When we were briefed by Zhané Warren, from Warren Editions, to redesign the CI for her  business, we were thrilled to get involved as the whole printmaking process is dear to our hearts.

 Collaboration has always played an important role at Warren Editions, the artist and the printmaker working together in equal part to produce the work.

 Our aim with the logo was to highlight this relationship.  The letters “W” and “E” fused into one entity.  The overall tone of the design is clean and simple, maintaining the focus on each artist’s work.

 After five exciting years of printing and publishing fine art prints, Cape Town based intaglio printmaking studio Warren Editions is launching its own project space: Warren Editions Projects. The space, which will act as a platform for studio print collaborations, opens with the exhibition 5 Years in Print 2008-2012.

 As a journey in print the show tracks something of the studio’s evolution, from its inception in January 2008 and it’s first artist collaboration with Hentie van der Merwe, to its most recent interactions with artists like Christian Nerf and Marlise Keith. With artists having engaged with monotype, etching and picture books, the exhibition includes works by: Am I Collective, Sanell Aggenbach, Hanneke Benadé, Tom Cullberg, Jean de Wet, Georgina Gratrix, Liza Grobler, Ruan Hoffmann, Anton Kannemeyer, Marlise Keith, Jordan Metcalf, Brett Murray, Christian Nerf, Julia Rosa Clark, Michael Taylor, Elise Wessels, Hentie van der Merwe and Ina van Zyl

 The exhibition opened on Saturday the 16th March at 11:00, and runs until the 11th May.

 Walk About on 26 March at 11:00

 Hours: Monday to Friday, 10:00 to 17:30 & Saturday 10:00 to 14:00

 Third floor | 62 Roeland Street | Cape Town

Tanked: 13th December 2012

An exhibition of Petrol Tank Illustrations. 

Ruan, creative director at Am I Collective, is an enthusiast of cafe races, and as a collective the team thought that the tank of a bike would make an exceptionally stirring canvas, fitting in well with the Am I Collective (wild child) aesthetic.

The event was held at Fury Custom Bike Shop, no.3 Beach Rd Woodstock, Cape Town. Sixteen tanks in total were designed and illustrated by our team whom delivered a truly wide variety of concepts and executions!  From hard metal thrash to a fishtank tank, imaginations were set alight!

We received quite the turnout from nerdy geeks to tattooed freaks. Bikes were brought and drinks were had! There was even some good old fashioned father/son bonding as young and old could relate and be captured by vintage bike collections and awesome artwork.

Owners, Jannes from Shy the Sun and our own Ruan, sped up and down the street on their custom made bikes, adding some definitive flavour to the evening!

We would especially like to thank Rikus Ferreira, Merwe Merchant and Clement de Bruin. We would also like to thank everyone that attended the event and of course all the parties that made this night possible.

Could any more good come from this event? Why yes! We welcome Jean to our team, who started as an intern and based on his excellent job with the tank he has been offered a year contract on the Am I Collective team! 

Keep your eyes peeled, as the exhibition will be moved early in the New Year to Truth Coffee, turning their steam punk theme up a few notches! This is just below our brand spanking new office in Buitenkant Street! 

Our second Behance Portfolio Review was a resounding success. There were more guests than RSVPs received, which by Cape Town standards is so unheard of it’s unheard of.

The evening offered a perfect mix of good company, tasty food, artisan beer on tap, and of course an awesome line-up of talented speakers.

Feedback Please!

We had a really good time, but it’s even more important that you all did too. We’d love to hear from you. What did you enjoy? Where could we have improved? Email Saskia with your comments.

Say What?

Ree Treweek showed us some amazingly intricate characters. She shared their stories and explained how she goes from conceptualizing to traveling the world in search of sculptors to produce her imaginings.

Glenn Gillis and Munkey gave a live demonstration of augmented reality, which ran the gamut from corporate all the way through to gaming and retail applications. Interesting stuff.

Gerardo Muñoz, Am I Collective’s ‘foreign coffee’ intern, shared some incredibly detailed and colorful illustration work inspired by the Mexican culture and its people.

Christiaan Venter opened his personal sketchbook to us and revealed how his doodles evolve into full-blown illustrations. It was really fascinating to get a behind the scenes look at his work.

Jaco Haasbroek opened our minds by showing us how he breathes life into his designs and animations by applying lateral thought to the creative process. Too much of awesome.

