ARTIST PROFILE
Haw-lin Services is a multidisciplinary creative studio and was founded in 2011 by Nathan Cowen and Jacob Klein. Nathan, raised in Kailua, Hawaii, and Jacob, from Rheda-Wiedenbrück, Germany, met and established themselves as creative professionals at Hort, a Berlin-based graphic design studio, working for clients such as Nike, Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau, and IBM.

Haw-Lin’s inspiration for the artist edition derived from motocross and the sport’s logo decals seen strewn all over the bikes and helmets. This lead to the print and pattern designs. The cuts are oversized but tapered at almost every closure. Additionally, each piece is reversible and combines two different materials. Haw-Lin’s overall aim was to develop comfortable sports wear with a high end appeal that could stand apart yet easily fit in with Ucon Acrobatics’ sensibility. - See more at: http://www.ucon-acrobatics.com/site/about/artists/haw-lin/#sthash.J142Vaw2.dpuf

INTERVIEW:

How would you describe your art?
Nathan & Jacob  Having fun and trusting our intuition.
 
How did you get involved in design?
Nathan  My high school art teacher, mr. Koki, suggested I should look into graphic design in regards to my final senior project. When I asked why, he responded with a shrug and mentioned he had no idea about the field but somehow thought it could be something of value to my future.
Jacob  One of the main reasons I am interested in design is my dad. He is a furniture and product designer and there were always interesting books and catalogs flying about our home. I was always browsing through his collection of printed material and became more and more interested in typography and grid works. Another reason was the crazy cover artworks of the music scene during the mid to late nineties. The work by the design studio ”the designers republic” from sheffield especially motivated me to get into this profession.
 
Where do you draw your inspirations from?
Nathan  People, places, things, details, my stomach, art. L-i-f-e.
Jacob  I think that everything is and can be inspiring to a certain extent. It comes down to the way you filter and focus this flood of inspiration.
 
Looking back, what have been your favorite projects?
Nathan  The SZ memphis shoot in Munich, pb 0110, Marsano exhibition and the i.p.h. exhibition.
Jacob  In some way all of our projects are favorites of mine. But i think pb 0110 was and is the most exciting project we are working on.
 
How does your life influence your art?
Nathan  Thinking about concepts or finding inspiration for new projects has never been a problem. Finding the time and motivation for these projects is another story.
Jacob  This again goes back to the previous question about inspiration. Everything in my life is or can be inspiring and therefore it has an influence on my work/art.
 
What would you like to do that you are not doing at the moment?
Nathan  I would like to be home with my family in hawaii.
Jacob  I would like to get a massage, read a book and cook with my wife. All at the same time. Everything. Now.
 
What is your typical day?
Nathan  Cold shower, simple breakfast of oatmeal and coffee, a quick coffee at the studio, work, sandwich and sparkling water for lunch, work, drink a beer with mark, eat dinner at home, watch a movie, sleep.
Jacob  Shower, espresso, go to the studio, answer emails, breakfast, work, phone calls, organization, lunch, more work, backup files, beer, go home, dinner, sleep.
 
What do you usually do if you need to distance yourself from work?
Nathan  At work i take break with a cup of coffee or making a snack. At home i will listen to music or watch movies.
Jacob  I enjoy cooking with my wife Adli. It really keeps my head away from all the work. I also enjoy going for long bike rides or walks.
 
Where do you originally come from? How did you both meet each other?
Nathan  I was born in Santa Cruz, California, grew up in Kailua, Hawaii and attended University in San Francisco. I met Jacob when I began my internship at hort.
Jacob  I am born in Warendorf but grew up in a small cozy town called Rheda-Wiedenbrück. Then I moved to Bielefeld to study at the University of Applied Sciences. After my diploma I moved to Berlin and as Nathan already mentioned, we met each other while interning at the graphic design studio Hort.
 
Whats the best thing about Berlin? What‘s the best thing about Hawaii?
Nathan  Berlin – the lifestyle. Hawaii – the lifestyle.
Jacob  A lot of my closest friends and some of my family are living in Berlin which makes it a great place to be. Besides that I am always amazed and excited by the city’s history. I have never been to hawaii.
 
