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Benjamin Wurster

posted by POP Members August 27, 2021

Based in the beautiful Black Forest in the south of Germany, Benjamin Wurster is a communication designer and printmaker. Benjamin works freelance for a range of clients and agencies in the Stuttgart area, whilst also establishing himself as a printmaker.

Born and raised in Taiwan, when he was 11 years old Benjamin’s family moved back to Germany where they settled in the northern Black Forest. From 2011 to 2017 he studied Communication Design at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. During this time he focused his efforts on print media design, where he developed his now signature strong conceptual and artistic approach. Whilst studying Benjamin also partook in an internship at Pentagram partner Sascha Lobe’s former design office, L2M3, who he still collaborates with from time to time.

Benjamin’s work has always focused intensively on the topic of inspiration. His diploma thesis was titled Über Inspiration and included a blog, a poster, and a book in which he dealt with the topic theoretically and practically. Nature is also one of the greatest sources of influence for his practice; “It is so diverse that I can discover something new every day that makes me marvel. But it is also so calming that I always retreat to it when I am agitated and confused.”

Through the design process Benjamin likes to combine analogue and digital techniques, often starting the design on the computer, producing it by hand, and then returning to the computer to further process what has been created. For example, in his print series Leafy House Plants, he used plant illustrations from the botanical encyclopedia Zimmerblattpflanzen from 1899 as templates for his own linocuts. The 120 year old book by Udo Dammer had inspired Benjamin so much that he “had to make something new out of it”. Last year he was able to publish a new version of the book called Leafy House Plants with Slanted Publishers.

Currently, Benjamin is working on Woodcut Words; posting a new woodcut on Instagram each week with the hashtag #weeklywoodcut. He plans to combine the 52 prints that appear in the course of 2021 into a card game next year. He hopes that these cards will then serve as a new source of inspiration for other creatives.

“With my work, I always try to create things that inspire other people. I want to help them to become creative themselves and create something new.”

@benjaminwurster
www.benjaminwurster.com

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