Our New Year's greeting for 2026 is an original graphic by artist Ulrike Steinke and shows the renovation and extension of the Yellow Block in Munich's Westend district. This project exemplifies our approach to exploiting the potential of existing buildings – and is nearing completion.

The graphic and its production represent a conscious use of resources and are intended to stimulate thought on the topics that shape our work: responsible use of existing buildings, resource-saving materials, and the principles of simple construction.

The graphic was printed using the sustainable risograph process. This process is characterized by the fact that it does not produce fine dust, chemicals, or toxic fumes. Even the printing substrates can be disposed of in household waste. Risography is a stencil printing process carried out using a cylinder printing method. Both the process and the risograph itself were developed in the 1980s by the Japanese company RISO. The risograph uses a laser to expose a master film for each printing color, which is stretched over a printing drum with a very fine steel screen. The drum contains a soy-based water-oil mixture. As the drum rotates, the ink is thrown through the screen and the laser-cut master foil onto the paper passing underneath. When printing multiple colors, each color requires a separate pass. Yellow, red, and black were used for our graphic. The drum was therefore changed three times and the paper was reloaded each time. Since the reloaded paper can slip, this creates an “imperfect” appearance. The printing process does not require any heat. Since the ink does not contain any additional solvents, it takes some time to dry and soak into the paper. This process is similar to screen printing.

Ulrike Steinke lives and works in Munich. She studied illustration at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig under Volker Pfüller. In her work, she moves between illustration, comics and paper cutting, developing images that tell stories.

More information about Ulrike Steinkecan be found here.