my story

Awakening the Artist Within:
A Tech Professional’s Journey

My journey began in 2021, as the world “paused” in the wake of COVID. The sudden loss of a family member was a stark awakening. I realized life is short—and that a childhood dream was still waiting to be lived. Before entering the IT field, I wanted to be an artist. At eight, I taught myself to draw portraits; at nine, I created cartoon characters as paper dolls and practiced lettering and calligraphy. I didn’t play—drawing and crafting were my play. But after starting Computer Engineering, I set drawing and crafting aside and entered the corporate battles of an IT career. During this time, as the world was healing from COVID, I discovered the Academy of Creation and Design in Munich, where the creative child in me was freed again.

I took a four-month sabbatical from corporate IT to participate in Erasmus+ and the Walz program of the Association of the Black Art—a traditional craftsman’s journey. Working in leading European ateliers and printing museums, I explored movable type, intaglio, hand-algrafie and textile printing while experiencing the daily rhythm of an artisan’s life in contrast to my corporate routine.

The Walz led me through remarkable stations: from the mechanical precision of metal typesetting in Dachau to the cultural fusion of a Baybayin leporello in Hilversum. Dresden revealed the methodical world of aquatint and hand-algrafie, while Switzerland’s Typorama opened its living archive of possibilities. In Finland, Rykkeri’s 20-meter traditional hand screen-printing facility added to this foundational journey. Each destination contributed essential elements to my artistic and artisanal base.

Now, with these experiences from different stations, I continue to navigate between two worlds—the structured realm of IT and the tactile domain of traditional craft. My creative journey evolves alongside my professional life, proving one needn’t choose between technology and artistry. What began as a step toward fulfilling a long-held dream has become a deeper calling: to preserve time-honored techniques, bridge different worlds of making, keep the Black Art alive, and help revive our pre-colonial script, Baybayin.

This ongoing exploration shows how traditional crafts can coexist with—and enrich—a contemporary digital career.