FeedMeCoolShit.com » Zeptonn Labs

Zeptonn Labs

Zeptonn is the online presence of Jan Willem Wennekes, aka Stinger. After having studied both Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence he now works as a freelance illustrator/designer from his studio in Groningen. There he draws, sketches, thinks, eats, drinks coffee and wears lots of t-shirts. Basically, a lot of fun!

FMCS: Hi Jan how’s life right now?

Jan: Hi pals! Things are good over here, I really love what I do and that really brings a lot of pleasure in my life. Hope you are doing all right as well.

FMCS: We know you are Jan Willem Wennekes, and you live in Groningen, Netherlands. You have an MA in both Philosophy and Artificial Intelligence. So tell us a little something about you that we don’t already know?

Jan: I really like peanut butter, street-art, fiddling around with colors, collaborating with other artists, and… drinking coffee!

FMCS: Having already studied other subjects (sciences). At what point did you decide to fully concentrate your efforts on art + illustration, and for what reasons?

Jan: I’ve always been busy drawing and doodling, but when I went to uni I started to learn designing digitally as well. It wasn’t until last summer though that I decided to go full-time as a freelance designer and illustrator. It was a tough decision: either look for a job based on my degree, or try the freelance life. It’s not that I didn’t like my studies in university, but that I was very curious as well if the ‘life of a designer’ would appeal to me. I think the decision to start working on design full-time has been a really good one; I’ve loved every day of it.

FMCS: Okay we avoided the question but now we are plain itching to ask… Tell us about your MA in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and why you decided to study that?

Jan: I think that my interest for AI has been an ongoing thing from high school. Actually, it’s mainly an interest in stuff that is related to cognition and intelligence: how does the brain work, how does language work, what is intelligence, etc?

I was lucky enough to have Philosophy as a subject in high school which introduced me to these types of topics. A lot of these things are covered in AI, as it is a pretty interdisciplinary study, involving things from Psychology and Linguistics to Physics and Robotics.

FMCS: How would you say your artistic talents have developed over the years, stylistically, application etc…?

Jan: That’s a tough question. It’s difficult to criticize your own development and style I think. When I now look at things that I created, say, a year ago, I see so many things that could have been better or different. But at the same time, I know that at the moment of creation I was satisfied with the result.

One thing that definitely changed over the years is that I learned a lot of new techniques and that I have slowly started to develop my own, unique, style. I think that I used to create work that was quite technical and slick, and am now concentrating more and more on a loose and wacky style.

FMCS: Tell us a little about Zeptonn Labs. Interesting name how did that arise? Also we heard Zeptonn started from a skate label ethos…is this correct?

Jan: Both correct, yes. Around 2001 I set up Zeptonn as a skateboarding brand in the Netherlands. I designed the name using the letters and phonetics that I liked, in order to create a brand name for the company. In the end I was sponsoring a skateboarding team and was selling clothing to over 25 stores throughout the country, while I was still studying and had a job. I started to realize that running a clothing company was not really what I wanted to do: I was constantly busy with administration, sales, distribution, production and the like. So I decided to turn the whole thing over and concentrate on what I loved the most: designing.

Since then Zeptonn has grown from a skateboarding brand to a one-man design army! The “lab” addition came last year, when I started full-time as a designer and got my own studio… I see it as my experimental laboratory!

FMCS: Are you busy right now? What can we look forward to seeing from you in the near future?

Jan: Yeah it’s pretty busy at the moment. As usual I’m working on a dozen or so different commissions. Part of these are for local organizations, but there are also some interesting developments with a certain company creating wall graphics. Furthermore I’m working on some personal pieces like canvasses and posters that I would like to sell through my website. Just stay tuned on zeptonn.nl for updates!

FMCS: Stingermania has just been released, and is a fantastic collection of some of your wonderful artworks. The book has been a great success, selling out straight away… Can we expect to see anymore publications from you soon?

Jan: Thanks for the kind words! I’m still surprised myself about the response it generated, it’s been a blast. It’s really nice to see that people like the book and that it has sold so well.

At the moment I am working on the Vormator project. Together with my pal Wimer from booreiland.nl we set up this project as the ultimate creative challenge. We got an enormous response and have just finished making our selection. Ultimately, this selection will be published in a book, but it will probably take a while before it is actually in the stores.

FMCS: Any shout outs? Respects due?

Jan: I’d like to say thanks to all the people that help me out on a day to day basis by criticizing my designs. As a solo designer it is always helpful to get a fresh pair of eyes looking at your designs. And thank you for having me!