Q&A with Gunter Rambow
Where do you seek inspiration?
In everyday things and places. I particularly observe the ways in which people interact with their environment.
Professionally, who has influenced you the most?
My teacher, Hans Hillmann.
Who is/was your greatest mentor in life?
FHK Henrion
What is your greatest professional achievement?
Working together with students as a professor for 30 years and doing a poster cycle of approximately 80 posters for the Staatstheater Wiesbaden.
What is your greatest personal achievement?
My son Johann, now six years old.
What is your work philosophy?
Work free and relaxed. I try to free myself from formal obligations and pre-formulated influences.
What is your free-time philosophy?
Be free and relaxed. I can’t separate my work from my free-time in a clear-cut way. When I find the time, I dig into my large design and art library, learning and gathering new knowledge for my work while having fun.
What would be your dream-assignment?
To be a flâneur.
Do you have a favorite cause you like to work on?
To work for the ‘Galerie Rambow’ where I show posters, architecture, and photography from established designers. The first exhibition was dedicated to Jan Lenica, followed by 100 film posters by Hans Hillmann and the jazz posters of Niklaus Troxler.
Which is your favorite studio, designer, ad agency, photographer, or illustrator…?
Henryk Tomaszewski
If you were to invite five personalities for a dinner conversation, who would they be?
Henryk Tomaszewski, Jan Lenica, Roman Cieslewicz, Jan Modozeniec, and FHK Henron.
What do you collect?
I collect good impressions and experiences.
What is your most valuable possession?
Getting my inspiration from my son Johann and my wife Angelika.
Do you have any hobbies?
Reading, mostly biographical books and watching films that are artistically-driven.
What is your greatest insecurity?
Precisely, that there is no more security.
If you were to retire tomorrow, what would you do with your free time?
I am actually retired since February 2003 but continue working on posters and the ‘Galerie Rambow.’ I am also the co-counter of a private international University for Design and Science in Güstrow.
— (via Graphis, 2003)