As mentioned last week, we’re holding another Behance Portfolio Review on Tuesday, November 27th. You can read the previous post for the lowdown, but in a nutshell we had such a blast last time that we’ve decided to do it again.

We’re negotiating with a number of different of creatives in order to bring you a varied and entertaining evening of talks. A word of warning however, we’re shaking things up a little this time around by showcasing more than just illustrators. We’re even…er…looking at including some designers…

Below is the lineup so far. We’ll be adding more speakers as we confirm them.

Glenn Gillis – Sea Monster Entertainment

Glenn is the founder and Managing Director of Sea Monster Entertainment, an animation, gaming and app development business. Sea Monster’s primary focus is world-class 2D animation, particularly full-length TV series and films, as well as social games, apps and augmented reality. The latter is what Glenn will be chatting to us about. Should be interesting.

Ree Treweek - Sculptor (and much more besides)

Ree grew up believing that a giant snake lived beneath her bathtub. This snake would drink up all her soapy bathwater once she had pulled out the bath plug and if she didn’t jump out the tub quick enough it would swallow her too.

Ree owes a lot to this terrifying reptile as it gave her cause to believe that other worlds exist all around us, while at the same time remaining hidden from our eyes. 

Thus began the journey that would lead her into becoming the concept developer and character designer for the fantasy art collective called The Blackheart Gang.

The Gang’s main focus is its explorations into a realm best known as The Household. The Household is a universe existing just beneath the earth’s crust and is powered by human bathwater. The Gang has been delving into this realm for the past 6 years, documenting its stories and inhabitants through sculpture, short films, books and paintings.

When she’s not out with The Gang, Ree works as a commercials Art Director and Production Designer, specializing in animation.  Ree’s work for United Airlines and American McGee’s Alice game trailer as well as her character design for The Beatles Rock Band game have created quite a buzz. 

Give her one word and she’ll come up with a whole world of ideas and visuals instantaneously. Ree’s talk will be centred mainly around her sculpting.

Jaco Haasbroek - Designer & Illustrator

Jaco is a Cape Town-based illustrator and designer. He studied Fine Art at Stellenbosch University before moving to Cape Town in 2009.

After working as a Graphic Designer at an advertising agency for two and a half years he decided to go freelance. Jaco says he always knew that he wanted to be an artist. His great love is drawing with pencil on paper. According to him, nothing beats it. When he does venture into other mediums, he enjoys painting in acrylics.

Jaco is inspired by the work of other artists, typography, the spoken word, nature, books and magazines and everyday objects and activities. He loves observing things and people.

Jaco confesses that while it’s not easy being an artist, it is both challenging and rewarding and there’s nothing else he’d rather do.

“Art is something that requires creative thinking and execution. If you’ve found the thing you’re passionate about, work hard and things will fall into place.”

Jaco adds that he feels very privileged to be living in such a beautiful place, spending his days doing what he loves.

Gerardo Muñoz Atonal aka The Hobbit – Intern at Am I Collective 

Originally from Tlaxcala, Mexico, Gerardo is influenced by, and finds his inspiration in, the places he visits, the people he knows, his family, his traditions, his roots and the things he loves. His motto in life is to enjoy the journey.

Christiaan Venter - Motion Designer, Animator and Commercial Director

A Cape Town-based Motion Designer, Animator and Commercial Director, Christiaan’s work covers anything from live action to a mixed media approach to animation. Drawing is his passion however, he says he particularly enjoys doodling.

His thought process is abstract. Idea exploration usually starts on paper, before it develops into a desired animation direction.

Charles Maggs - Lecturer and Visual Artist

Charles Maggs is a Cape Town based lecturer and visual artist. He holds an MFA in New Media from the University of Cape Town (awarded with distinction) and is a senior lecturer in visual communication at the AAA School of Advertising. His works is predominantly in the field of new media - video, web and sound based - he has an equally strong passion for traditional media such as editorial design and typography.

Recent exhibitions showcasing his work include ‘Our Father’ at the AVA Gallery Cape Town (2012) and ‘Absent Heros’ Iziko South African National Gallery (2011) Charles has exhibited work locally, internationally and online. As well as in various private collections his work is held in The IZIKO South African National Gallery Permanent Collection.

After the resounding success of our last Behance Portfolio Review, we’ve decided to host another creative get-together. This time at our new digs, which are conveniently situated in the same building as Truth Coffee. 

After enjoying some meet ‘n greet drinks and snacks at Truth we’ll head on upstairs for the talks. Should be sweet.

