PrintedPlant® artist Ger-Jan de Gilde
Text: Carla Robben, Styling: Sharon Roest, Photography: Leon van den Broek
Introducing PrintedPlant®
PrintedPlant®: unique art prints by (fashion) designer Ger-Jan de Gilde
Ger-Jan de Gilde makes botanical relief prints in limited editions. The artist, who strives for control and perfection in his fashion designs, allows chance in his free work. The handmade nature of the creative process always produces unique works in pronounced color combinations.
Applying the ink to the stamp
How it started
In 2002, after living in Amsterdam for many years, de Gilde moved to the countryside outside the city. Suddenly there is light, air and space. Nature turns out to be a great source of inspiration and he starts photographing. A nice contrast to his busy life as a fashion designer in which he travels a lot to metropolises London, Paris and Hong Kong.
From photo to digital drawing to woodcut print
His photography style develops quickly, inspired by the play of sunlight and clear skies in particular. Nature is portrayed in a fairly abstract way, always looking for tension, contrast and movement. In 2009 de Gilde publishes two photo books: ‘Nature Structures’ Click to preview and ‘Outside’ Click to preview,
Carefully removing the paper from the relief stamp.
followed in 2017 by ‘Illuminate’ Click to preview.
With the launch of the Apple’s iPencil for the iPad it suddenly becomes possible to draw nature on a tablet; suddenly a simple IPencil scribble gives a watercolour brush stroke or a crayon wax line.
De Gilde translates his photos into digital drawings, of which two books will be published in 2018: ‘Flora’ Click to preview and ‘More Flora’ Click to preview.
The creative process continues. De Gilde starts developing stamps based on his digitally drawn plants. These relief stamps, lasered from wood panels make it possible to print works, to reproduce images in a completely unique way. The effect of printing by hand gives an unpredictable character to every print.
“The uncontrollable effect of stamp printing by hand gives a lot of freedom”
The art prints
The art prints are printed on Clairfontaine grained paper. The prints, often reinforcing each other in pairs, are signed with the Latin plant name, edition number and maker’s signature. Editions are never larger than 10 pieces. The prints cost € 100 each in A2 format and €200 for a A1 format
About the maker
Ger-Jan de Gilde graduated in 1990 in the fashion design department from the academy of visual arts ArtEZ in Arnhem, The Netherlands. He subsequently worked as a designer for well-known Dutch fashion brands including Soap Studio and Stills and in recent years as Head of Design for Turnover and Claudia Sträter. Between 1996 and 1998, in addition to his design work, he also taught fashion graduate candidates at “his own fashion department” in Arnhem.
De Gilde lives and works in De Kwakel, near Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
From May 19, 2021 to July 25, 2021, de Gilde will exhibit in ‘De Tuinen van Mien Ruys’ in Dedemsvaart, the Netherlands.
Original Plant Print Fraxinus Angustifolia, Grey/ black, 2020 (SOLD)
