This is Merry Christmas to Daniel, my friend who has just moved to a new posting in South Africa. An avid photographer, Daniel has already been to a number of game parks but hasn’t yet seen this elephant.
Also I wish all my readers a wonderful holiday, I thank all those who have participated in «View from the Zoo» and, finally, I’ll be back in January 2009!
Francois Chetcuti waited over ten years to see his paper toy project published. His first publisher in Germany went bankrupt in 1999 just before it was scheduled for production and the project was shelved until this year when H.F. Ullmann picked it up. Comprised of 8 superb toys to build yourself, the sturdy cardboard cards come packaged with a detailed instruction book in a beautiful tin box . The toys actually have moving parts and require a bit of patience to build. The difficulty levels and the estimated time required to complete each toy is indicated.
Francois is inspired by illustrators Tibor Gergely and Richard Scarry and the Little Golden Books series from the 1950s. He has been collecting vintage toys and children’s books for over 20 years. Francois Chetcuti lives in Lille, France. He has a website-game that shows his work as an illustrator and sculptor.
Audrey, my daughter who is still in Europe, sent me these lovely stamps as a birthday gift. Firstly, the very modern looking stamps from Luxembourg that celebrate their status as one of the European Capitals of Culture of 2007 and which displays the caribou or elk which was part of their logo. The other cheerful set hails from Ireland, illustrated by Steve Simpson, is a series of happy patchwork animals intended for greetings such as thank yous, love notes and congratulatory messages. Steve describes the very interesting design process on his website.
Ritzenhoff did a great job with my coffee cup design for their My Darling 2008 collection. This sunny lion is king of the Java Jungle in the morning with his brew. Notice how the cup and the packaging are related to form a complete character that looks really good in the store display. The challenge is not only to make the cup interesting on all sides but also to create a character that a coffee lover can relate to.
A bit of background
The design started out as a business card for a very small corner café (now closed unfortunately). The owner, Remo, is a Leo. I developed a number of lions in different café settings and this one was Remo’s favorite. It also became the poster for my first exhibition of animal art at the café called «Les rois animaux» (The Animal Kings). Later on I submitted a revised and adapted version to Ritzenhoff but I didn’t hear from them for quite awhile, and then, surprise, one morning they announced their intention to produce the cup for this season.