The Behance initiative aims to bring members together at events in cities and towns around the world. The events are organized by members, for members, so it’s a great opportunity to present and get feedback on your work, hear from experienced professionals, and meet your local creative community.

The latest creative week kicked off on October 29th and goes through to November 5th, but because we’re Capetonian our get-together is only happening closer to the end of November.

We’re shaking things up a little this time around though, as we’re planning on showcasing more than just illustrators. We’re even looking at including some designers, which we recognize to be a somewhat risqué move on our part, but then we’ve never been that keen on coloring inside the lines.

We’re negotiating with a number of different of creatives in order to bring you a varied and entertaining evening of talks. So far we’ve collared Glenn Gillis of Sea Monster to give a talk on augmented reality, so that should give you an idea as to the direction we’re taking with the review.

Click here to find out more about Glenn as well as the rest of the speaker line-up.

RSVP: Meet-Up to let us know you’re coming and we’ll book your spot. 
DATE: Tuesday, 27 November
TIME: 18:00 for 18:30
PLACE: Truth Coffee Building, (next to Mavericks) 36 Buitenkant Street, District Six, Cape Town.

Room 12f

Inspired by the idea that a hotel could arouse creative energy in its residents, we decided to follow in the footsteps of New York’s historic Chelsea Hotel by creating a virtual version of this classic.

Based on the theme of individually decorated rooms, the Illville Hotel serves as an online meeting place for illustrators to showcase their talents. Much like our previous projects, Bare and Doggy Style, artists are invited to submit their creative interpretations, in this case a virtual hotel room. 

To date talented folk from over 25 different countries have committed to this fun idea. Our ‘guests’ are also able to link back to their portfolios through their room, which we’re hoping will help spread the word within the creative community. 

We felt that by having a common theme we’d afford prospective clients the opportunity to view the work of a broad spectrum of artists, and at the same time assess their ability to interpret a brief. 

The Illville Hotel is filling up fast and the rooms are wilder and more innovative than we ever imagined they’d be. Also, it turns out that asking an artist for their interpretation of a hotel room is more than a little voyeuristic. With this in mind, we’ve decided to feature the artists in a series of blog posts where we ask them five random questions and share more of their work.

Ian Dickens is the sixth interviewee in our Illville Hotel series. A Midwestern illustrator and designer, Ian claims his sole purpose in life (aside from sketching his pencils down to tiny blunted nubs) is to mortify his friends with his uncoordinated dance moves. 

In case you missed them, why not check out what Vladimir Stankovic, Gerhard Human, Kone aka Fort Rixon, Hylton Warburton and Alla Bobyleva had to say for themselves. 

See you at the reception desk.

Ian Dickens: Illustrator & Graphic Designer, Missouri, USA

We’re just going to dive right in here and ask: Is the diver watching Jaws?

Close - he’s actually watching Jaws 4: The Revenge. I think the shark eats an entire boat in that one. I love how in the movie, the shark doesn’t eat people because he’s driven by any kind of innate animal instinct—he just does it because he’s a dick. 

It’s obvious, but we still have to ask, what drives you to doodle?

The best part about sketching is that nothing you draw is precious. That’s what’s so cool about it—you can create whatever you want and if it looks silly, who cares? It’s just a sketch.  That little voice in the back of your head that says things like “No! What are you doing? Don’t draw that!” takes a back seat  and you can just create uninhibited. 

Aside from being promoted to manager of the Illville Hotel, where do you see yourself in five years? 

I’d really like to start animating some of these little critters that I make. Lately they just seem like they’re itching to move, so I’d love to bring them to life and see what else they can do. 

What is the best job you’ve ever worked on? Why? Note: it can be anything…doesn’t necessarily have to be a paid assignment!

I just finished designing a skateboard for a charity event here in St. Louis. I’m really excited to be a part of the show, since several other artists I really admire are also being featured. And since the event hasn’t happened yet I can plug it: STL Design Week. (Sorry! But also, Check it out!)

Tell us about your ultimate dream job? Sky’s the limit here…what would constitute your “Sistine Chapel”?

How cool would it be to brand a space shuttle? To have your work careening through the atmosphere at 17 thousand miles per hour (which would be around 28163km for you guys, right?)* It could be the first thing from earth a martian ever sees. So instead of  ”We come in peace,” it’s “Dude, your kerning’s off.”

