All posts filed under: Interviews

© Sylvain Bouzat

Finding human connection: Sylvain Bouzat

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There are people I follow on social media, whose lives never seem to stand still – at least judging by their photo output. Same goes for French photographer Sylvain Bouzat. Albania, Oman, India, Morocco, Nepal, Bhutan, to name a few. He’s been there, loaded with his Contax 645 and came back with stunning results. Yet a stolen camera years back almost meant a career in graphic design and countless of these photographs would’ve never seen the light of day. Thankfully Sylvain found his way back to film photography eventually. We talked about his travels, beginnings, remote places and what he looks for in an image. Here we go! Hey Sylvain, please tell us a little bit about yourself. Hi, I’m Sylvain, a french photographer. I live in Lyon near the French Alps and I try to improve my photo skills everyday. I work as a wedding photographer, work on corporate projects and have covered skateboarding, punk rock shows and travel film photography (street photography and portraits) for my personal work. How did you get into film photography? …

Adventure Everywhere: In Conversation with Trakke founder Alec Farmer

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Here’s an interview with Trakke-founder Alec Farmer I’ve done for Wildland Magazine’s Lifestyle issue back in 2014. Photography by Niall Walker. There’s various ways to embrace a certain lifestyle, to perceive the world and its surroundings in an utterly different light: Some people are simply living it, while others are further nourishing it with their creative output. Glaswegian outdoor lifestyle brand Trakke seems to be in the thick of it – producing for and together with a community of adventurers. Time for a wee chat with founder Alec Farmer about his humble beginnings, cyclist culture and the perfect bag. Hello Alec, how did it all start out with Trakke? I studied graphic design at the school of arts and I had a friend, who studied product design. On the weekends we just got out into the city and found lots of recycled, unused materials on the streets. We used to find abandoned sofas and take the leather off it or old suitcases and take the zips off. We made our first bags in our living room with a little crappy domestic sewing machine that caught …

Wee catch up: Rumana Sayed

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I vaguely memorised Rumana Sayed’s name almost a year ago when I was flicking through the truly fantastic ‘Every Woman Super Woman’ zine with its colourful aesthetics and powerful words. Fast forward half a year later, the young graphic designer becomes the new artist-in-residence at Out of the Blueprint and pretty successfully showcases a bold and punchy body of work in her first solo exhibition ‘Don’t Be Denied’. So we have a wee bit of catching up to do! Tell me a bit about your background. How did you get into making art? My name is Rumana Sayed, I’m 21 years old and live in Edinburgh. I was born in South Africa, but been brought up in the heart of Leith for 17 years. Growing up I have always been into making and creating. I didn’t know what I wanted to do leaving High School. I got into Edinburgh college to do Visual Communication & Graphic Design, studied for 3 years and it became a part of my life ever since. Its a tool for me to creative things differently in a unique way. …

Green Day © Rolling Spoke / Gus Kovac

Peddling through life on two wheels: Rolling Spoke

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I have to admit, I’m a sucker for a city like Amsterdam. Liberal, friendly, charming, lots of flowing water, a good music scene and people treat cyclists well, see them as given parts of traffic on the streets. No wonder Gus moved there. He is a tireless observer of the city and its inhabitants on two pedals and two wheels with all its little facets. Time for a chat with the man, who runs urban bicycle lifestyle blog Rolling Spoke. Hi Gus. Hoe gaat het? Please introduce yourself. My name is Gus Kovac. I’m a Canadian from Toronto and I’ve been living in Amsterdam for just over 3 years now along with my wife, 2 month old daughter and our cat. I run a blog called the Rolling Spoke derived from the simple pleasure of riding a bike in the city.It began as a creative outlet with the intent to present an unbridled view of urban life on two wheels. I aim to bring a different spin on things by infusing my passion for street …

Denitsa Toshirova about Cold Memories

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Often enough, this is how it goes with social media nowadays: Even though you live in the same big city and you’ve got a shared appreciation for the other’s work, doesn’t mean you’ve ever met outside of the online sphere. Denitsa Toshirova is a very talented young photographer from Bulgaria and I’ve been following her impressive portfolio for a good while now. Seriously, check out her work here, it’s fantastic. I happened to met her in person for the first time at the launch night of Boom Saloon, when we found out we’re actually magazine buddies – my piece on Jupiter Artland and Denitsa’s stunning photo series ‘Cold Memories’ side-by-side. All the more reason to sit down with her and briefly catch up on her beginnings, inspirations, identity and, well, that wretched thing called Brexit. Hi Denitsa, let’s get right into it: How would you describe your photographic style and which themes do you predominantly explore in your work? I would like to think my photographic style is always developing and I feel over the last few years …