What was the most inspiring or surprising image you found for your Haw-lin blog recently?
Nathan  A Michael Jackson Tommy Hilfiger campaign from the mid 90s. Maybe not the most inspiring or surprising but definitely the most recent.
Jacob  After years of admiring his work from my father’s books, I recently came across the website of product designer Richard Sapper. Amazing work. Almost every image on his page is inspiring and surprising, everything from the aesthetics of his product design to the photography.
 
Thanks for the interview!
- See more at: http://www.ucon-acrobatics.com/site/about/artists/haw-lin/#sthash.J142Vaw2.dpuf

UCON ACROBATICS | HAW-LIN

ARTIST PROFILE

He refers to himself as a hyper-functionalist, preoccupied with detail and simplicity. Till Wiedeck was born in 1985 in Germany. He founded his design studio HelloMe during is design studies in Münster (Germany). Meanwhile he worked for offices such as Mario Lombardo & Fons Hickmann m23. In 2008 he moved to Berlin where he lives and works from. 

For Ucon Acrobatics he extended the artist feature and designed a distinctive outfit. Large-format prints with striking colours make the outfit a work of art in its own right.  


INTERVIEW

How would you describe your art?
First of all I am not an artist but a designer. So I consider my work design, not art. At HelloMe we focus a lot on the conceptual side of a project and then develop a visual language that suits the particular project. We like to call our main work “visual system development”, so we basically design visual systems for cross media applications, regardless off analog or digital. We consult and design identity & branding systems, bespoke typefaces, magazines, books, catalogues, editorial projects, posters, music- & product packaging, websites and mobile applications, fashion, textiles, spacial installations, interiors, guidance systems and exhibitions.


How did you get involved in design?
I started drawing very early at age four. I recently got a lot of my own and my brothers early childhood paintings from my mother. I took them all with me to archive them.There is no specific thing I remember but I spend a lot of my childhood painting and drawing until the age of ten when I suddenly came across graffiti. My very first love that opened a whole world of typography for me. From early teens I knew I would be working in a creative field. It turned out to be design.


Where do you draw your inspirations from?
Random things and everyday life. Also I am interested in many design and art movements. As the german Bauhaus legacy feels very close and also defines a very functional mindset I feel this has a great connection to my own work. At the same time I do admire the memphis movement of the 1980ies for the expressive attitude as well as having a thing for renessaince art, especially sculptures. However, the most inspiring object around the studio definitely is the rainbow colored dolphine sculpture that is featured in one of the photographs from the Critical Objects project. We found it when looking for stuff for another photo shoot and I feel in love with it straight away. I have a thing for ugly or over decorative objects even though I consider myself a very over functional person.


Looking back, what have been your favorite projects?
I like projects that have a clear idea or concept but still manage to remain abstract in its visual approach. We try to work like this within most of the projects so I could not pick one without leaving another one out that I also like.


How does your life influence your art?
A lot. Probabaly my girlfriend Nadine Goepfert who is a textile designer is the most inspiring person I ever met. One of many reasons why I love being around her.


What would you like to do that you are not doing at the moment?
I would like to design a house and live in it some day.


What is your typical day?
Waking up at 7.30am, breakfast, if possible going to the gym, studio at 10am, lunch at 2pm, work again till 7–9pm, get a drink and dinner with my girlfriend or friends and get some good sleep.


What do you usually do if you need to distance yourself from work?
I love work and never really distance myself from it. Right now I am sitting on a sofa in the middle of Brooklyn NYC, writing down a work related interview, even though I am on holiday…


Where do you originally come from?
In what place do you feel most home? I grew up in the western country side of Germany, close to Münster, where I started studying graphic design at age 19. In 2008 I moved to Berlin, where I still live and work. Home is where your heart is.


Whats the best thing about Berlin?
Berlin’s vibe and the people surrounding me are a very big influence, even though I think it works on a more emotional, subtle level. I live a rather simple life in this city which is a huge melting pot of all sorts of cultural influences. I live in Kreuzberg, a neighbourhood with a great cultural and ethnical diversity which I think is very nice. Sometimes it would be good to be able to speak turkish. At the same time Berlin feels very uncompleted. It was devided into east and west for such a long time, even after more than 20 years you still can feel it. It is a city that keeps evolving, growing and moving. This progressive and open mood is very inspiring to me.


What was the last song you listened to?
Waka Flocka Flame – No Handz CRNKN Remix


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