*Close enough…it’s actually 27 358km ;-)

Arteffect board

Arteffect board detail

Untitled

Untitled  detail

Happy Birthday Max

Adventure Fox

This is the second in our ‘new neighbours’ series. A little while ago we did a post on Truth Coffee HQ and now this week we’re featuring The Book Lounge, an independent bookshop just up the drag from our new offices.

After opening its doors in December of 2007 The Book Lounge quickly made a name for itself as the place for scribes and book nerds to hang out.

Their experienced and passionate staff will happily spend all day chatting with you about what they’re reading, what’s good and what one should give the old body swerve. They’re like the Yodas of the book community.

Aside from selling books, The Book Lounge is also big on hosting events, serves a mean latté and has story time for kids on Saturday mornings. There are plenty of couches strewn around the shop too, making it the perfect place to escape from life for a while.

We get that we’re supposed to be saving the planet and doing all our reading on our Kindle instead, but having The Book Lounge just around the corner is going to make it tougher than ever to be a ‘greenie’.

After spending 6 happy years at Buitenkloof Studios it eventually came time for us to move on. And since caffeine is our number one drug of choice for keeping the slaves wired and productive, moving into the same building as Truth Coffee HQ was the obvious course of action.

Suitably armed with their beers, brannewyn en cokes the guys set to work spray-painting and then hammering down the walls. 

Because that’s what you do when you move right.

Other than the delay in connectivity, which had us all a little hysterical, the move went pretty smoothly. Even the dog came through it without a scratch and tat intact. 

Our new offices are awesome, the ‘hood is pretty cool too, but what we really love is that our neighbor runs a little coffee shop right downstairs from us. 

Life is sweet.

P.S. We’ve included a few random pics from the move below, but if you’d like to see ‘em all you can visit our Facebook page.

Room 3g

Inspired by the idea that a hotel could arouse creative energy in its residents, we decided to follow in the footsteps of New York’s historic Chelsea Hotel by creating a virtual version of this classic.

Based on the theme of individually decorated rooms, the Illville Hotel serves as an online meeting place for illustrators to showcase their talents. Much like our previous projects, Bare and Doggy Style, artists are invited to submit their creative interpretations, in this case a virtual hotel room. 

To date talented folk from over 25 different countries have committed to this fun idea. Our ‘guests’ are also able to link back to their portfolios through their room, which we’re hoping will help spread the word within the creative community. 

We felt that by having a common theme we’d afford prospective clients the opportunity to view the work of a broad spectrum of artists, and at the same time assess their ability to interpret a brief. 

The Illville Hotel is filling up fast and the rooms are wilder and more innovative than we ever imagined they’d be. Also, it turns out that asking an artist for their interpretation of a hotel room is more than a little voyeuristic. With this in mind, we’ve decided to feature the artists in a series of blog posts where we ask them five random questions and share more of their work.

Alla is the fifth illustrator that we’ve had the pleasure of hunting down, harassing and annoying until she finally caved in and agreed to an interview. We have a saying in Afrikaans: Stille water, diepe grond, which roughly translated means: That’s really deep shit man (to be read in a doped up 70’s hippie voice).

And that’s exactly what Alla has proven to be, exceptionally talented and interesting with a liberal dash of weird.

In case you missed them, why not check out what Vladimir Stankovic, Gerhard Human, Kone aka Fort Rixon and Hylton Warburton had to say for themselves. 

See you at the reception desk.

Alla Bobyleva: Illustrator, Russia

So what exactly is Dr. Death building? Our guess is a vase for exceptionally tall sunflowers.

Yes I agree, sunflowers would decorate this awful room quite nicely. The Doctor is a great fan of beauty. I suspect he once dreamt of being an architect, but destiny led him to becoming a stomatologist at the Illville Hotel instead. And now his dream is merely a hobby. There is a phrase: Art requires victims. I have drawn that literally. 

It’s obvious, but we still have to ask, what drives you to doodle?

I don’t know exactly, I just feel it is necessary to do it. My thoughts look like pictures. When I read a book, I see pictures. When I listen to someone talking, I see pictures. When I hear music, I see pictures. And then there are my nighttime dreams! Pictures pursue me, what can I say? ;-)

Aside from being promoted to manager of the Illville Hotel, where do you see yourself in five years? 

I suspect that being the manager of the Illville Hotel would be a very hard job. A long time ago I worked in an office where my job had nothing to do with drawing. Once, at the end of a particularly trying and exhausting day, I lamented, “Oh my God! How I want to be at home where I can listen to music and draw!”

