Daniele (Piri Piri Atelier) (Italy)

Daniele (Piri Piri Atelier) (Italy)

As he mentioned in the email he sent me “ my name is Daniele ( with E ). Despite of my name, as many not italians may think, Daniele is a male name. Daniela is the female one :) “. You can easily imagine how I was disapointed by such a news :) More seriously, Daniele is one of the artist I met so far where the influence of 1920s poster art is the most noticeable. But see by yourself…

Hello, of course as every Crewk interview, first question: what are we listening to when we come to visit you?


Florence and the Machine plus Bach, in the other room plus my flatmate and his manouche swing group rehearsing in the kitchen.

Can you tell us more about yourself, who are you, where are you from, what do you do?

My name is Daniele Catalli, I was born in Rome, at 21 I moved to the cold north and now I live and drink wine in Turin.

I work as frelance illustrator/grapic designer/stage designer.

I also like to make up some weird poster art installations.

Recently I started my poster project called Dream Circus, which is something in between installation, public art and poster art.

(www.cargocollective.com/dreamcircus)

When did you start drawing?

As a kid.

Did you follow any course or did you improve by drawing in the margins of your schoolbooks?

Both. After graduating at highschool, I ended up at the academy of fine arts, But I still think i did my best works as a teenager.

Today are you living from your art, or do you do something else for a living ?

well, most of the time graphic design pays the bills, but also illustration and scenography can work quite well.

Are you collaborating with magazines/fanzines, regularly?

Not really. I used to run a a comic/illustration magazine a few years ago myself. After it, It seemed very weird to me to sumbit my works to other magazines...

Anyway, I like to collaborate occasionally, but is not very common.

Where does your influence come from? Is there any artists/graphists you particularly like, what are your influences?

I love the streamline of Joost Zwarte and the peculiar style of Ferenc Pinter, David B., Magnus, Duilio Cambellotti, Tom Gauld and may many others.

Mainly I love 20's and 30's illustrators, but I also used to read a lot of japanese and french comics.

I also received some influence from amazing stage designers such as Rolf Borzik.

Thus, I guess my influence cames from a wide number of different styles.

What are the principal steps in your work ?

I first listen to the music. Then I listen again. And Again.

I also like to share with the musicians a few ideas in order to understand their taste and how they visualize their music.

I don't make many scketches. I try to offer a minimum number of choices.

Unless there is some idea the group wants to communicate, most of the time I start from the first image that comes to my mind listening to the music.

Do you do everything by hand or on computer?

both. I mainly do the drawing work by hand and the color job on computer.

How long does it take you to do a poster?

Really depends on the music and the ispiration. Could take a few hours or a few days.

Also depends how much time I can take.

You have a very distinctive style, are you doing only what you feel like or if tomorrow somebody asks you an oil painting with horses running out of water with a sunset backdrop, is it a problem or are you up for it ?

I try to do what I feel. when the clients are very very into a disgusting idea, a big part of the job is to push my idea.

For which band have you already worked for?

So long I've worked for Scaramanouche, Gadjo Swing, Orchestra Cocò, To kill a petty bourgeoisie, Maurizio Pugno, Vinegar Socks, Augusto Creni, Karmablue...

For which band would you love to work?

wow, so many.

I could name Eels and Emiliana Torrini, among others

Do you choose the artists yourself?

Choose? I'm not such a poster star.

Most of the time it's a just a matter of luck. And maybe a few right emails. More often they call me cause they probably saw some artwork of mine somewhere.

What is the most difficult part in designing a poster ?

reject creepy ideas coming from the singer's cousin which " has a computer, likes art and won a painting prize when at primary school"

Do you think you are part of a "Graphic Scene", if so who else ?

Not really, and I'm proud of it.

I knew you through IPRA's site, can you tell us more about the site ? What does such an exposure change for you ?



I first found IPRA just hanging around the web.

It seemed to be a great idea to collect all the italian poster designers and I sent them a few works.

There's not much of a poster tradition in Italy, at least not anymore, not in the last 20 years.

Very often getting a good design for a perfomance is the last problem to be solved.

Even celebrities have horrible tour posters.

This happens because most of the time the print service is encharged of design too, with awful results.

Personally speaking, having some promotion on a specialized website it's always a good thing.

So, yes, well done IPRA!
 
A bit of self-promotion, take advantage of it, it's free, where can we see your work , on the web or in real life?

my website is http://www.piripiriatelier.com/

You can also find some of my posters on http://society6.com/danielecatalli

The best praise you received lately?

a big breasted drunk blonde whispering in my ear: "So, you made the poster for this party...I love it! I love art! I love your work!..."

What can we wish you for the future?

always meet nice clients and rich collectors

Thanks for answering my questions and see you soon on the website !!

have fun