Chris Labrooy
’s illustrations are an innovative and clever mash-up of architecture and product design. With a focus in 3D typography, he creates highly-detailed works that never fail to catch attention. A number of his key illustrations are interpretations of his architectural influences (Frank Gehry, Ettore Sottsass, Toyo Ito) ‘developed into expressive letter forms.’ At a glance you see a name or word, but up close, you see detail, intricacy, and complexity. His confusingly realistic illustrations make you rethink whether it’s a CGI or photo that you are actually viewing. Lucky for us, Chris recently opened up to Design For Today about what goes behind his unusual yet fresh creations from a sketched concept to a 3- dimensional finish.
Design42day: Tell me about your background? Has the skill come naturally or have you had formal training?
Chris Labrooy: My background is in design, crafts and product design. I started out making stuff, experiment with materials
and creating design objects and products. I pursued this passion at the RCA where I did an MA in design
products and it wasn't until after school that i started to use 3D software. Initially i was producing technical
CAD models for industrial products, but then i noticed some of the cool stuff in the CG illustration
space and just got more and more into that.
D42D: What sparked your interest for specifically typography?
CL: My interest in typography is hard to explain because i wasn't particularly looking at or researching
typography. I don't even know a lot about the type design culture or its history. I was just approaching it from an
architectural and product design perspective and i thought it would be interesting to mix it up.
D42D: Who are your biggest design/art influences?
CL: I like Frank Gehry a lot because his work has shit loads of attitude and is always executed with conviction. Ettore Sottsass too.
The spirit in which a designer produces his work is usually more inspirational than end result to me.
I have a folder that I constantly fill up with things i like and every few weeks i like to edit it. This editing process is very useful in determining what i really think is interesting at a particular given time. At the moment it is full of fashion related photography and clothing.
D42D: Can you tell me about your creative process?
CL: Sometimes it can be a classic linear design process, but often i just work in 3D although i still try to keep sketching
as much as possible. My hard drive is full of unfinished stuff and research which i will sometimes delve into and
extract things that i feel have potential. It's important to keep producing stuff even if it never gets used.
D42D: Your work is very impressive and very innovative. One of our favourites was Playful Type. What was going on in your head when you were creating this?
CL: I wanted to make a very juvenile piece of work. It is essentially like a teenager drawing crude obscenities on the back of a school book taken to the extreme with polished CGI techniques and a real focus on the design, material and colour selection. It is both dumb and clever which i find interesting….plus i wanted to do a WTF? project for the portfolio.
D42D: Which of your previous works are you most proud of and why?
CL: I wouldn't say i was proud of any of my work. It just depends because some
days i will like something and the next i will think it's bullshit.
D42D: When you aren't busy designing, what can you be found doing?
CL: Making shite electronic music!