Well someone must have heard me in that moment because a number of circumstances followed soon after that, which led me to just such a life. So in answer to your question, I see myself where I am right now: at home, listening to music and drawing. The only other thing I’d really like is more time to rest and travel.

What is the best job you’ve ever worked on? Why? Note: it can be anything…doesn’t necessarily have to be a paid assignment!

I hope that my best work is yet to come, but from my current portfolio I’d have to choose the illustrations I did for Lacrimosa’s CD cover. They’re my favorite band. I’ve loved their music from the first time I heard it many years ago. These illustrations are very dear to me. They are a symbol that miracles can happen in life. That is, if you believe in miracles, which I definitely do!

Tell us about your ultimate dream job? Sky’s the limit here…what would constitute your “Sistine Chapel”?

I love reading and I also love fairy tales. I have this dream, which first came to me when I was just a child. I would like to write and illustrate my own fairy tale that people would come to know and love like so many of the old favorites. Unfortunately I don’t have the time for personal projects, but I hope that one day I will.

Bon appétit 

Lacrimosa

Mad barber

Postcard: Welcome Part I

Princess Carrot XVII

Spring

So often we see public holidays as just another excuse to chill with our mates, knock back some beers and revel in the fact that we have the day off. Which is cool, we all work way too hard nowadays anyway.

But at the same time we felt that Women’s Day deserved more acknowledgement than simply cracking open a cold one and cheersing the fairer sex.

We decided first to first familiarize ourselves with the history behind the day, because there’s no point in sounding off about something if you don’t know the whole story right?

To this end we turned to Wikipedia, our go-to source of choice when we need to know more.

On 9 August 1956, 20,000 women staged a march on the Union Buildings in Pretoria to protest against the proposed amendments to the Urban Areas Act (commonly known as the pass laws) of 1950.

After leaving bundles of petitions containing more than 100 000 signatures at prime minister J.G. Strijdom’s office doors they stood outside in silence for 30 minutes, many with their children on their backs.

The women then sang a protest song that was composed in honour of the occasion: Wathint’Abafazi Wathint’imbokodo! (Now you have touched the women, you have struck a rock).

In the 54 years since, the phrase (or its latest incarnation: “You strike a woman, you strike a rock”) has come to represent women’s courage and strength in South Africa. Since 9 August 1994, the day has been commemorated annually in our country.

Obviously we could never hope to come up with something as brave and momentous to mark the occasion, so what we decided to do instead was showcase the work of some of South Africa’s top female illustrators.

We asked each of them to submit a piece of work that in some way speaks to Women’s Day and then explain what significance the day holds for them.

Enjoy!

Justice by Emma Cook

Emma is passionate about Women’s Day and says the day holds real meaning for her. When asked why she grew evasive, muttering something about working with a room full of guys at Am I Collective for three years straight. When we saw the image she’d chosen to submit we decided against pressing her for details.

Emma graduated from Vega School of Brand Communications with a BA in Visual Communication, specialising in graphic design. She was top of her class and received an oversized pencil as reward for her academic efforts. Unfortunately Emma then used the pencil (which was actually only for show) to draw on the back of her degree. It is now blunt and cannot be sharpened.

Lamenting the death of her giant pencil, the newly graduated Emma fled to Cape Town where she conned her way into an internship at Am I Collective by assuring them that she made great coffee.

Fortunately for her the company had one of those super fancy automatic coffee machines, so her lie went undetected for the next three years. During that time Emma worked on various local and international brands.

These days Emma works as a freelancer (perhaps the constant caffeine requests grew to much for her?) and you can find out more about her at Make Nice, which is exactly what her clients say she does.

Multi-Tasking by Catherine Gauché 

Catherine lives in Cape Town with her husband and baby girl on the way. This talented illustrator has worked in a variety of art-based positions over the past eight years and is now flying solo at Gauché Illustration, where she shares her creative space with other inspiring art professionals.

Catherine says she chose this particular illustration, which she originally created for our Illville Hotel project, to highlight her comical and occasionally over-ambitious goal to be an independent and magical multi-tasker. No doubt this goal is one she shares with women the world over.

“Women’s Day commemorates the courage and strength displayed by South African women. To me, the day serves as both a reminder and celebration of the long road women have walked in order to obtain the rights we enjoy today. 

So as I take the day to relax and just enjoy some leisure away from work I’m thankful that I wasn’t born in another time, one where I may have had to worry about being burned at the stake for merely expressing myself as an individual.”

