Earlier this week, amidst the usual bustle, we found a moment to sit down together and discuss the inspiration behind our latest series: a collection of prints steeped in childhood memories, storytelling, children's books and the natural world.
Browse the new print series here
Gearoid: OK, let’s start with how this new series came about. Our surroundings, where we live, has always been part of how we work, but this new series seems a little different and a little more personal. Could you talk a little about that?
Jo Anne: Of course. Well, working on this series took me back to my childhood and this memory I have of a Ladybird alphabet frieze in the bedroom I shared with my older sister. The frieze was probably hers, I think – I was too young to read. But each letter was accompanied by a small illustration, "A" for apple, "B" for ball. I remember that I’d lie in bed, staring at the pictures and connecting the images in the line into little stories: "There once was an apple, who thought it was a ball, and it chased a cat (ABC)." Or my sister and I would do this together and mix it them completely… the kangaroo and fox ate all the jam (KFJ) – that kind of thing? Ever since I have always loved the idea of finding a collection of objects, or images and making up little stories from them.
Gearoid: That reminds me of Enzo Mari’s "Fable Game", where the reader is invited to arrange the illustrations to invent their own tales?
Jo Anne: Yes, exactly! With these new series of prints, I wanted to create pieces that people can arrange to tell their own stories. Each print can hold its own meaning, but we have talked about how when you group them together, they hint at a memory, a journey, even a landscape.
Gearoid: I really like that this series feels more playful, than say the seaweed series, its almost like a collection of toys. Watching our children, I’ve noticed that the best toys are the open-ended ones that leave room for imagination.
Gearoid: We have mentioned Enzo Mari. And this summer we went to the Enzo Mari exhibition in London. That was a bit of a pilgrimage for us – do you want to talk a little about that? It was really great to get to bring the children to it with us.
Jo Anne: It really was. Seeing Mari’s development sketches, how he drew and redrew shapes until he would find their purest form, really struck me.
We both love his work a lot, and we wanted to make something in response to that exhibition, but to create something that was also uniquely ours – a collection that reflects our lives and surroundings. So, that was when we thought about things we might find on a forest walk with our children – an acorn, a feather, clusters of berries.
Gearoid: And another influence - we often talk about Elsa Beskow’s stories too. Her books have become a staple in our house ever since I brought a set back from Sweden I think?
Jo Anne: Yes! Her stories and images are magic. I love that they are a touch surreal. We read Woody, Hazel, and Little Pip all the time. And I love The Sun Egg, where the characters discover a giant unexpected orange in the middle of the forest. They have never seen an orange or a citrus fruit before and together they decide, logically, it must be a “sun egg”. There’s a feeling of wonder, and a play with scale, that makes the forest feel like its own universe – something children grasp immediately. I think us adults have to work harder to keep our sense of wonder and adventure.
Gearoid: My favourites are the story where the girl sleeps upside down in a willow tree or where the child flies through the night on the back of a bat. What an image!
Jo Anne: With this new series, I really wanted the acorn to feel as though you are suddenly tiny and have come upon a giant acorn for the first time – what a wonder. I love getting to see the world through children's eyes.
We have talked about the idea that each image feels like a little treasure that a child has come upon in the forest. I always want what we do to encourage people to see nature with fresh eyes. Each piece in this series should feel like a reminder to pause and notice the beauty in small things.
Gearoid: These prints are smaller than our recent work, like the Giant Wakame and Giant Dandelion. But they’re designed to be mixed and matched, with combinations that create something unique for each person.
Jo Anne: Exactly. Take the apple and blackberry together – they remind me of my father making blackberry and apple jam each September. Or the jay, acorn, and oak leaf together – they hint at the story of jays planting oak trees by gathering acorns. The simplicity of the images allows people to add their own layers of meaning.
Gearoid: And the smaller size also opens up possibilities to place them in smaller spaces, like a hallway or a kitchen – or an awkward dark corner where you wish you had a window.
Jo Anne: Exactly. Or you could hang one on its own – like for a children’s bedroom especially, I love the idea of a single rowan print above a bed. The colours in these first prints even form a sort of rainbow. You could hang all six.
Gearoid: And our plan is to keep adding to this collection over time, right?
Jo Anne: Yes, it’s like a growing “box of woodland treasures” inspired by nature. Each new print will bring something new – adding to the story.
Gearoid: I love imagining how this collection might grow. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll have made the whole alphabet. A is Apple, B is Berry, C is for… Conkers?!
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Browse the New Woodland Treasures Print Series