Knip studied at the St Joost Academy of Visual Arts, Breda. René initially intended to become a painter, but his teacher, the typographer Chris Brand, stimulated his fascination for letters, calligraphy and typography, so René switched to the applied arts. He graduated with honours in 1990. After an intensive training of three years as an assistant to Anthon Beeke, he started his own studio, Atelier René Knip. The studio concentrates on graphic design at the dividing line between flat and three-dimensional works. Other A.R.K. interests are the miraculous effects of the female and male; the autonomic possibilities of applied graphic art; the independency of material and colour; and type design and calligraphy as visual tools. By moving the atelier from Amsterdam to a Frisian farmhouse in the north of the Netherlands (2006), René entered into a new phase. Everything changed. Atelier René Knip employs a team of 2 to 4 collaborators. René teaches and lectures frequently at home and abroad.