gestalten is an international publishing house collaborating and engaging with the world’s most interesting creatives to document and anticipate vital movements in architecture and interiors, design and fashion, escape and mobility, travel, food and beverage, as well as visual culture.

Founded in 1995, gestalten has an extensive background in publishing titles that combine excellent aesthetic and production values with relevant themes that capture the zeitgeist. Aside from their in-house thematic publications, they are also experts in collaborating with creative leaders, as well as world-class media brands to produce bespoke books that are aesthetically compelling, authoritative, and highly relevant.

gestalten’s distribution network guarantees the presence of the book in every continent, and moreover, non-traditional outlets such as galleries or concept stores, making the book an aspirational product. Exploring creativity in every form, gestalten is known and loved by millions around the globe for its unique lens across print and digital mediums. gestalten also publishes illustrated books for children through its imprint Little gestalten, pairing compelling stories with striking visuals.

Timeline	2008 – ongoing
Client	Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Design	Silke Krieg
Development	Matt Davis, E-Shop Guide (Shopify)
Theming	Matt Davis, E-Shop Guide (Shopify)
Website	gestalten.com
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, jQuery, Liquid, Twig, SCSS, Shopify
My Role: Since joining Gestalten in 2008, I have contributed to numerous websites and digital tools tailored to support Gestalten’s publishing activities. My primary responsibility has been overseeing Drupal solutions, including migrating the custom CMS to Drupal. Following the subsequent migration to Shopify—initially managed by Eshop Guide—I have taken charge of Liquid theming. In addition to developing and theming the public-facing websites, I am responsible for managing B2B Trade and Distribution areas. This includes maintaining platforms where press materials are accessible and enabling B2B partners to order products efficiently.

Michael Brauchli is a freelance Art Director and Graphic Designer with his own studio. He works with a diverse range of clients, including Swiss, Salt, Berliner Kunstsalon (art fair), District of Corruption (record label), Tease Art Fair Cologne, Nestlé Switzerland, Scheidegger & Spiess (publishing house), and aem’kei (fashion label).

Timeline	2024 – ongoing
Client	Michael Brauchli
Design	Michael Brauchli, Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Next.js, React, WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Tailwind
My Role: I worked closely with Michael to conceptualize the design for his website, recognizing his strong emphasis on originality and his desire for a fun, colorful, and unconventional style. I decided to use modern front-end technology—specifically React—for the development. Michael envisioned a highly visual website that could scroll both horizontally and vertically. To ensure the content management system was user-friendly and efficient, I chose WordPress for the backend, linking posts together using tags for better organisation.

gestalten is an international publishing house collaborating and engaging with the world’s most interesting creatives to document and anticipate vital movements in architecture and interiors, design and fashion, escape and mobility, travel, food and beverage, as well as visual culture.

A significant portion of the publishing house Die Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co. KG’s output consists of curated books that showcase projects from architects, designers, and other contributors in visual culture. This process requires Gestalten’s project managers to collaborate closely with numerous external partners and agencies.

The workflow begins with potential collaborators being collected and initially evaluated. Following this, invitation emails are sent out in batches. Project-specific questionnaires are created, and interested collaborators are invited to complete them and upload their images for review by Gestalten’s project managers. Agreements can then be downloaded, signed, and securely stored on the platform. The entire process—from initial outreach to final agreements and inclusion in publications—is tracked within the platform, which has become an indispensable tool for the company.

Timeline	2017 – ongoing
Client	Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	ddb3.gestalten.com
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, jQuery, Twig, SCSS
My Role: This highly specialized workflow required equally tailored technical solutions. To meet these needs, I developed a suite of custom Drupal modules, enabling a seamless and efficient process for managing collaborations and publications.

Dornfeld’s art has been shown internationally since 2001, and is part of numerous renowned art collections.

Selected recent solo shows include: Danke Esslingen, Villa Merkel, DE (2023); L’Amour Change Tout, Oldenburger Kunstverein, DE (2022); Crème brûlée, Soy Capitán, Berlin, DE (2020); Karussell, Helsinki Contemporary, FI (2016); A Loose Tooth in the Booth, Bruce Haines, London, UK (2016); Paintings Sweet Paintings, Neuer Aachener Kunstverein, DE (2014); Die Schönheit der Frau des Bäckers, Waldburger Wouters, Brussels, BE (2014); No Deleuze, No Flip-Flops, San Juan, PR (2011); Matthias Dornfeld, Ben Kaufmann, Berlin, DE (2010) and Matthias Dornfeld, Harris Lieberman, New York, US (2009).

