Since I am indulging myself by writing about my most loved children’s writers – and also illustrators – how can I miss out Pauline Baynes. Here is a really interesting interview with her, by Charlotte Cory.
Pauline Baynes
22 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in books, fantasy, Illustration, Inspiration Tags: children's books, fantasy books, Illustration, narnia
Michael Ende
20 Mar 2008 3 Comments
in books, Illustration, Inspiration Tags: children's books
Writing about Cornelia Funke reminded me about Michael Ende – whom most people seem to know through the film version of the book “The Neverending Story”. I found this lovely version of the cover by Roswitha Quadflieg. I have not been able to find any other images by her.
Niki Daly’s talk at the Obs library
19 Mar 2008 2 Comments
in books, Illustration, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: children's books
Last night I went to illustrator/writer Niki Daly’s talk at the Observatory library : “How to travel lightly with 60 years of baggage”. I am so glad I went. Niki Daly told us about his journey through life, from working class child growing up in apartheid South Africa to an established illustrator – and how this journey has brought him to do the work he does.
Cornelia Funke Author/Illustrator
17 Mar 2008 1 Comment
in books, Illustration Tags: children's books, writer_artist
Cornelia Funke is another favourite author / illustrator. I’ve enjoyed many of her books – most of them for children, like “Dragonrider” and “The Thief Lord”. But I want to write about are her not-quite-children’s books, the “Inkheart” series.
Philip Pullman- illustrations
15 Mar 2008 6 Comments
in books, Illustration Tags: children's books, His Dark Materials, Illustration, Northern Lights, Philip Pullman, writer_artist
I couldn’t very well write about Steve Augarde as author / illustrator and leave out Philip Pullman, who has written some of my favourite books: the “His Dark Materials” series.
Steve Augarde – “The Various”
15 Mar 2008 4 Comments
in books, Illustration Tags: children's books
I’ve just used my birthday gift voucher from Vega to buy the latest in Steve Augarde’s “The Various” series. He is an illustrator – writer. Here is a link to his site.This is the third book in the series, called “Winter Wood”
It follows on from “The Various” and “Celandine”. These books have overcome my severe (trance scene induced) prejudice against anything to do with fairies, little folk, pixies and so on. More
Princess Mononoke
15 Mar 2008 4 Comments
in Animation, fantasy, Inspiration Tags: Animation, forest, japanese animation, miyazaki, princess mononoke, studio ghibli
Am once again overwhelmed by the films of Miyazaki – this time “Princess Mononoke”
Like Spirited Away, the movie drew me in. The Deer God’s forest is a manifestation of all that is disappearing or already missing from our world. More
Design Indaba – Friday – Mark Dytham
01 Mar 2008 1 Comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: design in japan, design indaba 2008, japanese design, mark dytham, pecha kucha
(The last speaker – Mark Dytham – was just impossible to draw. Maybe I was too tired and overfull of ideas.)
He is one of the originators of the Pecha Kucha manner of presenting work. This is an evening of young designers showcasing their work in slide shows – each slide lasting for 20 seconds, and only 20 slides may be shown. This has been a very successful phenomenon, there are apparently Pecha Kucha shows all over the world by now. Here is a link to a site about Pecha Kucha
Design Indaba – Friday – Li Edelkoort
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: color trends, colour trends, design indaba 2008, li edelkoort
Second to last speaker on Friday was Li Edelkoort – trendforecaster.
A powerful presence on stage.
She spoke around a slide show for a trend forecast she made five years ago, outlining the main themes and commenting on how relevant they still are.
Design Indaba – Friday – Jakob Trollback
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: design indaba 2008, jakob trollback, title design
Another speaker on Friday afternoon was Swedish Jakob Trollback. His company website is here.
He started his talk with a musical journey through his youth – starting with Abba, moving through jaz, Glen Gould and Brian Eno to Abdullah Ibrahim and the Soweto Boys.
Design Indaba – Friday – Jason Bruges
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: design indaba 2008, interactive installations, interactive lights, jason bruges, light sculptures
Another speaker on Firday was Jason Bruges – a creator of interactive installations. Here’s a link to his companies site.
There was an example of his work in the foyer of the indaba which amused me very much – its a sort of screen made of black modules, each with a very thin strip light. The lights switch on and off in patterns and its clear the thing is supposed to be responding to its environment as there are cameras embedded in some of the modules. After looking at it for some time and not being able to figure out how it was responding, I peered round the back to see a nest of wires and a rather stressed out looking individual frantically plugging and unplugging.
Design Indaba – Friday – Nkosi, Rajah and Laird-Cherry
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Opinions & reviews Tags: design indaba 2008, fashion
After the (fabulous) lunch was a little fashion show with Nkhesani Nkosi, Gavin Rajah and Amanda Laird-Cherry. I could only seem to draw Nkosi’s designs.
Design Indaba – Friday – Shih-ichi Takemura
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Inspiration, Opinions & reviews Tags: breathing earth, design indaba 2008, internet stethoscope, new media, shakura scape, takemura
Takemura was for me the most interesting speaker of the day:
He started his talk by playing a sound of water dripping. He introduced himself and started speaking – and then explained that the sound is a real time feed of a water feature in a temple in Kyoto. We were listening -admittedly with some latency – to water dripping into a ceramic vessel thousands of kilometers away in Japan. He called this a “internet stethoscope”
Design Indaba – Friday – Abbot Miller
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Opinions & reviews Tags: abbot miller, design indaba 2008, graphic design, graphic identity, maryland institute
Abbot Miller was the third speaker on Friday. Somehow he did not inspire any drawings, maybe because his talk was quite fascinating and I was looking at the screen, and not at him.
Design Indaba – Friday – Gert Dumbar
01 Mar 2008 Leave a comment
in Design Indaba, Opinions & reviews Tags: design indaba 2008, gert dumbar
Second speaker on Friday was Gert Dumbar, a dutch designer. He was great to draw.
He had a remarkable way of instantly establishing his pompous and rather self satisfied presence. But was nonetheless a very interesting speaker.
Masha du Toit 
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