In our series, YKRA Faces, we introduce some Budapest-based creatives, who tell us stories about their daily routines and working methods and also give us a glimpse of what they keep in their YKRA backpacks. Our sixth guest is Eszter Laki , graphic designer. My primary field of design is branding, book design and package design, I work with clients both in Hungary and abroad.
There are some bigger projects, one of them is actually finishing these days: a new hotel in Tirol is opening soon after two years of preparation. I arrive at the office around and I work until about 6 pm. My time there is often distracted by meetings. We really like working together and we try to come up with an adult-like schedule but our personalities are drawn to more rhapsodic working routines. I love meeting with friends and on weekends, we always go out in nature to hike or to do some mountain climbing.
My favourite hiking destination is the Rila mountain range of Bulgaria. Whenever I can, I leave the city behind. I usually have it with me when I travel or hike. It accompanied me on many trips, for example on multiple occasions when I was in India. I always have a smaller bag with me I can bring with me during the day or what I can carry with me on the plane.
Notebook: I still like taking analogue notes, so I bring this with me to my meetings. I usually write about pages that help me remember later what we discussed. Paper catalogue: production often comes up when I talk to my clients, so I always bring a paper catalogue with me so they can imagine what the end result would look like. Camera: I started to take photos with analogue techniques again, so I recently bought this little Contax. Kindle: Even though I believe print is not dead, and I personally love designing and reading print books, I had to optimise the weight of my backpack.
Mobile holder: I recently bought it at the Turkish market in Berlin, and I find it very useful. Business card: I spent 10 years of my professional life without having my own business card, even though I designed plenty of them for a lot of people. So nowadays I try to pay attention to always have one with me on my meetings. It is really important how this little piece of paper is designed and fabricated. Black Muji pen: this pen literally defines my life.
