«Karkuteillä» (meaning «At Large») was created by Maija Louekari for Finnish textile company marimekko. I thoroughly enjoyed examining the elephant and then looking again, discovering the zebra wearing black boots! See more of Maija’s designs on her website and check out the new marimekko catalog online.
via grainedit
Gotta love Christine bubbles over with creativity, projects and ideas. She uses a lot of animals in her work and here are a few of my favorites. You can find her on any of her seven blogs, like Posters with the Mosters, miss communication and Pizza Doing Stuff. She loves pizzas, poetry and music.
Q : You seem to be overflowing with ideas and art and stuff. Seven blogs, no less! How do you do it?
A : Oh my gosh, I have 7 blogs?! Hahaha. I actually have around 12 but those are secret, secret blogs about very secret things. Hmm. I don’t know how I do it. It can be difficult updating everything all the time so I usually stay consistent with my lovechristine and dahgblahg blogs, the others when I get a chance or there are developments. But, I definitely have an abundant stream flooding my mind all the time of ideas/pictures/music/etc…. I also do so many things like play and write music ( many instruments), writing, paint, photography, fashion design, comics, speak and learn languages, etc…
Q : Did you go to art school?
A : I taught myself everything. I did go on and off to a couple of schools but I was too restless to stay for very long and I focused on language and english classes. The art classes I had, I usually just did my own thing. At a very early age I learned that if I wanted something, I’d have to teach myself how to do it or make it, and it just so happened that I was interested in a ton of things. When I was 22 I was the head designer of a fashion company! I didn’t go to school for it, but, when the opportunity came my way, I said yes and then spent a lot of time on google (haha), asking around, and reading a ton of books really quickly.
Q : Where do you get inspired?
A : By everything. I’m always looking, listening, smelling, feeling: sensing my world around me. I love watching people so that is probably why my work has a very human emotion to it even though I use animals and objects. Because I work in different areas of design (fashion, textile, web, etc.) I’m always bombarded with different things. But, I think, the most important is sticking to what inspires you ( not the trends) and what you are interested in, because that’s where you’ll see the truth of your work shining through.
Q: Do you like animals, and how come there are so many in your posters?
A: I guess I do love animals! I like drawing animals more than people because its just so funny finding ways to give them subtle facial expressions, humanizing them. I feel more free with animals and objects than with people, in their shapes and colors and the kind of abstract representation of us in them. Not only do posters make my art more public, I’m also working with design at the same time. I love typography, graphic design, and music so it’s just the perfect way to mash them all up together.
With this kind of energy, how can you not love Christine?
These minicards (printed at moo.com) are the seeds of my new upcoming licensing collection - a dozen jungle animals presented on bold color backgrounds. They make great impact on cards, stationary and tableware. Below is my business card dispenser, a clown espresso cup that I designed for Ritzenhoff. In the background you can see that «Bad Design Kills» zombie created by Velvet Moustache.
Gotcha! April’s Fool’s! I coudn’t wait to show off this fishy card from Eggpress, who are celebrating their 10th anniversary this year. I can feel the summer heat coming around the corner.