Having graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 2019, Julia Syrzistie has since worked as a freelance designer in the fields of book and publication design. Thus far she has collaborated with charities such as Mafwa Theatre in Leeds, and Survivor’s Arts Community in Glasgow, designing and illustrating publications as an outcome of the charitys’ workshops. Alongside her design work, Julia continues to develop her art practice in letterpress and other areas of printmaking. In the last year she was awarded the House of Prints Graduate Bursary for emerging printmakers, which allowed her to spend three weeks at Hot Bed Press in September 2021. Since February 2022, Julia has been temporarily based in Tartu, Estonia, where she is undergoing further training in areas of letterpress and bookbinding, as well as continuing to work on her own projects.
Image by Mana Kaasik
Image by Mana Kaasik
Image by Mana Kaasik
“I feel like I am still very much finding my feet since graduating pretty much into the pandemic: the last three years have felt like a very slow process of moving forwards. The best thing about art school was spending four years surrounded by friends who continue to be a source of support and inspiration, but entering the pandemic soon after graduation was tough in terms of finding motivation and purpose.”
Since arriving at TYPA Julia has once again felt like part of a creative community where she can learn and bounce ideas around with other creatives. Working closely to TYPA’s ongoing residency programme means she gets to meet a lot of creatives from around the world and gain a deeper insight into their ideas and processes, which in turn helps her develop as a designer and printmaker.
Image by Mana Kaasik
Image by Mana Kaasik
Image by Mana Kaasik
Julia is currently entertaining the idea of doing an MA, and contemplating whether she should specialise further in printmaking or graphic design: both of which she feels will; “feed into what I see myself working on in the future: more book design commissions, self-published artist book projects, printmaking as a way of designing and image-making”.
Printed matter and typography are a constant element in Julia’s work: whether that be designing for print or printmaking using letterpress. She focuses on creating work which is based on research, concepts, experimentation, and process. She tells us; “I find that working as a designer and printmaker with a special focus on letterpress gives me fluidity over these areas. Working with the materiality of paper, ink, and tangible objects is a recurring factor in my projects, while often being a topic of my work in itself. I like finding links between seemingly unrelated themes and concepts and working with them to create something new.”
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