F48:You used to study the profession of industrial design before, what was the reason that you studied in Milan and New York? Your used to tell us that you liked to demolish machines in your childhood and would like to be an automotive designer or an industrial designer. That's unlike most girls who are passionate about sweet puppets. How has this influenced your character?

R.J : The main reason why I decided to take my education in Milan is that Milan is very much known for it’s strength in Industrial design, being close to Turino (a city of production), and the big Fiera Del Mobile (a huge furniture fair run yearly). I had done all my research up front before applying to the school and was excited to be allowed to visit factories and learn allot on site about the design process and production. Continuing my education in New York happened naturally as I was living there at the moment.

I have only one explanation for my love for automotive/industrial design and it started in my early years as I was always playing with Lego and Brio with my brother. We would build roads and houses, cars and whatever the imagination allowed us to. We also happened to grow up with the forest as our nearest neighbour and I would be out there too building things. I can just remember my childhood as building things really.

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F48:Do you like industrial metal materials and components, or the sense of order in a machine?

R.J : It is less about the machine and more about how machines or products around us are built. I was always curious of that.

I did also play with dolls, so I wasn’t a typical tomboy.

 

 

F48:When you started to create this poster series, did you come up with a theme after the first image was created? Or was the theme gradually formed?

R.J : I started to work on the poster series March of 2017. It is almost a year ago now. It actually started with an idea because off my love for the Bialetti (the coffee machine), and I started exploring all the vintage coffee machines ever made. I quickly realized that the shapes weren’t exciting me as much on paper as they did in their 3Dimentional form. Out of sheer curiosity I started to research other vintage machinery and little by little found my way to shapes that I really loved.

Believe me, I have tried re-creating allot of old patents, and many didn’t make the final cut. It has been a process, but from the get go I had decided on the color palette and that the gold would be hand painted. The full understanding of the Mental Mechanism series I came to later. As an artist I am locked in a visual world where my language exists in color and shape and rhythm, so it wasn’t until the series was fully formed that I really understood my own process.

 

F48:You are critical to "consumerism" and material waste, does this criticism relate to your professional or personal experiences?

R.J : Yes, absolutely. I am not a frivolous or wasteful person. I was not raised that way and I think it’s a very Scandinavian mentality, but never has it been so important to me as it is now. I do not spend much money on “things”, but when I do spend, I spend it well, and on significant pieces I have planned and researched - be it something for my home or an item such as a jacket or a bag, but these such purchases are minimal, and I both treasure and look after the objects. My goods last forever.

As a designer, I have always been fond of quality objects, and I look up to the designers and creators of such artifacts, and so I put a lot of value on the things that I buy. As an example, I have been saving George Jensen products since I was a teenager, I am still the happy and loving owner of these items and have no need to replace these items. In fact, their value increases for me the longer I have had them. They have a story and an attachment. I think society has become so blasé in their spending and with clothing and commodities becoming cheaper, more readily available and the quality poorer, it’s created this hunger for more more more and what’s next… Globally. 

I also think there has become this fascination and obsession with being rich, or at least appearing to be, and the result is an unhealthy attitude to spending and a decreased value in the items we own, and this rise of a thoughtless “throw away culture”. I believe if people were forced to think a little bit more about what goes into everything they own, and the consequences or realities of fast fashion and cheap imports, they might start to revalue things and choose to buy more conscientiously. Production follows demand. This has to start with those demanding, as there will always be someone who doesn’t care there to provide for it.

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F48:You are doing this work in the form of a poster series, what does this process mean to you? Do you think there will be other artistic ways to express your ideas in the future?

R.J : My poster series started as a personal project for my portfolio as a graphic designer. As the ideation moved into execution and I realized the hours and technique that the hand painting required, I felt more and more that my project had taken a more art focused direction. I choose to keep the print run at 100 as I hope that I can fill more homes with my work and remind people and families on a daily basis that we should think about what we consume and what we waste and look at these objects with a respect and the glory they deserve. This poster series is something that I have enjoyed the most in my career as a designer, and I am turning my focus from design towards the art.

I have already started working on a new body of work, all building from the idea of the machine, the connection with the human and in the hope of communicating a message of less waste and more conscience towards the consumeristic cycle. I don’t want to give away too much, but I will say there is 3 key words for my next steps 1) Larger scale 2) All made by hand 3) Smaller editions or editions of 1. It all excites me and it’s like this thing inside me that just can’t stop creating. I have somehow become a machine myself!

 

F48: Do you like read? What kind of books do you usually read?What kind of music do you like to listen to?

R.J : My mom will probably hate that I say this, but I do not read at all, almost nothing. I grew up with, and am still affected with Dyslexia. That’s also why I have always been drawn to the drawing table. That was what I was good at. If I read, it’s educational “How to articles”, or Interviews with people I admire. That’s kind of it – you will find me drawing instead.

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F48:Who are your favorite visual artists?

R.J : As for artists, I have a few for different reasons.

First connection to the art as part of my education: Francis Picabia. My works are also quite related to some of his works and we work around same subject – the machine.

My biggest love is for painter Gerard Richard. I got so fascinated with his method. I dream of owning one of his works one day.

Latest obsession is Paul Kremer. Bold use of color, simple jet complex. Quite graphic.

An artist I can relate to is Carmen Herrera. We are both super perfectionists. I also admire her for her persistence.

 

F48: What kind of music do you like to listen to?

R.J : I am a big fan of deep house music. I love the acoustic feeling and dreaminess. I believe our music taste origins from our childhood. Me and my friend always used to listen to her brother’s records of Depeche Mode.