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Jade Achoy is a final year undergraduate student in the University of the West Indies pursuing a BA Visual Arts. She hails from San Fernando and hopes to fulfill her aspirations on her up and coming career as a designer and illustrator. Jade took time out of her busy schedule to speak with Architecture Caribbean. Enjoy!

Architecture Caribbean: What feeds your creativity during the design process: (sketching, photos, colors, computer programs)?
Jade Achoy: Creativity and is an incredible phenomenon. I can’t say exactly how my process works; it is quite undefined and free. Inspiration for designs can come from the most awkward and unexpected places and times.

AC: What is your main technique for exploring your designs?
JA: My hands, my eyes, my ears and my mind are the most important tools of my trade. When I have projects I immediately refer to my bountiful collection of images and assortments of things-drawing inspirations and ideas. Experimentation is a must and my ideas are liberated especially when there is a lot of experimentation and sketching. My best designs are conjured up during this process. Also, I use the Adobe programmes such as Photoshop and Illustrator for most of my finished graphic designs.

AC: How do you formulate your ideas and develop them? Where do you go for inspiration?
JA: One way I always try to fuel my imagination and thought is through the collection of images that I find intriguing from simple internet searches, books, television, magazines, newspapers and road trips. Basically any form of media I can lay my eyes on. I always try to keep a trusty camera on hand whenever I go out even if it is to the market, just “down the road” or a grand trip to beaches and nature resorts. I think people and what happens around on everyday happenstances are most interesting.

AC: What about art and design excites you?
JA: I know its cliché but I do simply love art and the visual. I appreciate the many aspects of arts and design from painting to graphic design, fashion to ceramics. However, at this moment, I am excited by the emotive and aesthetic, their relationship and how design can provoke feeling and even attachment.

by Jade Achoy

AC: Who are your favorite artists (locally and internationally); and what do you admire about their work?
JA: I am a big fan of Impressionism, Claude Monet, Renoir and Degas. Also, local legend Michel Jean Cazabon and Karen Sylvester. Comic books and graphic novels played a large part of my childhood with artists such as Jo Chen, Ed Benes, Hans Bacher, contemporary art like Murakami’s Super Flat Movement and designers like Michael Beirut and Tord Boontje.

AC: What are the main features and elements of your work? Why?
JA: I am focusing on illustrations and graphic design. In my final year project for Design in UWI, there are features/influences from the “anime” genre. I actually started drawing and sketching from mimicing the many cartoons I watched when I was young from technoman, samurai pizza cats, dragonballz and many more anime.

AC: What do you think is the present state of art and artists in Trinidad & Tobago, and the Caribbean?
JA: I am thankful that I am from Trinidad and Tobago because of our kallaloo or melting pot of ethnicities that congregate to form our culture. I think our country and region is a splendid place for any artist to experience. Art and artists are still overshadowed by the stereotype of being uneducated and undervalued. But we are growing and expanding in the world of art.

by Jade Achoy

AC: You did the illustrations for “The Legend of The Pitch Lake” by Grace Achoy, can you tell us more about this?
JA: The purpose of “The Legend of The Pitch Lake” is to arouse awareness of our own culture. The story is based on an Amerindian folklore that I remembered I came across when I was studying history in high school. I am fortunate that the author is my mother because she allowed me to do whatever I wanted and go in any direction I thought was good. I had to undertake extended research into the folklore, history and life of the Amerindians. I did multiple variations and experimentations of character development, background style. A break-down of my design process is research (content and context), experimentation (character design, color, emotive design and overall style of illustrations), preliminary sketches, storyboard, dummy board, more reworking and sketching and finally the illustrations were scanned and done in Adobe Photoshop CS3.

AC: What do you think about Architecture Caribbean’s goal to highlight Visual Arts, Design, & Architecture in the Caribbean and other parts of the world?
JA: Where have you been all my life! JOKING. This is a powerful tool to communicate, educate and stimulate awareness of the arts. I think this will help us identify ourselves and grow as a culture.

AC: Thanks for the interview, any final thoughts?
JA: I think your magazine is a wonderful publication and I hope it continues to grow from strength to strength.

Architecture Caribbean thanks Jade and sees great opportunities in her future. We wish you the best! Readers, we hope you’ve enjoyed and been inspired by jade's interview. If you have any comments, or additional questions for her, don’t hesitate to drop a comment using the form below.