Marian Bantjes

04Feb10

I’m Canadian, and I love being Canadian. I love being self-deprecating even though Americans see it as a sign of weakness. I love being politically left of center (actually, quite far left, if you must know). I love being honest, and nice and polite and caring and kind. (Although sometimes I really do wish I could be a total bitch without feeling guilty about it.) I’m amused by my own respect for authority and rule-following instincts.

Marian Bantjes. I have heard about her in a mild, faint way at first – I’ve seen, I don’t remember where, her drawn type made of sugar. It said: “Indestructible”, done in a manner of creating a mandala, only in sugar, white sugar on white background. I am soft on ambiguous and authentic and that piece stayed in my mind as the most original creative concept at time.

"Indestructible" by Marian Bantjes. Source: http://www.bantjes.com/

Later on I came around  Stephan Sagmaister’s  book Things I have learned in my life so far, and there she was again, with another sugar mandala. My curiosity was exploding: “Who is Marian Bantjes?”  Not even a month later I had a privilege to attend her lecture at Typo Berlin Conference in 2008, and was, as we all in the audience were, completely enchanted by her original, delicate and intricate work.

Design Ignites Change, detail. Source: http://www.bantjes.com/

It wasn’t surprising when she revealed that her inspiration for her drawn, decorative Bildsatz artworks has Islamic roots. Islam forbids any depictions of God, so Islamic art is about arabesque and Arabic script. The unending flow of calligraphic lettering and similarly no-border geometric pattern. Those two visual language principles in our western eyes, sealed with iconography, might seem plainly decorative. In Islamic view though they express the infinite and unlimited presence of God. The harmony of the world.

So even if Marian itself recognizes herself as a political subject of far-left, I say her work, if we want that or not, reveals certain spirituality. How would you explain the state of mind of solitary hours spent in drawing an artwork of Marian Bantjes merit? Meditation, wouldn’t you agree? We creators and artists, in one way or another, consciously or subconsciously, are aware of a force of creativity. We are driven by it, we are a tool of that benevolent force, even if we ourselves would never admit that.

Design Ignites Change. Source: http://www.bantjes.com/

Design Ignites Change. Source: http://www.bantjes.com/

Design Ignites Change is a collection of Bantjes’ laser cut posters which I consider to be her best work so far.
She is currently working on her own book for Thames&Hudson publishing house.
You can find her on:  http://www.bantjes.com/

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Tags: art, calligraphy, graphic design, illustration, islam, lettering, marian-bantjes, pattern, sugar

Plus and Minus

03Feb10

I am asked by quite a lot of people what Poken does, so I decided I do a short introduction to Poken.

What is Poken?
Poken is like a USB key with an embedded radio-frequency identification reader/transmitter. It is a small device for (allegedly) secure wireless exchange of data between the two equal devices and with USB interface for any standard personal computer. In a mass-produced plastic casing it holds a battery (with allegedly six months of life) and a chip.

It works like this: when two people with Pokens meet, they just push the button and send each other the contact (or networks) data.

Fair and square. And a big plus.
It is a great toy, but not just that: it answers the need of many (including myself) who are always stuck with sharing their contact info with others in real life situations. It solves the problem of scribbling down in haste the numbers and URL’s, when there is always no pen or paper around. And if you have a head like mine: dreadful in memorizing data, you should be as enthusiastic as me.

There comes a minus, of course.

The price. The electronics are produced by Art of Technology (Zürich), who is also responsible for development. In their flyer on Poken they openly say “only inexpresive standard components used.” Production goes on, yes, you guessed, in China. Pull those two facts together and you get: a product with low production cost priced on the market by my opinion way too high.

Now throw in a relatively short life of a device and you get, please do correct me if I am wrong: a product with a bad, non-eco character.

Is good old paper business card still a better alternative?
I can’t judge on this, I am absolutely caught :) and too much in love with this small thingy called Poken.

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Tags: poken

My new poken!

03Feb10

At last! An impatiently awaited, my own Poken found my mailbox!

Here it is. Make sure when we meet to have yours on you. Let’s Poke!

For my Slovenian friends: here is the link to Poken Slovenia.

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Tags: digital card, poken

2nd of February

02Feb10

Very boringly usual day. The second of February. Not even the first, just a step over that primal position. However 2nd of February is a birthday of the most known James Joyce, the writer of excellent-unbearable Finnegan’s Wake, who is known to actually have visited my hometown, Ljubljana. By mistake – he left the train via Trieste far too early – but alas …

There is also one James Joyce more, bit less known and pretty much alive. He is an interesting London-based artist.

The cover of Varoom, source: http://one-fine-day.co.uk/

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Tags: graphic design, illustration, James-Joyce, magazine cover, varoom

Mouse Pattern

21Jan10

We have to have at least a bit of  fun and joy in what we do, don’t we? This Mouse pattern is made from one unit; a mouse erupting fire. A pure joy.

There are three color versions available, if you want any other format or color harmony, or a more humane price, just NUDGE me. :)

Mouse Pattern. All rights reserved, copyright by Maja B. Jancic

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Tags: colors, fire, for sale, illustration, mouse, pattern, wallpaper

Amistad

18Jan10

Amistad, illustration (2010), All rights reserved, Copyright by Maja B. Jancic

Illustration Amistad is now available on Stockillustrations. There will be some more new stuff there soon, so don’t be a stranger :)

Thank you!

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Tags: art, artwork, buy illustration, buying, drawing, illustration, poster, stock-illustrations

New (and old) stuff!

16Jan10

For all those who absolutely do not steal artworks and illustrations from internet: there is some new (and old) stuff from my workshop.

Super Polar Bear, a poster (2009). All rights reserved, Copyright by Maja B. Jancic

Scrap no. 1:  Super Polar Bear. One last year work which is a shame it’s not already on the wall of your living room. Three sizes of this marvelous print are available on: http://www.society6.com/studio/majabjancic/Super_Polar_Bear_gdbR

Hexagon, a research. Illustration (2010), All rights reserved, Copyright by Maja B. Jancic

Scrap no. 2: Hexagon. This illustration is a result of a research and a transition of several visual references: visual language of Ikko Tanaka, Kazumasa Nagai and Shigeo Fukuda, japanese art of kimono patterns, magic of hexagon geometry. It is available to purchase in digital form on Stockillustrations.

Amistad, illustration (2010), All rights reserved, Copyright by Maja B. Jancic

Scrap no. 3: Amistad. And finally, fresh and steaming hot from the oven! To see the whole: it is already published on my Flickr. Since it is an extremely fresh artwork will be available to purchase in the next few days on Stockillustrations. Will keep you posted :)

Thank you for not stealing and for contributing to a good cause!

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Tags: art, artworks, illustration, poster, super polar bear, vector illustration

Acute, very acute.

13Jan10

I am pretty much the biggest admirer (I am and that’s final :P) of Jonathan Barnbrook work. Nevertheless it never fails to surprise me. Font released fresh at Emigre foundry, Priory Acute is an interesting experiment in skewing the typographic canon. And since his work has never been about – somehow boring – discipline of clean, impersonal, reserved or shall I say meek design, it has never ceased to search and reveal the unspoken. The hard core of creativity!

Priory Acute, type specimen. Source: http://www.emigre.com/

More info on Emigre website: http://www.emigre.com/EFfeature.php?di=214

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Tags: design, emigre, graphic design, Jonathan-Barnbrook, priori-acute, typography