Racheltjie de Beer by Miné Jonker

Miné is a partner at Studio Muti, where she combines her creative talents with fellow illustrators to provide a broad spectrum of illustration, typography and design.

The piece Miné submitted is based on the famous (probably fictitious) Afrikaner heroine who froze to death in order to save her brother. Miné created the piece in 2011 for the ‘Winter Wonderland’ exhibition at Salon91 and says for her it speaks of selfless courage and love.

Record keeping during that time was sketchy at best, so there is no way to prove whether or not she actually existed, but fiction or not Rachel de Beer is entrenched in the Afrikaner culture. A fact made evident by the number of streets and schools named after her.

Franki’s Circus by Carmen Ziervogel

Carmen is a freelance illustrator based in Cape Town. She works in a range of styles including digital painting, hand drawn, technical and vector. Her focus lies mainly in advertising and print work. If you’d like to see more of Carmen’s work you can view her portfolio.

Carmen says that while Women’s Day undoubtedly represents the courage displayed by South African women during a very oppressive time, she felt she’d like to celebrate the day with a fun and lighthearted illustration.

Room 18b

Inspired by the idea that a hotel could arouse creative energy in its residents, we decided to follow in the footsteps of New York’s historic Chelsea Hotel by creating a virtual version of this classic.

Based on the theme of individually decorated rooms, the Illville Hotel serves as an online meeting place for illustrators to showcase their talents. Much like our previous projects, Bare and Doggy Style, artists are invited to submit their creative interpretations, in this case a virtual hotel room. 

To date talented folk from over 25 different countries have committed to this fun idea. Our ‘guests’ are also able to link back to their portfolios through their room, which we’re hoping will help spread the word within the creative community. 

We felt that by having a common theme we’d afford prospective clients the opportunity to view the work of a broad spectrum of artists, and at the same time assess their ability to interpret a brief. 

The Illville Hotel is filling up fast and the rooms are wilder and more innovative than we ever imagined they’d be. Also, it turns out that asking an artist for their interpretation of a hotel room is more than a little voyeuristic. With this in mind, we’ve decided to feature the artists in a series of blog posts where we ask them five random questions and share more of their work.

Hylton is the fourth illustrator we’ve had the pleasure of interviewing for the series. We thought him interesting anyway, but when we discovered that he has a penchant for moonshine we were even more intrigued.

And in case you missed them, why not check out what Vladimir Stankovic, Gerhard Human and Kone aka Fort Rixon had to say for themselves. 

See you at the reception desk.

Hylton Warburton: Graphic Designer & Illustrator, South Africa

That moonshine looks lethal boyo…when can we expect an invite to visit the lab?

Hah, I’m still working on the secret formula, but you can pop in any time. Just don’t forget safety goggles.

It’s obvious, but we still have to ask, what drives you to doodle?

The need to be creative, and the joy of seeing ideas come to life is what drives me. I get restless if I spend too much time away from being creative, so I am always trying to think of new things, and new ways to grow and develop my skill.

Aside from being promoted to manager of the Illville Hotel, where do you see yourself in five years?

Possibly running my own illustration & design studio with my wife, and hopefully by then I’ll be a published children’s book author/illustrator. I have some ideas for that, and it has always been one of my dreams…so that’d be great.

What is the best job you’ve ever worked on? Why?

One of my favourite jobs I’ve worked on was the t-shirt design I did for American metal band, Norma Jean, because I’ve always loved their music and respected them as artists and musicians. It was also different in style to the kind of work I usually do, so it was refreshing and challenging. 

Tell us about your ultimate dream job? Sky’s the limit here…what would constitute your “Sistine Chapel”?

My ultimate dream would be to do a stop-motion film, like the Tim Burtons and Henry Selicks of this world. I am a sucker for detail, and I love every part of that process. The intricate characters and sets always amaze me and leave me wishing I could do the same. Who knows what the future holds though, maybe one day.

U.S. metal band: Norma Jean

Durban is Yours

The Space

Have Fun on Foot with Tsonga Tslops (very Safrican)

Mister Moosetash

PechaKucha Durban

Maxwell and Adin aka The Roastafarian

At the end of August our collective is moving to the new, or at least up and coming, Design Quarter on Buitenkant Street in Cape Town CBD. We’ve found a really cool space in the same building as Truth Coffee HQ, which we think was a pretty smart move on our part.

Can you imagine how the old creative juices are going to flow with all those java fumes wafting up the stairs? 