Timeline	2024
Client	Matthias Dornfeld
Design	Matthias Dornfeld
Development	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Javascript
Website	matthiasdornfeld.de
My Role: Matthias’ existing website was running on an outdated version of Joomla. Rather than updating the existing platform, we made the decision to migrate to WordPress for enhanced functionality, better support, and a more user-friendly experience. I was responsible for migrating the data and media assets, as well as rebuilding the theme.

Hildegard Collection is a private collection in Berlin.

Timeline	2024
Client	Matthias Dornfeld
Design	Matthias Dornfeld
Development	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Javascript
Website	hildegardcollection.de
My Role: The existing website was running on an outdated version of Joomla. Rather than updating the existing platform, we made the decision to migrate to WordPress for enhanced functionality, better support, and a more user-friendly experience. I was responsible for migrating the data and media assets, as well as rebuilding the theme.

gestalten is an international publishing house collaborating and engaging with the world’s most interesting creatives to document and anticipate vital movements in architecture and interiors, design and fashion, escape and mobility, travel, food and beverage, as well as visual culture.

Working with a large array of freelancers—from copy editors to illustrators, translators, and graphic designers—Gestalten has accrued an extensive freelancer database. However, project managers maintained their own records of freelancers, including skillsets, current fees, and personal rating systems. This led to a lack of a centralised place where information could be stored, shared, and compared effectively.

Timeline	2024 – ongoing
Client	Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Nuxt, Vue, JavaScript, PostgreSQL
Website	cdb.gestalten.com
My Role: gestalten sought a user-friendly application that would enable project managers to effortlessly add and edit freelancer details, as well as leave reviews after each collaboration was finalised. After considering the brief, I identified that ease of use for searching, filtering, and sorting data would be critical, alongside functionality for adding and editing new contacts. To achieve this, I implemented a modern front-end solution using Nuxt.js. The database was built with PostgreSQL, and authorisation was managed via OAuth with Google Sign-On. Additionally, the data for all publications was synchronised with an existing PIM syste

Berlin Bilingual School offers bilingual students an affordable English-German bilingual education in a stimulating learning environment that encourages critical and creative thinking. We support our students to develop their love of learning, fulfil their potential, and become aware and engaged global citizens.

Timeline	2007–2023
Client	Berlin Bilingual School, Pfefferwerk gGmbH
Design	Darren Jones, Dominic Latham, Rob Meek, Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Drupal, PHP, MySQL, Javascript, jQuery, SCSS
Website	berlin-bilingual-school.de
My Role: I developed a bilingual website for Berlin Bilingual School (BBS) featuring functionalities such as a student registration form, a calendar, a blog, and more. BBS serves approximately 450 students from 30 nationalities and actively encourages parent involvement through voluntary work. Parents who opt out of volunteering can choose to pay an additional monthly fee instead. The school required an accounting system for parents to record their voluntary hours individually. Every six months, the total voluntary hours would be offset, with any overtime carried forward. Additionally, they needed an auditing system to review, revise, and verify recorded hours when necessary, as well as to generate and send invoices. To meet these requirements, I developed a series of custom modules for Drupal tailored to handle these specific processes efficiently.

The Global Ocean Observing System was created in March 1991 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO in response to calls from the Second World Climate Conference in Geneva, 1990.

UNESCO extensively uses WordPress as a content management system (CMS) for several of its web platforms. The choice of WordPress aligns with its ability to handle multilingual content, user-friendly interfaces, and scalability—features particularly suited for large organizations like UNESCO, which operate globally across multiple languages.

Timeline	2023
Client	IOC/UNESCO
Design	GOOS
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	WordPress, PHP, MySQL, JavaScript
Website	goosocean.org
My Role: The existing Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) website was originally built in Joomla. I was responsible for migrating the data and media assets, as well as creating a custom theme that replicated the existing design (which was not redesigned). In addition, I developed several custom modules to seamlessly integrate with the Ocean Expert API, ensuring smooth data connectivity and functionality.

