Brief encounter
Enrique Tabone talks to Marie Benoit about her art and her design studio
Enriqué Tabone studied art and design at MCAST. She is an artist as well as a designer at QUE, her own company. Last year she opened her official design studio and she will soon be launching her business online with new designs. She admitted that she is finding it all very exciting.
Until recently she used to manage Malta’s sales for an internationally renowned brand. She also worked in a bookshop and considers this to have been one of the most satisfying experiences, since she is a book lover.
Another experience which taught her how to live a joyful life is when she undertook a road trip with her life friend Bernice. This taught them how to live with almost nothing, “where your backpack is your home.” Happiness, she comments, is what you carry in you and not with you. This trip influenced and indeed, brought a big change to her lifestyle and she finds that it also effects her art.
She believes in helping others and is a member of the Grace Foundation which helps the missions in India and Africa and sponsors the education of needy children.
Her art is driven by experimentation with a wide range of materials and media. The artist sees herself in constant dialogue with her work. She intervenes in the material, developing an understanding of what it can do and the forms to which it may be applied. Her work seeks to create an experience, inviting people to interact with art and invites them to engage with the narrative elements of her work by bringing in their own stories.
Enriqué Tabone’s art works have appeared at several events and venues, including BirguFest 2014 in collaboration with Valletta 2018 Foundation, Notte Bianca (2008), the Earth Garden Festival (2008, 2009, 2011), the launch of Splendid Lounge (2011) and Deception, a collective exhibition of contemporary women artists at Lascaris Wharf (2010). Her work, Red Leaf, is a permanent seating sculpture at the Verdala Sculpture Garden in Buskett.
Tabone also produces design work, including wearable art, clothing and home products, such as a Flutter Colander, under her brand name QUE.
Her most recent piece OM is featured in Mara – Perspettivi, a collective exhibition and series of events she cocurated which is taking place at Palazzo Pereira, Republic Street, Valletta during the course of this month.
I have one brother, Ayrton. I love eating peas. When I have some time to spare I enjoy driving my small boat. It is a luxury one can experience when living on an island.
My favourite holiday destination is France.
One living person I admire is my grandmother. She taught me that nothing is impossible, we cannot control happiness but we can always be positive in life. A character in fiction I like very much is Corto Maltese. If I could change one thing about myself it would be... well, nothing really, I am who I am.
The writers I like best are Chuck Palahniuk and Immanuel Mifsud. It is a difficult question since there are others. But the list would be too long.
My dream job is the one I have: running my business QUE.
My kind of music is the one I listen to in good company.
If I won the lottery I would check to see who actually bought the ticket. I do not play lotteries. I work.
My motto: email me at info@que.com.mt