akeshift is the amorphous collaborative space in which Tessa Zettel & Karl Khoe work together on a wide range of creative and critical projects.

The makeshift website maps our diverse activities as an experimental art practice [makeshift laboratory], an interdisciplinary design studio responding to socially responsible client-led briefs [makeshift studio], a producer of thought-provoking objects for sale [makeshift workshop], and an active contributor to the field of art and design research, education and critical discourse [makeshift think tank].
Autoportrait
2001 - ongoing

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essa was born in Sydney in 1980. She has a Bachelor of Design (Hons) from the College of Fine Arts, UNSW, and has been teaching at COFA and UTS for the past six years. She also writes independently for journals, curates exhibitions, and makes spatial interventions that incorporate drawing, sculpture/installation and various kinds of research.

She sees herself as a redirective practitioner working across disciplines to develop more sustainable ways of living and being in the world. She believes strongly in the need for a more critically engaged and responsive design community, and finds fertile ground in the spaces between art, design and writing.


arl was also born in Sydney in 1980 and also holds a Bachelor of Design with Honours from the College of Fine Arts. A graphic and web designer for over twelve years, he has taught at COFA, UTS and Raffles KVB in design philosophy, theory and graphics media studios.

Collaborating with Tessa since 2001 he shares many of the central concerns and interests which underpin her practice. He is also currently teaching himself how to paint.