Hello Jerry, My name is Malsagūlo.
In my day-to-day trying-to-pay-the-rent mode I’m a graphic designer and illustrator.
In a constantly changing world and with all the stuff that’s happening around us all the time, it felt like about high time to share my little reflections on some parts of human interactions.
I wanted to bring my own interpretations of events we all can relate to, but with a wink and a small twist.
Let’s describe my works as a ‘Tableau Vivant’, in the tradition of the late 19th-century theatre and visual arts scene.
It’s a set-up of a bunch of elements that all together create a scene that I like to offer to the public as high-quality limited edition silkscreen prints.

Malsagūlo, literally means ‘court jester’.
During the middle ages, kings and emperors had absolute power, nobody would even dare to stand up to them and tell them the truth, for fear of losing their heads.
Only one could say whatever he wanted and had immunity, the court jester.
He was the only one allowed to mock the king and tell him the truth, hold up a mirror and tell him he was doing stuff the wrong way.
He was the only one who could give his honest opinion, but always with a ‘jest’. I try to be a court jester of this day and age, holding up a mirror to us humans with all our little human shortcomings

Most of the time I start with a simple basic idea or subject in my head in combination with composition and some main set-up elements.
It’s of course necessary to start with a subject that has enough interesting or even weird elements in itself as a basic idea.
When you see the way some world leaders act these days, it’s not that hard to imagine what kind of stuff would happen if some nice little aliens would land one day.
Or the inspiration for my upcoming silkscreen print came from watching the news, seeing thousands and thousands of people running for trains to end up all squeezed together on a beach in order to ‘relax’.
First I start with setting the basic scene with the bigger elements, and after that, it’s basically a painstaking long and intense work of shuffling and reshuffling smaller ideas and details in order to fit them all together in a consistent ‘Tableau Vivant’.

In my opinion it’s a perfect combination.
Art has been throughout the ages a way to stimulate us, to confront us or just to brighten up our lives.
One person loves a framed poster copy of a gypsie girl with a tear in one eye, someone else spends a million zillion dollars on a cut-up Banksy, but in my opinion they both serve the same purpose… give joy to people who think these works are important enough for them to give them some space in their homes.
Coffee can have that same intimacy.
It’s that peaceful moment of holding a cup in our hands and enjoying the moment, the same way we can have that moment when we see a piece of art.
That’s why I wanted to create a scene of enjoying coffee in your home on a Sunday afternoon, with a good book at hand and the sun falling through the window.
It’s that cozy feeling of being home, being at your place in your own little world you created.

When spending so much time on creating a work, it’s very important to me to have it printed in the best way possible. Only the best is good enough.
It was also very important to me the prints are handcrafted.
It gives that extra sort of ‘glow’, it makes every work a little bit unique, with every single print checked, double-checked and basically handmade one color at a time.
The result is absolutely top quality and the interaction with Bert is always open and constructive.
He knows what he’s doing, and it gives confidence in the final result.

That’s a difficult question, there are so many.
I would just love to meet and talk and –if I can dream– work one day with Shepard Fairey.
I love his style of work and love the way he stayed true to his ideals, despite his success.
But I’m also a big fan of the impressive and explosive art of Vhils, love the way Invader has built a strong community around his (basically very simple but visually strong) mosaic art, am a fan of the absolute rebel Damien Hirst, impressed by the collage style of Faile, charmed by the naive paintings of Joachim… and so on and so on 🙂

Zolder is mainly known for its F1 track, and its green surroundings.… but that’s about it.
It’s just a quiet little place, at least as long as there are no F1 supercars chasing each other around.
If you wanna escape the busy city life, take your bike and come over on a Sunday afternoon.
Take a bike ride through nature and end up somewhere under a tree with a nice cold Belgian beer… we love the simple things in life over here.

Parlor Coffee started as a specialty coffee bar in 2012, as one of the firsts in Belgium.
We soon became quite popular and around 1 year later we started to roast our own coffees in the back of the store.

We like very much a good balance between terroir and classic flavour, so I will always give priority to the more “classic” processes from quality producers.
But I will not deny that I have already tasted some very good experimental new processes.

We will just try to continue delivering superb coffees to our private and wholesale customers, improve ourselves and maybe one day open again a specialty coffee bar concept.

Indeed, Anderlecht is probably very similar to Borgerhout.
Super close to the rest of Brussels and an ideal area to do some bigger production roasts. we are only 5 minutes away from upcoming areas like Forest/Saint-Gilles.

Use good spring water with low mineral content and of course some quality light roasted beans.

In my free time I run a little honey farm together with my teenage son.
We have several beehives in the back of our garden.

As a child I was already very fascinated by observing and drawing.
I always knew that I wanted to go in an artistic direction,
I made the choice for painting when I went to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp

In my work I ask questions about the relationship between photography, reconstruction, painting and interpretation.
A work must be fascinating from ten meters, but also from ten centimeters away.

When you take a closer look, the image falls apart in different marks and brushstrokes;
from a distance, the paintings seem more photo-realistic.

