Interview
THOMAS DE REGT
It was quite an honour to speak with
the multi talented creative Thomas
de Regt. This graphic designer shares
his insights on creativity in the most
honest way and tells us all about the
life of a designer in the real world.
Currently he’s designing the new
collection for Blood for Mercy. This
label is a collaboration between best
selling EDM artists Yellow Claw and
the Amsterdam based, fashion label
Daily Paper.
What is the history concerning your
design experience?
I started out as a graphic designer
studying advertising, a world in which
I ended up working for a year and now
I guess I’m in the fashion industry. But
I must say, the fashion aspects of my
job are quite new to me. That’s the part
I’m learning more about every day. In
the work I do, I’m actually learning new
things all the time.
Going further back into your creative
history, can you remember the first
time you realised you were a creative
being?
I think at a very early age, as a child I
already came up with ideas for things
my mother, who is a professional
sculptress, could make for me out
of clay. So I would come up with the
idea, and then she would bring it to
life. After a week we would break
everything to bits and pieces and come
up with a new idea... Hahah, yeah that
“art director” feeling came to me at an
early age. I would like to add to that,
that I think everybody is a creative
being.
Were do you produce your work?
Well, many different places actually.
Sometimes we all get together and
work in the Daily Paper office. But I
can be very productive at home as well.
I wouldn’t say I have a certain schedule
which I follow daily, working in this
business you need to have a 24/7
mentality. Creativity is not something
you can force so you need to be ready
at any time it hits you. Sometimes I
lay awake at night bursting with ideas,
I can’t sleep until I’ve written them
down. It’s not a 9 to 5 kind of job. I
don’t even really see it as a job anyway,
since it is something I truly enjoy.
“I don’t like to beat around
the bush”
How would your best friends describe
you?
Haha, well I have been called an asshole from time to time. No, but in
all seriousness. I think they would
describe me as a brutally honest,
driven and energetic person. And
with brutally honest I mean that I can
be very straightforward, I don’t like
to beat around the bush. I say things
as they are. This is very important
for my work. When working with
creative people its important to keep
the workflow going and not dwell on
endless discussions. You have to be able
to analyse what’s good or bad really
quickly and be able to express this in
a clear way. When someone puts love
and effort in a project it’s always hard
to take the critique, even for me. But
being critical is really important and
not something you should be afraid of.
Eventually it will only help you create
on a higher level. Be straightforward!
What would you say was the last time
you got goose bumps.
Wow, well that was when I was casually
browsing Instagram, and checking out
some yellow claw posts and suddenly
saw that someone had tattooed my
newly created logo for Yellow claw.
www.facebook.com/thomasderegt
So Thomas, would you say you have a
certain style in the way you work?
Well, I always try to create a certain
signature in my work. But you need
to keep in mind that when working for
a label or client you need to create a
specific style that is compatible with
the label and vision of your client.
Eventually you