In a year that has seen the opening of a new Brooklyn studio and key leadership additions, COLLINS welcomes Astrid Stavro as VP, Creative Director. A well-known and experienced designer, Stavro will lead projects directly, working closely with clients, CCOs, strategists and designers. Based in London, Stavro is expected to lean into her international background to support COLLINS’ European clientele. “Understanding the culture of a place and its people is essential. The fact that I live in London and speak European will hopefully enable closer, more meaningful and culturally relevant experiences and relationships.”
“COLLINS consistently creates groundbreaking work and meaningful stories executed with extraordinary craft at incredible scale,” says Stavro. “I have known and admired their work for quite some time. After multiple conversations with Leland Maschmeyer and Brian Collins, I realized that – besides the ambition to create timeless and meaningful work – we shared the same insatiable passion, curiosity and ways of thinking about the transformative power of design.” Brian Collins notes: “She’s a key part in charting our future. We’re looking for the most creative talent in the world. And when I reached out to Astrid, she said yes in a heartbeat. We were looking for dazzling intelligence, and I personally look for three things: character, energy and talent. And she has those in droves. We can’t wait to see what we will do together.”
Stavro brings a long list of accomplishments with her: she kicked off her career by leading the celebrated redesign of London-based culture magazine Elephant and went on to work with Barcelona Design Museum, Camper, McKinsey & Company, and AB InBev. She then led her own award-winning studio in Barcelona for ten years, and in 2013, co-founded the acclaimed brand and design consultancy Atlas with Pablo Martín. In 2018, she was invited to join Pentagram as a Partner. Her work has received over 150 international awards, and she is a visiting lecturer at Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design and the Royal College of Art. Stavro is also an elected member of Alliance Graphique Internationale and currently serves as the President of the International Society of Typographic Designers (ISTD).
