You Power in Japan has just launched their Fall catalogue this week. They have selected images from the Animal Kings, Kid Zoo and Modern Ark collections to create photo frames, photo albums, blackboards, wall art and cute little glass plates. Thanks to my agent, SCT, for being the matchmaker!
Once again, Ritzenhoff gave me a bear project. This time the brief was to customize a ceramic piggybank in the shape of a bear. I chose several approaches and this cool urban girl was picked. She’s dressed in jeans and a hoodie covered with hearts. All the Teddybanks come in this very fancy gift box that turns like a carousel to open. In the background you can see one of the eggcups (a robot) and a teacup (with bees) that I also designed for Ritzenhoff in the past.
«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
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.
