Supporting the design community

For many years, we at Ruru Artisans have loved supporting the creative industries and the adoption of new technology through direct action and consulting. While publishing is still a big deal in New Zealand (though COVID offered challenges recently), take the period between 2000 and 2010, when people were asking if publishing and magazines would survive. Those who have bright ideas and have the drive to work them through may not always succeed but we see them emerge elsewhere in new areas.

I’m talking here about NO Magazine (later the NO Design agency) founders, owner Fraser McGregor and editor/writer/designer Delaney Tabron, who started in New Zealand before transitioning to the USA. The NO owners invited local designers and artists to get involved in the production of a special edition of No Magazine for the December, 2008 issue, with sponsor 42Below. The invitation involved the submission of design ideas, like a competition of sorts.

The Print

In response, I submitted a proposal and screen print (in the gallery) and it was selected the story that inspired it won the heart of Delaney. The three colour screen print (following conversations with the artist, Ken Robinson) presented the concept of Heritage and matched well with the special issue sponsor.

The image name: Heirloom – a brief telling

Once upon a time, there was this guy who really liked a girl! The guy went to talk with the girl’s dad. Not unusual right? Well the dad, being from Poland drank Vodka, and this was the drink that he offered to men who seriously wanted to court his daughter. The father would sit down with the guy, to talk about ‘stuff’. They spoke and drank for hours, some may even say it was part of the father’s own heritage, his culture established in the home.

What is the guy going to say, and will the dad ‘like’ this guy or ‘dislike’ him after he had consumed the vodka?

Hmmm, seems like a test, right!

Yes, it was a test. Yes, that story is true but kept brief here as it is the print that holds the essence of the story. The illustration includes:
an heirloom or heritage piece of jewellery; Eastern European
inside the jewellery is a figure falling; Discussion with the dad
the 42 numbers, are taken directly from the position of the numbers on the 42Below bottle label.

It was a great piece to work  – many thanks to Ken Robinson (New Zealand artist), Fraser McGregor, Delaney Tabron, and 42BELOW.