Evi O

I am just that person who finds joy in playing/working. I grew up in a town called Surabaya (Indonesia) but I moved to Sydney (Australia) when I was seventeen to study design. After that, I worked for Penguin Books for most of my twenties doing mainly book design and tinkering on the side painting and making things. Following this, I started a design duo business, but that didn’t last long – and that pushed me to start my own studio at the end of 2017.
I love working collaboratively rather than solo, you get better results that way. Now I do that daily with my studio crew of three (four, if you count the whippet), designing publications and brand identities, illustrating vegetables, gin bottles, portraits and much more. Of course, I also paint abstract pieces based on fascinating topics and things I come across in my life. I do all of that with music in the background, always.

It was, and wasn’t. I didn’t really have a choice, as the imprint I worked on was unfortunately shut down. I probably would not have left the job if it didn’t happen. But things probably happened for a reason as I have been exposed to many fun things in the last two years since I have been out of Penguin Books. But this would not have happened if I didn’t learn all that I needed to learn at the company.

Thanks for asking this question as I’m not shy putting the idea to the world that, one day, I would love to live in Japan. It’s funny, I wanted to travel to India in 2013 but life took me to Japan instead, and I fell in love with the country on day two. Having said that, I’ve only ever been there as a tourist and would love the opportunity to live there properly. I think my deep fascination with Japan has a lot to do with their thoughtfulness; they are not afraid of over-catering small details to perfect an experience, and I’ve been trying to apply that idea to how I design, create and live.

My art practise started accidentally, as I was painting purely for myself for a few years before a curator friend asked me to paint a small collection to include in her group show, which humbly created some sort of creative career for me. I am quite protective of my art practise, in that I don’t churn it out and produce works for the sake of paying bills – which contrasts to my design practise. I love both practises equally: the slow-paced art making balances the fast-paced studio life, and I don’t think one can exist without the other for me. Both have restrictions in different ways, and I actually embrace limitations – it pushes you to think of clever solutions/results.

Yes! I’d love to when the right wall pops up – any takers?

There are, actually. The collection Jungle had been in the working for two years before I got somewhere happy with it. I paint based on what I’m exposed to in life and this collection is of the important people in my life. They were reimagined in abstracted animal forms, and the naming of the pieces had a lot to do with creating a narrative of who they are, but I never tell the people whom I painted.

That happens subconsciously. Often, I needed to balance a composition and a small circular dot usually solved the problem. And the more I use it, the more I rely on it and, as you mentioned, it has now become a signature.

That’s hard! But in general, my artist peers are very inspiring as they work hard to pursue their calling. I can’t possibly name names, they know who they are.

Yes and no. Fine art is its own beast, and even visual communication has so many strands that I often feel it’s impossible to explore everything within the two streams. I do try to keep learning and self-educate myself constantly. I toyed with the idea of going back to university and study architecture a year ago, as I was fascinated by designing things on a much bigger scale, but that idea quickly dissolved when I heard the word ‘assignments’.

Naturally I have to, because unfortunately, there’s only twenty-four hours in a day. It is very hard to say no to things, as I’m such a yes person. Selective is perhaps not the right word, as I tend to see any project can have a good solution. But I’m probably a bit more conscious of trying to collaborate with like-minded clients that share the same values.

I love people! So I’ve never had any problems working in a team. Working with people is actually the joyful part of why I’m working in publishing. It takes a family to give birth to a book. Obviously, it’s not always been plain sailing. I don’t have any bad horror stories caused by others, often I create horrors for myself – like that one time I accidentally deleted a book on the day it went to print… (Another story for another time)

I have recently collaborated with Milligram, an Australian stationery label, on a diary series. I’ve also worked with Slowdown Studio to produce an exciting range of rugs. Both collections will come out later this year, so stay tuned.