Born in Johannesburg in 1966 and raised in Vancouver, Charles van Sandwyk began selling his drawings and watercolors in the early 1980s.

In 1986, he won the Alcan Award for his limited edition book A Selection of Neighbourly Birds. The book, illustrated with etchings printed on an antique intaglio press, was his first venture into the world of handmade books.

Since then, Van Sandwyk has created a number of limited edition books. His charming private press books pair animal characters with whimsical verses.

Van Sandwyk’s style is inspired by the paintings and prints that hung in his family home. He splits his time between Vancouver and Fiji, and his enthusiasm for the natural world is clearly evident in his books.

Collectors have come to love van Sandwyk’s limited edition books for their beauty, simplicity, and vibrance. Some of van Sandwyk’s paintings hang in the National Library of Canada, as well as in several important private collections.

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
I believe creativity is something we each possess. Even animals possess creativity. The creative surge often rises when faced with a challenge. Here is an example: the four of us who work together at CVS Fine Arts were not cut out at all for the modern world - but we were cut out for the real world - the world of delight, the world of kindnesses; the world of old -style beauty; the world of poetry and elegance. The only option for us was to make it work. So we made a nest for ourselves to create beauty, hoping we could spread the word if we found people kind enough to lend an ear.

My challenge has always been to exist in spite of, and make my way through all the disgusting nonsense of politics, mindless ownership and societal demands without blowing my brains out. Creativity is never taking no for an answer.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
My studio in Fiji is where I find my best creative inspiration - somewhere I can get away from it all. I create best in nature, away from the clamorous inelegance of modern life.

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
It is hard to say… Some days it seems that I knew more then than I do now. I suppose the fact that ones early work has an innocence which, over time, fades and cannot be repeated, is something I wish I knew all along. Innocence cannot really be replaced by a mature, more practiced technique. Here’s another thought in hind sight: No matter how much you train yourself to emulate the skills of others, if you are after some sense of meaning in your work, then your true character will shine through regardless of how hard you are trying to copy someone else.

Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings?
Does this have to be someone local? If not then I would choose Wes Anderson who directed the movie called THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. I also think that Neill Blomkamp the director of District Nine would be interesting.

What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever done?
The craziest thing I ever did was also the most sensible: I lived for ten years in a little grass hut on an island in Fiji, learning to spear fish and grow vegetables. Subsistence living is poetic in its own way - it allows everything else in life to make proper sense of itself.

What fact about you would surprise people?
I think it may surprise people to know I am the world’s laziest workaholic. I go through protracted periods of guilt-ridden indolence, followed by tireless spurts of productivity. I am incapable of a daily 9-5 routine. The indolence is actually a thin disguise for thinking things through - there are no less than ten different stories bubbling away in my brain at any given time and it is just a matter of which one to pursue to it’s conclusion first.