[N] 꿈을 쫓는 스웨덴 친구와의 톡투유(ENG)
Networking: 생물학자를 꿈꾸던 아이 디자이너가 되다
*인터뷰가 영어로 진행되어 영어로 먼저 기고합니다. 번역판을 곧 올리는 중입니다.
Anyone can inspire the world
출처: http://websiteconfetti.com/There are many people who spend their whole life without knowing what they are passionate for, like and want to achieve during whole life. Even though a person knows what he or she wants to do, people easily give up chasing it because of social pressure or norms like what we get from family or society. It is challengable to overcome the circumstances we are used to, however, there are some people who challenge themselves to follow what thier soul tells them.
After I came to Sweden, I began a small project called 'I am going to meet you now'. This is basically an interview collection of myself with a person who, I think, has interesting and inspiring stories to share. Today, I would like to introduce David Noren's story, who was a student studying Biology but became a concept designer after he realized that his passion is all about drawing! Would you like to come with me to discover his adventure?
DH: Hej, David. Thank you for joining my interview! Before we start the interview, I think people would be so curious about you. Could you please introduce yourself ?
David NorenDV: Well, it is hard to say who I am. I am just myself! If I really should say... I like what makes me more creative! It is 'Uncertainty'! Meeting diverse people, Couch Surfing, Airbnb experiences, creating something NEW with friends etc.. I do not envy someone or some stuff.
DH: That's interesting introduction of yourself! You are just yourself. Yeah, we don't need to define who we are. I mean it is hard to say who I am with few words. Then, can you please share basic information about where you have been growing up? I think it could give some clues about discovering your secrets!
DV: I have grown up in Piteå, Sweden. It is a very small town in rural area of northern Sweden. It is a very peaceful area where small number of families live with kids. People usually spend their time until they finish high school and move to bigger cities because there is no university in the town(Only a Luleå university's small campus).
DH: Jaha(It is an exclamation in Swedish)! I can really imagine how small and peaceful your town is! It is so different from where I grew up in Korea. We have a lot of population in a small country so many cities are packed. It is too opposite. I do believe human beings are easily affected by the environment they stay, so I wonder how living in Piteå affected your life!
<피테오 전경 및 위치(빨간핀, 파란핀- 우메오)>
DV: Since I grew up in the nature, I was interested in the nature spontaneously. Also, my grandparents often took me to the forest for my experiences. One of the biggest reason I decided to study Biology is because I liked to collect nature stuff like mushrooms in the nature since I was at a kindergarden(It is common to pick mushrooms in Sweden). Also, I thought that it could be a good career because I was interested in it and my parents were satisfied with the field.
DH: Oh, I see. It sounds like Biology was a good choice for you but you ended up becoming a concept designer before you finish your university. What happened? It is such a big switch!
DV: Yeah, it is. I was studying Biology but I always have been interested in drawing. I started to learn drawing with coloring books, pencils since I was 2 or 3 years old. When I was in the 4th and 5th grade, I made comic strip with a friend just for fun for myself and friends. Until I moved to 7th grade, my drawing skills got better. When I went to middle school(7 ~ 9th grade), I started to think about my future and believed that Biology is my future. I considered drawing as a hobby, so I never thought that I would work with it.
DH: You really ENJOYED drawing... Wherever you went everyday, I guess you had a pencil in your pocket! It is interesting that you drew a lot as a hobby but how did you ended up becoming a concept designer?
DV: It is a long story as well. During my middle school studies, I played a lot of games like League of Legend and World of warcraft. However, I had to stop when I started to study at highschool because l had lots of things to do. I thought that it would be better to focus on real life like for school and friends. While I was spending my highschool life, a friend of mine let me know about Singapore trade school, called FengZhuDesign(FZD:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8oAv5Ca8Ig). The friend showed me the school's video on Youtube and let me know how to draw with digital tools. It was a totally new world for me! In the end, I watched all of the videos for self learning , bought digital tablet pc, and I started draw A LOT during the second year of highschool! This moment is exactly when I literally crazy for drawing! Even I could not finish my school assignment or studies, thus sometimes teachers got so mad at me(Haha). Even though they were complaining to me drawing on textbooks during classes, I didn't give up drawing. This was continued as my habit until I went to university. Even I couldn't give up during university studies.
