Finnish images spreading out into the world
Illustrator Kustaa Saksi's clients include Nike, Levi's, Diesel, and Mercedes-Benz; others are folloowing his lead
By Hannu Pöppönen
Finnish-born illustrator Kustaa Saksi sits at a café table, listing big and bigger brands: Nike, Levi’s, Diesel, Issey Miyake, Mercedes-Benz, and many others.
They are all brands for which the 34-year-old Saksi has been invited to design illustrations in recent years.
”It has been fun, a certain kind of adventure, as I have never really made any calculations as to my next move. Occasionally I have just received phone calls that have come right out of the blue, and I have been puzzled over how they managed to find my name and phone number from somewhere”, Saksi says.
Kustaa Saksi, now living in Amsterdam, is one of the most international of Finnish illustrators.
In Finland, the profession of an illustrator is narrowly seen as a mere illustrator of books. This was not enough for Saksi.
And yet he calls himself an illustrator rather than a graphic designer.
”Yes, but it is true that in recent times I have begun to think about my real occupation, as I do almost anything. I do not know what would be a better definition - maybe some kind of designer. But that does not tell you much, either”, Saksi contemplates.
For Nike’s store in London, Saksi made from paperboard a three-dimensional installation that displays the history of Nike’s running shoes from the 1970s until today.
For an exhibition in Amsterdam, Saksi designed 3-D printed busts of his new series of war hero characters.
Saksi has also designed one of the background graphics for the Microsoft Windows 7 operating system that is to be released to computer users next month.
He has also designed the cover for singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright’s biography.
In addition, Saksi has produced illustrations for the likes of The New York Times and Playboy.
”For Playboy I have designed two or three different illustrations, one of them based on the Kamasutra motif”, Saksi laughs.
Aside from commercial campaigns, Saksi has used his design skills for artistic projects.
”I try to put on an exhibition every year”, the artist says.
A year ago, Kustaa Saksi’s exhibition was touring Asia.
In Manila, the exhibition was opened by Imelda Marcos, to whom Saksi donated one of his works.
Saksi’s illustrations demonstrate the influences of op art and pop art, as well as displaying a psychedelic quality. His designs often feature nature-related images and fairytale characters.
”I like to combine all kinds of elements. I use organic figures and combine them with a modern simple shape”, the artist says in defining his personal style.
Some of Saksi’s fairytale characters remind one of the Moomins, the central characters in a much-loved series of books by Finnish illustrator and writer Tove Jansson.
”It was never very conscious, but recently I have woken up to the fact that they do exist among my fairytale characters”, he adds.
In Finland, Kustaa Saksi is less well-known. Last year, he designed a set of stamps for Itella, the state-owned national mail enterprise, winning the Silver Award in the Best of the Year Competition that is organised annually by Grafia, the Association of Professional Graphic Designers in Finland.
”It was kind of amusing that I designed something as tiny as postage stamps, while at the same time I was taking part in an ad campaign for Havaianas sandals in New York, painting gigantic pictures on the walls of skyscrapers”, Saksi notes.
Furthermore, Saksi has also designed the Pori Jazz Festival look, including a poster for Pori Jazz 2010.
”It is quite different from my other works, rather typography-oriented”, the artist notes.
After graduating from the Institute of Design at the Lahti University of Applied Sciences in 2000, Saksi worked for a few years at an advertising agency and as an AD for the monthly magazine Image. However, he was not satisfied with what he regarded as the ”narrowness” of graphic design.
”I felt that graphic design was not my thing. I was not able to express myself so much, nor could I create my own style”, Saksi regrets.
He moved to Paris.
”It felt like the right move to make. Illustrating was appreciated there commercially and as a form of art in a quite different way compared with Finland. At that time, illustrations and illustrators were not widely used for commercial purposes in Finland”, Saksi recalls.
After four years in Paris, Saksi moved to Amsterdam, where Unit CMA, the agency dealing with Saksi’s affairs, is also located.
When listening to Saksi, one gets the impression that jobs have sprung up like mushrooms in his path, and all he has had to do is bend down and pick the most interesting ones.
However, Saksi wants to give credit to this agency, saying that one has to have an agency in order to be able to work abroad.
”A good agency can provide vital support, especially for young types coming into the business. When you manage to have some works on display somewhere, it is like a snowball rolling down the hill”, Saksi explains.
In the early stages of his career Saksi did not actually look for an agency, but it found him.
"I didn't even know what an agency meant, but they had seen my works in a magazine and contacted me, offering cooperation”, Saksi continues.
The Internet is also an effective marketing channel. Kustaa Saksi’s works are frequently commented on and presented on international blogs, from where they spread through links.
”I have got jobs from far-away countries only because my images have been recommended on some websites”, Saksi notes.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 10.9.2009
Note: As the other pictures and links indicate, there are plenty of other young Finnish illustrators who have spread their wings, in many cases moving abroad to work.
Links:
Laura Laine
Kustaa Saksi
Works by Kustaa Saksi
Unit CMA: Offpiste - In the Land of Kustaa Saksi
Antti Uotila
Janine Rewell
Grafia - Association of Professional Graphic Designers in Finland
Jesse Auersalo
Maija Louekari
HANNU PÖPPÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hannu.popponen@hs.fi
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| 15.9.2009 - THIS WEEK |
Finnish images spreading out into the world
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