onomatopee

What onomatopee does

Onomatopee is an independent, Eindhoven-based nonprofit cultural organization that combines an exhibition venue, publishing house, and on-site RISO workshop. It serves artists, curators, academic researchers, design practitioners, students, and cultural visitors through exhibitions, public programs, publication opportunities, and production education. Its programming centers on critical design, contemporary art, ecology, governance, and social research.

The organization has a catalog of more than 200 publications covering artistic research, design criticism, ecology, and social issues. Its core products are the exhibition venue, numbered artist books and research readers, RISO zine and book-production workshops, a year-round publication open call, and a subsidized thesis-publication program. Two five-year thematic lines—Folklore & Critical Research and Systems & Territories—extend this activity across exhibitions, books, workshops, and public events. The RISO duplicator is a physical production capability used to create zines, artist books, and educational print projects.

Onomatopee's revenue mechanics combine one-time publication sales, typically priced from €12 to €48, workshop fees, optional purchases around free exhibitions, and grants from multiple public and cultural funding bodies. Publications are sold directly through worldwide e-commerce and through art-book fairs, partner bookstores, and institutional venues. Its go-to-market approach is event- and community-led, using exhibitions, Dutch Design Week participation, open calls, newsletters, social media, and collaborations with museums, academies, and cultural organizations. Revenue, headcount, grant totals, and transaction volumes are not publicly disclosed.

Name

onomatopee

Legal name

Onomatopee

Website

https://onomatopee.net

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

Onomatopee is an Eindhoven nonprofit combining an exhibition venue, independent publishing house, and RISO workshop for artists, curators, researchers, designers, students, and cultural audiences through exhibitions, books, workshops, open calls, and international distribution.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Publishing and Cultural Programs

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions (7121)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Online & Hybrid Creative Writing Workshops (EDAMAMAL)

Keywords

• Art exhibitions
• Independent publishing
• Artist books
• Risograph printing
• Cultural programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Eindhoven

HQ country

Netherlands

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Supply Chain

Revenue model

1. Publication Sales: Sale of artist books, readers, and publications through e-commerce and at events. Publications range from €15-€48, sold as one-time purchases.
2. Exhibition Visits: Free entry exhibitions with optional publications and merchandise sales. Open Friday-Sunday 12-5 PM during exhibitions.
3. Workshop Fees: RISO workshops for artists, students (thesis support), and the public. Includes mentorship, studio access, and subsidized materials for accepted participants.
4. Grant Funding: Support from Mondriaan Fund, Provincie Noord-Brabant, Cultuur Eindhoven, and other cultural funds for exhibitions, publications, and programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Onomatopee is an Eindhoven-based cultural organization that merges an exhibition venue, a publishing house, and a RISO (Risograph) workshop into a single open meeting space. It produces a catalog of numbered artist books and thematic readers (e.g., A Tree, With a Bird, Counter-Collections, DATAS), hosts exhibitions and public programs on contemporary art and critical design, and operates a community RISO workshop offering zine-making, bookbinding, and subsidized thesis publication support for design students.

Product overview

Onomatopee is a hybrid cultural organization in Eindhoven that operates as an exhibition venue, publishing house, and RISO workshop. The core offerings include its Exhibition Venue for hosting public programs, its Publishing House producing numbered publications (Onomatopee 201-268 series) covering artist books and thematic readers, and its RISO Workshop providing risograph printing services. Additional services include a Publication Open Call program accepting proposals year-round and a Thesis Publication Support Program for design students. The organization runs two five-year program lines: Folklore & Critical Research (curated by Marjolein van der Loo) and Systems & Territories (curated by Silvia Franceschini), which generate exhibitions, publications, and public events.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• RISO Workshop: Community risograph printing workshop and studio accessible to artists and designers
• Folklore & Critical Research
• Systems & Territories

