Paul Blow

I was reminded of the work of illustrator Paul Blow today. I love it. Take a closer look on his website here

MISTD

Today I received an email confirming that I had passed the entrance competition to become a member of the mysterious elite group The International Society of Typographic Designers (more commonly referred to simply as ISTD). This means I am officially now able to put MISTD after my name on my business card. I've never felt so important! It's fair to say that i'm pleased! I would also like to congratulate the other fantastic designers and good friends who got in also. We are invited to the formal awards ceremony in June, which is going to be held at the secret ISTD super hq, inside the main volcanic lava pit of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland. Exciting!

You can view photos, and read about the project I entered by clicking here

Snask sweet Snask

Today is the last day of Snask. This is a dark day. It might not yet be my last day in Stockholm however as even though UK airspace is open again, and the Swedes seem pretty relaxed about it, it would appear that many flights to London from Stockholm are still totally fucked. FINE BY ME! I love Stockholm and I think I might just make it my home instead of going back to London.

Yesterday was the final day of the Malmofestivalen photoshoot. There was a real live parrot on the set (or "pappagoya" in Swedish). My job was basically to float a purple balloon on a stick at it which really pissed it off. I think parrots (along with ostriches, probably my least favourite animal) are quite scary even when they are in a good mood. The photos look incredible though so its totally worth the jungle fear. To get home i rode in the back of the van with Axel and Hanna. We felt like illegal immigrants, sitting on bags of trash in the dark, wondering when were going to get home. Of course, i was genuinely wondering when/how I was going to get home. Let's hope never! I love you, Snask!

Day ?: Snask Vs. Super Volcano

Oskar och Axel

Sorry for not updating for a while!

Here is a list of things i have learnt recently:

- All doors in Stockholm are really, really heavy and open the opposite way you expect

- A lot of people spit on the street here, including fancy looking girls

- Saying "tjena" is cooler than saying "hej"

- Argentinians in hostels are obnoxious, germans are smug, and poles are peculiar.

- The shop Weekday is incredible

- Sodermalm is where i want to live

- Volcanoes are fucking cool

- If you're a tiny bit brave (but nowhere near as brave as you need to be in London) you can ride the metro for free.

- Everyone in Sweden is good looking, even the ugly people

- People LOVE whining about volcanoes, when in reality they should be rejoicing that they are FORCED to take a longer holiday

- Swedes drink an unreal amount of coffee

- Helvetica Neue is so last year. Helvetica Neue LT Std is the real deal. (especially 85 heavy)

- Spray paint is fun but gets all over your shit

- Freddie, Magnus, Erik, Michael, Jens, Axel, Oskar, Daniel, Hanna, Klara & Emilie are unbelievable and i love everyone. (i make myself sick)

- Pet Sounds in Sodermalm is probably going to feature in my top 5 record shops of all time. Apparently its Quentin Tarantino's number one.

In other news, there is some chance my flight on thursday will be cancelled. Fingers crossed! I love being here!

Snask off!

Day 7: Snask down, Snask to go

Another day, another dollar/red furry horse being made. (Horse-manufacturer: Hanna, my lovely co-intern.)

Can you believe I have been in Stockholm for one week tonight? You can? Weird, because I can't. Time flies, as they say, when you're having fun. Today I think i learnt more in ten minutes than I have in the past year. I wish I was kidding. It fried my brain so i had to go home from the studio, but tomorrow i will be going at it full-tilt. Tack så mycket Freddie!

After I left the studio i bought some stuff in the incredible Weekday (its so good its good we don't have it, because British people would ruin it) and then i asked the incredible Clara where to go for an adventure this evening. She seemed keen I go drinking on my own (?), although after some discussion she decided it would be better if i went and checked out some attractive Swedish architecture. She was right. Tack så mycket Clara!

The only thing i can believe less than the fact that i have been here a full week already is the fact that i am yet to make a swedish themed "musical interlude" post. OH WAIT! Love Is All "Sea sick" - such an underrated band. Sweden (and most of scandinavia) produces some of the best pop and indie pop in the world.

Day 4, 5 & 6: Tired & frustrated. Am I a designer yet?

