Episode seven: interview with Kristof Devos

Welcome back the Mr Jones design podcast!

This week we sit down with book illustrator and author Kristof Devos, designer of the A perfectly useless afternoon and A perfectly useless morning. We speak about everything from Kristof's career, his inspiration for his watches and all about the world of children's books.

Kristof tells us that he started his career as a graphic designer before realising that he enjoyed making picture books.

When Kristof went through a personal tragedy, he was given a new perspective on life and the direction of his career changed. He began illustrating and creating books because he wanted to spend his time wisely.

When speaking about his creative inspiration Kristof explains that he is inspired by everyday life and enjoys looking at things from different people's points of view.

Kristof often gives talks and workshops with hopes to inspire people about his books and career. During lockdown Kristof adapted his workshops to be recorded online but found it wasn’t the same without interaction from the audience.

As a parent, Kristof explains how his children influence his work. He is currently working on a new book about parenthood.

We speak about his inspiration for A perfectly useless afternoon and he explains he started working from a quote by Chinese writer, translator, linguist and philosopher Lin Yutang: 'If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learnt how to live'.

Kristof designed both A perfectly useless afternoon and A perfectly useless morning while on a plane to Bulgaria.

When speaking about how Kristof found designing a watch compared to his normal work, Kristof explained that there are similarities in both because they are both forms of storytelling. 

Kristof speaks about how he consider's his books as being for all ages, but he enjoys making books for children because of the honest feedback.

Kristof explains that he does other work such as art direction and illustration for advertising campaigns, one previous one was reminding people to question their life and routine and consider how healthy it is. This work has influenced his books positively with new ideas and perspective.

Grateful for his new spare time to slowdown due to Covid-19, Kristof tells us he is having a break from illustrating while working on a vegetable patch.