserve the work and legacy of Herb Lubalin, a Cooper Union alumnus and one of America’s most influential graphic designers. Forty years later, that mission has expanded into one of the world’s most significant archives dedicated to graphic design, typography, and visual culture. The collection, which opened with a series of original design pieces by Herb Lubalin and his studio, has grown to encompass nearly 80,000 design objects by a multitude of designers spanning two centuries and five continents. The space provides students and designers unparalleled open access to rare publications, posters, sketches, and other materials that contextualize the history of design.