“Matt migrated our website to a more up to date CMS, delivering above expectations. He made the process easy, was flexible, and delivered timely, high-quality results. Our website now functions better for both showcasing our programme work externally, but also allowing us to make behind the scene changes easily. I look forward to my next occasion to work with Matt and highly recommend him.”

Forest Collins IOC/UNESCO

Will Taylar is a British artist & designer – with 15 years laser cutting experience, offering a laser cutting and design service in Berlin, Kreuzberg/Neukölln. The client needed a new website for his laser-cutting business to advertise his services and showcase previous projects in an attractive gallery. The site also had to be bilingual.

Timeline	2023
Client	Will Taylar
Design	Will Taylar
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Javascript, jQuery, SCSS
Website	lasercut-berlin.com
My Role: Building a custom theme based on Will’s design, which integrates Weglot (Translation Solution), Masonry (Cascading grid layout library) and PhotoSwipe {JavaScript image gallery and lightbox)

“Working with Matt was an absolute pleasure! He is a very good listener and an excellent communicator—with a broad skill base. He followed my brief down to the finest detail, but also guided me—when I needed a guide. The whole job went incredibly smoothly, and I’m very proud of my website!“

Will Taylar, Lasercut Berlin

David Holzer is a professional writer, who is inspired by our world and its future, our spiritual, mental and physical well-being, and culture – particularly music.

Timeline	2023
Client	David Holzer
Design	Jason Forrest
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Javascript, jQuery, SCSS
Website	davidholzer.com
My Role: Building a custom theme based on the design by Jason Forest

“Matt built my website quickly and with no fuss. He asked the right questions, established what I really needed the website to do, sense-checked and refined my expectations and brought the design to life perfectly. I recommended Matt to an important client of mine. He worked with them on a major website project and they were extremely pleased with the results.”

David Holzer, writer

In 2021, due to Covid lockdown restrictions, the students of the Turps Banana Correspondence Course were unable to hold a physical exhibition. While the group initially considered creating a website to showcase their work, this approach failed to replicate the social and collaborative aspects of curating, hanging, and gathering for an exhibition opening. To address this, Fred Thackeray-Vincent and I conceived the idea of a virtual gallery where artworks could be placed and rearranged on the walls via a drag-and-drop interface, simulating the experience of curating a physical show.

Following the highly successful Turps Banana Correspondence Course exhibition, In Absentia, the longlist for the Contemporary British Painting Prize 2021 was also hosted on Cohort.art.

Timeline	2021 – 2022
Client	Students of the Turps Banana Correspondence Course, Contemporary British Painting
Design	Fred Thackeray Vincent, Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	cohort.art
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, Vue, Twig, SCSS
My Role: To bring this concept to life, I developed a custom solution using Drupal as the backend and a Vue.js-based Drupal theme to enable the required interactivity. The platform allowed users to dynamically arrange artworks in a virtual gallery space, mimicking the collaborative process of curating a physical exhibition. The artists were divided into groups, and Zoom calls were organised to facilitate discussions. One member from each group was given curatorial access on the platform, empowering them to move and arrange the artworks of their group members. This approach not only showcased the artwork but also preserved the collaborative and social elements that are integral to the exhibition process.

Judith Affolter is a Swiss-born photographer based in Berlin and Zurich.

Timeline	2020
Client	Judith Affolter
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	judithaffolter.com
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, Twig, SCSS
My Role: Designed and developed a custom Drupal CMS and theme to showcase Judith Affolter‘s photography portfolio and professional profile.

Office Offset is a research project by Jan Blessing, which consists of a continuously growing archive, the website and an experimental print workshop.

The term Office Offset describes fully-equipped miniature offset printing machines the size of a photocopier/laser printer. What distinguishes it from the printing industry at large is the fact that it never belonged to it. Office Offset rather belongs to the category of duplication devices like a mimeograph, photocopier, or Risograph.

Timeline	2020
Client	Jan Blessing
Design	Jan Blessing
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	www.officeoffset.com
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, Vue, Twig, SCSS
My Role: Developed a Drupal site with a custom theme using Bootstrap

Book Book is a design studio located in Berlin, founded by Jan Blessing, Constanze Hein and Felix Walser. The studio works in close collaboration with our clients to turn ideas into designs. Focused on publications, websites, identities and ephemeras, the work is driven by an interest in typography, material, colour, and various printing techniques to evoke a unique quality. In addition to the design work the expertise of the studio includes the holistic consultation, managing and monitoring of printed products.

