Today we post the first of a three-part interview with Bulgarian wine label designer Jordan Jelev, otherwise known as “The Labelmaker.” In the interview, Jordan gives us such a fascinating look at his career and the way he thinks that we wanted to share every word with you. Be sure to come back for the second and third installments, which we’ll post within the next week.

Dave Hile: Jordan, thanks for agreeing to talk with us. First of all, could you provide a little background for us? You didn’t go to school for design, so how did you end up designing professionally?

Jordan Jelev: My design career is a mixture of my daily life events, personality and some strange coincidences. I graduated from the High School of Mathematics in Bulgaria, then I got my economics degree and finally became a graphic designer and calligrapher. It’s a long story!

There is a connection between all these things, though, from my youth up until now. I’ve always had an addiction to stuff like typography, graphic design, packaging, architecture and so on. These addictions allowed me to eventually focus every bit of my individuality, creativity and energy to becoming a visual artist.

DH: And with very successful results! I know you design labels and packages for other industries, but I want to discuss your wonderful wine labels. Did you intentionally set out to design wine labels or did it just begin as an assignment? Was it something that you immediately felt you had a knack for or did you grow into it gradually?

JJ: My wine label experience first started as an assignment, but then it turned into a passion, and then a lifestyle, I might say. In the 1990s I was commissioned to create names for two new wine brands and then to use those new brand names to create two different wine ranges: the Regalis Wines and the Nobilitas wines. This began a whole new stage in my life—both as an individual and as a professional. The truth is that I had some really confusing thoughts at the very beginning about creating a wine label design, but it actually took me a very short time to get inside the problems and specifics of this type of design. Then came the passion—and now I am here.

HD: Let’s talk a little about how you work—do you work independently, taking on freelance assignments, or are you part of a bigger firm?

JJ: To answer the question fairly, I must say that I do both, but it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. I have worked for nearly 13 years for Factor R Studio, but my status there is far more than just being a designer hired by a company. I don’t think it makes any difference for the client whether someone approaches me via Factor R or epixs.eu (the official site of Jordan Jelev, the Labelmaker)—they will eventually find me.

DH: Now that you have such a solid reputation for your design niche, do you depend on word of mouth to market yourself or do you advertise your services?

JJ: I have never used any kind of ad to promote my business. Maybe here is the place to mention that for the past two years I have spent a lot of time on the Internet in different design forums, Facebook, and many other places like those. The result is amazing—I have connected with many, many new and interesting people (like you, Dave, for example), and now I feel more like an international designer rather than just a Bulgarian designer. I think the Internet offers a very positive change—it sets a view to brand-new horizons and opportunities worldwide.

DH: Back to the wine labels—I’m just curious: Have you ever tasted a bottle of wine and enjoyed it so much that you contacted the vineyard in hopes of working together?

JJ: (Laughs) No, never did that before. Maybe I should try it—it’s like reversing the process!

To be continued …

Hile Design has been hired by Coy Laboratory Products Inc. for rebranding and ongoing marketing and advertising services. In order to create a stronger brand identity for Coy, Hile will implement their Key Discovery marketing strategy process, a part of which is the brand perception survey they will be administering to Coy’s customers. Among ongoing deliverables, Hile will develop a new website for the company.

Coy Laboratory Products Inc. has manufactured anaerobic chambers and controlled atmosphere glove boxes for over 30 years. Based in Grass Lake, MI, the company manufactures and quality-tests their products onsite and sells to a worldwide market.

Hile Design has been contracted by Talisman Lighting to design the company’s logo and website. Talisman is a lighting company focusing on a greener future – they’ve developed the technology to reform the harsh white light of LED’s into a softer, warmer Luminaire. The result is a long lasting and efficient light that delivers a comfortable ambience to any residential setting. Talisman’s sustainable technology attracted the attention of Ann Arbor SPARK, a public-private partnership that supports startups with a statewide Capital Fund, and they have decided to back the company.

I am very happy to interview the well-known Toronto, Canada based illustrator Charlene Chua. She is someone that I have kept my eye on over the past several years, and I am a big fan of hers. A couple of the things that impress me about Charlene are her clearly defined style(s) and her ability to promote herself so successfully; landing a steady flow of assignments is not an easy task in today’s competitive illustration market.

Dave Hile: Hi Charlene. Could you give me a brief summary of your background? How did you end up making a living as a working illustrator?

Charlene Chua: Hi Dave! Thanks for including me in your lovely interview series!

I started work over 10 years ago back in Singapore. My first job was at a company that produced CD-ROMs and later, websites. I started out illustrating and designing screens for CD-ROM content and later moved on to designing websites. Later, I got a job as an interactive producer and interactive project manager.

I originally wanted to be an illustrator but there were no schools for it in Singapore, and my family could not afford to send me overseas to study. At the time there were no grants for that kind of thing, either. I more or less forgot about it until I met my future husband, who encouraged me to make a go at illustration. It was tough giving up my job and a stable income, although by that point I was quite tired of the office routine.

I took to drawing comics for no-name independent companies that offered little or no pay. In retrospect it was not the best idea, but it did get me back into the groove of drawing (I’d stopped drawing for about 3 years at that point). Eventually I started to get a trickle of illustration jobs, and after some time I had enough work to support myself through such projects.

Read the rest of this entry »