Alexandre Torres
"When I was a kid, I always carried a sketchbook, which for me was the equivalent of the computer that everyone else would have grown up with. In fact, it wasn’t until I was 15 years old before I even had a chance to see what a computer really looked like, let alone play with one."
"I guess my creative starting point has to be drawing. I would pretty much just sit down and draw anything and everything that came into my mind. So I did have some creative capability at that age, but I would never say that I was all that great. There was this moment though when I realized that I could do something with this gift and I wasn’t going to have to spend the rest of my life working with horses and cows."
"I guess my journey was always going to be very different to most kids my age in our community. In that part of Brazil, it can be a very harsh environment where everyone has to be creative in some way just to be able to survive. So everyone was pretty resourceful from where I come from. However, being able to draw did make me the artistic aberration in our family."
"I was very fortunate growing up, because my extended family would always give me gifts. They knew that I had an inclination towards art, so my aunts and uncles would always give me art books and magazines for inspiration. I am so glad they did, and I had this chance to be exposed to so many beautiful things back then, because I really was growing up in a remote part of the world. I would pretty much absorb everything and anything that was put in front of me, and I suppose that ability has remained with me all of my life."
"I started my education in mechanical engineering, where I was first introduced to some pretty advanced computer tools, such as 3D CAD. That moment opened so many doors and opportunities for me, and they were to forever change my life. After a short while, I really felt that I wanted to advance these skills, so naturally animation was the next step for me. It all came together when I started to play with a bunch of experimentations from which I was able to develop a small portfolio of work. Once I had a portfolio, I then started submitting my work all over the place until finally a company in Rio offered me a position."
"Where I come from, there is a lot of steel industry nearby, so my first goal in life was to work for the largest steel company in Brazil. Well that soon changed with me going off to Rio to become an animator. When I arrived in Rio, oh my gosh, that was like walking through the gates of heaven. You can’t imagine what that was like, given where I had just come from. I had just come from being surrounded by farm animals to now being in a city full of people by the ocean."
"The people of Rio are quite inspiring, and that place opened so many opportunities for me. Suddenly, I could go to museums and art galleries – all of the things I had dreamt about as a kid. I dedicated a lot of my time exploring the city so as to get a little of its sophistication into my own character. It is such an amazing place full of beautiful architecture that I suddenly felt that this was a place where I had always belonged."
"For the seven years that I lived in Rio, I was again very fortunate to work alongside so many talented people, all of whom I had a huge admiration for. Among those people was the well-known creative director, Nando Costa, who is so super talented. It was such and amazing experience working with him, as he helped frame my creative view of the world. Those experiences definitely defined who I have become today."
"After a while, I fast became saturated by everything I could absorb in Rio. I wanted more and I knew Rio couldn’t offer me the sort of creative opportunities I wanted for myself. For all of things I wanted to do, the levels of sophistication in my home market started to place barriers around me. So I started to email my work all over the place and that is how I came to be in touch with a whole load of American companies who loved my work. That’s pretty much how I branched out into doing international work."
"That’s also how Chris Bahry and I first came in contact, when he was working for NAKD in Toronto. Together we created an experimental piece called ‘Box’ which won us a Cannes Nomination and a Saatchi’s Young Director’s Award. From that time on, we have in one way or another been a creative partnership ever since."
"I first came to Toronto to work with Chris at NAKD. When I got here, it was already winter, so it was a truly terrible way of being introduced to Canada. But working with Chris was like a meeting of the minds; we work so well together under pressure that we knew there was something unique there."
"I must say coming to Canada from Brazil wasn’t all that hard in some ways. In Brazil we see the world through very European eyes, so it was a pretty easy transition for me. What I immediately found with Canadians was their exceptional love for anything to do with art and creativity. Because of their love of the arts, this place suddenly felt like home for me, and I felt that I truly belonged here."
"Coming from a rural region in Brazil to Rio, and then onto Toronto has been full of new experiences. I try to take all of that energy for living new experiences and apply it to my life everyday."
"When I come to work each day, it is not about doing ads; it’s about another one of life’s experiences. For me it is about bringing all of my energy in a way that connects with people. We have an abundance of that energy and passion in our studio at Tendril. Everybody here has the same love of creating a new experience that will bond people and bring them together. It really is all about how things can emerge from that energy. The energy we have here at Tendril is amazing and so inspiring. My whole life, I guess, is just this amazing experience, and creativity is the way that I can express those experiences."
"Tendril is all about working among friends who are super talented. It’s not just being around great artists. Here we all share the same ideal in life, and I think that is very rare. Everyone here is so grateful that everyday we get to come to the studio to just play and have fun. For me, it is so hard to put a price on something like that; it really is priceless."
"Over the years we have had people come to us and remark on the breadth of our work, but they say it is hard for them to pinpoint one specific direction that we are going for. Chris and I have been debating on that for almost four years now. But then we don’t want to dictate anything like that. We don’t want to have a set direction for the studio. We want to invite people to work with us and contribute whatever they want, whether it’s super polished photorealistic or more stylistic, it doesn't matter. Everybody’s talents ultimately provide that direction for us. You put the right people together and it is pretty amazing how it just feeds off itself."