Cornelia Koch, also known as Connie, is a founder and creative director of AHOY, a branding and design firm with offshoots in New York, Zurich and Berlin. Cornelia was born in the very early 70s as a true Bavarian. The wall came down and she moved to Berlin, where she met AHOY's co-founder Aline Ozkan as a fellow student, friend, and finally master graduate in visual communication design at the University of Arts. In 1995 she fell in love with New York during a trip dedicated to explore American art and design, and followed an offer from the Chelsea art center The Kitchen to curate their video art collection and to design the center's materials. After a call to Milan where she redesigned a fashion magazine for Rizzoli, she joined artists Marlene McCarty and Donald Moffett at New York design firm Bureau to work with The Andy Warhol Foundation, Sundance Channel and the United Nations.
In 2000, she co-founded the design studio AHOY together with Aline, and today she leads the firm as creative director and partner in New York, Zurich and Berlin. Clients include the United Nations, New York University, Rockefeller Foundation, Hirshhorn Museum and PULSE Contemporary Art Fair.
Cornelia’s personal work explores art beyond the boundaries of design. She experiments with painting, photography, collage, ceramics, works with wool, furniture, and spaces to enhance our precious time on earth with curiosity, humor, experimentation and beauty.