It’s about time for another community interview. This week’s interview takes us to the home country of Prodeoweb…The Netherlands!

Tell us a little bit about yourself, who are you, where are you from?

Hi, my name is Bert Schipper and I’m from the Netherlands. And no, we don’t all walk in wooden shoes, don’t live in mills and also don’t smoke weed every day. I have 3 sons, 2 cats and i am a happy single. I live in Veendam, a place in the north of the Netherlands. It’s a great place to live because Holland is such a small but really modern country where art and design are highly developed.

“idonna by bert schipper”

How did you actually find out about jovoto, and what was your first impression?

By coincidence I found the website in 2007 when I was searching for art on google. At that point I swiftly had a look a the website and thought “this is interesting”. Although it seems that I had a bit of a too swiftly look, cause I only read something about young people and students. When I found the website again some time ago I signed up immediately and also submitted something (too) quick. And submitting ideas too quick is still something that I do too often. First think, then work it out and only after thinking it through a second time its time to upload the idea is my advice. So to come back to the question: What was my first impression? For me it was the second impression that counted and that was GREAT!

What made you become a designer?

That’s a long story. Years ago I started to make some art in my free time. I really love a lot of different aspects of design and I am always open for innovative ideas. In my life I spend many hours on designing fonts. (really the old school way, with pen and paper) All of this was until I had a really rough time in my private life. For years I didn’t design anything because I simply didn’t have any inspiration. Until suddenly the inspiration came back 2 years ago. In 2009 I participated in the Premio Arte Laguna contest, and this year I was short-listed for the Corkstreet Open. In the main time my passion for design was growing, and then I found jovoto again. Besides jovoto I do a lot of design work for people who give me total freedom to integrate my ideas. I always choose my own clients and I do it most of the times for free. So that’s where the name ProdeoWeb comes from.

So where do you get your inspiration from?

My passion for design started when I was a teenager working in a music shop. I really love a lot of the the old vinyl covers from Roxy Music, Sexpistols, U2, Velvet Underground and many, many others. But I also get a lot of inspiration from artists like Andy Warhol, MC Escher, Peter Dumas and El Lissitzky.

You live in the Netherlands, how is the creative industry there?

The only correct answer to this question is: Very modern and on a very high quality level.

Anything you want to share with the community?

I’m probably one of the oldest ones around at jovoto, and I really want to say to all the youngsters around here that they should believe in themselves. Even if your idea isn’t an instant winner idea, you should never give up. With the feedback from the community you can achieve a lot. I also learn from all of you every day. Thanks for that!