About
Created in 2022 to showcase my original designs and to share my screenprinting learning process with my friends and family, Guairol now has an online store where you can order handmade screen-printed t-shirts, tote bags and prints with your favorite designs.
Designers
Two designers make Guairol design possible, Guairol and JxRxJ. With unique styles yet always adding a playful element and frequently inspired by nature, both create their projects independently. While Guairol handles the entire screenprinting procedure, JxRxJ contributes with his amazing designs and crucial feedback on much of the completed work.
Screen printing
Always having been curious about different representation and printing techniques, and following a small flirtation with lithography that was cut short due to Covid-related restrictions, I was first introduced to screen printing while living in Austin, where I decided to take a course at the Contemporary Austin Art School at Laguna Gloria. Initially attracted to this technique because it allowed me to print some goofy designs on t-shirts and share them with friends and family, I decided to continue learning, and after some classes with the amazing teacher Amanda McInerney at ASPCO (Austin Screen Printing Cooperative), I decided to join the cooperative as a member and keep on developing my projects with the knowledge base I had gathered and with lots of trial-error.
Since then, the learning process has been constant, since every artist you meet has its tricks and strengths, and screen printing offers so much more play and creativity than I had ever anticipated. Currently, I work at the Microfactory, a shared atelier based in Brussels where I have decided to challenge myself by changing media, from textile to paper, so the learning process continues.
Screen Printing, silkscreen printing or serigraph
Screen printing, also known as silkscreen printing or serigraph, is a traditional technique that involves pushing ink through a mesh screen onto a substrate to produce printed images. To ensure that only the intended shapes designed are printed onto the surface, a stencil is employed, which renders specific areas of the screen resistant to the passage of ink.
The origins of screen printing are normally attributed to the Chinese during the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD), who are known to have used finely silk-woven meshes and block stencils to transfer intricate designs into fabric. however, they can be even traced back to the ancient Polynesians, who would force ink through holes cut into banana leaves to make prints.
Japan soon adopted the technique and improved it, and even if it was popular and extended in Asia, it didn’t make its way to Europe until the 18th century and it didn’t start to gain popularity until the 20th century, when the silk meshes were more available and later with the of the silk mesh for a polyester mesh.
From the 1960s, many artists started experimenting with the techniques and over the decades it has become the popular printing method that it is today.
Awesome people!
People make the place! and they also inspire and support artistic and silly projects! So Thank you to all the awesome people! to all my beautiful models who have sent me photos with my tees and totes.
This is probably the most rewarding part of printing my drawings! and certainly, one that I always have fun with!
So happy that you enjoy and like my work, and so grateful to have y’all!
Thank you!