Stefano Stoppani is an Italian graphic designer who embarked on an ambitious project on January 1st of 2021…to complete a printed pattern every day, made from carving a small cut piece of rubber, then inking and stamping this carved shape onto paper multiple times until a pattern forms. Stefano did not realize when he started the project that he would continue this ritual for years. As he enters his fifth year of this daily creative printing process, we reached out to see if he could share some of his secrets to success about cultivating a daily creative habit and committing to a 365 project. He will present live on December 4th in the Textile Design Lab.
Tell us about your background in graphic design and how you found block printing.
I fell in love with photography when I was 9 years old. My parents took me to a photography workshop where an old photographer gave all the kids a slide frame. He told us it was our first camera; we just needed to look at the world through it. I was fascinated! After high school, I studied professional photography and still life. At the same time, I began to develop an interest in pictures combined with text. While working as an assistant in a photography studio, I attended several graphic design courses. I learned how to use the computer and I studied the work of all the great graphic designers. This unlocked a brand new world in me.
For the following 10 years, I worked in the marketing department of an important furniture company where I was frequently in contact with print shops and typographers. This was another step ahead, I discovered paper and inks! The modern commercial print process is incredibly fast and precise with lots of machines and different kinds of supports involved.
As I grew older, spending all of my days in front of a monitor, I had the urge to create something with my own hands. That’s when I discovered linocut and printmaking and I started collecting books about the process and attended a couple of local courses. The traditional printmaking process reflects all my interests combined. You need to find inspiration by looking around (photography) then design it (graphic), carve it (manual work), and finally print it on paper.
What led you to design patterns from hand-carved blocks and print them every day?
M.C. Escher and feeling a lack of creativity in my life.
One of the most special memories of my childhood was to lie down on my older brother’s bed and stare at all the details of this huge poster he had on the wall. Years later I learned it was Escher’s Metamorphosis II.
When Covid-19 hit Italy we were stuck in our homes for the lockdown and it was extremely challenging for everyone. Luckily my family and I didn’t have any health issues, but I felt my creativity was incredibly low in that period. By chance, I read an article about tessellation and Escher’s work immediately came to my mind. The subject was extremely intriguing. I started to read more and more and soon I was trying to reproduce patterns. I finally found something stimulating and challenging, but I needed to improve my skills with constant work.
Then the idea of @365blockprints was born!
How much time per day do you dedicate to this project? How challenging has it been to find the time every day to work on this?
I dedicate a lot of time to the project. At the very beginning, I made some choices that helped me be quick but consistent in the process. I used a shape that was easy to cut (the square), used the same dimension, and printed it in only one color in a little notebook. I took the same picture in the same spot, with the same background. In this way, I could focus exclusively on the design. Over the years I made some improvements, like changing the shape every month and the background too.
Usually each pattern takes around 25 minutes from the idea to the post on Instagram. But there is a lot of research, especially for the tessellation. When I started the project I made everything at home, I was able to wake up early and complete the process before the start of my day. Meanwhile, I got back to my job as a freelance graphic designer. Sometimes finding the time to dedicate to this project is a little challenging. Anyway I’m planning to dedicate more time to the project, I’m currently setting up a space and soon I’ll open my studio!
What is your best tip or tips for showing up for a daily creative practice?
I think the only way is to start. Pick a date on the calendar and from that day on, keep going.
Everyone is different but for me, the morning routine is really important. I love to wake up early, make myself coffee, and start work while listening to music. I think carving is like meditation: I focus only on what I’m doing in that precise instant and everything else vanishes.
Also setting a goal for yourself could be a great booster. The first time is always tough, but after a while it becomes easier.
What has surprised you about this project? What opportunities have come your way from sharing your work every day on social media?
This project was born as a personal challenge, I opened a brand new account and I did it to prove to myself that I could be able to create something constantly. I remember that I was so happy when I reached pattern #100, I made a celebrational post for the occasion. I didn’t know yet that I would reach that goal fourteen more times.
Then something unexpected happened. As the days went by I realized that people were waiting for my post and I received lots of nice comments. Someone wrote me a direct message and he told me that he was struggling with depression and he waited for my post every day. In my mind the project would eventually end on the last day of the first year, but the project wasn’t only mine anymore, it already belonged to a little community. So it wasn’t a hard decision to keep on going.
The main opportunity I have is to be in contact with a lot of different people around the world, from Japan, India, Europe, the United States, and Latin America. Some of them are only interested in their daily dose of patterns, others write me messages and comments about what they see in my patterns, and others are artists and we talk about technical aspects. I always feel deeply grateful for all this support. Some teachers contacted me to share knowledge with their students, one interior design studio asked me for some dedicated patterns and I’m in contact with some little clothing brands. For the future, I’m looking for more collaborations with other artists and companies for commercial purposes.
What has been inspiring you lately? (this could be anything from music, to books, websites, people, etc.)
I get a lot of inspiration when I walk in the woods with my dog, observing nature. While I carve I love to listen to different Italian podcasts and this one in English: Hello, Print Friend. I also listen to a lot of music, in this period Avishai Cohen, Jungle, Rodriguez, and the Whitest Boy Alive. Right now I’m reading Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being, and it’s amazing, but the best books about linocut are by Nick Morley and Jane Spink. Besides Escher, all the works of Sybil Andrews are also really inspirational.
We are looking forward to Stefano’s live presentation to the Textile Design Lab on Wednesday December 4th at 1pm EST. Find out more about the Lab in this post.
