VOLCHOK Heroes: Carlos Canillas

This Friday we’re celebrating the opening of our corner at Antidoto28 in Barcelona. Here is the event on Facebook — if you’re in Barcelona, we will be glad to see you there.

So the last time we were in Barcelona we got so good friends with Carlos, founder and designer of Antidoto28, that we decided to become one family and together fight for recognition of Barcelona fashionistas.

Here is the interview with our new hero for you to understand us better.

— Tell us a little about how did you start Antidoto28.

— At the very beginning it was a project between arts and DIY. That moment, eleven years ago the situation in Barcelona was different. I was involved in more artistic environment. We were painting, making graffities, music, illustrations, graphic art, fine arts. And I started that project as a little gallery that we shared with other artists. I also made t-shirts with graphic prints there.

— By the way, why is it «Antidoto28?»

— It’s coming from the word «antidoto», «antidote». Which means the antidote for the system. And 28 is the number of the building where was my first studio. Number helps to make your name unique. If you google «antidote», you can find a lot of things. If you type «antidoto28», you will find me. Also one little thing is that there are ten symbols in the name and 28 is ten.

— Did you sell your art? How was it going?

— Yes, at the beginning we were selling the art and it was going very good. We didn’t sell big paintings, just little things — sculptures, customized objects, little canvas, lamps. I say «little» because we didn’t have a lot of space there so everything was little. Also we did events in our neighborhood. Right on the street. In Barcelona you can get a permission and they can even cut the street for your event.

— Really? It’s hard to imagine honestly. Could you probably remember any particular event like this?

— For example we had the event that took place twice a year. The thing was like this. This is a very nice area but we needed more people, more tourists. So with all these studios around here, we talked to each other and said: «Hey, we need to do something for the people to come!» We decided to call it «Luna event» because the street is called La Luna. There are many studios that are closed for the people most of the time. And the idea was for all studios to open their doors for one day and propose something to the people — any activities, performances, something for the children.

And I decided to invite different artists to paint live. I didn’t want them to paint on canvas, because you know, this is the street. I thought what can I get for this — cheap or for free? Doors. And I started recollecting doors. There were twelve artists. So six of them were painting on one side of the doors and six on another. And also we made a projection on the building. The video of the artists painting live. It was like an interactive with the people. The artists were painting on people, on the walls, on the street — on everything around. I like art very much and I think art is the process. But we always try to live in the past, in the future and so on. So the idea was to show the process. Because many people just don’t know how to start making art. And there you could see really what happen. And also it was a great show.

— So what’s happened with your first studio? How did your brand become what it is now?

— Passing the time Barcelona changed and it became a little bit more difficult to sell. That old studio existed for 6 years. And during the last year of its existence things got harder. I don’t know why… Economy changes. Also the tourists. Tourists now are different. A lot of artists were coming here for inspiration because it was feeling like right place to do art. Now the tourists come to Barcelona for having fun, going to restaurants and things like that. Also people here have no money to buy art anymore. So I decided to change the direction. I moved to another place — here. Actually, my old studio was right around the corner. Here I got more space for the atelier to work with screen printing. When I moved here I decided to focus more on clothing.

Actually, when I was finishing the university in Argentina my final project was a clothing brand. I was studying design and visual communication. I’m a designer. But I studied at the Fine Arts University. So there were many different branches like sculpture, painting and so one. I really enjoy mixing design with something artistic. At the beginning I was painting by hand with a brush. It was cool but people don’t have money to pay the actual value of such a t-shirt. If you pay for canvas it automatically has another price. So I chose screen printing because I find interesting the possibility to reproduce the design in very good quality and at the same time cheap technique. And it is a process that you can do by yourself. And I think the main concept around Antidoto28 from the very beginning was to be totally independent. The thing is in taking the responsibility. Not allowing someone to drive your life. So I think Antidoto18 is… I don’t know… ideology, ha-ha.

I never worked professionally for someone. I was working as a graphic designer for other people but it was free lance. I never worked in any company or any other studio. And for me it’s natural. From the very beginning I had very independent view on the system. I don't like whats happening with big things. I would like to build something small but by my own. It’s not about competing with big companies.

— Can you describe the process of making the designs? How do you work?

— I do the designs on the computer. I’m very old school. Vector arts and this kind of things — I love it. I use the same program for 20 years. I always work in vector. I never draw and then scan. The computer for me is cold and vector is a computer language. If I don’t use a computer I prefer paint and something more material. But life in computer seems cold to me. 

