Dizaina Studija: Where are you studying?
Kārlis: I am studying in the 3rd year of the Visual Communications Department of the Latvian Academy of Art (LAA). Previously I graduated from Janis Rozentåls Riga Secondary School of Art.
Nils: Kårlis and I are studying together in the same course at the Academy. I’ve also graduated from the Rozentāls school.
Konstantīns: I am also studying at the LAA, in the first year of my Masters in the Visual Communications Department. Before this I studied at the Rozentåls school.
Agnese: I am currently studying at the LAA. In the Fashion Design Department. Before the Academy I graduated from the College of Applied Arts, which has now been renamed as the Riga Design and Art School.
DS: Where did you get the idea to start something like this?
Konstantīns: The original idea to start the Hypnosis Group came from Kårlis and me. We began to VJ together. We created live video performances for the clubs Dizzi and Aura, and also became the resident VJs at the Nautilus club, we have also worked at Pulkvedim neviens neraksta, Essential, Pupu Lounge and elsewhere. Our videos have been seen in all the well-known places. We also offer this as one of our services. And not just for clubs, but also for concerts and corporate events.
Kårlis: In the beginning we worked as freelancers, but slowly we gained a client base and we began to get requests also for other types of design. We concluded that we had to have a bigger team. Agnese and Nils joined us, and this group has been working together for two years. Over time we will definitely widen our circle, it is happening at the moment, actually.
DS: How long has the Hypnosis Group existed?
Kārlis: We have existed for only 10 months officially, as a limited liability company, but we have been working as a freelance group since 2001. It would have been too difficult to take the reigns of a company straight away, in the beginning we had to understand what was going on.
DS: How much does your education motivate and help you?
Kārlis: It gives a good basis from which to develop your talents. As a student you have to be quite active, interested, you have to understand what you want to learn. If you realise the need for new and practical information, you can learn a lot at the Academy. Practical work is also important – if you begin to search for your first job only once you have your diploma in your pocket and are walking out of the Academy, your career will probably progress a lot more slowly.
Konstantīns: Education itself is not that which encourages a person to start their own business. It all depends on the goal that the person sets up for themselves and what kind of a lifestyle they want, say, in 10 years time. If a person has invested 10 years into their education, has learned a lot of innovative, interesting information, and has understood that (design) is not a temporary infatuation, it is ideal if this time can be progressively invested in their own future, gaining both moral and material satisfaction from this. I must add that the ambitiousness of our group sets up big goals, and because of this we are always moving forward and developing.
Nils: The environment in which a person studies is also very important: because there you find contacts, you meet possible collaboration partners, as well as potential future competitors.
Agnese: I’d like to add that education in Latvia is becoming more and more practical. Of course, the representatives of the creative industries also have to know how to sell themselves, they have to be qualitative, knowledgeable, diplomatic and creative. I consider the education programme of the Academy to be aimed in this direction. The problem is that not all students value this. And this leads to a wrong impression of young artists generally, because there is the common assumption that we don’t know how to think and act commercially.
DS: What are the main problems for a business of this type in Latvia?
Konstantīns: Society is not yet ready to accept solid, innovative ideas and entrust those to the young, unfortunately…
Agnese: The best advertisement for this kind of business is the quality of your work. You can only gain the trust of new clients by assembling an impressive portfolio. The most difficult is the beginning – you need to work hard to prove your abilities. We are working on this, and I think we are finding success.
Kārlis: I think the situation in relation to clients is getting better. Today’s client values originality more: interesting ideas, because individuality is in fashion. It is more difficult if someone comes to you with an idea that is not particularly great.
Nils: It is also recommended to look outside the national boundaries. This is good experience, and it increases professionalism.
DS: What was not offered by your studies which would now be of benefit to you?
Nils: Management.
Konstantīns: It would be useful for students to undertake work experience in a business, and I think you could definitely find supporters for this idea. We are also considering offering work experience places. For a student this would be good experience, and for us – an opportunity to find a talented new artist.
Kārlis: Practical experience would be really useful. To create something for yourself is not the same as creating it for a client. But otherwise, I have no complaints about the Academy in terms of technical facilities, for example. Almost anything is possible.
Agnese: A failing of the Fashion Design Department is precisely the technical facilities. They are not sufficient and also the work conditions are so bad that practical work is fairly limited. But the education programme itself is valuable and interesting.
DS: You work in an industry in which the client plays a big role. How do you handle balancing the wishes of the client and your own opinion about what things should look like, etc.?
Kārlis: Well… the client’s wishes, of course, are our primary concern, but we also often suggest a different approach, try to make compromises and find the real answer to every individual situation. We encourage people to trust designers more, because we know what we are doing. I think if we had to work on something which we could not fit into our moral framework then we would refuse the job.
Konstantīns: You have to know how to be a diplomat, I try to be one.
DS: What do you, as shamans, recommend or wish for those students who also quietly dream of creating their own independent project or business?
Kārlis: Be focused!