Irene Maria Ganser
1. Where were you born and where are you from ?
I am born in Linz, Upperaustria in Austria.
2. What is your first memory connected to the art world ?
My first memory connected to the art world was an exhibition by Egon Schiele in the Lentos Museum Linz.
3. Have you always worked in the art/design field ?
Yes, I studied fashion design in Paris and Milan.
4. What led you to the design creation ?
I love textures and colors.
5. How would you describe your creative process and it influences ?
I am collecting ideas, infirmations from nature, architecture, music- everything what inspires me.
6. Could you describe a typical day of your work ?
There are either days in the workshop or in the studio – it depends on what I have to do.
7. Why did you choose the specific materials you work with ?
I like the color gold very much and the transformation from a rough material in an elegant one.
8. What are the technical particularities of your creations ?
I work a lot with sandcasting, sometimes the mold making is very complicated.
9. What advices could you give to beginning artists who would like to create sculptural design works ?
To find a job as an assistant of an artist or designer for some years to learn and study how they work.
10. If your works had to belong to a design movement, in which one would you define it ?
The Wiener Werkstätte (Vienna Workshop)
11. What designers and artists have influenced you ?
Christian Lacroix, Kris Ruhs, Josef Hoffmann
12. What contemporary designers do you appreciate ?
Vincenzo de Cotiis, Lindsey Adelman
13. What contemporary artists (in any kind of art) have you been inspired by ?
Christian Lacroix, Kris Ruhs, Valentin Loelman
14. If you had to summarize your creations in one word or sentence, what would it be ?
Creating jewels out of nature
15. Is there anything you would like to add?
I love structures
Proust Questionnaire with very short answers (one or a few words) :
(The Proust Questionnaire is a set of questions answered by the French writer Marcel Proust. Other historical figures who have answered confession albums are Oscar Wilde, Karl Marx, Arthur Conan Doyle, Stéphane Mallarmé, Paul Cézanne…)
1. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
To do what I love and be surrounded by the persons I love
2. What is your greatest fear?
The current political situation in the world – it seems to be very fragile and of course our environmental pollution
3. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Create a schedule that is to tight
4. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Envy
5. Which living person do you most admire?
Pollini
6. What is your greatest extravagance?
Doing what I like
7. What is your current state of mind?
Grateful, lucky
8. What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Self-esteem
9. What is the quality you most like in a man ?
Honesty
10. What is the quality you most like in a woman ?
Charm
11. Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Can you make this
12. Which talent would you most like to have?
To memorize
13. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
More serenity
14. What do you consider your greatest achievement?
Being an artist and having two children – juggling between these two
15. If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be?
A tree
16. Where would you most like to live?
Vienna, Paris, countryside
17. What is your most treasured possession?
My children, time
18. What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?
War
19. What is your favorite occupation?
Creating something
20. What is your most marked characteristic?
Persistance
21. What do you most value in your friends?
Loyality
22. Who are your favorite writers?
Bernhard Aichner, Hermann Hesse
23. Who is your hero of fiction?
Alice
24. Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Emilie Flöge
25. Who are your heroes in real life?
Doctors, scientists
26. What are your favorite names?
Elise, Florentina
27. What is it that you most dislike?
Bad taste
28. What is your greatest regret?
I don´t get as involved in the environment as I want
29. How would you like to die?
In peace
30. What is your motto?
Carpe diem