Typographer and Illustrator Alex Trochut brought his Barcelona-meets-Brooklyn flare to this interactive, digital art installation featured at ART.FAIR, the highly anticipated German trade fair for modern and contemporary art.  Alex teamed up with the popular champagne brand Mumm & Co. to design the brand’s newest limited edition bottle that is set to be released in Spring 2016.  He uses both hand sketching and digital art mediums to transform the many flavors of Mumm into these abstract patterns and interactive displays.  Check out what Alex had to say about the project in his recent interview with the creative magazine iGNANT below:

Spanish artist and illustrator Alex Trochut presented an interactive digital art performance at Cologne’sART.FAIR to kick off the launch of next year’s limited edition Mumm art bottle, which will be available in Spring 2016. Trochut, who lives between Brooklyn and Barcelona, is a designer and illustrator who has worked for the likes of New York Times, Rolling Stone and MTV. We recently caught up with him to talk about his diverse projects, where he draws inspiration from and what his creative process is typically like…

When did you become interested in illustration and did you always want to become an illustrator?

Alex Trochut: I consumed tons of illustration when I was a kid, and I loved to collect all kinds of graphics, garbage pail kids, skateboard graphics, stamps, etc. When I was twelve, I first heard about graphic design and what it was. I was immediately interested in it as an actual career, I always thought design would be a way to canalize my artistic needs. By the time I was 17, I started to study design in school, where some teachers told me that design had nothing to do with art – it was all function and rationality in the decisions. Some others encouraged me to follow my intuition and work in a more emotional way. Little by little though, my work started to lean towards more expressive design, and that led me to illustration.

What’s it like to work in between Brooklyn and Barcelona – how would you compare the design scenes in each city?

Alex Trochut: I live in Brooklyn most of the year now. Brooklyn has a design stamp in style, it’s something you see in both interior and graphic design. There is a bold rawness to it that roots in the history and context of the place – dirty, strong, and real, but with a fresh and cool touch. Barcelona on the other hand has a very open-minded and eclectic style. There are many trends and the Mediterranean in the background – it’s rational but with a crazy surreal twist. Both are unique.

What does a typical day look like for you, do you follow a daily routine?

Alex Trochut: I like to work from 9 to 6, I usually don’t stop much for lunch – we eat at the studio with my studio mates (I share my studio with five other freelancers). Normally, I have 3-5 projects to work on, which I can switch up, and divide my day by two projects – one in the morning and the other in the afternoon.

What are some of the biggest influences on your work?

Alex Trochut: The list is bottomless, I have different ones depending on the moment and the project. I am a huge image consumer, but when it comes to ideas I’m really into the American school of design – Herb Lublin, Milton Glaser – as well as great executions made with a clever and to-the-point idea.

Where did the inspiration for the design of the ‘Mumm’ bottle come from?

Alex Trochut: The design for Mumm is based on the intersection between paint splashes and bubbles. The inspiration came from the close-up of abstract expressionism paintings – I created three different moods or flavour landscapes based on the three Mumm bottles. Extra Dry being the boldest and Rose being the lightest, and sweeter. I like how the sparkling texture really comes to life in each of the three patterns.

Can you talk a little bit about your typical design process? Did you follow the same process for the ‘Mumm’ bottle?

Alex Trochut: Every project is different, and I try to push myself into alternating methodologies, so the final results look unique. For Mumm I worked on sketching and splashes at first, and then working on with a digital art bush look. I wanted to zoom in on the abstract shapes and look for a ‘rhythm – in shapes for every different pattern and note, some bolder and longer while others smaller and lighter. The process was about finding an emotional translation of the Mumm flavours into abstract patterns.

– In collaboration with Mumm

-Via iGnant Magazine site