Cool Hunting

Deanne Cheuk name-checked him in a recent interview we did with her, so we thought we'd peek into the artistic world of Barcelona-based illustrator, Alex Trochut.

How did your assignment to illustrate the cover of Beautiful Decay magazine come about?
I was asked to do an interview for Beautiful Decay and, after that, [founder] Amir H. Fallah asked me if I wanted to do the cover for that issue, which was called "The Hyper Spectrum." So I said: Sure!

Is there a thriving creative scene there in Barcelona?
Yes, Barcelona is a very condensed and intense spot for a creative person. The city breathes design everywhere, under tough conditions though. Clients usually give no time or money, and you have to fight hard to discover that they to allow creativity to sneak into projects. It's a big mix too between the desire of people to create and the reality of the design culture in this country. It's still a bit close-minded, but step-by-step it's changing. I believe we are building a little army of high qualified designers here.

Your work is colorful and full of bold shapes and patterns. What state of mind are you generally in when creating an illustration?
Depending on which project, I'm always trying to be like an actor who has to play a role with a script, so it can turn from dark to happiness depending the mood of the work. But if you mean what is going through my mind all the time, I can say music helps me a lot to concentrate and focus on my work. Especially electronic music.

Which other illustrators do you admire for both the quality of their work and the creativity that they express?
I love the work of the American classics such as Rick Grffin, Herb Lubalin, and Milton Glasser. I'm also digging the work of Steve Harrington, Dan Funderburgh, Raza Uno, Jethro Haynes, Mario Hugo, Aaron Horkey, PMKFA, Brendan Monroe, Mars-1, Jeremy Fish, Marian Bantjes, Si Scott, SerialCut, Inocuo The Sign, and Emil Kozak.