Name: Daniel Rolnik
Age: 25
City/Town: Los Angeles, CA
Country: USA
Places, Travelled & Lived: Every state in the USA, Canada, Mexico, UK, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Japan, Australia and Israel
Loves: Art, underground culture, folktales and Los Angeles hamburgers
Teachers/Education: Ex’pression College for Digital Art
Occupation: Art critic
Creative Works: http://danielrolnik.com/
What would one find in the pages of your Paperblanks journal?
Daily to-do lists, doodles of impossible ideas, taped-in artifacts like leaves and business cards, private journalling pages and a pen lodged in the middle.
Do you have any personal philosophies you’ve come to develop about writing, art, creation or culture?
Write about what you can’t see in the photographs and try to make it entertaining.
Do you have any specific themes you refer to frequently?
No. I like to venture into every city I visit with an open mind and then let it totally envelop me. Then the art comes forward that no one else is talking about.
No matter what type of creative art you make, what or who first inspired you to make it an essential part of your life?
Nightmares. I had a lot of nightmares as a little boy and the only way to fight against them was to write down everything I was experiencing. I guess when you have to fight against yourself in order to sleep, it tends to progress your craft rather swiftly.
How did you find Paperblanks?
I was looking for a notebook that would make me feel like Indiana Jones when I picked it up, and Paperblanks were the only ones to do that for me. I started with the slim books that fit in your pocket and then progressed to the bigger ones when I had more that I wanted to say. I can’t write in any other style of notebook now.
What sets Paperblanks apart from other journals you’ve used?
Paperblanks already come loaded with what I call “funk” – an indescribable coolness. I also never have to worry about “blank page syndrome” with them because, if I’m stumped for words, I can make up stories about the cover of the notebook until it gets my creative fires broiling. Plus, I love that the covers of the books are textured. I don’t have to worry about scratching them up because scratches only add more character to the overall design.
Do you have a favourite Paperblanks design?
My favorite design is the Old Leather Foiled edition because it was the only one that my local bookstore stocked when I first started my addiction. I have a decent collection of completed notebooks in a variety of other designs like the Embellished Manuscripts featuring Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein, as well as French Ornate Vert.
Do you have any advice for other creative people?
Do it yourself and keep doing it without giving up.
