OUGD502 - Creative Report - Conversation with Supermundane

I decided to reach out to Rob Lowe, aka Supermundane, an artist, graphic designer, illustrator and typographer based in London to see if he would be able to participate in my creative report. 

What drew me to Supermundane is his simplistic yet highly striking, distinctive visual style. His work is concerned with shape, pattern, line and colour and he works across disciplines, never restricting himself to a specialism as such. This is something I aim to do in my own personal practice, and will continue to do throughout my creative career. Lowe is an exceptionally talented individual, with over 20 years experience in the creative industry. His signature mesmeric drawings have been published and exhibited worldwide. In 2012 he debut a new direction of pure line and colour, exploring depth, movement and optical effects.

He has been responsible for designing some of the most groundbreaking independent magazines of the last decade including the alternative children’s magazine Anorak and the award-winning food quarterly Fire & Knives. His practice is defined by a distinctive use of colour, line and simplicity which can be seen through all his different disciplines from typeface design to his personal works. he lives and works in London, so I saw this as the perfect opportunity to get into contact with a practitioner from my home town. This initial conversation could open a lot of doors in terms of contacts and communications. 

I contacted him on 27/1/16 and he replied to me on the 8/2/16. I was really happy that he took the time to reply back to me and has agreed to answer a number of questions that I have for him. I have now sent him my questions and I am awaiting a reply. 

Re: Ey-up from Leeds!

On 27 Jan 2016, at 14:07, Cameron Wolfe wrote:

Hi Supermundane,
My name is Cameron Wolfe. I'm a second year BA Graphic Design student studying at Leeds College of Art. I have been following your work for some time now and I always feel wonderfully inspired and excited when I see your vibrant work on my Instagram, Tumblr and other places online. I particularly enjoy the mural that you designed for Leeds train station. Every time I come back to Leeds from London, I always look up and admire it. I'm really interested in your approach to illustration, design and visual communication. We've recently received a college brief in which we are required to contact a creative practitioner that we're particularly fond of and are interested in to ask them a couple of questions regarding their practice, and I chose you! It would be great to get to know about what inspires you and to get your stance on contemporary creative culture. We must then collate the research and conversation into a 'report' and it would be amazing if you would be able to take part. 

If you have a spare moment, please feel free to reply back to me whenever it is most convenient for you. You can call or text me on 07846541440, or email me at cameronjwolfe@hotmail.co.uk - many thanks and all the best,
Cameron.

Rob's reply:

Hello Cameron,

Sorry it's taken a while to get back to you! 
You can send me a few questions by email and I'll answer them.
Glad you like the Leeds mural,
Cheers
Rob

I then replied:

Hi Rob,

Thanks for getting back to me, it means a lot! Here are my questions for you:

How would you define your creative practice?

What drove you to create the wonderful Anorak magazine? 

Could you name someone in the art/design world to keep an eye out for in 2016?

Where do you go to in London when you’re feeling low on inspiration?
What would be your best piece of advice to anyone graduating with an arts degree looking to enter into the creative industry?

How do you see visual culture/the creative industries changing in the next 10 years? 

I look forward to hearing your replies.
Many thanks,

Cameron