Gaston Caba is a designer from Argentina that are known for his adorable and playful characters.His pet project, Ping Pong Remix, is a collaboration between various people where Gaston offers his characters to be recreated and remix by others according to their own style. The project was a hit and Gaston was fast becoming the darling of the international design scene. Thanks to Gasto for answering these questions.

Q. You become well known because of your ping-pong remix project. Can you tell us more about that project?
A. I was on my “Cultural Studies” course at university. They introduced me to Pierre Bourdieu & his definition of “field” on arts. It’s an analysis tool to understand about how the relationship of power between the “players” (artists & arts institutions) is on behalf of the idea of an art definition. I tried to take this metaphor further & started to play around the idea of a project which involve “players” and their relationship inside the “field” (illustration & arts in this case). So, ping-pong becomes the selected sport to work on, since it’s an elegant & mind game. It’s not only about your strength; it’s on your mind’s skills. It’s a game a nerd like me can play.

My first idea of the project was to be a “Links” section on my site. So I was interested on “linking” with my favorite artists, to work with them in collaboration. I only invited people that I liked their work a lot. I was willing to have the chance to meet many of them because of the project (in fact I did it), to exchange our knowledge, to chat about our work & techniques, to learn new things from their work. I also was interested on seeing how my work looks like in other’s hand, in a new context.

I’m very happy with the results of the project, it went really far better than I thought. I had a great answer of the press & tons of visitors to the site. Plus many people knows my work because of this project.

Q. Does the characters that you created are based on real life people or purely fictional?
A. I think in some way I put a lot of myself on all the characters I made. I used to study acting when I was a teenager, so that helps me to create different attitudes on my characters. I use to do funny faces to the mirror and copy the expression from it. I´m somehow a frustrated actor.

Q. Do you have a formal education in graphic design?
A. Yes, I studied graphic design at UBA (Buenos Aires University).

Q. So far, what are the most interesting project that you have been involved in?
A. I enjoyed a lot doing mascots for some of my last projects, the Adidas event & the X´mas decoration. I hope I can keep working as a mascot designer. It´s great to see the characters become alive.

Q. Who are your favorite designers?
A. At this moment I´m fascinated by comic creators such as Landrú, Pirulo, Tove Jansson, Schulz, Busch, E.C. Segar…

Q. How do you describe your design style?
A. Joyful & colorful silly childish crazy happiness.

Q. Apart from graphic design, what other form of art that you also interested in?
A. Music. I´m preparing my first solo album. I also play guitar in a radio show every sunday. We mix poetry with music improvisations (www.elmonteanalogo.blogspot.com) and we have great fun.

Q. Have you ever been in a position that you have to sacrifice your style for the sake of money?
A. I never did it and I won´t do it again.

Q. what do you think are the most important things one should have to become a successful graphic artist?
A. Hard work, concentration, open mind, pens, pencils and paper.

Q. What are your future plans and projects?
A. Right now I´m a little worried about my future. I´m working in reinventing my work, expand it to other areas such as comics & storytelling. I got some upcoming projects like an underware collection with Blablabra in Hong Kong and a customized carrousel for a crazy millionaire guy from Arizona.

Q. Any advise or last word for designers and readers out there?
A. Hunt & cook your own food.

Website : http://www.gastoncaba.com.ar

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