Ruby Wedding Anniversary

It's my parent's Ruby Wedding Anniversary so we made this paper bouquet so that they'd get something a bit different this year. As you can see it's pretty, it's shiny and it'll last forever! :)


Happy Anniversary Mum 'n' Dad!

Rest in Peace Racheal

We had some terrible news this week which we found out through a post on Amy's website: Pikaland. Our friend, Racheal Anilyse, passed away at the end of last year.

We met her online in 2009 and collaborated with her by submitting illustrations to her zine, Underground Art School. Rach worked so hard on it - it was much more than just a zine really, it was a website for recent grads and creative professionals too. We exchanged many emails over the years, chatting about our lives and our creative work. She was always enthusiastic, supportive and encouraging.

Racheal had hinted that she was ill but never to this extent. We had no idea her difficulties were that severe. Reading back over old emails makes us now realise. She was an incredibly brave person. We hadn't heard from her in a while but thought she was just very busy creating beautiful illustrations for her children's books.

We never got to meet her in person and now sadly we never will but Amy shared some lovely news that really cheered us up. Racheal's family has started the Racheal Anilyse Art Initiative through the Rose Foundation of Haiti, and the University of Hartford School of Art (where she studied) has established a scholarship in her name. The University also has an online guestbook where you can leave a message. Knowing that her memory will go on with these initiatives has really made us smile :)

Rest in Peace Racheal. We'll miss you x

New Year, New Portfolio Website

Hurrah! 2012 is upon us and with a brand new year comes my shiny new portfolio website! It's minimal, it's easy to navigate and it's all about the work.

Check it out here: www.quantempus.co.uk

Have Yourself a Kooji Little Christmas!

Wishing you all a very merry Christmas! Love from Kooji X

RIP Steve Jobs

We were both very saddened to hear the news today that Steve Jobs, known the world over for his pioneering work at Apple, passed away after battling against pancreatic cancer.

The Apple website and it's tribute to Steve Jobs

He had resigned as CEO of Apple earlier this year due to his ill health but had continued to persevere despite this. A creative visionary, inventor and innovator whose products have transformed the way we see the world. He leaves behind a great legacy.

Rest in Peace Steve and thank you.

Coffee & Cigarettes

Our Kooji Collective buddy Kelly Birg (a talented Fine Artist, Graphic Designer and Photographer to boot!) got in touch with us recently and sent us a link to her amazing sketch book:

http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/kbirg/artwork

She submitted it to the Art House Co-op's traveling sketchbook project and it's crammed full of beautiful sketches, photos and groovy patterns all based around the theme of coffee and cigarettes.

Kelly graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from Western Michigan University in 2005, then went on to make a name for herself as a multi-disciplinary artist. We were lucky enough to meet her at SIGGRAPH (a massive conference held in the USA) the following year and we've been in touch with her ever since.

Check out her artwork on Art House Co-op and be inspired!

Kooji Creative Emporium

We've both been busying away to bring you some new products on our Zazzle Store. The Kooji Creative Emporium stocks the finest T-shirts, posters, fabric bags and pretty much anything else we can stick our artwork onto!



Take a look here: http://www.zazzle.com/koojicreative and be astounded by our feats of creativity and imagination :D

Ready Or Not Here We Come

This year's Graphic Design degree show 'Ready Or Not Here We Come' at Leeds College of Art wasn't to be missed and so we both dashed from one display to the next grabbing business cards and taking photos. We're always pleased to see such creativity and come away feeling inspired.

What was really interesting for us was the hand-drawn element we found recurring in several graduating student's work. We both seem to gravitate towards the more illustrative design work when we attend shows like this. It adds a touch of magic to a design and gives you a hint at the personality behind the work.

Here's the snaps we took this year as we buzzed around from one honey pot to the next:

Image © Chris Matthews www.immunityfromdestruction.com

Image © Charlotte Riley www.helloimcharlotte.com

Image © Nichola Tiffany www.nicholatiffany.co.uk

Image © Mille Haugnaess http://millehaugnaess.co.uk/

Image © Ollie Saward www.olliesaward.co.uk

Image © Leigh Wortley www.leighwortley.co.uk

Image © Jonny Packham www.jonnypackham.co.uk

Read our blog posts from previous year's degree shows here:
http://koojicreative.blogspot.com/search/label/EndofYearShow

For more tasty morsels of inspiration:
Check out our bookmarks of links found on business cards from the degree show: http://www.delicious.com/KoojiCreative/EndofYearShow+2011

Graduate shows - What is the point?
Target Print is a Leeds based digital and litho printer. It's owner, Peter Biggins, wrote a blog post about his experiences at this year's shows. Read it here: http://leedsprinter.blogspot.com/

Save Babies UK

We got chatting with one of our neighbours recently, Pat Roberts, a lovely lady who runs a charity called Save Babies Through Screening Foundation UK. We're always keen to blow the trumpet for charitable causes and show our support so we're asking you all to do the same.

Save Babies Through Screening Foundation UK is a non-profitmaking organization run by volunteers. Our mission is to improve and save the lives of children by working to prevent disabilities or early death resulting from diseases that are detectable and treatable through newborn screening.

Visit the website here:

www.savebabiesuk.org

Join them on Facebook here

Free Comic Book Day 2011

WooHoo! It's here again! Free Comic Book Day. We realised that we'd forgotten but we're glad we remembered, yay! Lots of free comics (well a few, we'd slept in and a lot of them had gone by the time we got there - hey it's Saturday :P)

One of our favourites was 'The Dark Crystal: The Origin of the Dark Crystal' as it had lots of character design and illustration by Brian Froud (who created our precious Pressed Fairies books) - a flippable comic too as the other side was called 'Mouse Guard' by David Petersen.

Thanks to the guys at Travelling Man in Leeds: www.travellingman.com  for the free comics and sweeties too :D

Visit the Free Comic Book Day website: www.freecomicbookday.com