The Porcelain is a passion for Esther Hörchner,

“A good day starts with a good run with my dog in the sunny morning, and accidentally finding some beautiful porcelain from the 1940’s in the flea market…”

Do you want to know more about her?

You’re an illustrator, right? Tell me about your career. When did you start drawing and working?

I started with drawing and crafting when I was little and when I was 20 I attended art school. After graduating I started my own business together with two friend/colleague illustrators. I have been working for our studio ‘Het Paradijs’ (means: paradise) for two years, and now I’m 27.

Why illustration?

I actually started out studying Graphic Design, but I wanted to focus more on handcraft: the feeling of using real ink and paper, instead of using a computer. After little more than a year of Graphic Design I switched to another school, to study illustration.

What do you like about your works, and what not?

What I like about my work (if you can speak for yourself…) is the amount of detail and effort I put in it. Everything I make is done with love and care. I’m a perfectionist and sometimes that works against me: a drawing is never finished or ‘perfect’.

What inspires you?

The small things in life inspire me, the things I enjoy around me. I go crazy for flea markets, old porcelain in specific, that’s a great inspiration. And also my dog: I have an Italian greyhound and I love to draw her!

How about your design process, from the initial spark of an idea to the final piece?

It usually starts with an idea of a situation or an animal performing a certain task. I don’t think about it that much, I just start to draw and see what comes out of it.

What did take you to the creation of the Take a Bath Tea Set?

Everything started with my passion for porcelain: I always wanted to make my own tea set. I wanted to give the cups a function, so that illustration and shape of the cups would come together, and the girls can take a bath in a lovely hot tub!

Who are the girls in the cups?

I actually used myself as a model for the girls

Are you working now on anything else related to this big success?

I’m currently working on a design for other porcelain…

Have you got reference artists?

I work with two other illustrators, Maaike Burgers and Els ten Klooster and we inspire and motivate each other

Another designer.

Lenneke Wispelwey, I love her porcelain and her use of pastel colours.

Describe a really good day and a really bad day in the life of Esther Hörchner.

A good day starts with a good run with my dog in the sunny morning, then going to the market to buy flowers and accidentally finding some beautiful porcelain from the 1940’s in the flea market. Then to the studio, eat a home-made cake with my lovely colleagues, make a nice drawing, and realize that I’m happy! (Today is one of those days!)

If it starts with rain, it’s certainly a bad day: no walk in the park (my dog comes very disappointed), going to the studio, arriving soaked, no inspiration, staring… And then going home after a long and unfulfilled day…

What’s your favourite work you did?

Probably the Take a Bath Tea Set, because it’s such a success, worldwide.

Which are your next projects?

I’m currently working on new porcelain, postcards, tote bags and paper dress-up dolls.

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

Of what are you prouder of yourself?

My perseverance in achieving my goals.

What were you in your previous life?

An Italian greyhound!

If you’d have to pack your life to move away, just with your most beloved stuffs, which of your drawings would you carry with you?

The drawing of the ‘dog with pudding’.

What do you do when you’re not drawing?

Learning tricks to my dog, cooking nice dinner, redecorating my house, searching for must-have pieces for my wardrobe…

Three adjectives to describe yourself.

Happy, energetic, light-minded.

A city to describe yourself.

PARIS!

A movie to laugh.

Be kind rewind

A movie to cry.

The Shawshank redemption

A song.

Icon, by Daan

A concert.

Would love to hear Icon live.

The happiest day in your life.

I live in the moment…

The mistake you would be proud to repeat.

Choosing the path of becoming an illustrator, instead of choosing a ‘descent study’!!

A secret wish.

Staying young forever…

To follow Esther Hörchner,  her personal webpage and the Het Paradijs site.

Interviewed on April 20th 2012, original version in English.

Margherita: Hola David, vi tus dibujos en un café de Madrid, bajo de mi casa, me gustaron mucho, y se la debo a ti la idea de volver a las entrevistas.

David: Hola Margherita, es un placer contactar contigo. Me alegra mucho saber que mis dibujos te hayan servido para inspirarte a realizar un nuevo proyecto. Eso es lo que intento transmitir a la gente.”

Empezamos con tu biografía, en realidad no sé mucho sobre ti: cuántos años tienes? Dónde vives?

Tengo 28 años y soy cáncer. Soy de Bilbao pero hoy en día resido entre Madrid y Bilbao.

Desde cuánto tiempo dibujas?

Llevo poco tiempo dibujando, empecé a estudiar ilustración hace 5 años. Anteriormente estudié y trabajé de otras cosas pero siempre tuve esa sensación de que me estaba equivocando. Esta vez, no se, sucedió. Me di cuenta rápidamente de que era lo mío. Desconecto y disfruto dibujando.

Cómo ha cambiado tu arte?

Cuando empecé a dibujar mi arte estaba emergiendo, encontrándome a mi mismo. Antes mis dibujos eran mas que nada sentimientos que intentaba transmitir de muchas maneras, mediante trazos irregulares, imperfectos e imprevisibles.

