Interview with Xesta

What is your background? What led you to become a graphic designer/calligrapher?

Before choosing graphic design in high school, I studied Image and Communication with a focus on cinema/video, but drawing has always been something I’ve done regularly since childhood. That passion led me to graffiti, where I became interested in writing/tagging and drawing letterforms.
Later, during my studies in graphic design, I began some experiments with calligraphy. From there, subconsciously, I began to mix all of those elements and implement them into my graphic projects.

How would you characterize your work?

This one is a bit difficult for me because it’s never easy to characterize my work. I don’t like to put it in a specific category, perhaps because I enjoy and work in different creative areas.
My work indeed focuses on typography, and perhaps it’s more closely associated with calligraphy or lettering, but it goes far beyond that. The vision and approach that I have today would not exist if I didn’t have a background in graphic design.

What’s your creative process?

My creative process is mainly analogue, starting always with a series of sketches in a notebook. For me, it’s essential to record everything that comes to mind, whether it’s thoughts, words, drawings, etc. During this initial phase, I also experimented with different materials to understand the results I can achieve with each one. After this initial and more experimental phase, I filter all this information to choose the solution that best suits each project. This is essentially always the process, but it can vary depending on the project.

Have you taken any big risks to move forward?

Being a freelancer is always risky. You never know what to expect, and that’s the only certainty you have. But at the same time, if you don’t take risks, you have no way of knowing.
From an early age, I wanted to make things happen, perhaps because I had a huge urge to bring my ideas to fruition, try to make a living from what I really loved doing, and somehow show my perspective, a different point of view.
But almost 15 years later, the struggle is still the same. To improve, I have to invest in myself and have clear goals of what I want, like a checklist that I can check off and move on to the next one.

What would you say are your strongest skills, and how have you honed them over the years?

I would say drawing. Not drawing of something specific, but drawing as a discipline, which in my case has been a daily activity for as long as I can remember. In the beginning, it was always very free and careless, and later, with the fundamentals that I studied and improved, but always with the same desire from the beginning, along with daily practice. Today, that consistency and attempt at constant improvement still exist, which always works through trial and error.

Which materials and tools do you enjoy working with the most?

I don’t think I have a favourite! I really enjoy trying out lots of different things. I’m always looking for something new that I can use in my work, both personal and professional, and I try to get the most out of what each one has to offer.
From markers, pens, brushes, trimmings, sprays, rollers, paints, and anything that can be used as a drawing tool. The range is too wide to choose just one.

Do you feel you’ve already reached your goals, or is there still room for growth?

Of course not, there’s always something to learn and do, which allows us to grow creatively. Knowledge takes up no space! For every goal I achieve, a new one immediately appears; the list is endless. I think that if I ever stop feeling that urge, something will be wrong; there will be no purpose anymore.