Last Wednesday 10 May we interviewed Chucho Nieto, the graphic designer who ran the graffiti workshop during the Teaching, Learning, Training activity held in Valladolid,Spain .
Here is what he told us about his beginnings as an artist and as an entrepreneur as well as his goals for the future.
Chucho did not have clear goals when he was young but at the age of 18 he decided to study graphic design and fortunately he had his parents´support.
At that moment graphic design was not considered an official degree so he had to go to a private university, which was really expensive as the tuition fees were 5000 euros per year.
After three years studying he decided to move to the UK, to be more precise to the north as living there was much cheaper than in the south. There being a graphic designer was considered a good profession, whereas in Spain at that time it was not. Chucho spent 5 years and a half in that country and managed to set up a studio and make things work. The beginnings were not easy as he was not good at English but people liked his job so he succeeded in finding some good clients and earning his living.
He returned to Valladolid a year and a half ago and now he is planning to set up his own studio. He is self-employed as he prefers to work on his own rather than for somebody else. Becoming an entrepreneur is not difficult, in his view, the only thing you need in this job is being curious and putting a lot of effort in everything you do. It has got a great deal of good things such as the fact you can do what you want, you can travel a lot and meet new people. However, you do not earn a lot of money so it is difficult to earn a living and settle down. People also think artists are lazy and they are not. He works 14 hours a day.
He told us that he had enjoyed running the graffiti workshop during the Erasmus + meeting in Valladolid and he loved the idea of meeting so many countries at the same time with a different perspective of art. He posted those moments in his Instagram account: