Gayane Yerkanyan: In Search of Unexpected Solutions
2015-02-16
News
Graphic designer Gayane Yerkanyan started working at the Tumo Center for Creative Technologies three years ago. Today, she shares her experience and thoughts, and talks about her bond with Tumo.
About growing up and becoming a designer
When I was little, I didn't think of myself as a designer or an artist. But now I realize many of the steps I was taking were leading me in that direction even back then. At the age of 10, when I was home alone while my parents were at work, I used to create installations. I used to make paper spider webs and spread them all over the living room. At the time, I didn't know what installations were. I guess I didn't become conscious about where I was heading until I was twenty.
About the "inspiration thing"
Different disciplines have a way of complementing each other. I get inspiration not from other designers' work, but from art, literature, music, architecture and above all from interesting people – specially people who value ideas above all else.
Expressing yourself
There is design you do for others and then there is design you do for yourself: the latter might as well be called art. I use video art, calligraphy and graphic design as means of expressing myself. In design, collaboration is the most productive mode for me, while in art I prefer to work alone.
Dutch learning
I thought studying in the Utrecht Graduate School of Visual Art and Design and being in the world of art and design would teach me new techniques, while in fact I learned the most unexpected thing. I learned how to generate ideas and value them. I learned how to ask "why" instead "how".
The formula for working well
At Tumo, I am surrounded by dozens of professions and the daily interaction with such wonderful specialists and creative people gives me motivation to see my own area from a different perspective. And that energizes me and fills my workday with enthusiasm. The collaboration of people having various backgrounds can make a big difference. I believe that working the way we do at Tumo will shape a unique Armenian design style, with its own spot on the map, just like Dutch, Swiss or Scandinavian design.
About her long-term relationship with Tumo
I want to spend my daily life in an environment full of art, culture and different ideas, and Tumo is one of the best places for that. It gives me the opportunity to come up with new, innovative concepts. I see Tumo itself as an idea about producing even bigger ideas. And yet we sometimes don't realize how big and viral ideas that are born here can become. The students who come to Tumo today and have the right resources at their disposal can generate concepts and create a society that none of us can anticipate. I love it that we're expecting unexpected solutions.