Tomorrow, August 23, at 14.30, the Kuldīga Democracy Festival will host the launch of architect Indra Ķempe’s book Cooldig. The publication explores the old town of Kuldīga and its residents, whose stories have been captured in photographs by Mārtiņš Sīlis. In addition to photography, Mārtiņš works in advertising and interior design, and in the Nice Touch column, he talks about a method that helps to develop ideas from a «small seed» to a fully formed concept.
«When ideas for advertising, graphic design, interior design, or photography projects start to flow faster than I can organise them, I turn to the simplest tools available — a pencil and a blank sheet of paper. On it, I create a mind map that visually represents the information: the main idea is in the centre, and related thoughts, colours, symbols, sketches, and notes branch out around it, creating a clear structure and overview. The small, limited space of the sheet acts as a frame, providing enough room to play around with ideas but at the same time preventing them from drifting too far or getting lost. The pencil allows me to quickly draw, redraw, or erase ideas while they are still «hot». This process reminds me of an improvised creative garden: every quickly tossed «seed» can grow into a «loaf of bread». The result is an organised chaos that later turns into finished works.»
Mārtiņš Sīlis was born in Kuldīga but currently lives in Liepāja and works in various fields — advertising, photography, and interior design. He studied at the Faculty of Economics and Management at the University of Latvia and the Liepāja Pedagogical Academy and improved his knowledge at the LADC Advertising School, where he received a gold diploma. Mārtiņš’ approach, both in design and photography, is based on clean, precise, and thoughtful compositions, generating original visual ideas.
Indra Ķempe’s recently published book Cooldig, featuring Mārtiņš’ photographs, is a continuation of two Liepājiņa publications that introduced Liepāja’s public architecture and interiors. All three editions depart from the perfection characteristic of architecture books by placing the user of the space at the centre. The first Liepājiņa, published in 2011, was nominated for the Latvian Architecture Award 2012.
The Cooldig book opening will take place on August 23 at 14.30 during the Kuldīga Democracy Festival in the courtyard of the Kuldīga Technology and Tourism Technical School at Kalpaka iela 1.
Viedokļi