The Book Book Studio website showcases a clean, minimalistic, and innovative design. It focuses on highlighting art and creative projects in a visually engaging format. Navigation is streamlined, presenting a catalog-like display of exhibitions or works, with attention to detail and an emphasis on typography and layout

Timeline	2019
Client	Book Book
Design	Book Book
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	bookbook-studio.de
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, Twig, SCSS
My Role: Migrating an existing Drupal site and upgrading from D6 to D9. Building custom theme using Bootstrap

Under the motto “Nimm Rassismus Persönlich” (Take racism personally!), Amnesty International wants to encourage reflection on (everyday) racism with these posters. With totally absurd questions? Exactly. Physical features, origin, or religion have nothing to do with individual characteristics. Nevertheless, people are racially discriminated against every day based on absurd clichés, violating their human rights and undermining their human dignity.

To support a broader campaign, Amnesty International wanted a temporary micro-blog where victims of racism could share incidents from their everyday experiences.

Timeline	2017
Client	Amnesty International
Design	Michael Brauchli
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Grav, JavaScript, jQuery, Twig, SCSS
My Role: Setting up GRAV with TWIG theming.

The Nightingale City Berlin was commissioned by the scientists: Dr. Sarah Darwin from the Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin; Prof. Dr. Silke Kipper from Technische Universität München; and Dr. Sarah Kiefer from Leibniz-Institut für Zoo- und Wildtierforschung.

This citizen science project was a pilot initiative aimed at testing the proof of concept and evaluating public engagement levels in recording and posting nightingale sightings.

The goal was to create an interactive map showcasing audio recordings and field notes of nightingale sightings. Given its pilot status, the main challenge was to develop the website within a very tight budget.

Timeline	2016
Client	Dr. Sarah Darwin – Museum für Naturkunde
Design	Matt Davis, Dr. Sarah Darwin
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	www.nightingale.berlin
Tech Stack	JavaScript, jQuery, PHP
My Role: Developed a custom interactive website featuring a Google Map with custom pins and pop-ups displaying audio players that play nightingale sounds. Designed the logo and custom pins based on Sarah Darwin’s imagery and managed data storage in JSON format for seamless integration.

The website cultureofthecountryside.ac.uk was associated with the “Culture of the Countryside” project, a Heritage Lottery-funded initiative led by Veronica Sekules, Bee Farrell, and David Hulks from 2008 to 2011.

The project aimed to explore and reinterpret the cultural heritage of the countryside by engaging with world art, artists, schools, and communities.

Timeline	2008 – 2010
Client	University of East Anglia
Design	Steers McGillan, Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, jQuery, CSS
My Role: I handled the full development of a Drupal website using the Organic Groups module, organizing content into regions and types of institutions. This included building an interactive, clickable map and implementing complex theming to ensure a seamless and engaging user experience

The Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts is a prominent museum and art gallery located at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in Norwich, UK.

It houses an extensive collection of modern and contemporary art, alongside exhibitions of world art. The Centre was founded with the support of Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury and is known for its diverse and impressive collection, which includes works from various cultures and periods, including ancient art, African art, and modern European works.

Timeline	2002 – 2010
Client	University of East Anglia
Design	Studiosoup
Development	Studiosoup, Matt Davis
Theming	Studiosoup, Matt Davis
Tech Stack	JavaScript, jQuery, CSS
My Role: I was responsible for the custom development and ongoing maintenance of the CMS. This included making updates that couldn’t be done directly through the CMS, creating new sections, and modifying templates to meet evolving needs.

Gestalten is an independent publishing house based in Berlin, Germany. The platform Gestalten TV was a platform showcasing interviews, documentaries, and creative stories from designers, artists, and other creative professionals, often linked to Gestalten’s publishing work. It highlighted cutting-edge trends in art, design, architecture, and visual culture, offering inspiration for creatives worldwide.