As for the working process, it depends. Sometimes I have the idea and for this idea I do a lot of designs. Sometimes the designs change as soon as I put them on clothes. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s not and you just waste time. But sometimes I like to have no rules. That’s why I like customization — I have no rules with it. So I like two things: the first one— thinking everything through, the second on — free style and experiments.

I do everything by hands and produce very limited edition. But I must say that this approach, you know, doing everything by hands, very limited edition — it is not a concept. It is just a current situation. Right now I work like that because of my possibilities at the moment. However now I feel that I have to grow. But on the other hand thanks to the fact that everything is done by hand, in the process of working on a collection I can change anything any moment.

Also sometimes the designs I did 5 years ago people want now. And it’s crazy!

— What are your main sources of inspiration, the themes that you express in your prints, your art?

— I think it was always important for me to express my nonconformism, confront the system. I need to put a message in everything that I do.

— And what social phenomena do you care about? 

— For example, globalization. Also I was always interested in futuristic stuff and machines. But at the same time I’m afraid of it. All these things are about humanity for me. We are from nature, we are organic, we are colorful. And why do we like black? Why do we like industrial? Why do we like cold things? Why do we like metal things? This is kind of antinatural. Why do we love electronic music? This is «antihuman» at the end.

The system is going in the direction of dishumanisation. Manufactures, everything equal, you know, like making more working places for which human participation is not required. Antidoto28 researches this fighting between human and dishuman. And some people get it.

— Do you have the image of your customer in your head? Who wears Antidoto28?

—The brand’s aesthetic is all my background. I'm coming from rock, from punk, I'm coming from darkwave, industrial, hip hop. During the times things change. During the 90s we attended rock festivals, after 2000 — raves. Anyway it's all about underground. And I like being involved in these changes of street culture, subcultures or whatever you want to define that.

Sometimes you can see that fashion takes these ideas from underground and it looks similar. But people that are just into fashion have to change. You know, today it’s cool to have tattoos on the face and tomorrow it’s not anymore. And culture things don’t change. People who have background connected with street culture and this kind of things always keep going by one line. It’s natural, it’s not about fashion. I think Antidoto28 is kind of a mix of street cultures, subcultures. You can see some reminiscence from 90s, 80s, 00s and I love that because it’s all my past.

Also I can say that I really count on women with my clothes. Visually I more enjoy women then men. They look more interesting dressed. But i don’t like to separate «men, women, gays». For me everybody are humans. Some people are just more open for sensibility. And it turns out that women and gays (not everyone but mostly) are more open, more emotional. They can say «Oh, this is amazing! i like that!» and I feel good. You can see how they feel because they just tell you.

— You are also a musician, playing under a pseudonym Dj.Nicenoise. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself from this side?

— I always was under the influence of the music. I was keen on it from my teenage, right the same time when I got into graphics. In general it seems to me that fashion and music are not separable. I mean not high fashion, but the way go how people dress. Both are part of the culture. In my teenage I had friends who played in music bands, but I didn’t, I was always supporting. Then I went to Europe and got involved into electronic music movement. I got a friend, he had kind of a warehouse and he had the equipment to play. That’s how I got into dj theme.

At the beginning I was mixing on a computer. After a few years I understood that I want more, it became a little bit boring. And then I got to another step with using turntables. Now I’m preparing a live set. Only with machines. But I really enjoy mixing too. Because I love different styles. Most of all I like music from underground waves, music that comes from ghetto. I mean different parts of the world. For me it’s real. Because they have proper songs, the way to dress, and they have dance. This is amazing.

— Do you think the way we dress can say something about our personality?

— Yes, dressing up is a necessary moment of expressing yourself. People see who you are by the clothes. Because everyone gets dressed. Some people find it more interesting, spend more time on it. Some people say it’s not important for them. But yes, it is important, simply because all of us spend time and money on it.

So I think it’s all about expression. Some people are introverts, they are not very expressive and they dress easy. Other people dress like they are saying «i’m here!», you know.

— And what about you?

— I don’t know. i like black. May be black with a little bit color. But 90% black. However I’m coming from Argentina, we use a lot of colors. Europe is a little bit darker. Why black? I don’t know. I heard that black is all colors together ha-ha. Anyway, I don’t think it’s about this, the thing is… that black is black.