candy

vol III. the technologic issue.
interview with peter maybury

10 years ago and Ireland was a very different place to the creatively and culturally diverse place it is today, it was a time of ham, cheese or ham & cheese sandwiches. Being a design student in Limerick at the time, I used to have to take the train to Dublin in order to get supplies, pop into Reads newsagents on Nassau Street to get fresh crisp copies of Raygun and Bikini, then on to The Douglas Hyde Gallery to get Eye magazine and finally to Makullas to get my fix of cool, all courtesy of Niall Sweeney (see Candy1). On one such trip though I was lucky enough to come across a magazine that defied everything that had come before it in Ireland. It was Code magazine, a limited edition publication written by people passionate about the subjects but more importantly its design is what threw me the most. This was a document that was suggestive of the future Ireland, the possibilities, the energies, the hopes. For me this was the document that grounded my belief that creativity was rife on this island, this was proof. The designer behind Code, Peter Maybury, has been a constant source of intrigue and inspiration to me over the years since as his work is always radical, never apologetic yet still is completely involving and accessible. He is one of the purist designers working in Dublin and I believe he has shaped so much of the way people see creativity in Dublin, yet he’s never played the superstar, opting generally to put his head down and focus on the next revolution either through his design, his music or his many collaborations and projects. The following is simply a snapshot of the body of work that makes this man so impressive so sit back and enjoy...

well there are probably a number of starts. i began art college in dublin in 1987, studying then in london up until the end of 1992, and i’ve played in bands of one sort or another on and off since i was about 15. i started my design practice when i came back to dublin in 1993. this has developed in an informal way into a home studio working with my wife marie-pierre, making books and catalogues, websites, self-published books, video and photographic projects and works for exhibition. i've taken photographs since the early days of art college, and do so on a continuing basis. some of this gets used up in studio work, and some will be for exhibition. i began making electronic music in 1999, pretty much as soon as the technology became available and affordable to me. up until then the cost of recording was such that it seemed to me only to suit a band with songs rehearsed and ready to record. once hard-disk recording became affordable it meant that the process of composing and recording could become completely integrated. you were now able to begin with the vagueist of ideas – a sound – and work out from that. being essentially released from the financial limitations of recording, you could now explore sounds and process more freely. since 2000 i have been releasing electronic music as hard sleeper. on the emigre music, fallt and sub rosa labels.

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02.
What are your influences and inspirations?
technology; systems; process; other people; my surroundings; music; film. i think all experiences shape and influence you, and this was one of the key things that clicked with me when i was studying in central st. martins - to be always outward looking. emigre magazine (soon to publish its last issue) has also been a continued source of inspiration, obviously through the design work it showcased and discussed, but also as a model of an independent entity with such integrity which has had such a huge impact worldwide. i have a wide variety of (sometimes long-term) associations with clients, and this too has influenced the direction of my work.

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03.
Your design work is incredibly varied in terms of the clients you work with. Was this a concious aim of yours?
If so, what do you look for in prospective jobs? If not, what do you think it is about your work that makes clients want to work with you?
when i started the design studio i just looked to the obvious places – to things i knew a little about. over time and through association this naturally expanded, but i imagine many design companies have a wider client base. in prospective jobs i have an obvious need to make money, but i don’t see the point in wrecking my head doing things which i find utterly irrelevant. to lesser or greater degrees i look for a collaborative relationship with the client, or at the very least that my role and my approach are understood. my personality will naturally influence the work, but with every project i look for a strategy and a visual language specific to the content. after that i look for the highest production values and the most effective use of budget. and we work hard.

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04.
I’ve always known your work as that of huge commitment to creativity yet always with clarity of purpose and understanding of audience, something I would consider quite pure in method. Do you think that it’s becoming harder for creatives to resist such clarity, what with technology offering unbelievable arrays of instant techniques and effects? Also, how have you resisted / embraced these in your own work?
i try to let the content and context dictate the visual language. i’ve never been particularly drawn to effects offered in software. i always try and reduce the design down to the elements which are really doing the work and if an element is superfluous it gets dumped. i don’t aspire to minimalism, some of my design work is busy or complex, but often the complexity is embedded. paper combinations, binding, typography, cropping, sequence, white space all play an equal role.

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05.
Is there any work that you just wouldn’t take on, be it for personal, professional or ethical reasons?
yes, many things. i don't think it's possible to live in the western world without being to some degree hypocritical. as consumers or even as members of society there are so many things to which we are intrinsically saying ‘i accept’. with any given thing you are invariably dragged into other things by association, with which you may not agree with or approve of - you become an inadvertant participant. but i think i have to at least try not to. so the work i do and how i do it are obvious starting points.

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06.
Collaborations are something you seem to thrive on and be involved in on a constant basis. What makes them so appealing for you?
funny, i wouldn't have thought of mysef as a big-time collaborator, since a lot of what i do i do independently, but yes in many cases i would regard my design work as a collaborative process, and i'm collaborating/sharing ideas in the studio every day with marie-pierre.

in music i collaborate with two other people in a gtr/vcls, bass/electronics, drums context in the band thread pulls. the reasons for collaborating here are obvious as collaboration is at the core of music of this kind; all of the material is derived from group improvisation. there is a strong visceral appeal to making music in this way which acts as a perfect counter balance to making electronic music.

i’m also part of serverproject, making site-specific networked electronic performances of spontaneously derived sound/music. this is a very rewarding way to work, as with four of us working freely like this a very rich array of sounds and textures develops. often the best participation in this is to sit back and listen.

and i've just begun a collaborative project with marie-pierre. out of an initial need to make a video for projection at a hard sleeper gig in lille in october, we've expanded it into the video-projection, which will be based on still images and small amounts of video, and a book project which will be produced with an accompanying CD of music from the performance.

so what makes collaborations so appealing? i suppose because the canvas is more expansive, you’re introduced to and contribute new ideas, and your views are challenged. in a strange way all these different activities create a kind of balance; they all relate to and shape each other.

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07.
Music and design seem equally close to your heart, what do you see as the merits of each that dissuade you from persuing one solely?
well firstly there’s always a graphic/ visual need in relation to audio – CD covers, booklets, projections etc., so of course i’m interested in that. but there are many ways in which both disciplines inter-relate, particularly in terms of process. graphic design for me is always about balancing the rational with the intuitive and this is the approach i have to making music. there are structural/mechanical elements which must work with organic, spontaneous and otherwise irregular elements. in both i employ systems and try to embrace chance elements. and besides both are magnetic – i constantly get drawn from one to the other.

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08.
What do you think of the state of Irish design?
i would like if there were more-evolved design, printing and binding traditions in ireland. i think i’m in a lucky position in that i am able to work in areas which interest me, and these help fund my other pursuits. there was maybe a point when it would have made commercial sense to take on staff and to expand, but this was never really an option for me, as it seems to me that at this point you get separated from design work and move more toward commerical concerns.

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09.
What’s the future for Peter Maybury?
finish renovating my house; more self-published books; more hard sleeper releases; exhibitions, a new thread pulls CD; more really.

Finally...

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10.
What’s your favourite piece of technology (past/present/future)?
i think the single most gratifying piece of technology is my G4 powerbook. the projects that are closest to me all originate here.