Tim Colmant is a Belgium graphic designer, illustrator and pattern designer currently living in Namur. His clients include: Bloomberg, Pull&Bear, Bold Agency, Converse, Wrap Magazine, WeTransfer, Sight Unseen, Giphy, Triodos Bank, Tumblr, De Morgen, Ex Hex, Paulette Magazine, Angie Agency, Slum Village, and Bowling Brussel Agency.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do. I’m Tim Colmant: graphic designer, illustrator, pattern maker and sometime wanna be artist. I work for brands, a graphic designer studio, musicians, you, or for myself.
What are some recent, upcoming or current projects you are working on? I just finish working with the clothes brand Pull&Bear on some animation. For upcoming projects, I want to work in ceramics as I did in my last year at school. I’d also like to do more personal projects that aren’t money-driven and more community-driven. Thinking about others fellas that are doing great work and I wanted to promote as well… Stay tuned!
How did your interest in art or design begin? When I was younger, I would always draw crazy drawings and I love that my mother kept a lot of them. I still look at them when I go back to my family home. In my early teenage years I was playing video games and RPG games. That inspired me to create little stories and characters. I would draw them with big swords and magical powers. Then in my skateboard years, I had long hair and listened to reggae, but sucked big time at skateboarding! The marketing of skateboards and the different logos or graphics on the decks was fascinating to me. I liked the Panda skateboarding brand or the Ed Templeton brand… if my memory is correct, I think it was called Toy Machine. I was collecting stickers and became interested in street art and then Barry McGee. I still love his work. Since then my addiction has grown and changed over the years.
How has living in Namur affected your design practice? At the moment, I’m living in a not so exciting city with almost no friends, but hopefully I’ll move to Brussels in a week. I truly believe in the power of community and the fact that speaking with other people always helps you grow and inspires you. Of course the internet gives you access to a ton of inspiration as well. Even museums are digitalized now. I know the experience of visiting a museum in person is very different from seeing a painting on a computer screen, but maybe it will inspire you in a different way.
What products or companies are you interested in right now? I like to work in several different fields. I like to work with big companies such as Converse or Bloomberg, but also enjoy working with a musician who only has 50 euros for you, but puts so much trust in you than you can’t refuse. A few months ago I designed a board for Penny, which was really cool. I like to have my work on physical objects and not just digital. Mainly because I’m working a lot on my computer and it so much nicer to discover your work in 3D.
What materials do you use in your work and what is your process like? Digital pen and digital tablet. I go straight to it, no sketch, just a random idea. Then experimentations and happy accidents until something happens. It can take anywhere from ten minutes to a few hours. I want to try something that isn’t digital at all in the future, but that’s still in the works part of my secret personal project.
What’s your favorite thing about your city? That I’m going to leave it soon! No, honestly living in Namur was nice, but I’m just over it now. I’m still young and I’d like to use this time to move every two years or so until I want to find a house in the countryside… grow a vegetable garden and feed pigs!
What was the last show you saw that stuck out to you? Jasper Morison at “le centre d’innovation et de design au Grand-Hornu”. I like Jasper Morison’s work… (you thought I only liked Memphis? Come on!) I like how easy, simple, and clever his designs are. “le centre d’innovation et de design au Grand-Hornu” is a beautiful museum — really underrated in Belgium.
What is your beverage of choice when working in your studio? Tap water.
Favorite place to shop? Internet.
Can you share one of the best or worst reactions you have gotten as a result of your work? I would get the best reactions when I did ceramic work. It’s so magical because you don’t know what you are going to have until it gets out of the kiln. A few weeks before the end of my last year at school, I wasn’t getting any good results and then a big batch of ceramics I made got out of the kiln and my reaction was, “let’s make more of those”.