Rop van Mierlo

           Amsterdam-based designer and illustrator Rop studied at Design Academy Eindhoven, graduating back in 2008. Collaborating with major names across fashion, culture and music, Rop’s playful and peculiar works take many forms – ranging from paintings to mohair wall hangings, hand-tufted wool rugs and trippy animations but the process starts mostly with drawing or painting.

           Control – or the absence of it – is an important and intriguing part of his work. The artist often makes animals his muse but his work is less about the creatures and more about a free-spirited process. Rop's signature technique is wet-on-wet painting, which involves using liquid watercolor on paper or board that has been wetted with a sponge, resulting in an unpredictable final product. This untameable process allows the artwork to take its own form, resulting in mesmerizing images. In 2020 he launched ‘Wild Animals (W.A.)’, a product label based on his free-spirited series.