Marcelo Guidoli: Did you study illustration? Do you have a formal artistic education?

Burda: I’ve been drawing since forever. I’m an only child and remember that when I was five or six my mom used to take me with her whenever she had to run errands, so I always found a corner to sit and draw in my little sketchbook until she was done. I drew all the time, although I went through a typical teenage “rebellious” period in which I didn’t touch a pencil. When it comes to drawing, my formal education started right after I served in the army; I started taking painting classes and enrolled in a graphic design course. I had to choose between that path and architecture. I chose architecture. That’s when I truly started learning about perspective, to understand space, to acknowledge my surroundings and to “read” the city.

I began to fine tune my observational skills, to collect details and look upwards, where I really could appreciate the city as a whole. When most people walk, their vision is limited to the horizon line; they seldom look up. Up there I find details like statues carrying the weight of the facades, gargoyles, domes, etc. All of this contributes to the content that informs my illustration work. It’s wonderful to be able to appreciate history as told by an old building. You just have to look up.