Creative Figures

Illustrator Nick Liefhebber on paper cuts, woodcut printmaking, going independent one day at a time, and why limitations shape his work.
"When you just start making things you like, it doesn't feel like work."
Nick Liefhebber is an illustrator, designer and printmaker based in the Netherlands. He started as a graphic designer, and his turning point came when he decided to make work he didn't have to explain, just for himself. He left his job gradually, from five days a week to four, then three, before going independent.
He explains why almost all of his work starts with physical materials such as cut paper, how woodcut and linocut are pushing his colourful work towards black and white, and why he blocks time for personal work that later shapes his client work. He also talks about social media feeling more like work, why he compares the future of illustration to an artisanal bakery, and what he would tell his ten-year-old self: trust yourself.
Timestamps
If you liked this episode, listen to Murugiah on Creative Figures.
Nick Liefhebber Website: http://www.liefhebber.biz/
Shop: https://liefhebber.bigcartel.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nick_liefhebber/
Behance: https://www.behance.net/Liefhebber/
Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fm
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFM
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Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.
© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Designer Erik Herrström on his book The Echo, why his studio never shows clients a mood board, and designing identities for Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley.
"We never show mood boards to our clients, ever."
Erik Herrström grew up in a small village in the south of Sweden and built his first website at twelve. He interned at R/GA in New York on the redesign of Nike.com, later joined the team of a designer he had idolised as a teenager, and spent years at Spotify, where he worked on Spotify Wrapped. Six years ago he moved to Vienna, where he now runs STUDIO HERRSTRÖM.
He talks about the David Bowie exhibition his team built in a SoHo subway station, creating identities with the estates of Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley, and why mood boards keep work measured against other people's references. He explains why he wrote The Echo, how beta readers changed its whole structure, and why he self-published it. He also shares his view on AI and brand design, and his advice for young designers: stay curious, avoid shortcuts, and ask to shadow someone experienced.
Erik Herrström
STUDIO HERRSTRÖM: https://www.studioherrstrom.com/
The Echo: https://the-echo-book.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herrstrom/
Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioherrstrom/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikherrstrom/
Studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/studio-herrstrom/
Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fm
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/
Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.
© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Illustrator and artist MURUGIAH on leaving architecture, finding his own style, and opening the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration with his first solo museum show.
"Everything you've done, it doesn't have to just end. It can be fuel for what you do next."
MURUGIAH trained as an architect for seven years before turning to illustration. Born in Burton upon Trent and raised in South Wales with Sri Lankan heritage, he spent more than a decade searching for a style that felt his own. A mentor's advice during the pandemic led him to make work about his childhood search for identity, and a new piece every week built the visual language behind his commissions, posters, clothing collaborations and public sculpture.
He talks about his debut solo exhibition, MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like…, one of three shows that opened the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in 2026, and explains why he feels no guilt about leaving architecture. He also speaks about the slowdown in commercial illustration and how he works across public art, talks, workshops and his own products. For artists starting out, he recommends persistence, obsession with the subjects you love, and a simple two-column exercise for finding work no one else could make.
MURUGIAH Website: https://murugiah.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_murugiah/
Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fm
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFM
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/
Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.
© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Kieron Anthony Lewis opens this one by saying he cannot do the project justice by describing it. That you almost have to see it.
He is right, which is awkward for a podcast. So here it is: a 456-page hardback with gold foiling along the edges, sealed inside a case made of concrete, cast in the shape of Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos. Around seven kilos all in.
The book features 161 artists connected to that square, produced in connection with the Lagos Biennial and timed to Nigeria's 65th independence anniversary. The brief, as he first understood it, was that they were going to make a coffee table book.
He designed it over roughly two years in London, with London printers. The concrete case was made by the team in Lagos. Which means the first time he saw the two together was when he arrived in Nigeria, almost nervous, thinking — can you imagine if it doesn't fit?
This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.
Full conversation with Kieron: https://creativefigures.fm/s02-e12-kieron-anthony-lewis-on-editorial-design-identity-and-finding-meaning-through-work/
Find Kieron here: https://kieronlewis.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kieronanthonyl/
Find me here: https://creativefigures.fm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/

Video version includes footage courtesy of Lagos Biennial https://lagos-biennial.org/ and Kieron Anthony Lewis https://kieronlewis.com/

I asked Andy how long it took him to start liking himself the way he is. He did not give me a number. He said it is something he has to constantly return to and refresh.
This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.
Around 25, Andy started to realise he probably has ADHD. His first reaction was not relief, it was grief, because this was not something he could hustle his way out of. Not long after, he found what he now calls the neurodivergent lens. Brains are different, not necessarily worse or better, and they perform differently in different contexts. Which brought him to a thought that changed things: maybe he is not broken, but in this society, this is a disability.
From there he started trying to cultivate himself rather than overcome himself, and he explains why that shift matters particularly for artists. He also takes the Joseph Campbell line about the cave you fear to enter and argues it is usually read wrong.
He does not present any of this as finished. He calls loving himself a continual battle.
Full conversation with Andy: https://creativefigures.fm/s02-e30-andy-j-pizza-adhd-self-worth/
Find Andy here: https://www.andyjpizza.com/
https://www.creativepeptalk.com/
https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/
https://www.andyjpizza.com/rso
Find me here: https://creativefigures.fm
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/