DH: Your life is all about drawing! Wow! However, it is really interesting that you started to execute self-learning through Youtube videos. I think it is really hard to get motivated by ourselves. I can't wait further stories. Could you tell me more what happened afterwards?
DV: Yeah, I was crazy for drawing but I applied to a Biology course at Umeå university because it was what I planned. One day I thought that 'Why don't I get professional design education since I really love it!'. I had been interested in FZD and finally ended up my design study in Singapore for a year. It was 2015. I, honestly, wanted to apply to FZD during my 2nd of high school but I had to postpone. This is because FZD is one of the best entertainment design schools and only 30 to 40 students get admission every semester. I thought it would be so hard for me to get admission at that moment, so decided to prepare better portfolio during my university life.
DH: Even though you had to postpone, I think it is very inspiring you never gave up to aim for your passion!
DV: Yes, I really wanted to study Design because I had never studied till that time. In 2015, I was planning to go to Korea for as an exchange student. I had a mind to go to FZD after my exchange program in Korea so I applied for FZD before going to Korea. I had to pass entrance test, which was a real drawing with 3 references; Egyptian old architecture, heavy vehicles, plants. I had to draw more than 12 objects within 3 days, did Skype interview with some staff about entertainment industry, school life how hard it would be etc. Finally, I was admitted in June, which was supposed to be in October luckly! I could start my design school life as soon as I finished my exchange program in Korea!
DH: That is a really long and impresive story and big swithch in your life! The audience may be surpirsed by the big difference of studying Biology and Design. What do you think about differences between them?
Bugs ⓒDavid NorenDV: Actually I think Art and Biology are very closely related and the knowledge about biology has been very helpful for my art works. It is essential to understand how living things are created and work when you study Biology. Living things have their own function, which means they are created on their own purposes. For example, if you see plants those in the north of the earth are more sharp than those in the south. Those from south are grassy and shorter than those from north. They grow in a way in which they have to survive in the nature. Understanding and finding out details of organisms have been useful for me to reflect them on my art work, which can be more realistic and enriching. For instance, I could create bugs on my drawing which are really similar to real creatures because I had experiences that I investigated thier sturcture carefully to understnad their function. I do believe imagination is based on the reality and studying Biology brought me creativity.
DH: That is interesting approach. I have realized that every dots are connected as Steve Jobs said while hearing your story. I think your story would give big inspirations to people who are trying to swtich their career but not sure how to connect different fields.
< Artworks inspired from Bali, Korea ⓒDavid Noren>
DV: I believe no one is born with a skill. It is important to find your 'interest' first. The thing I can really enjoy makes me focus on all the time long enough to be good at it. Interests will make you keep working on it and you will become professional in it. I think there is no 'talent' but interests. Interests will bring you passion, time investment and improvement, which brings up confidence and more time investment. You can see interests trigger good circulation for developing your skills.
DH: Thank you for sharing your sincerly thoughts. Before we finish interview, do you have more things that you want to share with the audience?
DV: You live once in a life and believe in your instinct! I know it is hard for some people who already have stable life to chase their old dreams. Thus, I frankly say that I was more brave to try something new that I wanted to acheive since I didn't have many things to sacrifice as a young stiudent. I am still young and don't need to be in a hurry. I do believe my job will become cooler and I will be versatile for this job if I experience a variety of things in life while I grow up. My ultimate goal is to become an independent concept designer who wouldn't get stuck in companies because I may lose more inspirations. However, I think it is nice to work for companies right now to get some experieces first. Life and career is all about right time and decision and you are the one who takes initiative. I think we deserve to chase our dreams as we are young and can take responsibilites for ourselves.
While I was interviewing David, I realized that it is never late to go after your desires. There would be more difficulties or sacrifies as we are more mature but you just have to be responsible for it. It is all about our choice. Personally, I got a lot of courage since I have been suffering for uncertain future and broad interests these days. David's story let me think about my interests, which I should explore deeply. I appreciate David to share his personal story. Tack!
>>David's portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/artist/davidnoren
