the 'efuto' drive

Look at these funny little envelopes?? What are they for? Well, i'll explain....one of my fellow surface pattern design graduates, Gill Eggleston (you can find her over here), had this great idea. it is called an 'EFUTO' drive: (efuto is japanese for picture envelope). The plan was to design 2 envelopes in your style, send one to a fellow surface pattern designer friend. My recipient is Karen McGregor (you can find her gorgeous blog here) and the other envelope, you mail back to yourself (complete with stamp and postmark). Gill is then going to compile a little book, containing the envelope artworks that we have sent back to ourselves (they will be digital artworks of course). It will be a great little directory of surface pattern designers. Can't wait to see the finished product! Will keep you posted...pardon the pun :)

Thankyou Majo!

Thank you soooo much to the super-creative Maria Jose Bautista Vargas (a.k.a Majo), for featuring me on her gorgeous blog yesterday. She is one of the very talented designers i have met through the fab course i did during the year: The Art & Business of Surface Pattern Design. One of our 'projects' was to come up with designs for nail art. Majo has managed to paint my "Kitsch Chicks"designs (so accurately) on her nails!! I really don't know how she did it - pretty clever!
Thank you Majo for the lovely feature. For much more of Majo's talents, here is her website...lots of yummy 'designy' treats here!

fly free my lovely

Here are sections of a pattern i have been working on. I have really been thinking about the concept of 'freedom' a lot lately...freedom to evolve into the person you are meant to be; freedom to choose how you wish to live your life; and freedom in pursuing the goals you have set for yourself. These little characters, above, kind of...appeared, as i have been thinking about these issues surrounding freedom. I have named this pattern: 'Fly Free My Lovely.'

Without getting into all the ugly 'nitty-gritty' details, not too long ago, this idea of 'freedom,' for myself and the way i was wanting to live my life was threatened...in a nutshell...a manipulative, controlling man + the 'rules' of the family court = no say, no freedom for the person on the other end (me). This idea of freedom was something i have to admit, i had never really thought about, i had taken 'freedom' for granted. Not anymore. Now, 4 years on and 4 years of being strong, persistent and determined, it's all over....that part of my life is finished. Chapter closed. I have learnt an extraordinary amount. I have learnt about the person i am; how i wish to live the rest of my life and never to take for granted my freedom.

Not just for the kidlets!

I am a big fan and collector of kids' books - i love them! I am always looking out for great ones to add to my collection - new or old, it really doesn't matter. Some of my favourites are the Golden Books at the supermarket! I get especially excited when they are stories and illustrations reproduced from the '50's and '60's, like the one in the top pic "I Can Fly"- (originally published 1951, written by Ruth Krauss and illustrated by Mary Blair) - so cute!

Another 'vintage' favourite is Miroslav Sasek's "This is San Francisco"(first published in 1962). I absolutely love his illustrations and his "This is..." travel series of books, the illustrations are timeless.
And you really can't go past Maurice Sendak for inspiring. I remember reading his books when i was young and "Where the Wild Things Are" is a favourite of my 4 year old, we read it at least once a week before bedtime.

A more current illustrator that i love is Sara Fanelli, who illustrated 'Wolf" and "Pinnochio" from my pics above. Her quirky, collagey, loose style is gorgeous.

Welcome to jookiku!

Hello and welcome to my very first post of my new little 'design world',  jookiku!!
It really has been a 'development' an 'evolving' of my brand kooky-zu.

It will be a place to share my new creations and the creations of others that inspire me. Also a little place to showcase the magical, the quirky and the colourful. It feels exciting and fresh and new, so welcome!