Tomáš Břínek aka TMBK joined forces with the fans: After a long time I can stand behind something one hundred percent – Seznam Správy

How did the whole concept come about and why did TMBK involve their fans in it?

I am extremely satisfied with it. It is a fact that after a long time I can stand behind something one hundred percent. I’m excited about it myself, which hasn’t happened to me in a really long time. So good for me.

What was the reaction of the fans when you challenged them? What messages have come together? For example, it appeared on the cover: All you need is love, You will be somewhere a lot… What were people sending?

I also came up with a lot of things that couldn’t be published… Because you have to count on the fact that the beer will be on the shelf somewhere, so you can’t put some obscene shouts or maybe political things there.

So it had to be corrected somehow?

There was some selection, but on the other hand, a lot of things came together that I find really good and interesting.

It looks like someone wrote it by hand. Different font, different images appear there. So you took the ideas authentically from the fans?

At first I wanted to rewrite it, but then I thought that the authenticity would be much better. It’s just that people write it on a piece of paper, take a picture, and I convert it into digital form. And then it’s printed on the cover. Well, as a result, it looks like this. I tried to put it together somehow.

Does it all have a unifying thread?

I thought for a long time about what to put there. Because I was only given an assignment: come up with your own design. Originally, I was thinking of putting something of my own in there. And it really took me an awfully long time to repeatedly put something there that I made myself. But I wasn’t satisfied. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t it and that it wasn’t quite working. Only when I was pressed for time, thank God, I came up with this thing.

It’s nice how you say that you were already pressed for time. So you said to yourself: I have nothing, I will address the fans?

Actually it was. In general, I sometimes have a problem with deadlines.

And what kind of beer is it? What does it taste like?

But you have been cooperating with Budvar for a long time. It is so?

Second year already. Before that, we did a summer limited edition together, it was called Kraťas. (TMBK then became the ambassador of the summer limited edition, which the national brewery brewed in 2022 in cooperation with the Volt microbrewery.)

What does the Budvar brand enjoy? What makes her interesting? Did they just come and give enough money?

I think the collaboration works great, we sat down personally and professionally. They don’t limit me in anything, which is very important for my work. When someone asks you for cooperation and then gives you a thousand mantinelas, then logically you are not exactly enthusiastic about it. But that’s not the case here. I got complete creative freedom from Budvar, which is very important to me.

You have already published a book, or illustrated a book and an exhibition. What are you planning next?

Well, I did a lot of exhibitions, one of them was a big one. I plan to publish another book, it will be for Christmas this year. Then I am preparing another big exhibition during the next year, it will be a bit more demanding to prepare. And I will also have an exhibition in Paris at the Czech House.

What will the new book be? Pictorial?

Will the exhibition here be similar to last time, i.e. like Czechoslovakia? And what are you planning to do in Paris?

There will be some things in Paris so that even the French people can understand it. So he won’t be there Joan of Arc – the French are quite squeamish about this subject, she is their national heroine – or Putintin. And the Czech exhibition, there will be such a mishmash again, it will probably be very much oriented to current events, which is the war.

You are an influencer, you also work with brands, in this case with Budvar. How do you approach it and how do you think about this commercial part of your work?

Exactly the same as the other one, the non-commercial one. It’s actually like I said that if someone wants commercial cooperation from me, it must also work on the level of how I think and what I do. So that it somehow fits together, so that it simply works.

So you wouldn’t do anything commercially?

I definitely wouldn’t wave some lipsticks on camera, as they are great. Honestly, I think a lot before I take something.

So do you ever refuse to cooperate?

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