Fludd Interviews / 37. Rick Berkelmans

A) nome / name: Rick Berkelmans
B) nazionalità / where are you from?: I live in Breda, a small city in the south of the Netherlands.
C) età / how old are you?: I am 27.
D) area d'azione (disegno, pittura, fotografia, animazione, ...) / your sphere of interests:

I am an illustrator and print maker. 

E) studi / studies: Studied illustration at St Joost Art Academy in Breda.
F) qualcos'altro dal tuo curriculum / could you please tell us a little bit about what do you do/have you done?: I founded my studio, Hedof, where I work on commercial projects for clients like Sony Playstation, Google, Lipton Tea, Red Bull, Computer Arts, Heineken and Anorak Magazine. I also work on self initiated projects, mostly screen prints, which are sold and exhibited all over the world.
G) 3 maestri / 3 masters: Henri Matisse, Heinz Edelman, Dick Bruna.
H) 1 città d'ispirazione / 1 inspiring city: most inspiring city visually is Helsinki. I went there last winter for a project (The Jaunt) and really loved it. But New York is pretty awesome too, the whole atmosphere is crazy over there, you get inspired and motivated to work hard.
I) dove il prossimo viaggio? / a place you'd love to visit soon: I hope I'll be back in New York soon, but if it has to be a place I've never been: Stockholm.
J) 1 museo speciale / 1 special museum: Really enjoyed the Ludwig museum in Cologne.
K) 1 link da consigliare / 1 recommended web-site: www.thisamericanlife.org, endless interesting strories to listen while I'm drawing.
L) gusto di gelato favorito / favorite ice cream flavour: I'm not a big ice cream fan but if I have to choose, caramel.
M) un negozio che approvi / a shop you love: Nobrow, London.
N) 2 oggetti che ti piacciono / 2 objects you like: Silly looking toys, skateboard.
O) la tua colazione ideale / your ideal breakfast: English breakfast: sausage, eggs, mushrooms, toast, tomato, black pudding, It's the best! (the beans not so much, hahaha).
P) un bel posto nelle tue vicinanze / somewhere nice to go in your neighbourhood: I really like walking along the canals close to my house. Just being with my girlfriend and talk about all the big and small things in life.
Q) cosa stai leggendo ultimamente? / last books you have read: Wow, I don't really read books besides design books to be honest hahaha. I recently enjoyed Snask's "Make Enemies" a lot. Great inspiring book about how this Swedish design studio runs their business. Really funny too!.
R) cosa ti ispira attualmente? / what are a few things inspiring you at the moment?: at the moment I am working through a really big book about art history. I try to see about a hundred pages a week and draw the artworks i see in there. From these drawings I work further and alter them more and more until I have something I am happy with and I can use sometime in my work. I did a similar thing with a beautiful book about Russian children's book illustration.
S) qual'è la principale difficoltà per un 'giovane creativo' oggi? / which is the main difficulty for a young creative today?: The hardest thing for me is to keep up with all the little things in the studio. Making invoices and doing taxes hahaha I don't like doing administration.
T) dimensione collettiva nell'arte e nella creatività: si, no, come? / what do you think about the collective dimension of art and creativity?:  Someone really smart once that said "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life". I think artists and the creative industry shapes a lot of the world. It is the positive contribution of humans to this planet.
U) cosa stai cercando? / what are you looking for?: I am looking for new things that keep me inspired. New places, new people, small discoveries that makes your day.
V) di che cosa non vedi l'ora? / what are you looking forward?: Each time I have an idea in my head I can't wait to let this evolve on paper and in the computer into an end product that I can be really proud of.
W) progetti per il futuro (esagera!) / projects for the future (exaggerate!): I still want to design a toy or maybe even a children's playground! And a book, zine or magazine.
X) cosa ti piacerebbe studiare da vecchio? / what do you like to study when you'll be old?: I hope to be still up to date with some relevant techniques so I can work really long as an old man.
Y) un buon proposito per la stagione 2013 / a good purpose for the 2013 season: I should be learning how to work in illustrator or try out some simple animation stuff. But this is the third year in a row I intend to do this and I am still crap at it. Maybe I will make a zine! that is more fun!
Z) la parola "fludd" cosa ti fa venire in mente? / what does the word "fludd" suggest you?: Fludd looks like the dutch word vloed (flood), so I think of the sea.

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LINKS:  Web-site.