Meet Jerry Estié

Use five words to describe the Camp experience
Intense, Inspiring, Strange, Hard, Fun

Why are you here?
Well, the original idea for my exchange was that I wanted to experience the Scandinavian lifestyle and see mountains/hills. Being Dutch, even ‘flat’ Denmark is exciting. However, when actually researching the schools instead of looking at greenery, I quickly came to the decision to come to Kolding. I like the idea of project-based working, something we do at Willem de Kooning Academy (WdKA) as well. But while WdKA has a lot of holes in the schedule for you to work on your own, I like the guidance and connection to the ‘real world’ in Kolding. Working for real clients is something that is not new to me, but most work at WdKA has been more autonomous with the ‘client’ being the teachers at school. I like having real stakes as it gets me more motivated. The downside is that you are a bit less free, but maybe that’s a good thing as a designer?

What has been your biggest learning experience in the DesignCamp so far?
I think mostly the lectures. They have been very much in context of the work we have been doing and they get me excited and inspired to work further on our project. Especially the real world experience shines during these lectures: It makes the project feel significant and since everything is for a real client and a real problem the stakes are higher.

How do you think that you or designers in general can help create sustainable actions?
I think that designers are trained to think in a more creative and open way, in our early conceptual phases we are less scared of roadblocks and are therefore able to go broader with our ideas. Instead of immediately saying no this can’t be done because of rule x or y, we will try it first and if we fail we adapt.

Generally, what inspires you?
I have a personal fascination with technology and patterns, both in a visual way and behaviour of myself and the people around me. What is predictable and what isn’t?

What has caught your professional attention at the moment?
Since my practice Digital Craft at WdKA I have developed this drive to focus on technology and design. From coding to soldering, there is a lot of potential outside InDesign and the classical graphic design ‘safe things’ like posters and editorial design. It is so much more interesting to me to be focus on interactivity, even though it is still new to me and I need to ask a lot of questions. This is actually part of a big discussion going on right now in the field of graphic design. What and what isn’t graphic design? I found it really interesting to see the education was called communication design opposed to graphic design here in Kolding.

What would be your ideal job – and why?
I would love to work in some form on the conceptual level of the design progress: I find this the most interesting and also most frustrating (therefore most rewarding) part. It’s also inspiring to work with people, so whether it’s in a collective or at a studio I would always like to work with like-minded people around me. Preferably of different professions or specialisations in the design field.

Visit Jerry's website: www.jerryestie.com