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

Happy Easter and Picnic Fun from Kooji!

Happy Easter everyone! The sun is shining and it looks like we're set for a gorgeous Summer. Go get yaself set up with a picnic and some Easter eggs, yum!

Check out our previous Kooji Cards here - we've done some goodies :D

CF Studio Launch and The Blank Showcase

Amy and Bek A.K.A Lord Whitney invited us both to attend the launch of CF Studios, their new collaborative workspace and the exhibition 'The Blank Showcase'. They asked their guests to bring along items in response to the initials CF and the collected or created pieces were then added to the exhibition wall.

Here are a few photos from the evening:

 Here's some amusing wordplay from Johnny

 and here's Katherine's feathery fancy

...and here was our submission: Crappy Film (Plan 9 from Outer Space directed by Ed Wood)

It was great to see the creative duo in action once more and to check out their fun social experiment. The pieces on display were really quirky and imaginative and we look forward to seeing what they come up with next!

Visit Lord Whitney here: www.lordwhitney.co.uk
Find out more about the studio: www.cfstudios.co.uk

Miss You - Stuart Menzies Farrant

Check out this beautiful new song "Miss You" by our Kooji buddy, Stuart Menzies Farrant. Stuart's got himself a new profile set up on ReverbNation: http://www.reverbnation.com/stuartmenziesfarrant and Miss You is one of his most recent releases.

Stuart Menzies Farrant

Stuart's portfolio, including the mini album: Le Mal D’Afrique can be accessed at:  www.myspace.com/visionlandmusic

Singer/songwriter stuff and last album can be found here:
www.myspace.com/stuartmenziesfarrantuk

We've been chillin' to his music for years, this new track in particular has a real reggae feel to it - fantastic! We love Stuart's music and you will too!

Introducing NU:VO

Bukkie Dos Santos, one of our Kooji Buddies and long-time collective member, got in touch to show us this groovy showreel for her new venture NU:VO take a look:

Be Daring, Be Different from ART NUVO on Vimeo.
ART meets COMMERCE - A contemporary approach to Brand Vision by Nu:vo

The delivering of creative excitement and contemporary visual ideas to lifestyle and fashion clientelle.

The NU:VO CREED:
Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.
-Christian Dior

What a tantalising visual feast! We can't wait to see more :D