Products and services

• Exhibition Venue An open meeting space in Eindhoven that hosts contemporary art and design exhibitions and public programs, open by appointment and during exhibitions on Friday, Saturday & Sunday between 12-5 PM. Audience includes art book fair visitors, cultural practitioners, and the general public.
• Publishing House (Numbered Publication Series) Independent publisher producing numbered artist books, thematic readers, research publications, and exhibition catalogs across themes of ecology, kinship, design criticism, and contemporary art. Individual titles priced €12–€48 and sold through the e-commerce site, art book fairs, and partner bookstores worldwide.
• RISO Workshop On-site Risograph printing workshop offering zine-making, bookbinding workshops, and subsidized thesis publication support for design students. Provides artists, researchers, and students with access to cost-effective dye-based duplicator printing, mentorship, and studio access.
• Publication Open Call Year-round open submission program for publication proposals with deadlines every four months, inviting research-grounded, critical, or experimental book projects from artists, researchers, and writers.
• Thesis Publication Support Program RISO lab sponsorship program for Design Academy Eindhoven and other Dutch design academy students, offering mentorship, studio access, and subsidized printing materials for thesis projects.

Quantifiable outcome

• Publications distributed worldwide through international book fairs and partner bookstores

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered major and minor.

• Willem de Kooning AcademymajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-produced Research For People Who (Think They) Would Rather Create and other projects. Provides research station coordination and institutional support.
• Kenniscentrum Willem de Kooning AcademiemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerResearch center at WdKA co-producer of artistic research publications and thesis support programs.
• Books @ RETminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRotterdam-based bookstore partner hosting book launches and distributing selected publications.
• Porto Design BiennalemajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerInternational design biennial partnership for Fiction Practice project and related programming.
• Van AbbemuseummajorGTM or Marketing PartnerEindhoven art museum hosting book launches and providing institutional venue for publications.
• Kunsthalle DüsseldorfmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerGerman art institution hosting Between Books art book fair with Onomatopee participation.
• Zabriskie BuchladenminorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorBerlin-based bookstore partner for book launches and distribution in Germany.
• Baltan LaboratoriesmajorGTM or Marketing PartnerEindhoven-based cultural institution co-creating programming during Dutch Design Week takeover at Onomatopee.
• BAK Basecamp for Tactical ImaginariesminorGTM or Marketing PartnerUtrecht-based research institute partnering for dialogue events on cultural work sustainability.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Roma Publications: Amsterdam-based independent art publisher producing artist books, readers, and exhibition catalogs in a closely overlapping curatorial niche with Onomatopee. Both operate small-scale European art publishing programs that blend critical discourse with visual production.
• Valiz: Dutch independent publisher focused on architecture, design, and contemporary art theory, based in Amsterdam. Comparable to Onomatopee as a similarly sized Netherlands-based publisher producing critical readers and thematic anthologies with parallel distribution and institutional channels.
• Sternberg Press: Berlin-based art publisher producing essays, artists' books, and theory titles in dialogue with contemporary art practice. Comparable to Onomatopee in its art-theory publishing niche and international distribution through book fairs and museum shops.
• Archive Books: Berlin and Rome-based independent art publisher producing research-driven publications on contemporary art, politics, and ecology. Comparable to Onomatopee in scale, niche, and grant-supported European cultural publishing model.
• Lars Müller Publishers: Swiss publisher specializing in design, architecture, and visual culture books. Comparable to Onomatopee as a design-criticism publisher with international reach and a similarly curated thematic catalog.
• Book Works: London-based nonprofit producing artist books, editions, and critical publications. Comparable to Onomatopee as a similarly scaled, grant-supported publisher producing limited-edition art books and readers in a European cultural-publishing niche.
• Kunstverein (e.g., Kunstverein München): German Kunstverein model combining exhibitions, publications, and public programs at small-to-mid scale. Comparable to Onomatopee in blending exhibition programming with catalog and reader publishing under a critical contemporary art mandate.

Regional players

• Het Nieuwe Instituut: Dutch national museum and institute for architecture, design, and digital culture, based in Rotterdam. Comparable to Onomatopee as a Netherlands-based cultural institution with overlapping themes of design criticism, exhibitions, and publications.

Others

• Van Abbemuseum: Eindhoven contemporary art museum that hosts Onomatopee book launches. A larger regional cultural institution that intersects with Onomatopee through programming and audience overlap rather than direct product competition.

Broad incumbents

• MIT Press: Large-scale academic and art-theory publisher with a broad catalog including design criticism and contemporary art titles. Comparable to Onomatopee at a far larger scale in publishing critical art and design theory, though with much wider subject breadth.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/onomatopeenet
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/onomatopee

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about onomatopee