Petra Verkade is a designer and passionate printmaker based in Utrecht, The Netherlands. Her work is bold, colourful, illustrative and often experimental. With an enormous drive to make and experiment, as a designer, Petra can be seen as a maker who adores working with her hands. While studying at art school she developed her love for Risograph and screen print; a passion that she has continued to explore along with the printmaking process and development of her own visual language.
Her environment is a big source of inspiration and is transformed in her own world of shapes and colours. Often, Petra’s ideas begin as drawings in her sketchbook which are later used for new projects. Her work is characterised by playful interpretations of objects such as plants, vases or organic shapes in combination with landscapes and people. She thrives in the challenge of combining extreme combinations of colour and the endless possibilities the technique has to offer.
“Not knowing how a design develops is always a challenge. With printmaking, the colours stand out more and the urge to develop more prints is enormous. My favourite colours on the Riso are definitely fluorescent pink and blue.”
As a third year graphic design student, Petra’s work is broad and spans across many different fields, therefore she thinks of herself as an artist, rather than a designer. Currently, she is busy with her own work creating a plethora of new prints. She exhibits her Riso prints locally, takes part in an internship, and is also building her own online shop. There are still many things she hopes to explore in the future, with plans to experiment in ceramics and practice painting again, with the big dream of one day owning her own Riso printer.
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