FACETOFACEDESIGN

What is the story of your studio ? We met through a common friend, we were both freelance working by ourselves. Tired of creating alone, we started working together from time to time and in 2008, we decided to join our forces and to become a real duo. We created FACETOFACEDESIGN. We are complementary and we work on all projects together. After exchanging ideas and point of views about the new coming project, one usually starts, analyses, organises, and finds the first solutions, then the other takes it over and works on improving the final result. Some other times, we work both on the project at the same time, then we select the best option and re-work on it one after the other. It’s a constant back and forth between us!

What places would you recommend in Brussels to find inspiration and meet creative people ? Are there particular connections between Brussels graphic designers ? For exhibitions, we recommend the WIELS museum. As one of the leading institutions for contemporary art in Europe, without a permanent collection, it presents temporary exhibitions by national and international artists, both emerging and more established. There is also the Centre for Fine Arts Bozar, that is a mecca of culture in Brussels, a multidisciplinary place designed to bring together a wide range of artistic events, be it music, plastic arts, theater, dance, literature, film and architecture. Finally, the Museum of Ixelles, is a small but also very charming communal museum. There are a lot of interesting art galleries in Brussels, such as the Xavier Hufkens Gallery, the Alice Gallery and many more… We can also find nice bookshops here like the Wiels Museum bookshop, Peinture fraîche or Candide. To find inspiration, you can go to the flea market on Place du Jeu de Balle, Rue Blaes where you will find design and furniture shops, but also Place Sainte-Catherine. There is not really particular connections between Brussels graphic designers as far as we know... But we created one a few years ago : wearegraphicdesigners.be. It is a website we settled down with other graphic design agencies from Brussels. We were all concerned by defending our profession, the desire to promote it for a better global understanding. This website has been ‘signed’ by hundreds of agencies, freelancers, and sympathisants, and opened a small path to more understanding and recognition... in any case we hope it does.

If you had to choose one project to define yourselves which one would it be ? Can you explain in detail this project ? It would be the Dazibao Project. In China, the Dazibao is a poster plastered by a citizen to express his opinion about a political or moral issue. Our client, ’La Maison des Auteurs’ in Brussels hosts several companies that manage the rights and promote the interests of authors. Through this collection of posters, they deal with various subjects about authors and issues they defend. To illustrate these issues we quickly thought of giving carte blanche to young Belgian artists: a way to give a visual identity to serious subjects and to make it a bit less ‘dry’. Today it became a real collection and it continues... This project allows us to discover new talents, to meet and collaborate with them; it’s a part of our job we really appreciate!

How do you see your studio in five years ? Are there some particular projects that you would like to achieve ? We would love to buy our own office with an extra room for workshops and events. A multitask space that looks like us, where we could go out of our habits and explore new fields. Interview conducted in July 2016 ©ktlg