Alexander Holzach – an artistic adventurer
Even as a child the Munich cartoonist Alexander Holzach, also known by the pseudonym ZANDER, spent much of his time doing just one thing - drawing. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that his dream job was decided early on. His aim, like his father – also a well-known artist – was to conquer the world with a pencil in his hand. His first steps in this direction were with Bavarian Radio. There, at the tender age of 16, he was given the opportunity to develop a series of cartoons.
At the age of 21, Alexander Holzach moved away from Germany. Inspired by his late uncle, Michael Holzach, who travelled the length and breadth of his affluent homeland on foot and without a penny in his pocket, to then write his contemplative book “Deutschland umsonst”, which took the bestseller lists by storm, he repaired to Australia. Also totally penniless at the beginning, Alexander Holzach experienced how it is to get by with odd jobs and no fixed place to sleep. Thanks to his drawing talent, however, he soon managed to find work for well-known publishers of greetings cards.
“By now,“ relates Alexander Holzach, “there must have been about a million greetings cards with my motifs sold.”
After a year “down under” he spent time in other places such as New York, Rio de Janeiro and Las Vegas – a place that Alexander Holzach finds fascinating and repeatedly visits, not least to keep up his publishing contacts there.
Next stop - two years in Majorca. On the Balearic island Alexander Holzach drew cartoons for diverse German print media (including Handelsblatt, HÖRZU, Bella, etc.). Some managers who were perfectly torn off a strip in his caricatures were so impressed by his work that they requested the original and hung it over their desk.
Back in Munich Alexander Holzach’s illustrious characters – including the droll cuddly tiger, the cheeky rabbit NIC and the impudent sheep Jan – became mega-sellers in the mobile phone sector. In the form of mobile phone logos or MMS greetings cards his characters have long been familiar to millions. For some time now they have also found another home in classical merchandising: in the form of puzzles, gift books, bedclothes, stickers, greetings cards, cuddly toys, magnets, cups, calendars, etc. – his unmistakable characters have a presence everywhere.
“The cuddly tiger,” says Alexander Holzach, “developed out of the idea to create a creature that would immediately capture the heart of the beholder.” Looking at the well-known puzzle from Ravensburger he clearly managed to achieve his aim, with a real love for detail.
Alexander Holzach, born in 1963, now lives and works in Munich. Since 2006 his artistic work has been represented by Licensegateway Ltd., Cologne & Wales, as licensor, and the lizenzhaus.de agency in Munich.