Siempre me ha gustado mucho el mundo de los niños y me ponía dibujar cualquier cosa que se me venía a la cabeza, muchas veces sin sentido ninguno. No casualmente a mi siempre me han gustado mucho artistas surrealistas de la talla de Dalí o Max Ernst y otros menos conocidos y mas actuales como pueden ser Nicoletta Ceccoli o Javier Aramburu. Mi arte hoy en día es algo mucho mas depurado y menos naif pero esto no significa que no tenga un espíritu naif. Me gusta captar la atención de todos los públicos y hacerles jugar su imaginación debito a la ambigüedad de mis trazos e imágenes.

Qué representan tus dibujos?

Muchas cosas pero mi obra gira en torno a dos ejes principales, uno es el ser humano y el otro es la naturaleza. Intento crear mundos fantásticos con un toque realistas en el que hombre y naturaleza conviven y se complementan de manera enriquecedora para ambos.

Qué te inspira? De dónde salen tus dibujos?

Mis dibujos salen de mi, de mis experiencias, de mi cercana relación con la naturaleza y la contaminación, de compararlas y de darme cuenta de que es bueno y que es malo para la primera. Mis dibujos salen de mi amor por las personas y el universo.

Me encantan los niños, las personas, los árboles, las plantas, los animales, los animales extinguidos, el mar el cielo la luna y el sol. Me gustaría poder disfrutar mas de la naturaleza.

Lápiz o ordenador?

Me gustan muchas técnicas pero la que mejor domino y mas me gusta es lápiz y rotulador calibrado sobre papel.

Has echo otras ‘operaciones artísticas’ que traten con tus dibujos?

Sí, he hecho muchas en realidad, entre otras, cosas como camisetas infantiles con fieltros e hilos en 3 dimensiones, nada recomendables para salir de marcha (jajaja). He ilustrado y escrito un par de cuentos a nivel personal y con pensamiento de futura publicación.

Ahora estoy desarrollando un proyecto de serigrafía en Bilbao con una beca que me ha dado el gobierno vasco y hago serigrafía sobre papel sobre materiales naturales y derivados de la madera y el algodón. Tengo constantemente necesidad de hacer cosas nuevas y distintas, de investigar y descubrir.

Cuántas exposiciones has hecho?

Yo hago exposiciones en bares y en tiendas. Siempre he evitado las galerías porque me gusta que mi arte se lo pueda permitir todo el mundo y sea accesible, ya que en estos lugares, de mis trabajos, solo obtenemos beneficio yo, el comprador y la gente que visita el bar, sin que se lleven dinero unas terceras personas.

Tienes artistas de referencia, en el campo del dibujo y de la ilustración, o en otros?

Sí, Gustave Doré, Edward Gorey, Jimmy Liao, Mark Ryden, Isabel Samaras, Javier Aramburu, Einar Turkowski y muchos mas.

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

De qué eres más orgulloso?

De no serlo.

Cuándo, en cuál momento del día, dibujas?

En cualquier momento en el que me encuentre relajado o inspirado. Si me encuentro relajado es un momento perfecto para dibujar, rellenar de trama, colorear, y si estoy inspirado es momento para abocetar y para crear.

Tres palabras.

Hoy en día me atraen palabras y hechos como sinuosidad, descontextualización, simbiosis u orden entre otra muchas.

Tres adjetivos para describirte.

Sensible, sincero y cabezón.

Un fotógrafo.

Javier Morán

Un artista contemporáneo.

Ibai Labega

Un otro ilustrador.

Gorka Olmo

Una peli para reír.

La boda de Muriel.

Una peli para llorar.

Piedras.

Una canción.

The sound of silence.

Un concierto.

Mejor un buen festival con muchos conciertos.

Un sueño.

Vivir en paz.

To follow David Martin Angulo, davidmartinangulo.blogspot.com.
Interviewed on April 8th 2011, original version in Spanish.

“I draw what I feel and what’s in my subconscious, sometimes without realizing my actual state of mind”.

 

If you see infinite cascading hair, sweet girls and mushrooms, be sure: it’s Eveline Tarunadjaja.

Let’s start from your biography. From Indonesia to Australia, when did you move to Melbourne?

I moved to Australia in 1998 when I was 15 years old. There was political turmoil in the Indonesian government around 1997 that caused huge riots in different places around the country. You hear stories about violence, rape, and murders happening in different places. Even though it didn’t happen in my hometown, it was especially unsafe for Chinese-descendant Indonesians because of the racial and social prejudice. Things settled down a year later, just the occasional rallies here and there, but my parents thought it will be better for me to move with my sister, who was about to go to university in Melbourne.

Why do you draw?

Because I don’t know what else to do, I suppose it just comes naturally. I’ve been drawing since I was little. I used to copy Japanese comics or draw characters while making up stories in my head.

Has anything changed in your way of drawing, and therefore in your resulting works, since you started?

