In the last couple of days I have seen 2 different handcrafted projects that have really made me happy. And the best part is that they come straight form local designers. One is some illustrative work by the talented Mr. Bruce Mackay and the other is the new Missibaba Kindred Spirits collection.
The first illustration in this series is a test scene from a book that Bruce in the early stages of writing and illustrating, I cannot wait to see the rest of it, if these few illustrations are anything to go by, it’s going to be amazing.
- Cape Town-based illustrator and typographer Bruce Mackay has drawn a series of these portholes (or at least porthole-shaped scenes) in blue, green and red pen and ink. They show wild, patterned waves and a haul of flotsam and jetsam; there’s a boat bobbing on the head of a whale, Poseidon/Neptune, a skeleton with an arrow in his heart drifting down a bloody stream and twisted sea snakes. Of Starboard Portholes he says he was “trying to capture the churning that would happen if a massive serpent were to uncoil at open sea.” Bruce says Safe Harbour (the drawing below) is a test scene from a book he’s in the early stages of writing and illustrating.
The second project which I mentioned is Missibabas new bag collection, Kindred Spirits. I absolutely love the ‘blinking barnacles’ Cha Ching bag in this series (first one below). It’s wonderfully wonderful. Yes.
- Introducing Missibaba Kindred Spirits – an initiative dedicated to creative collaborations. The first collection entitled “I See The Sea And The Sea Sees Me” encompasses three limited edition prints, hand painted by Chloe Townsend of Missibaba, graphic designer Naomi Bossert and illustrator Mia Nolting.
