Durban designer crafts winning expression
Morningside resident Hylton Warburton beat hopefuls from around the country with his winning design.
DURBAN designer Hylton Warburton beat top designers from around the country in a competition celebrating urban street culture.
In the spirit of celebrating urban street culture, Russian Bear Vodka commissioned ten specially selected artists and designers from across South Africa to participate in a design challenge. Under the theme Urban Expressions, the artists were encouraged to represent their understanding and influence of urban culture, using black-coated Russian Bear bottles as their canvas. The bottle designs were shared with the public so that they could vote for their favourite and the winner. Warburton’s winning design will be printed on a selected number of limited edition Russian Bear Vodka bottles.
“When Russian phoned me and asked me if I wanted to take part in the competition. It sounded liked a great opportunity to do something creative, and get involved in a national design competition, so I accepted,” says Warburton. Warburton says that his bottle design was inspired by the rich and diverse urban nightlife of our cities. “I imagined a big street party, with people coming together from different backgrounds, cultures and languages, celebrating our country and cities together. I imagined musicians, artists, young people, old people all expressing themselves in a unified beat or rhythm that beats throughout the city, and I tried to express this through my design,” Warburton explains.
Warburton works methodically. He started by jotting down ideas and once he settled on an idea, mapped out the areas of the bottle he wanted to work on, drew up a template, sketched out a rough illustration, and then developed the illustration further until he had his final illustration. “I then did some test prints of my artwork on different types of vinyl and, once I was happy with one, I applied the final application,” says Warburton.
To help get the creative juices flowing, Warburton listens to music while he works. “I find it gets me focused and gets my brain working. Sometimes I’ll look around to see what other designers are doing, and that sparks inspiration. Other times I’ll make mind-maps, write down ideas and words until something sticks,” says Warburton.
Always a creative person, Warburton says that he grew up drawing on everything. “I’m obsessed with anything related to art, design, music, movies and more specifically stop-motion movies. I’ve always loved it, and I couldn’t see myself doing anything else,” says Warburton who is a Design Director at a well known local design agency and also freelances as an illustrator for local and international clients.
To Warburton, Durban’s urban culture is like a big pot with all our different cultures, backgrounds, and interests, mixed together to create a vibrant, rich and colourful community we live in. “I’ve always loved Durban’s laid-back, unpretencious vibe. It has its own pace. I like that. I also love our coastal climate and being by the sea,” says Warburton who says that he spends most of his time in the Musgrave/Berea area. “We’ve got a lot of great restaurants and coffee shops around here. Mooki Noodles, Unity and Factory Cafe to name a few. I also love to go to the beach and swim, go for a skate or just hang out,” he says.
