Teresa Sdralevich EN “I came to Brussels and found myself. So why would I go back to Italy?” Teresa Sdralevich says with a look that leaves us in no doubt that it was a rhetorical question. A poster-designer and illustrator, she came to our capital about twenty years ago after studying political sciences in Bologna. “And after a six-month internship at L’École des Loisirs in Paris. An amazing time during which I learned a lot about the formal aspects of (children’s) books, such as the font, sufficient blank space, lay-out, etc. These are all elements that can support the story. While at L’École des Loisirs, I also met illustrators who studied in Brussels and spoke very highly of the courses here.” And so Sdralevich regularly took the Eurolines bus – “the train or aeroplane were too expensive!” – and eventually, she registered at the ERG, the École de Recherche Graphique, and took an extra year at La Cambre. “But the ball only really started rolling when I was given the opportunity to do my internship with the graphic designer Jean-Christophe Geluck. I kept working there half-time, and in the meantime, commissions were increasingly coming in from Italy: illustrations for children’s
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books, but mostly posters, logos, book covers…an enormous number of book covers, including for scientific publications about international politics, economics, ecology, etc. Illustration was my first love, but I gradually also discovered the pleasure of graphic design. I’m still somewhere in between the two, I think.” In 2004, Sdralevich found a beautiful house in Molenbeek where she lives with her husband and children, and which also has a large outbuilding perfectly suited to being a studio. Sdralevich turned the ground floor into a screen printing workshop, and moved her actual design studio into the second floor. “I only discovered the technique of screen printing later on, in evening classes, and it was a revelation. It allows me to print my own posters, which BOROUGH: Molenbeek PUBLICATION: Nononsense. Front Line Drawings (foreword by James Victore), Boldbooks & Ediciones De Ruina, 2012 BOOK PRESENTATION: 20/6, 18.00, Librairie Joli Mai, avenue Paul Dejaerlaan 29, Sint-Gillis/Saint-Gilles ZAZIE POSTER STAMPS: www.brusselnieuws.be/posterzegel INFO: www.teresasdralevich.net
usually have a limited print run of about 50 copies, 70 by 100 cm. Incidentally, I share the space with other designers and artists. Apart from the fact that it is such a powerful technique, I like the artisanal aspect. You work with your hands, but your mind is free. It gives you the opportunity to think about other projects while printing, to let ideas ripen. And with every new printing process, you learn something new about the technical side of things.” There are two impressive printing presses and printing frames of all sizes in the space, with leftovers from Sdralevich’s numerous posters. “The strange thing is that this type of technique has been completely forgotten in Italy: etching, screen printing, lithography, etc. They teach boring, theoretical classes about them, but the practice has almost completely disappeared, and is exorbitantly expensive. Another reason to stay here.” [Laughs] The design studio itself, upstairs, exudes rest and clarity: a high ceiling, wooden beams, lots of daylight, a mezzanine. Many books too, but mostly neatly arranged in large bookcases. “No, I am not an untidy person, I can’t work in clutter.