THE WILD SWANS

It´s been quiet here because I have  been ill. Just the basic winter influenza that is one of the few reason that can force me to slow down..

The last project I made before I got ill was a book cover. I have made quite a few book covers for a small publishing company called Kvaliti. This one differs from previous ones because I was able to use allover print in it. What an exiting and surprising place to use all over print!

The wild swans

The book Nokkosmadonna is written by Kaija Lehmuskallio. She is a specialist of old Finnish mansions and she wrote this fictive story into a realistic and truth based milieu. This story tells the lifestyle in a fictive mansion called Gentgård during the last wars. It´s about the shaft between the rich mansion owner family and their subordinates who take care of the mansion.

Malmgård mansion in Pernaja, near where my mom lives. I like to go there and imagine the life on it´s glory days. Now days they have a small brewery and they make good beer.  Of course Malmgård´s estates were in my mind while making the book cover.

To make a book cover I must know the story and together with the publisher and writer discuss what are the key elements I will use in my illustrations. We found a fine connection from the story to an another story written by Hans Christian Andersen called The Wild Swans. Swans felt also a nice starting point because the book Nokkosmadonna is an honouring for Finland´s 100-year old history of independence. Yes, in Finland we have a big celebration year this year 2017!

I sketched the swans with a pencil and finished the print in Photoshop. You can find three different swans from the print but I think it looks that there is even more and that makes the repeat good.

Ready made swan sketches

The brown back ground color was selected amongst many color options. My first favorite was muddy blue with white swans, but it seamed too patriotic since the Finnish flag colors are blue and white. We also wanted to avoid feminine colors like shades of pink to not drive away all the male readers. The book name "Nokkosmadonna" can be interpret as a feminine book but actually the story is really good for anyone who is interested of Finland´s history and mansions daily life in it.

Together with the flying swan print I made a calming stripe to the inner covers. Making print families and couples it´s good to remember that bold prints need to have a calming friends by their side. The stripe is also symbolizing the wallpapers from the mansion. So when you open the book, you will enter to the imaginative but still so realistic world.

Wall paper stripe

Colors of Finland, blue and white

It would have been nice to have a picture of the real book but it is coming out in the end of March. I´ll promise to update it here when I receive it! Now you can pre order it from here

 https://www.booky.fi/tuote/nokkosmadonna/9789527202074

For the honour of 100-years independence of Finland I presented The wild swans -prints in blue and white color way as you maybe already noticed. Congrats my dear Finland!

CATS GONE WILD

Over a year ago I took part to a print/textile design competition arranged by Aalto University and H&M. The price was an internship in H&M. When I was listening the competition announcement and what the price was I decided that I wanna win. I wanted it and needed it. I never did exchange studies or internships abroad because I was afraid and scared. Now I finally felt that I was ready to go.
 The competition collection should include six all over prints and placed prints all together. Some of them was supposed to make into real fabrics by weaving, knitting or printing. These designs would be presented in a clothe collection for a certain H&M customer group we decided ourselves. I made my collection for women.

Cats gone wild

My collection got inspired surprisingly from cats. I started to think what cats do every night when we sleep? They definitely don´t sleep next to us like we might think. Maybe they sneak out and meet their cat friends in a magical garden? Maybe they transform into real tigers and leopards in moonlight? Maybe they became astronauts, who knows?

Drawing the Cats Gone Wild -print

In the end I decided to present five all over prints and one placed print in four outfits.
 The first outfit is a dress that has my star print Cats gone wild. I draw it with black ink pen and colored it with watercolors using Photoshop to combine the outline and colors. This large scale print is repeating only vertically because it is 150cm wide  (as wide as the fabric roll).
 Second outfit has a T-shirt and skirt. I screen printed this Moon cycle -print and used oily foil in it. Skirts print is called First cat on the moon. I used my mother´s cat`s paws as stamps when I sketched it.
Third outfit; jacket and dress are both woven fabrics. Jacket´s Mackerel tabby -print is weaved with soft and fluffy mohair yarns. Tapetum Lucidum means glowing eyes and the dress is covered with green cat eyes glowing in the darkness. Tapetum Lucidum -print is weaved with shiny lurex yarn and black wool.
 The last outfit has a Leafy photo print digiprinted on silk blouse.

Line up. Prints on clothes.

Moon cycle -placed print printed on H&M T-shirt

Cat labor

My dear TC2: Jacquard looms from Aalto university.

 I worked really hard to finnish my collection and I have to admit that after all the stress and anxiety I was really disappointed when I didn´t win the competition. Next day after the competition H&M arranged a recruiting event where I of course took part too. I presented all my artistic projects from my portfolio and I was a bit surprised when the interviewer was more interested of my commercial work. Even though my tactic was to make a commercial collection I think it was still too arty for H&M. You might think that making commercial designs is easy but actually it isn`t!
Few days after the interviews I got a mail from H&M that I was selected to do an internship on young girls department.

This is how my final competition work looked like with moodboards, color charts, prints and woven jacquards

 Taking part to all kind of competitions and collaborations has brought me the biggest advantages during my studies. I think that doing some real projects with real companies is the best way to learn the profession and get good contacts to your future career. Collaboration school courses are maybe not the most amusing, creative and fun ones (because they are real life), but for me they have been the most crucial. Take them seriously :)

Aalto University and H&M repeated the competition before Christmas (2016) and new interns are coming to H&M in February. That´s also nice for me to have some Finns here. Here is a link if you wanna read more (sorry, in Finish only) about this years competition and see the wining collections. http://www.aalto.fi/fi/current/news/2016-12-09-003/

Congratulations and welcome girls :)