It’s still a while until we move, but we’re all so amped about relocating that we figured we’d blog about everything we have to look forward to. The area is full of interesting businesses and characters for us and for you, dear reader, to get to know.

The focus of this week’s post, the inaugural one in our Design Quarter Series, had to be Truth Coffee. Because not only are they purveyors of spectacularly fine coffee, they’re also a fascinating group of individuals.

According to Maxwell, their recently employed Front of House manager, the majority of Truth’s staff members indulge in creative pursuits outside of “the office”. In fact, Maxwell himself is a recovering architect with a strong affinity for all things design. 

Last week I was fortunate enough to be taken on a tour by Truth’s newest cult member and I must admit, he painted such an inspiring picture of the company that I was more than a little green that he and his colleagues got to work there.

Co-owner David Donde’s motto is, “We roast coffee. Properly.” 

I have yet to meet the man but I like him already; he clearly knows his beans when it comes to the world’s most sought after morning beverage. Maxwell explained that rather than work to a specific formula, they let the bean direct the process. Well that makes sense right, since it’s the bean’s ass that’s in the hot seat.

Truth Coffee HQ is still under construction, but will be open for business by the time we move in. Being inundated with builders hasn’t stopped them from doing what they do best however, so if it’s the good stuff you’re after they do have a makeshift coffee station set up for staff and diehard addicts.

But don’t be fooled into thinking that’s it’s just about coffee, there are also other aspects to look forward to as well. In front is a long, community type table where nomad freelancers can co-work while taking their caffeine intravenously. There’s an enormous handcrafted bar where one can stand and look cool. The booths down the right-hand side facilitate the restaurant and finally, there’s a rad space in the back that’s perfect for hosting events.

Best of all, word on the street is that Truth Coffee HQ will be open 7 days a week from 7am ‘till late-ish. And with a massive 60 kilogram roaster on the premises there’ll be no running out of coffee either, which is a good thing since there’s a police station just down the drag.

I wonder if they’ll be selling doughnuts?

Makeshift Coffee Station

The Mother of all Espresso Machines

Big Ass Coffee Bean Roaster

Coffee Appreciation Workshop in Progress

Bathrooms Replete With Retro Shaving Mirrors

Java Addicts in Their Natural Enviroment

Room 7d

Inspired by the idea that a hotel could arouse creative energy in its residents, we decided to follow in the footsteps of New York’s historic Chelsea Hotel by creating a virtual version of this classic.

Based on the theme of individually decorated rooms, the Illville Hotel serves as an online meeting place for illustrators to showcase their talents. Much like our previous projects, Bare and Doggy Style, artists are invited to submit their creative interpretations, in this case a virtual hotel room. 

To date talented folk from over 25 different countries have committed to this fun idea. Our ‘guests’ are also able to link back to their portfolios through their room, which we’re hoping will help spread the word within the creative community. 

We felt that by having a common theme we’d afford prospective clients the opportunity to view the work of a broad spectrum of artists, and at the same time assess their ability to interpret a brief. 

The Illville Hotel is filling up fast and the rooms are wilder and more innovative than we ever imagined they’d be. Also, it turns out that asking an artist for their interpretation of a hotel room is more than a little voyeuristic. With this in mind, we’ve decided to feature the artists in a series of blog posts where we ask them five random questions and share more of their work.

Kone is the third illustrator that we’ve had the pleasure of harassing for our Illville Hotel series and he’s proven to be one interesting dude. You’re really going to enjoy his take on things. And if you missed them, why not go and see what Vladimir Stankovic and Gerhard Human had to say for themselves. 

Finally, if you think you have what it takes to be a guest at the Illville Hotel send us an email with a link to your portfolio and we’ll get back to you as soon as we’re done doing whatever it is we’re doing.

See you at the reception desk.

Kone: Graphic Designer & Illustrator, South Africa (for now)

What’s the connection with the diamonds and the bird? And why do they keep popping up in your work?

The bird is a Southern Rufous sparrow aka a great sparrow and where I grew up in southern Zimbabwe they’re the most common bird to see. It’s been so long since I lived there, that it’s a piece of memory that I can hold onto and that doesn’t fade either; every morning I woke up when I was a kid it was normally the first thing I heard or saw. This little bird outside that never goes away. 

I hide diamonds in all of my work because in the history of southern Africa (and other parts of Africa) in general life and culture has been impacted so much by the discovery of diamonds. I lived in Europe for 9 years as well and have seen the effect that diamonds have had on those nations; and the impact of this is quite scary. So whenever I draw those little stupid stones it’s a small reminder to me of the real human condition, and how imperfect we actually all are.