Wig, model's own.

Friday marked my first weekend in Stockholm! So logically I decided to catch the train out of Stockholm C to the very small little village of Knivsta to visit my good friend Sofie. Knivsta translates, literally, as Knifetown. There are ghettos in Hackney which don't even get nicknamed Knifetown. Needless to say it was very quiet and everyone was very friendly and stabbing each other was probably the last thing on their minds. Saturday night we went to Uppsala to party and hand a grand old time. Uppsala will always have an awesome, drunk little place in my heart ever since I visited last summer.

In the UK when you have a hangover you eat fried food, puke and watch shitty TV all day long. In sweden you eat waffles and visit tiny little villages (Sigtuna) which people used to write fairy stories about then hang out next to a frozen lake. This is reason No. 14356 why Sweden is way better than the UK.

Today i have been continuing my work on the Teaterhogskolen project. I got frustrated and decided to abandon some of my ideas and take a fresh perspective and i think that that was definitely a wise move. Hopefully i can get it covered tomorrow and move on to something else. This frustration is something that me (and everyone else no doubt) has experienced countless times at the university studio, however experiencing in "real life" certainly puts it into perspective. Especially when you've seen the invoice for what you've been doing.

Day 2 & 3: Roses are red, violets are Snask.

Pluto (shh don't tell anyone)

Snask translates as "candy". It also translates as sexy, trashy filth.

I picked up the (huge fucking) coffee delivery when everyone was out to lunch.

Yesterday was quite a quiet day helping Mike come up with ideas for the Malmofestivalen films. This was fun, but i have never done anything remotely animated before and Mike is basically a pro, so i think my role was mostly moral support. Hanna's job was to read "tellmewhy" by KarlssonWilker (a classic, and judging by the amazon marketplace value, also a design antique). When all of this hard work was done, it was time to drink beer and play ps3 on the huge fucking projector wall. I was introduced to Oskar, who is great, and makes music videos and adverts. For nearly two whole days he thought I was a client and not an intern. Thanks Oskar! It is safe to say that life at Snask is pretty sweet. We then rode the subway, ate some burgers and went to Pluto, which is a top secret members only kind of bar/venue to see Erik's friend's band, who were actually pretty good, especially if you like Can, Liquid Liquid, Silver Apples or LCD Soundsystem etc. Erik agreed with me that "Washing Machine" by Sonic Youth is their best record (we're right).

Today Freddie passed me my own brief, designing a poster for Teaterhögskolan in Stockholm. The poster is for a sort of drama class for the homosexual society, or something along those lines. More on that soon!

Snask off!

Day 1: Snask Down

Today was day 1 at wonderful Snask in Stockholm. Above is a sly photo i took and as you can see everyone is hard at work. I met some really, really awesome people today, not all of whos names I can remember, but some of which are called: Freddie, Michael, Hanna, Erik, Magnus and Daniel. Right now Snask is working on this years identity system for Malmo Festival, and me and Michael (the super-intern) have been assigned the top secret mission of coming up with ideas for some short films for the festival. I will say no more (otherwise Magnus will kill me in my sleep) but i will say that Michael clearly knows what he is doing, not least because he did this:

SNASK from Mike Crozier on Vimeo.

Needless to say, i am pretty damn excited to be onboard.

Snask's Away!

Tomorrow i am going to be flying to Stockholm. Tuesday is day one interning with the nobel prize winning international playboys at Snask in sunny/snowy Stockholm. It is going to be a great two weeks of not sleeping, being terrified, excited, confused, overjoyed and worried, often all at the same time. But, as the ancient Scandinavian proverb goes "if you're not tired, terrified, excited, confused, overyjoyed and worried all at the same time, what are you? some kind of god damn sissy?". I carry that proverb with me wherever I go. Snask's away!

Musical Interlude: Memoryhouse "Lately (Deuxième)"

Memoryhouse - Lately from Jamie Harley on Vimeo.

I am currently obsessed with this song and this band. You may recognise the sample from "phonecall" by Jon Brion aka that really pretty song from the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind soundtrack. If not, i highly recommend you get familiar with it!

Also, why is vimeo not more ubiquitous?