Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
“I’m an illustrator and designer and have my own business in this called Amber Delahaye illustraties. I also graduated from the art academy in Maastricht as a photographer. That is something I now use for photographing my own work. My main work is illustrations which I graduated in. I mainly do this for books, mostly study books and music books for children. Books is what I wanted to focus on and during my studies I followed my internship at a children’s illustration designer: Trish Flannery”.
Next to this Amber also organizes exhibitions.
What do you see as your most distinctive achievement?
“That I have a very specific style in my illustrations, it’s recognizable that I made it. I do a lot of things and have different assignments but you can always see it’s my work. It’s not so standard and commercial”.
What are you looking forward to?
“To more books! I really enjoy making them and then seeing them in stores. I also make cards and prints which is also a lot of fun to see laying in stores or in peoples living rooms. I’m working with a new publisher now and in the future my books will also be available for a bigger public”.
Which advise would you give other professionals?
“Keep going, don’t give up and don’t take things personal. A lot of people will be rude and ask you to do things but don’t want to pay the amount of money the product is worth. They ask you to do things for so few money that it’s impossible to do. That is really something you have to get through. The other creatives are really supportive though and it’s nice to share experiences with them”.
Which challenges do we need to overcome to make cultural entrepreneurship more accessible for starters?
“I try to do this by organizing exhibitions and workshops. People create things themselves than and understand what it is to be a creative entrepreneur. I also teach and do volunteer work where I learn people how to paint and together with them I organise expositions. Than people realize the expositions are nice to visit and very approachable. A lot of organizations are trying to make the creative entrepreneurship more accessible, like SUPERMARKET Maastricht. People shouldn’t immediately think of expensive and strange when they see handmade things”.
Amber organizes a duo-exhibition at Rooms and Soupsolo Maastricht with opening on June 9th, be sure to visit!
