TIND, aka Manolis Angelakis from Athens, Greece takes screen printing to another level. Having been trained as a graphic designer and studying under the tutelage of his father, TIND draws from a variety of old and new methods which he applies to the craft of silkscreen printing: red / blue 3-D, gold leafing and glow in the dark paints and more are printed on everything from skateboard decks to business cards. Whether apocalyptic imagery or aesthetic flavors from the turn of the century, TIND delivers a refined style that only comes from clocking serious hours developing your craft.
How did you get interested / started in screen printing? My mother breastfed me with pantone colors and fluo inks and my father sang lullabies in the darkroom while he developed film. It’s a true story.
Are there any styles / techniques that you particularly gravitate towards within screen printing? I always want to try new materials with screen-printing and, just like an ant, I gather stuff to try. I also use my gut feeling. I find it’s the best way to deal with the process, screen printing, all between and outside of it. Screen-printing requires, above all else, curiosity. Mix, experiment, take a step back and repeat.
Where do you draw your inspiration from? Inspiration comes from everything you taste, smell, feel, hear and see. As years goes by though I find myself more and more drawing inspiration from the web but then again my best ideas comes when I am off of it.
Do you feel that you face any particular challenges in this digital age? Of course I am analogue being in a digital era, I am not going to survive unless I adapt. The main challenge is to keep a level of quality in your work and a state of mind to do so. Nothing comes without a cost, you always pay the price, one way or the other.
Could you expound on the concept behind “The Future Is In The Past” image featured on the Behance Network? “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” – Il Gatopardo -
What do you feel is culturally overrated right now? What is underrated? Nothing and Everything. With the web everything is one step away from being something or nothing. How you measure culture anyway?
What do you see in the future of screen printing? When I grew up in the ’80s there were books in the local supermarkets that depicted pictures of the future which seemed totally mechanical and automated. Now where’s that future? One can only speculate what it may hold and it’s kind of silly. The only thing for sure is that even if an EMP hits Earth and all the electronics are gone you can still screen-print!
Check out more of TIND’s work in this featured gallery.
If you are into screen printing or just want to learn more about the culture, watch Thrash Lab’s short-documentary on screen printers in Los Angeles.
