Julia Kobel
Mindfulness, calm and balance is unconventionally sought out within the digital space
Somewhere, between this world and another, exists Julia Kobel’s renders of ethereal beauty. On the surface, there is no denying Julia’s designs are impeccably polished and, emit a sense of tranquillity. However, day-to-day, this is far from true, as Julia tells us that her mental process has a tendency to be messy. In a world, which continues to become increasingly more chaotic, Julia mindfully explains, “I think through my images, I try to create a world that calms and gives me a kind of balance”.
Initially, Julia always draws the basic forms of her compositions, as she considers “materials, textures, light and a specific type of mood which I want to translate into 3D”. By mapping her thoughts and ideas this way, it allows Julia to imagine the full narrative of the image she is trying to manifest. Only after conceptually drawing out her images, does Julia then look to digital software and to watch how-to tutorials, which she tells us helps to “figure out how I can realise my vision technically”. Julia’s ideas derive from gut feeling and set a tone which she describes as “visual joy, balance and, satisfaction”.
Julia intends to pursue her fascination with the transparent qualities that materials can give. It is the notion that you may only see through the material but, not reach beyond, which attracts Julia to this subject. Julia tells us “I love how light is breaking through transparent materials and, that it can function similarly to a mirror. You can catch it with your eye, you can see through, you can see yourself but, you can’t reach physically behind it – only with your eye”. Julia is keen to explore how transparency exists within other aspects of life too. For instance, Julia will research around certain social constructs, politics, art, architecture, music and, other topics which may arise, through her explorations. From this research, Julia intends to create images responding and working alongside her findings and, believes this will be a long term project.
Julia currently studies BA communication design at Hochschule Mannheim – Fakultät für Gestaltung in Germany. Outside of her studies, Julia was invited this year to be part of the digital collective, Digi-Gxl , which she tells us is “an amazing community, where you meet open minded, warm-hearted and talented people”. In the spring, Julia plans to undertake an internship, before she moves into her last year of study. Julia’s portfolio visibly shows an attentive and carefully crafted body of work – needless to say, it demonstrates her skills truthfully. With one more year to expand her practice, we shall await with excited suspense, to sneak a peek of her graduate work.
