inksurge

Take a peek at the creative hub of graphic design duo Rex and Jois of Inksurge! :)


Rex + Jois
(Pasig, Philippines)

Website: www.inksurge.com
houseblend.inksurge.com

Occupation: Graphic Designers

Favorite toy as a child
Rex: Matchbox, G.I. Joe, Gameboy, Super NES
Jois: Didn't really recall anything special

Favorite toy now
Rex: Loaded Dervish, LX3, Nintendo Wii + DS
Jois: My old Minolta camera

Turn-ons
Rex: Organized and malinis
Jois: Cook geeks, mabango!

Turn-offs
Rex: too much talk... sleazy... not passionate about their work...
Jois: mga masyado maraming sinasabi kala mo alam lahat... arrogant, airheads, posers, name-dropping, and... smelly ugly feet

Top 5 movies
Rex: Requiem for a Dream, The Beach, Fight Club, Akira, Aeon Flux (the animated version, not the movie)
Jois: A Clockwork Orange, Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind, Memento, Requiem for a Dream, Eureka

Top 3 books
Rex: Neuromancer - William Gibson, Sagmeister Made You Look by Stefan Sagmeister, Tell Me Why by Karlsson Wilker
Jois: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time, A Spot of Bother, Tibor Kalman

Music you listen to
Rex: (at the studio) - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, MGMT, Kings of Leon, Hifana, Miles Davis, and mostly ambient + post-rock stuff such as Mogwai, Trentmoller, Lymbyc Systym... while working on Zoorex - Marilyn Manson, Pantera, White Zombie, Lamb of God, Our Lady Peace, YMCK
Jois: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Rilo Kiley, Coco Rosie, Asobe Seksu, Modest Mouse... currently: CSS, The XX, Temper Trap, Phoenix

When you're not busy with work, what do you do in your free time?
Rex: I usually skate at Pearl Drive, also playing DS, watching Naruto and Bleach, and reading comics/magazines
Jois: Tambz, reading, waiting for a good movie at TV MONDE, sleep

If you were to choose a different job, what would it be?
Rex: Barista (na laging napapaso...) or a neon light fabricator (ikakakuryente ko siguro ito...)
Jois: Industrial designer, but then it's just a dream that probably won't happen. I'm too clumsy with equipments, I might lose a finger or two...

If you can have any super power, what would it be?
Rex: Shadow Clone Technique (Kage Bunshin No Jutsu) with unlimited chakra. I can create clones of myself to any number - and send them to meetings, run errands, etc.
Jois: Teleportation. That will save me a lot of time and I can go to any country I want, pero shet, nainggit ako sa answer ni Rex, mas gusto ko yata yun

Where do you find inspiration for your creations?
Rex + Jois: I get inspiration from people I meet in our business, stories and experiences from our clients, friends and family, also from people-watching while drinking coffee

Most inspiring statement/moment (heard/said/read)?
Rex: "Never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite, and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience, and if it hurts, it's probably working. You hope and you dream buy you never believe that something is going to happen for you." The lines were taken from the 1997-hit novel "The Beach" by Alex Garland
Jois: I just read a CR interview on Erik Spiekemann, "...it is not necessary to set out to impress clients. We don't need to show off. We don't need marble staircases; we don't need receptionists who constantly file their nails. But we need to show that we care."

wanggo gallaga

Check out the creative nest of writer/editor and HIV advocate Wanggo Gallaga. :)


Wanggo Gallaga
(Quezon City, Philippines)

Occupation: Writer / Editor / HIV Advocate

Favorite toy as a child: a stuffed teddy bear with a re-sewn nose so I thought it was a mole and not a bear. It's name was June.

Favorite toy now: My cell phone (hehehe)

Turn-ons: Anything that can mix the heavy serious stuff with a whole lot of good humour. I like things being intense.

Turn-offs: People who are closed-minded, people who aren't aware of other people, people who are always so negative and people who lie (like, a lot)

Top 5 movies: Magnolia, Pan's Labyrinth, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Mean Girls, The Squid and the Whale, Japanese Story, The Dark Knight

Top 3 books: Watership Down by Richard Adams, Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, and The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

Music you listen to: Everything but my favorite are Kate Bush, David Bowie, Bjork, Tanita Tikaram, Aimee Mann, and Fiona Apple. Right now I'm listening to Florence and the Machine, Temper Trap, Passion Pit, Snow Patrol, and the Cold War Kids

When you're not busy with work, what do you do in your free time? I watch movies, read books, and live in my head. I like to daydream a lot.

If you were to choose a different job, what would it be? I'd love to be a teacher again.

If you can have any super power, what would it be? It's a toss up between teleportation or telepathy. I have difficulty deciding which I'd like more.

Where do you find inspiration for your creations? I find inspiration in conversations with other people. And traveling. I think my mind (and imagination) is most alive when I'm in a different city.

Most inspiring statement/moment (heard/said/read)? There are plenty. I remember the sunsets of Boracay to be very inspiring. I remember being in Sydney and it was the first time I've ever gone out of the country because of work and I got there on my own merits and I was walking towards the Sydney Opera House with my iPod at full blast playing a choral song from The Prayer Cycles and just crying because I was able to travel. The people were leaving the Opera House and wondering why I was crying in the cold. It was the dead of winter. That was pretty inspiring. Going through the oldest mangroves in the country in Palawan and it began to rain and then it stopped and there was this beautiful mist that hung round the trees and I thought I was in a fairy tale.

The most inspiring story I ever read was discovering that Anthony Burgess who wrote A Clockwork Orange didn't start writing until he was over 60 years old. At that age, he managed to still write over 33 books before he died. That is what he is remembered for and not the job that he had previous. It's never too late -- that's what I got from that story. It's never too late to make your mark in this world.