Giles Dawe – 7 design questions interview

Designer – Giles Dawe
Website – gilesdawe.com
Twitter – (Blocked in China!)

1. How much time do you dedicate to learning design every day?
For me art and inspiration is all around me. The internet is a great source of content, but I find it’s so easy to be influenced by other artists and copy their work either consiously or subconsiously so I try stay away from using it too often.

2. What other artists do you have contact with on a regular basis?
I went to UWIC Cardiff Art School for 3 years for my Fine Art degree, so I’m in contact with a few fellow students. Even after all these years I still feel I’m starting out and working my way to get established.

3. Who are the top 2-3 artists that you respect and why?
I love artists like Rembrandt, Picasso and Henry Moore. Rembrandt for his moody pictures and excellent technique which make them seem alive, Picasso for his sheer number of works and influencing Modern Art and Henry Moore for his amazing skills and huge scaled sculptures.

4. What’s your favorite artwork you ever made and why?
My favourite artwork was painted when I started art school at the age of 19 (I’m 32 now) and it was a figure painted in oils on canvas in the centre. At the time I didn’t really grasp the use of painting or using space, but the idea of a man “floating in thin air” whilst at the bottom of his feet is a mirror image of himself made up of a bagette, wine and book. This picture inspired me to start to create something different in my artwork, rather than follow the trend of “paint what you see”.

5. Have you ever been published in a book or magazine? What books or magazines?
As an artist I’ve been mainly featured in Hong Kong where I live. I’ve had two solo exhibitions, been featured in HK Magazine, City Magazine as well as having artwork purchased by famous HK Art Director Wang Jia Wei. I also used to be a pretty good Web Designer when I lived in England and designed sites for Central Government, where I won awards for Best Website and most Accessible Sites from the RNIB and DirectGov.

6. What’s your favorite color in hexadecimal? How often do you find yourself leaning towards it with design projects?
I would have to say any shades of blue. For my University essay I wrote 5000 words+ solely on this colour! *What? – Boxedin

7. What’s your most recent project we can look at?
My most recent artwork is the “Invisible Woman” art piece. It took me about 2 months to paint the hundreds of rocks, based on Zhuhai Ferry Port coastline close to where I live. When I spotted the huge rock in the top left, it looked like a bent knee. So as I traced the leg downwards I thought I could see more of a body shape and face, so I painted this in my picture. It’s not so obvious, but if you look at the man on the far right and look to his left you should see a face and then the outline of the body.

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