I found myself adding more details to my work – I think it’s because I started using technical pens instead of felt-tip. The lines are much more consistent and thinner which changes the way I draw each textures and patterns.

A comparison between previous and later? What do you see?

‘Droplets’, 2004/05 and ‘Paper crown’, 2010

I’m choosing these ones that are similar in terms of subject matter, idea, content and composition, just to exaggerate how they’re technically different.

In terms of ideas, I haven’t really change much. Maybe I do much more planning in the newer work. The lines are visibly ‘tidier’, I think and, rather than play with colour, I draw each textures in more lines now.

Who are the girls that stand in your drawings?

Some of them are skinnier and longer haired versions of me. Some are just characters that I’ve read or made up in my mind.

Your themes, hair and mushrooms, and girls, of course: do they have a particular meaning?

In a way. With the hair, for some reasons, it becomes like a security blanket for me, like how girls are attached to their hair so much, I get attached to my drawn hair, instead of my real hair. But most things are usually just things that fascinate me because they have their own characteristics. Subconsciously I try to relate with those characteristics and connect them with the girls, and the narratives, in each artwork.

Would you mind choose and talk about your works?

I tend to be really subtle in terms of meaning and I’m really bad when I try to explain the idea behind my works. I like when people tell me what it means to them and somehow it turns into a different idea entirely. The way I explain things is pretty stupid, like “I just want to know what it feels like to have a mushroom head.” (Portobello, 2010) or “This girl just had too much mushrooms” (Psilocybe Jellies, 2010) or “I cried so much last night, my eyes look like a goldfish” (Cry Baby, 2010). I guess it’s because I draw what I feel and what’s in my subconscious, sometimes without realizing my actual state of mind.

Pencil or computer?

Pencil. The idea of marking something permanent without guidelines kinda scares me… hehe.

You often talk about cinema and series, they’re an important source of inspiration, isn’t it? Cult movies and directors?

I love films. They inspired me so much, especially ones with amazing cinematography. On top of my head, my all time favourites: anything by Wes Anderson, The city of lost children and Delicatessen by Jean Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, In the mood for love and Chungking Express by Wong Kar Wai, A woman is a woman by Godard and Hana and Alice Shunji Iwai. I also love Coen brothers, David Lynch and Quentin Tarantino. There are too many…

And the whole Mad Men series, it inspired my 2011 calendar illustrations.

You made illustrations for fashion brands, such as Anna Sui, Hurley and Billabong: how much are you interested in fashion?

I like drawing patterns and I love dressing up, maybe not necessarily in coutures or designer brands. I love styling too, I do a bit of it for photography projects with friends.

Have you got reference artists – illustrators or others?

I like this Russian artist, Vania Zouravliov and Japanese artist, Takato Yamamoto. I always love what James Jean does. For reference I tend to look at old art deco and art nouveau prints, artists such as Aubrey Beardsley, Klimt and Schiele.

Another illustrator.

Sean Morris

Did you make collaborations with other artists?

I did some collaboration works with Sean Morris, Andrea Innocent, Catherine Campbell and Brooke Bobridge when we had our Maybe We’ve Met Before group show together two years ago.

You’ve been involved with such a lot and different projects: I mean, book covers and jackets, t-shirts, sculptures, site-specific illustrations, lomography camera, packaging… On what are you working right now?

I’m doing the basic research, preparation and experiments for my next solo show at No Vacancy Gallery, Melbourne on November 11th, and in production stage with the t-shirt label that my friend and I started, www.as-prescribed.com: our first round of t-shirts will hopefully be ready to launch at the end of the year with Sean Morris (WA), Kubota Fumikazu (VIC), Maricor Maricar (NSW) and myself.

How is your relationship with contemporary art?

It’s complicated.

A writer.

Haruki Murakami

THE LAUNDRY ROOM

Of what are you prouder of yourself?

To be able to last this far!

If you’d have to pack your life to move away, just with your most beloved stuffs, which of your drawings would you carry with you?

None, I can always draw new ones or I might take the one that my mum feels attached to, which is Fungus.

What do you do when you’re not drawing?

Everything else.

Three adjectives to describe yourself.

Straightforward, nonchalant, easygoing.

A city to describe yourself.

I haven’t been to enough.

A movie to laugh.

Mean Girls.

A movie to cry.

My Girl when Macaulay Culkin’s character died.

A song.

Family Tree by Belle and Sebastian.

A concert.

Stereolab, Melbourne in 2002. That was my first concert ever and I met some of my good friends the first time then.

The happiest day in your life.

Most days.

The mistake you would be proud to repeat.

I don’t remember.

A secret wish.

To travel everywhere.

For further information about the exhibition Threads by Eveline Tarunadjaja at No Vacancy Gallery, http://no-vacancy.com.au/gallery/threads/. Opening Nov. 11.

To follow Eveline Tarunadjaja, www.lovexevol.com

Interviewed on May 13th 2011, original version in English.