When relatives decide to design a coffin with Niels 'Shoe' Meulman, it is not possible to directly work together with the artist. The techniques and the style that Niels employs are too complicated to teach to someone in the time frame of a workshop. Niels likes to hear from relatives what kind of text they want on the coffin. He will then put the words on the coffin in his studio.
The example-coffin that Niels 'Shoe' Meulman designed is covered with words that describe a person's character, such as 'independent', 'beautiful' and 'intuitive'. With Indian ink he applies the words to the cover of the coffin and on its sides. The result is a coffin that captures the personality of the loved one in words.
Niels Meulman's initial recognition came as 'Shoe' within local and international graffiti culture at the end of the 1980's. Throughout the nineties Meulman ran his own design company Caulfield & Tensing. In recent years he has been working as a creative director for MTV Europe but mostly freelances under his own name ‘Niels Shoe Meulman’ and specializes in typographic design. He developed the new art form calligraffiti - a merging of calligraphy and graffiti. Meulman’s designs and artwork are part of the permanent collection of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam and the San Francisco MOMA. As Unruly he recently designed a collection of silk scarfs in his characteristic style.
For more information on the Coffin for your Beloved workshop, please contact Michel Langendijk or Tanja Baudoin of Mediamatic, 020-6389901. After office hours you can reach Michel Langendijk at 06-40963010.
