Text by Sigita Rudaitytė
It was a special day. The one, which reminded us what the sun, warm wind and crowded streets full of people going just for a walk means. Everybody was relaxed and amazed by such an early beginning of a new season. ‘It is finally spring!’ I heard somebody shouting in the tube, on the train that took me to the Earls Court station. Tadas Vidmantas was the artist who I was going to meet there. Tadas was a person from a Lithuanian town of seven thousand citizens and managed to reach one of the leading advertising companies in the world.
Early evening was the time, when I recognized this guy with a smile on his face coming towards me, waiting in a busy street near Costa in his local area. This café was the place where I had an interesting conversation with him.
‘Two medium lattes, please’ was the beginning of our journey. ‘I am a lucky person,’ he smiled and his story began.
‘Everything started when my father asked me to sketch a table. Even though my drawing was of a difficult shape to make, it was ready in a month. It looked exactly the same as the one in my sketch, wry and uneven…’ It inspired Tadas and let him realize that it was possible to create things. That gave the start to the beginning of graphic design, which he studied at Vilnius Academy of Arts straight after finishing school in Sirvintos.
Since the time when Tadas started studies his life changed sharply. ‘Vilnius was like my dream city,’ he began, and while living in this capital city with a bunch of other students this artistic person managed to achieve a lot and made a good start for his career. He began creating short, pointed and ironic films.
‘Somebody will definitely notice you, if you do things you like the most,’ he continued and told the story that took us back a couple years to his life in Vilnius.
Film ‘Apple of life’
Within a couple of years after his graduation he moved to London. ‘Firstly, I felt similarly as when I moved from Sirvintos to Vilnius,’ he laughed.’ I moved to London at the end of 2010 but I still feel a bit of a stranger here.’ After Tadas said so, the first idea that struck me was that Tadas moved here because of the job in M&C Saatchi, but I was wrong. Furthermore, when I asked if it was hard to get it and how he succeeded in reaching it, his answer was unexpected. ‘No, not at all,’ Tadas replied. ‘Once I was asked to help with a few advertising ideas by a guy who worked for Saatchi. So we met in the same Costa as we are sitting now and we brainstormed. It worked well,’ and with a smile on his face he continued ‘and later he managed to convince his boss that he needed a partner, so I was invited to come for an interview. That’s it.’ But after I asked about his current job and career there he said ‘I don’t work there anymore, they offered me a place after a trial period, but I rejected it. I didn’t like what they wanted from me, how I felt there. It’s not for me,’ he finished. I won’t lie, I was surprised, and when I mentioned that ‘so many people dream about this job and you have rejected it,’ he uttered his idea that inspired me the most. ‘It means so many people think in the wrong way, you don’t have to dream about working for somebody’s Saatchi, you have to desire for your own Saatchi,’ and that’s how we ended this topic.
Our medium lattes got cold, and after saying goodbye I was sitting on the same train, just this time I was going home inspired and with a smile on my face. I realized that this ambitious freelance artist has big viable future plans and works for his own good. He is not afraid and seeks his fortune working on short term projects. He never regrets anything and takes everything he can from life. He enjoys living, as we all should do.
More works here.
If you dear