It’s obvious, but we still have to ask, what drives you to doodle?

I only draw/doodle/create for posterity. Again, the culture I grew up in hates posterity; that is Zimbabweans really don’t like to talk about the past or use it in any way. To be fair it is really painful and I think they are just tired of having to be victims of the past. 

I try use my work to document pieces of history and culture within southern Africa and comment on that (it’s scary how inter-connected it all is), so that kids who are born in the future can find the work and maybe figure out just what was going on before their time. 

The only history I learnt about my country was from the books I bought when I left school; during my school time I was taught all about European/American history and their art and their design, but never our own, and I think I’m a bit jaded by that. In all my work, personal and commercial, I hide a piece of history or culture.

Aside from being promoted to manager of the Illville Hotel, where do you see yourself in five years?

I’ll be running a mad studio called Boys Car and playing a in rock & roll band that will make the Otis Waygood Band look like New Found Glory.

What is the best job you’ve ever worked on? Why?

The first flyer I ever did for Huntleys & Palmers; this was the first commercial gig I got where I successfully hid a piece of history in the piece. The image was based on Glenda Kemp; the week I got the brief I remember reading her story about how she had gone from this cult figure to a born again Christian (almost in a Bob Dylan way!), and her story kind of felt like a diamond that was dug out of the darkness. 

I found it really fascinating that we had these characters in Africa. I felt like I got over within that job, and it opened a new door way for my work… and it just felt so much more unique than drawing a broken hand playing a broken guitar for a music flyer…

Tell us about your ultimate dream job? Sky’s the limit here…what would constitute your “Sistine Chapel”?

Give me a room in a sunny spot in Cape Town, some paper, some pens, and I will draw out the history of southern Africa…Dream job would be making historical picture books for kids, about the characters that were missed in the main books, like Daisy de Melker, K the bush soldier, Jakot the prophet and the mad genius that was Dambudzo Marachera.

Die Number

Glenda Kemp

Huntleys & Palmers

Shoes

Fresh Trainers

We figured that since the book cover was on the author’s blog, we’d share it on ours too.

Towards the beginning of the year our New York agents, Bernstein & Andriulli, approached us with a real doozy of a project. A Chicago-based landscaper by the name of Amanda Thomsen had written a gardening book that she was looking to have illustrated.

We’re not exactly horticulturally inclined, so we were a little dubious at first. But once we got to know more about Amanda we were totally on board. She turned out to be everything but the staid, plant-obsessed old lady in horn-rimmed glasses that we’d conjured up prior to getting to know her.

Well except for the glasses that is, we later discovered that Ms. Thomsen has a penchant for retro eyewear.  The author, who describes herself as big, loud and fun, is a landscaper by day and blogger by night. Her blog, Kiss My Aster, has simultaneously alienated and enraptured her many readers. We of course think it’s fucking hilarious.

Christo Basson was the creative director on the project, while Jean de Wet took the reigns as lead illustrator. Jean was like the Energiser Bunny on acid when he first heard about the job because it’s apparently long been a dream of his to illustrate a book. We’d just picked him because he draws kinda nicely, so when we heard this it was like the icing on the cupcake for us.

This project has been our biggest illustration job to date. With over 160 individual drawings required, it took us three months of committed resources to complete. The book is also unique in that the pages are not sequential, which essentially means that one can open it randomly and just start reading.

Although it will only be released in December, Kiss My Aster: A Graphic Guide to Creating a Fantastic Yard Totally Tailored to You is currently available on pre-order through Amazon.

Unfortunately because the book is still in production we can’t even offer you a sneak peak of the illustrations. However, what we can show you are the tattoos we designed for the book launch, which took place in New York recently.

And just in case you’re wondering how we came up with such an out there tattoo, well the truth is we didn’t. Amanda did that all by herself. Yip, the lady is so gardening bevok that she actually had a pair of pruning shears, with flames nogal, tattooed on her arm. Click here to check it out.

Just so you know, if Oprah decides to endorse it on her book club we’ll decide who gets to meet her in our usual democratic manner, which is to say by hosting a Ping-Pong Championship. We’ll be looking for ball boys and umpires, so let us know if you’re keen.

Arno and Jay give the cat a tat.

Cat’s tat.

Jay gives Arno a tat.

Arno making sure that his tat is flat.

Arno’s flat tat.