A chat with Emil Kozak

Hey. What's up in Barcelona right now? You got time to skate?
It's all good. I spend a lot of time in front of my computer at the moment. I got some of my meniscus removed in February, so I’ve been keeping my leg steady.. But I’m getting better. I was out skating in the streets the other day for the first time after the operation. It’s great with some wind in the hair.

Are you a full-time designer and do you have a lot to do?
Yeah, I’m running my little company at full time. I’m lucky to have much to do and it means a lot having your own website. It has opened several possibilities for me that would have been hard to do 10 years ago. For example my jobs with Instant Winner (US), Monsieur T. (France/US), Flow (Spain), Philip Braunstein (Brazil) was getting done through email.

Instant Winner is a board company, right? What jobs have you done for them?
Instant Winner is Craig Metzger and Augie Galans (Supreme) clothing and board project. Their ideas are fresh.. Everything from skateboards with 3d graphics and 3d glasses to silver-decks. So I knew I could get this old and foolish board graphic dream to become reality. It's a series with 3 decks named "Instant Winner - Hobby Series".
The idea is that you after use can use all your woodwork skills making either a minitruck, plane or a complete gangsta kit (with a ghettoblaster, gold rings, N.W.A. tapes and a knuckleduster). I did some t-shirts for the same collection too.

A link to the project:
www.theinstantwinner.com

Cool. Great decks! Are you always getting free hands for your projects?
Thanks. No, I'd like to have free hands more often. But it happens once in a while. On the other side its nice to have some limits to work with some times. It's reducing the possibilities so the whole project is easier to get done.

Lab - Kindergarten Legends Foto: Emil Kozak

Where do you find your ideas? Who/what is your muse?
It's really random where my ideas are coming from. For example is the "Lab - Kindergarten Legends" a funny example of an idea I've been keeping on for a long time. The things that appears in my illustrations is histories/thoughts from my time in the kindergarden. Muse.. Yeah of course I got a muse, she's got dark hair and loves dots and clear colors. Maybe you'll find her in one of my illustrations?

Did skateboarding affect your way of doing graphics? There's so much art in our world.
Yes, very much. Skateboarding is the reason why I wanted to do those things. It was the first place I found art and graphics that seemed interesting to me.

When and how did you open your eyes for skateboarding?
It was in the late 80's I got this orange plastic board. Skateboarding was getting popular in Maribo (Denmark) where I’m from. But when I grew up skateboarding died a bit for me. It has always been a thing that I've done a bit alone.. Like when I'm geeking in front of my computer.

Thank you for your time!

Take a look at the website to see his recent work and buy his stuff!

Website:
www.emilkozak.com