Hi everyone,
Welcome to the 2nd edition of our weekly interview series. Each week we invite you to delve deep into the psyche of one of the sellers who’s currently blazing a trail on DaWanda’s English platform. This week it’s the turn of Gareth Ryans, aka Doppler. Gareth’s drawings are a little whimsical, a little geeky, and very beautifully rendered. Luckily for us he’s applied them to screenprinted tees, notebooks, tote bags – even baby bibs and chalk boards! Go check it out.
So without further ado, on with the interview!
Please tell us a bit about yourself:
I am one of the few, or perhaps the only, Irishman living in Germany who doesn’t own an Irish pub. I grew up by the sea in Newcastle in County Down and after studying Art and Design in Belfast and Donegal, I’ve been moving around a bit, mostly between Ireland and Germany, with a year spent in Istanbul for good measure. (Following my German girlfriend around the world, or Europe at least!) Now I’m more or less settled in Germany, having lived in the university city of Tübingen for the past two and a half years, I’m hoping to make the move to Berlin at the start of next year.
How did you discover that you have creative tendencies?
Well, it seems to me that pretty much every kid loves to draw, some just don’t stop. I guess I was one of the kids who didn’t stop.
Where do you find your inspiration?
I have the privilege of renting a studio located at the edge of a forest. My flat is at the other side of the forest and the walk between the two tends to be where ideas that have been rattling around my head take form. Of course, once committed to paper, the ideas can take a whole other direction, but I think my forest walks provide me with a great creative mental space. I also indulge in the odd bout of automatic drawing, simply starting to draw without a conscious plan or intention, this often results in a kind of mash up of memories, imagination and rubbish, just like some dreams! Sometimes there’s the start of an idea in there too.
Do you have any role models/inspirations in the area of Design? If so, who and why?
Sure, there are tonnes of great artists, illustrators and designers out there, but I find the work of KozynDan, a husband-and-wife illustrator team from LA, particularly inspirational. Their digitally coloured panoramics are incredibly skilfully finished and populated with an amazing mix of everyday and the completely out there characters, very imaginative, very impressive work.
How did you come up with the ideas for the products in your DaWanda shop?
I tend to have treads of ideas floating around my head all the time, and then, hopefully, comes the ‘ah ha’ moment when they mesh together. (By the way, with ‘ah ha’ moment I don’t mean the Norwegian pop band from the 80’s, but a moment of sudden realization)
Which materials do you use to create your products?
All of my products are hand printed, for my t-shirts I print on sweatshop free blanks from Continental clothing company and use water based ecofriendly textile inks. Most of my books are printed on Moleskine journals, which I find have great quality and a unique style.
Please give us a brief summary of your creative process:
My t-shirt designs, for example, always start on paper usually drawing first with pencil and then with pen, this gets scanned into my computer where I tweak the levels and sometimes add finishing touches. From there, I can print out the jet-black overhead sheets that I need to make the screens. The screens are made using a photographic process. Once the screen is ready the t-shirts can be printed.
What characterises your style?
Simplicity, humour and something else.
Who are your customers?
Mostly Germans and mostly women. Come on guys, must do better!
What do you want to achieve in the future as a Designer/Creative?
My current endeavour with the designing, making and selling of hand printed things is still less than a year old, very much in its infancy. I hope it’s just the start of something much bigger.
What role does DaWanda play in your daily creative life?
I’ve been surprised by just how much of a role DaWanda has come to play in my daily life, it creates a great framework for connecting with potential customers and developing an audience. The constant receiving and sending of messages has also helped me develop my German writing skills, and admittedly sometimes stretched them to the limit!
How has your life changed since you opened your DaWanda shop?
I’m now disappointed when I get a text message and it’s not informing me of a DaWanda sale, even if it’s my Mum telling me she loves me.
Please give us the names of three of your favourite shops on DaWanda:
Databrick
Chez Popish
revoluzzza
P.S. If you’d like to be considered for one of our Monday seller interviews, then please send a filled-out questionnaire to azra[at]dawanda[dot]com
