View from the Zoo

I put togther my birthday tea party invitation (it says «come and celebrate my
5(0) years with me») with animals that I had drawn recently. Except these guys thought they were posing for a five year old’s celebration - until my main monkey came in with the zeros that were missing. The design challenge : to find a look that was adult and masculine using funny animals. The party theme was inspired my my preschool mad hatter tea parties I had with my friends, complete with little dishes and tiny tea cups. However today, instead of water and crackers, there will be real cucumber sandwiches and homemade scones topped with whipped cream and jam. Yummy!

More great news! My designs are now available as greeting cards, business cards and stickers on moo.com, a dynamic young printing company based in London, England. You choose the designs you want, mine (preferably), someone else’s (I am in very good company) or even your own (your travel photos, for example), drop and crop them on the products you want and place your order.  I love the quality of their printing, their range of products and their choice of artists (besides me!). Even the packaging of the cards are neat.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the zoo, not only to observe the fauna but also to browse the gift shop. I discovered a line of Australian wooden toys called Anamalz and I had to get more than one! My wife got the alligator, I got the panda and my parents are going to get the lion and tiger for Christmas - let’s hope they don’t read this post! Winner of an Australian International Design Award this year and awarded the top three-star rating by the Canadian Toy Testing Council for 2008, these environmentally friendly animals are conceived «through sketch drawings while drinking coffee and eating cake in Torquay, a little seaside town in Australia famous for surfing and surfclothing (Quicksilver and Rip Curl).» says Tim Scott, co-founder and business development manager. «We take the sketches and put them into technical drawings. I go to the lathe and turn the shapes, and attach the legs and materials according to the design. We then engage Darren Keating (Lion King 2) to do the illustrations of the faces and paintwork.» «We» refers to Tim and Louise Scott (who is at the origin of the concept and is the lead designer). Made from FSC maple wood, water based paints and fabrics made from recycled materials the toys are now being distributed by Russ Berrie. Congratulations, Anamalz!

PS : I would love to work around coffee and cake on the beach! Where is Torquay, anyway?

I found Jeremy through his t-shirt website amorphia-apparel.com and his surreal animal designs thoroughly intrigued me. So I wrote him a few questions to satsify my curiosity and here the results, true to his form. Thanks, Jeremy!

Other Jeremy websites: wearscience.com and controversy.wearscience.com (T-shirts); jeremykalgreen.com (personal website); newstereotypes.blogspot.com (New Stereotypes to Teach your Kids, a satirical blog).

Q : Who is Jeremy?
A : I’m a professional slacker, former OSU photo student and general ne’er do well living and working out of beautiful Columbus, Ohio.

Q : What were you thinking about when you came up with the Angler and the Morningator designs?
A : I honestly have no idea what inspires me, and my designs often tend to be non-sequiturs. One day I was just pooping around at this or that when I heard a little singsong voice in my head chirping «mornin’ gator!», and the image of a grumpy alligator getting ready for a long day of gatoring with a cup of joe and his morning paper just popped into my head. Luckily, since I am my own boss and my overhead is virtually zero, I can just throw new ideas out there without trying to justify or rationalize them. And that was just one of those totally random ideas that apparently seems to connect with people.
    This last Valentine’s day I just wanted to offer a few different shirts with different tones, so I made a design I thought was cute but weird (octolove) one design that was a little more cryptic (gearheart) and one that was a bit more cynical (which was where the Angler design originated). Continue reading »