Åbäke is a graphic design collective based in London. The four members - Patrik Lacey, Benjamin Reichen, Kajsa Stahl and Maki Suzuki - have been together ten years. They're from Wales, France and Sweden (Maki is of Japanese origin, but was raised in France). Åbäke is a Swedish word meaning "something in the way, something clumsy". Åbäke are part of a tendency for young designers to work as part of collectives and groups rather than struggle (and pay rent) individually. They did their Royal College of Art degree show together, graduating in 2000. They have their own magazine, Sexy Machinery (a collaboration with two architects and a textile designer), and their own record label, Kitsune. The label releases records like "Kitsune Midnight", twelve songs about midnight with a sleeve in which pinhole lettering is illuminated from behind by getting an entire audience at an IdN conference in Singapore to flash their cameras at the same time. They came to Auckland and ran a workshop for 30 top design students from universities around the city, in conjuction with Semi-Permanent 06. A bunch of us from Elam participated for a fornight, and at the end produced an exhibition in response to the Britomart CBD environment as it was at the time. We responded to our environment by creating a distopian landscape aligning with the view on the window.