Everything starts with collecting objects to process a certain concept into an image.
I will compose and photograph these.
I process the photographic material with an image editing program, make different prints and already research the direction of the colors in my head.
After determining the correct format, a monotone underpainting is made on the canvas.
When it is dry, the actual painting begins.

Death is an essential part of life,
life is fragile and being reminded of this vulnerability can remind us to live life at the fullest.
Memento Mori versus Carpe Diem.

Not yet.

Teaching is a great way to interact with people,
watching them grow and support them as they develop their capabilities.

One thing leads to another.

The Harmonie Park area has become a very nice neighborhood,
we have the  brewery “De Koninck” close to the parc which houses some quality shops, from chocolate to cheese. While further on your way towards the station,
you can find the Groen Kwartier,
a traffic-free neighborhood with a mix of a residential area with new and historic buildings,
a couple of shops, top and more budget restaurants and also an urban farm on the rooftops.

Only recently I started to drink coffee mixed with oatmilk,
a delicious combination if you ask me.

It took a while. I used to drink cheap coffee during my university studies, when I was living in the dormitory.
Until then I never drank it at all.
For a long time I drank coffee out of habit and never enjoyed the taste of it.
That kept going for years until I finally visited a proper coffee shop and had a latte – which opened my eyes to what coffee can taste like.
Since then it’s been more than love, it’s been like a healthy obsession.
It only took one sip of a really well made drink.

For me, coffee roasting is mostly a practical application. We work with heat transfer, densities, solubility, physical changes within the beans and so on, and we apply know-how to make sure we do it right.
However, there is art in that as well – it turns out that coffee that is roasted beautifully, with steady,
stable roast curves and directional lines that are smooth, and not hectic, ends up being delicious as well.
And each coffee needs an individual approach, with individual profiles.
So there is beauty in practicality.

From a practical perspective – it’s a stimulant, it keeps me focused.
Usually in the mornings, unless the coffee is really bad, I don’t even notice what I’m drinking.
But when I work with coffee, I take a completely different approach.
Then coffee for me is like a galaxy – untapped potential, unexplored opportunities and infinite elements waiting to be found by growing, sourcing, roasting and cupping.

If it’s an everyday coffee, just keep it on the counter in its original packaging,
sealed and away from temperature fluctuations and direct sunlight.
If it’s a coffee you want to savor – vacuum pack it in small single batch doses and put it in the freezer, take them out only before prep and brew immediately.

Come here for the unexplored beauty that hides behind every corner.
We may only have a few grand monuments or buildings to see, but the beauty of our country hides in every nook and cranny.
Explore outside of the city, as we are a people of nature – and we do our best to nourish and preserve it.
We have an ancient culture that hides beyond the borders of the capital, and we encourage everyone to explore it.

At SUEDHANG, we are fortunate to have many passionate people on our staff,
like our head barista and roaster Mikolaj Pociecha.
He said that he wrote ​​BREW out of necessity,
to clearly explain the basics of brewing coffee in a technical and informative way that can be easily applied into practice.
His  approach is rooted deeply in the process of analysis through tasting and using mindfully chosen tools.

Again a stroke of luck that we could win Simon Wahlers for us.
He (see https://www.zweifel.jetzt/) is responsible for our entire design and gives our coffee and our company a unique puristic face.

How?
We fought our way through a jungle of bureaucratic rules and hurdles until we got the permit.
After all, we roast in a heritage-protected medieval town.
We have started up roasting at the beginning of the first Corona lockdown.

Robin learned roasting at Elbbold in Hamburg.
He introduced Mik and Anna to roasting here in Tübingen.
In the meantime, we exchange ideas and concepts about the roasting craft with other roasters as Elbgold, Hoppenworth & Ploch, and Daniel Hobart.
So that we keep on learning.

Yes. In a way, both are unnecessary.
You don’t need art or coffee.
But that’s not true either.
As humans, we need places of devotion, tranquility, wonder and contemplation.
Thus, we hope that we can make a – one could say a meditative – contribution.

A boat trip on the young Neckar. With a gondolier.
Venice doesn’t stand a chance.

Ursula van der Leyen.
I would like to talk to her about why the EU is so unambitious when it comes to climate protection and how we can achieve more impact here.

F: My name is Fleur.
I am 9 years old and I like to be creative. 

R: I am Roselien and I am 6 years old.
Every day I am drawing or doing crafts because I love to do that.

F: I play the piano, do gymnastics and go to the chiro.
I like playing outside a lot and watching a good film once in a while. 

R: I go to the music school, gymnastics and the chiro.
I like to jump on the trampoline outside,
play in the mud kitchen and watch a film.

F: Later I want to become an artist/cartoonist. 

R: I don’t know yet. Maybe a vet because I like animals
and taking care of them.

R+F: Wonderland! A magical colorful happy place.
Festive and where the sun always shines.
Full of flowers and clear blue water.
In a castle on the rainbow where they eat cupcakes.

F+R: Sliding down the rainbow, going to Paris to fly around the Eiffel Tower.
Going on adventures,
taking naps on pink sheep clouds,
eating rainbow cupcakes. 

F: I don’t think so, I haven’t tasted it yet.
I’d rather drink plain water now.