Inès Gradot’s inky marker pen drawings blend into Risograph prints that look like paintings

Inès Gradot’s multilayered risograph prints immediately transport you to somewhere that feels warmer — immersing you in the smaller details of nature and everyday places. To create these blended, inky impressions the designer draws from “photographs, memories, atmospheres and my notebooks”, she tells us, “sometimes I overcomplicate the process, only to realise I’ve ended up drawing flower pots again.” Often drawing on these personal experiences, micro moments and travels, Inès is often more interested in translating “the feeling behind a subject than the subject itself”.

Drawn to the analogue, Inès has been using “alcohol-based markers on highly absorbent paper” for the majority of her artworks which she carefully separates into files for printing before pushing the technique with layers and layers of buildable ink to achieve the water-colour like effect that her bright Risograph prints bost. Always finding it hard to stop and finalise things, her dream-like still lifes or landscapes embrace “the more unexpected marks that happen when I draw”, she says. “I love blending different techniques and watching how an initial drawing can transform into something entirely new.”

The designer splits her time between working as a Risograph print technician at Risotto Studio and her freelance work, as well as working on projects as part of Riso Sur Mer an international collective whose practices intersect through collaborations using the printing technique. “Risoprinting has had a huge influence on how I work, opening up new possibilities and shaping the way I approach projects," Inès shares. On her inspirations and influences she says: “I get so much inspiration and excitement from print and my peers in our collective. I’m also fascinated by folk traditions, history and outsider art — anything that tells a story through objects or imagery.”