Eduardo Recife x Vault Editions: Artist Interview
Eduardo Recife is a Brazilian artist, illustrator, and typographer whose work blurs the boundaries between analog and digital, memory and imagination. Known for his layered collages filled with vintage imagery, handwritten text, and fragments of type, Recife creates visual worlds that feel at once nostalgic and deeply personal. His multidisciplinary practice extends to typography and digital tools, with over 25 typefaces and a series of Photoshop resources that have influenced artists and designers worldwide. In this conversation, we discuss his creative process, his relationship with texture and typography, and the rich visual language he has created.
'Divine Whispers' (2025), by Eduardo Recife
1. Hello Eduardo, you’re an artist, illustrator, and typographer whose work spans multiple media. How did your multidisciplinary practice evolve? Did you begin in one area and move into others, or have you always worked across different techniques from the start?
I started back in 1997, creating typefaces. The whole grunge movement was a big part of my life then, and those distressed digital typefaces really got to me. To showcase the fonts, I began creating collages to go along with them, and a new passion was born. I’d always been drawing since I was a child, so I naturally started adding doodles and pencil marks into the work. Experimentation and trial and error were always at the heart of it.
'Let Your Heart Guide You' (2017), by Eduardo Recife
2. Your collages are full of layered textures, handwritten text, and fragments of typography — each piece feels like a conversation between image and language. How do you decide when a composition feels complete?
Because collage artists often use magazines and books as their source, typography naturally finds its way in. It’s just there, and it adds to the rawness and rhythm of the piece. I usually know a work is done when it simply feels right; if I keep adding to it, I might ruin it. It’s a very intuitive process. Some pieces stay unfinished for long periods until the right solution finally shows up.
'The Whole' (2018), by Eduardo Recife
3. When it comes to your collage materials, do you hunt for specific images and textures, or is it more instinctive — collecting things that catch your eye? And where do you usually find them?
I love everything that is vintage. I think things were way more interesting some years/centuries ago. It has a particular look, peculiar colors, stains, and overall aesthetics that really speak to me. I collect a lot: boxes and boxes of old magazines, books, photos, paper cuts, lithographs, you name it. Some I’ll probably never use, but they’re just too beautiful to leave behind. I usually find most of these materials while traveling; flea markets are a collage artist’s paradise. I’m also lucky that friends sometimes give me what they consider old junk, but for me, it can be a treasure.
'Burn' from Collage Series Pt.3 by Eduardo Recife
4. You’ve designed over 25 typefaces, and typography clearly plays a big role in your collage work. What draws you to type design, and how does it influence the way you build and tell stories through images?
So many things draw me to typography; First, its strong, distinct shapes, weights, and styles. The same word in different typefaces can carry completely different meanings. Type has a life of its own; it reinforces what words are trying to express. I’m also fascinated by how type ages in the real world. I used to study old street signs, walls, and hand-painted letters, trying to understand how time and weather changed them, and I’d try to recreate that in my studio. Vernacular type in Brazil also had a huge influence on me. There’s something beautiful and naïve about those hand-painted signs, and I’ve always carried that into my work.
'Thousands' (2025) by Eduardo Recife
5. In your analog books, you work with paper, scissors, and glue alongside your digital practice. How do you balance that tactile process with the precision of digital tools, and what does one give you that the other can’t?
It’s incredible how much working analog influences my digital work and vice versa. I often try to mimic the organic look of analog collage in my digital work. When working analog, mistakes and textures more often than not happen naturally, while when working digitally, you have to plan how these “mistakes” and textures are going to manifest.
The biggest advantage of digital work is the ability to resize, manipulate, and undo things. If it weren’t for that, I’d probably work only analog.
The biggest advantage of digital work is the ability to resize, manipulate, and undo things. If it weren’t for that, I’d probably work only analog.
'Mixed Media 03' by Eduardo Recife
6. Can you talk us through how you create a piece like your work ‘No Surprises’?
‘No Surprises’ actually started as an analog collage. I cut some star-like shapes by hand, planning to glue them into one of my collage books. But before I did, I scanned them, and one thing led to another. I started playing with it digitally, without a concept in mind. Then I happened to be listening to Radiohead, and the song “No Surprises” came on. Suddenly, the piece had a direction. The veil behind the horse, the pieces of cloth that were meant to hide but don’t, the cut-out letter “S,” everything started to connect around that feeling.
'No Surprises' (2025) by Eduardo Recife
7. You designed the cover for Sepultura’s Sepulquarta, an album born during the pandemic. The artwork’s image of a dead bird feeding new life feels both haunting and hopeful. It symbolises how adversity can lead to renewal, a theme that also echoes Brazil’s recent environmental crises, from the Brumadinho dam collapse to the Amazon fires. Despite these challenges, the album carries a message of resilience and hope. What did this project mean to you personally?
This project was really special to me. First, because Sepultura is an amazing band that was part of my youth, it was a real honor to create an album cover for them. And also because the pandemic was such a heavy, painful time for everyone. When I spoke with the band and heard the story behind the album, I tried to condense everything we were living through in Brazil at that moment, the chaos, the loss, but also the hope of rebirth. It will definitely be a project that I’ll remember dearly over the years.
Sepultura - 'Sepulquarta' (2021) by Eduardo Recife8. Many of your works seem to carry hidden narratives or emotional undercurrents. Do you start with a story or a narrative in mind, or does meaning emerge through the process?
Most of the time, I start with a concept or idea in mind. It’s definitely a harder process, but I think it pays off; everything connects better, and the intent becomes clearer. So I usually create works that are in sync with what is running through my head at the moment, be it life, or a book or thoughts that are eager to be cathartically manifested. But I also enjoy working more intuitively and freely, it’s more spontaneous and it flows easier.
'Mixed Media 02' by Eduardo Recife
9. What advice would you give to artists who want to explore collage and digital texture in their own work?
The best advice is simply to practice and experiment. Without practice, there’s no progress and no personal discovery. But beyond that, study art, not just theory, but visual reference. It doesn’t have to be collage; it can be anything visual. Study color, composition, contrast, storytelling, and technique. Most of what I learned came from trying to understand how other artists, or even nature, created certain effects, or why certain colors worked so well together. I can spend hours analyzing a single image I love.
'The Garden (2020)' by Eduardo Recife
10. Finally, is there a book (art-related or otherwise!) that’s had a lasting impact on you or your creative process?
'The Garden (2020)' by Eduardo Recife
10. Finally, is there a book (art-related or otherwise!) that’s had a lasting impact on you or your creative process?
So many books have impacted me that it’s hard to choose. But two in particular stayed with me, even though I can’t recall their titles. When I was first starting out in collage, I found a DADA book filled with works by Kurt Schwitters, Hannah Höch, and Max Ernst. I couldn’t afford it at the time, but I remember going back to the bookstore over and over just to look at it.
The other was a big design book full of projects from different agencies, and it was the first time I saw the work of Charles Wilkin. His collages were raw, fresh, and weird in the best way. He probably inspired me more than anyone else back then, and he’s still an amazing collage artist worth checking out.
'The Surrender Of Cupid' (2019) by Eduardo Recife
'The Surrender Of Cupid' (2019) by Eduardo Recife
