A belgian visual artist lent to fashion industry

The work of Belgian graphic designer Paul Boudens is distinguished by a restless, often multi-layered and hand-finished style that has become closely identified with Antwerp fashion. Paul also ventures into other disciplines, working for choreographer Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker’s Rosas dance company and for the Brussels’ opera and Kaaitheater.
He co-founded the quirky designer-led publication A Magazine and his work has been the subject of the monograph ‘Paul Boudens Works Volume 1’, and exhibitions at MoMu and The Wapping Project in London.
Paul became a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale in 2008.

How did you get involved in graphic design?
Actually, I wanted to become a fashion designer. (laughs) I did my entrance exam at the Antwerp Academy way back in 1983 and didn’t get accepted. Quite a setback! I basically messed around for four years, studying to become a translator, failing that, waiting tables. I did have a very good time though. In the meantime, I was always making birthday cards and cassette covers with photocopies and Letraset letters, just to amuse myself.

I sound like a dinosaur now.

Then, at a birthday party of a friend, a graphic design teacher noticed my card on a shelf and asked who had made it, which turned out to be me. She advised me to try and get into the graphic design department she was teaching at, so I did and I got through. I did fail the first year though, because I couldn’t draw for dear life.

Or better: I refused to. Model and landscape drawing bored the living hell out of me so I made little effort for those courses. Anyway, the teachers advised me to start over, I did and from then on they left me doing my own thing, which worked for me. They could clearly see something was brewing.

In my third year, fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck asked me to design some T-shirt prints and help him with his general graphic stuff, so I happily obliged. He showed me a sketch and I asked rightaway if I could change it. (laughs) We’ve worked together ever since, and I’ve never looked back. I guess you could say I rolled into the fashion world by accident.

You’re also the founder of A Magazine, how did that project materialize into success considering the current digital-shift of publications?
Co-founder, please. We started A Magazine as a part the Fashion Landed 2001 project in Antwerp (which Walter Van Beirendonck curated), because we thought Belgium lacked a decent fashion magazine. Well, it still does! A Magazine has always been a strange animal: it started as N°A magazine; we planned to do the whole alphabet. (laughs) The first issues were created with Dirk Van Saene (N°A), Bernhard Willhelm (N°B), Hussein Chalayan (N°C) and Olivier Theyskens (N°D). Then our publisher went bankrupt. As we were already in contact with Martin Margiela, we got picked up by another publisher and from then on it became A Magazine (curated by...), inviting Maison Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto, Haider Ackermann, Jun Takahashi/Undercover, Martine Sitbon, Riccardo Tisci from Givenchy, etc.

The thing I loved most about A Magazine was the fact that the guests had to come to my studio to design the magazine together with me in three days. They absolutely loved it, happy that they were abroad and without entourage, and working on something else for one time. After three crazy days and nights, I would finish the design and wait patiently for the ads to come in, because that part was always problematic. After 10 years, I parted ways with the publisher. Let’s say we had irreconcilable differences. (laughs)

A Magazine still exists and went more digital, they also have a blog and a website, but in my opinion they forgot one thing: A Magazine was everything BUT a fashion magazine! Anyway, I wish them well.

How would you describe your aesthetic design?
I used to say ‘classic with a twist’, but now I’m going with ‘schizo-classic’. (laughs) Mainly because I work together with a lot of different people, and I always try to absorb their world so the work becomes very much them, but also still is me. Believe me, you don’t want to know how my mind works sometimes! (laughs)

What other disciplines are you involved in apart from art and fashion?
If a project interests me, I’ll go for it. Of course, the bulk of my work is based in fashion, art, architecture, theatre, modern dance, etc. But if friends ask me to design a wedding invitation, I’ll do it. With pleasure. Just be careful what you ask for. (laughs)

What’s your creative process like usually?
Normally it goes like this: Get assignment — POP! Goes the idea in my head. I’m a Gut Feeling fan. I abhor conceptualizing — sorry folks. If I can recreate the image I get in my head, you’re fine and the result will be good. If I see nothing, you’re in trouble. Or rather I am. (laughs) Luckily the buzz never stops, although I notice that lately I hardly get the time to design anything anymore; sometimes I feel like a Robot, just churning out stuff. I have to try and stop that because it’s starting to get to me.

Paul will be heading to Melbourne for Look Upstairs; the landmark event for Design Matters Melbourne International Design Week in April that would be great. Note Paul is speaking on day 3, Friday 4 April.

Look Upstairs presented by agIdeas in association with Arts Centre Melbourne — April 2 3 4, Hamer Hall
Bringing together the largest gathering of international and local design and creative leaders ever seen in Australia, this three-day design forum will take you on a journey of inspiration and insight through informative talks, discussion forums and debates. 41 speakers from 20 nations will share their insights and experience on how design is explored, developed and interpreted to achieve some of the world’s most innovative solutions. For more information on the program and to purchase tickets visit www.lookupstairs.com.au