Artist Conversations: Q&A with Mark Boardman

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I love geometry, colour, depth and simplicity when it comes to illustrations – have a look at these or these. Yet simple textural designs, storytelling & dense atmospheres don’t always go hand in hand. My newest interview partner got all bases covered, though. Mark Boardman is a Bristol-based illustrator who divides his work between editorial and advertising commissions as well as his many exciting freelance projects. I dropped him a line and had a chat about the perks of working with various media, the influence of literature, scouting locations on google.maps and yeah, heavy metal. Hi Mark! What have you been up to lately? At the moment I’m working on a lot of new portfolio pieces. I’m trying to push myself technically while putting together a collection of work that’s attractive to prospective clients. Often if I’m left to my own devices I’ll end up producing illustrations that don’t have a great deal of commercial value so it’s good for me to refocus on commercial subject matter every now and again. You were shifting from traditional oil painting …

Those Familiar Ghosts: Iselle Maddocks

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So far, this was probably the quickest and most straight-forward artist interview I’ve ever done. Once these wonderfully strange ghostly creatures surfaced on my instagram feed, I couldn’t help but fire over a few questions & literally got the answers back with next-day-delivery. Everybody: Meet Iselle Maddocks, illustrator and doodler from Gloucestershire, who runs small independent press Opposite The Alley. Hello Iselle. Thanks for taking the time for a wee chat. Why don’t you tell us a bit about yourself? Hello! You’re more than welcome! Well i’m an illustrator living in Gloucestershire. Drawing and strange monsters/characters is my thing. I’m addicted to coffee and bright colours. The more garish the better. I have a hamster called Kirby. I like circles and can’t draw elbows or knees but that won’t stop me. I totally fancy your little illustrated creatures exploring the landscape! Where do you mostly draw your inspiration from? And did any of your friends or features serve as a model for these? I love nature, so I aim to choose photos that make me want to be in …

Navigating the world through graphic abstraction: David Lemm

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His eye-catching artworks have been on top of my list for a while. Experimenting with form, composition and texture to weave complex narratives, David Lemm’s graphic works explores human assumptions of truth based on abstract, symbolic representations of reality. And after collaborating with the likes of Leith Late, the Hidden Door Festival or the Bothy Project, a little bird has told me that the Edinburgh-based creative has been selected as  House of Illustration’s latest resident artist! Due time to reach out and chuck a few questions over, don’t you think? Hello David, thanks for your time! What about a short intro? Hi, no problem thanks for asking. Well, I’m an multidisciplinary artist and designer based in Edinburgh. I work on a broad range of projects, including exhibitions, residencies, illustration commissions, animation, art direction and workshops. How would you describe your style & which narratives and themes does your work explore? I like to combine analogue and digital processes with a playful and experimental approach to composition, narrative, form and texture. Recently I’ve been exploring ideas relating to knowledge communication, specifically maps/diagrams, and our assumptions …

In Search of Perspectives: Tobias König

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It’s maybe 6 years ago in a dusty skate park underneath a motorway bridge. The weather’s horrible. The rain’s pouring down and a bunch of young guns gather to seek shelter from the rain and do a few tricks. And there’s this guy clicking away with his camera, even though that was probably before Tobias König started taking stunning photos like those below – bleak and moody b/w pictures that beautifully capture his love for architecture, structures, geometric shapes as well as atmospheric portraiture. So we know each other for a while now and it seems kinda odd to do this interview, 100s of miles apart via email and in a different language. But oh well, here’s us talking briefly about his photography beginnings, spontaneity and his first public exhibitions! Hello Mr. T! Thanks for taking the time to have a chat. Well, I’m quite familiar with it, but do you mind introducing yourself briefly to everyone else out there? Hey, my name is Tobias König, a self-taught photographer. I am 25 years old and …

Travelling the Globe one Postcard at a Time: Q&A with Gizem Kuzu

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I just can’t get enough of creative people and their clever ideas. Another small, cute and thoughtful project I wanted to make a dash at is ‘Postcards Beyond’ by Turkish art student Gizem Kuzu, which is none other than a lifetime venture in the making. To some extend, her project reminded me a bit of this guy, who plans to meet each and every of his 1000+ virtual facebook friends for a coffee and have a proper conversation in real life. Other than getting in touch with people she (somehow) knows through social networks, Gizem’s idea is to send a postcard to at least every region in the world, build relationships the old-fashioned way by reminding people how special it is to get something physical from someone you’ve never met before: ‘We’re living in an age of technology and that’s great but what are we going to give our grandkids? My father gave me his stamp collection and wanted me to continue and I’ve turned this to something else.’ But before I bubble over with …