Featured Member: Noel Perlas

(Note: AUGPhil is now starting a feature on its members. Eleanor Joy Tan is AUGPhil’s interviewer extraordinaire for this segment. Thanks Eleanor!)

• Eleanor Joy Tan (EJT): To start with (1) Tell something about yourself (e.g. school, current job/position, achievements, hobbies, USP, etc.) feel free to write anything.
• Noel Perlas (NP): Noel Perlas is the creative director of Perlas Design Studio (http://www.noelperlas.com) and concurrently the creative manager for Novare Technologies (http://www.novare.com.hk). This reflects his 2 passions, one for design the other for technology. Which is probably why he took up his masters at Interaction Design at now defunct Interaction Design Institute Ivrea (www.interaction-ivrea.it) in Italy. During his time in italy he was able to hold an exhibit with his classmates at the prestigious salone del mobile in Milan. Noel also worked briefly in the interface design department of Designafairs (www.designafairs.com) in Munich, Germany.

• EJT: When did you first realize you wanted to be an artist?
• NP: Actually I think I wanted to be a designer first than an artist later. At grade school I used to do the designs for bulletin boards, in high school I did posters, in college I was layout editor for a magazine. All ways of visually communicating an idea. Wanting to become an artist came later in my career.. when I needed to express myself and concentrate on the process rather than the final product.

• EJT: Who are your favorite artists and how do they influence your work?
• NP: Jackson Pollack, Chuck Close, Fernando Zobel, Mark Rothko, John Maeda, Joshua Davis and Casey Reas. They inspire and challenge me to look at my work differently.. every day.

• EJT: You’ve had so many experiences and done so many projects already. Which are you most proud of? What are the most difficult challenges you have faced?
• NP: That’s a hard question since I believe that what I am working on during a point in time is representative of what or where I am at that point in time – example the ever evolving Perlas Design Studio brand. Of course there will always be a place in my heart for the projects I did while in IDII (http://people.interaction-ivrea.it/n.perlas) those stand out because they were the most different.

• EJT: What medium do you feel the happiest working with: Web/Interactive or Graphic Design?
• NP: Hmm.. happiest? It always feels different when you have something tangible at the end of a project… like the printed page (graphic design)… unlike web projects which you often “refresh” every so often. Where I’m most comfortable is another story.

• EJT: In your opinion, what makes current graphic design different from before (that of earlier times)?
• NP: Well there is always the difference in the tools we use. The hardware and software (hi adobe) has made design accessible to everyone… and that’s where I also started out playing with these tools. But I think most of the graphic design today is for commercial consumption versus that of the earlier times which were more for propaganda or propagation of ideas/philosophies.

• EJT: What advice would you give to young artists or artists just starting out?
• NP: According to Jim Pardes’ workshop: Show up. Be there to work. Show up with your tools… only then can you do. And when you show up, just DO. Start something! Anything… just start.

• EJT: Lastly, to finish off this interview. What are the things you want to do that you’ve never done before?
• NP: A lot. Create more. Hold an exhibit. Teach.