Timeline	2010 – 2018
Client	Gestalten Verlag GmbH & Co. KG
Design	Matthias Hübner, Gestalten
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	https://gestalten.tv
Tech Stack	Drupal, JavaScript, jQuery
My Role: I set up and configured the Drupal CMS, integrated the open-source media player Flowplayer, developed a dynamic frontend using jQuery, and implemented podcast feed integration.

Dr. med. Ina Zerkowitz is a general practitioner (GP) in Berlin-Zehlendorf

Timeline	2009
Client	Dr. med. Ina Zerkowitz
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	www.zerkowitz.de
Tech Stack	PHP, JavaScript, jQuery
My Role: I was responsible for creating a clean website design with a strong emphasis on accessibility, ensuring an intuitive and inclusive user experience for all visitors.

Indie.ch was a Swiss music platform dedicated to promoting independent Swiss music. It featured a curated selection of indie, folk, and electronica tracks, aiming to introduce listeners to emerging artists and new sounds.

Timeline	2008
Client	Nemos GmbH
Design	Nemos GmbH
Development	Nemos GmbH
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	www.indie.ch
Tech Stack	PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My Role: Drupal theme development

Wild Gift was a festival of performance and performative art curated by Rosie Cooper and David Lillington, featuring new work by eight international artists. Their signature was theatricality, spectacle, artifice – and serious content.

Timeline	2006
Client	David Lillington
Design	Marit Münzberg
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	wildgift.org.uk
Tech Stack	PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My Role: I built a Drupal website with a custom theme, implemented calendar functionality, ensured multilingual support, and integrated a video player for enhanced media presentation.

Michael Laskey is a full time freelance poet, editor, and tutor with many years experience of promoting contemporary poetry.

Timeline	2006
Client	Sam Horwood
Design	Sam Horwood
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Website	www.michaellaskey.co.uk
Tech Stack	Drupal, PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My Role: I built a Drupal website with a custom theme and developed custom content types for managing audio recordings.

Mixology.eu is a leading German-language online magazine dedicated to bar culture, cocktails, and spirits.

Timeline	2006
Client	dieSacharbeiter
Design	dieSacharbeiter
Development	dieSacharbeiter / Matt Davis
Theming	dieSacharbeiter / Matt Davis
Website	www.mixology.eu
Tech Stack	Drupal, PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My Role: I developed a custom Drupal module extending the Advanced Menu module and implemented dynamic image generation using PHP’s GD library to create menu item images with different states (normal, hover, active).

Artworld began in September 2000 as a three year project, funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) of the Higher Education Funding Council in their 5/99 strand.

The intention of Artworld was to provide access to primary visual source materials for the enhancement of teaching and learning in world art studies. It includes images of artworks from two important collections in England, from the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, and the Oriental Museum at the University of Durham. It features objects from Asia, Africa, the Americas and the Pacific, spanning thousands of years of human creativity.

Timeline	2000 – 2003
Client	University of East Anglia
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Drupal, PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My Role: I developed an XML database in Drupal to catalog items, their provenance, and visual source material, with the ability to output XML formatted to comply with Dublin Core standards. I designed a complex museology-based taxonomy system for organizing the data and built an advanced search interface for easy navigation. I also created custom teaching modules to allow lecturers to build personalized teaching paths, integrated art objects from the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts (SCVA) and Durham University collections, and designed and implemented a custom theme for the platform.

Cinema City has a strong reputation for promoting film as an art form. It catered to those seeking a more intellectual or aesthetic cinematic experience and was well-regarded for its programming quality and intimate charm.

Timeline	2002–2004
Client	Cinema City
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	Drupal, PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My role: Built a custom CMS using PHP and MySQL to manage various content types, and developed a calendar feature to keep visitors updated with the current cinema program.

Nfolk was a community-based blog and events calendar focused on art, music, creative writing, gossip, and more, in and around Norwich, UK. The concept aimed to promote cultural activities in the area while helping to build and maintain a community centered around creativity.

Timeline	2002–2004
Client	nFolk
Design	Matt Davis
Development	Matt Davis
Theming	Matt Davis
Tech Stack	PHP, JavaScript, CSS
My role: Built a custom CMS using PHP and MySQL to manage diverse content types, recruited and managed content contributors while moderating submitted content, and coordinated with cultural venues to source and maintain up-to-date information.