Nicole Kapitza, born in Oberndorf, a village in southwest Germany, set up the studio kapitza with her sister Petra in 2003, in the east end of London. Together they offer picture and pattern fonts and have become highly regarded in the UK and abroad. Nicole originally studied to become an art teacher, but after dissatisfaction with the over-broad curriculum dropped out and worked on a new portfolio for six months. She was accepted at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart to study illustration. She cites her teacher Heinz Edelmann [of Yellow Submarine fame] as a strong influence in awakening an interest in minimalism. While visiting her sister Petra in London, she arranged to study graphic design for a year as an exchange student at Camberwell College of the Arts. After a time studying footwear design, Petra joined her there too. In 1996, both Petra and Nicole found work in Berlin at a brand new interactive design company called Pixelpark. In 2003 the sisters opened their London studio together, focussing on book and exhibition design, but also venturing into large-scale artworks. The silhouette fonts, of people and nature, is an offshoot of such work. The endless possibilities of their suite of minimalist pattern fonts, Geometric, are showcased in the book Geometric, which has brought them wider recognition.