Be bold and follow your dreams!
As a kid, it was my dream to write and do illustrations for children’s stories. Life led me on a different path, but I recently got in touch with my childhood dreams again, and what a buzz. Highly recommended.
I wanted to make something special for my nieces. That is how this little ‘DREAM’ book was born. It came together so beautifully that I decided to make a few extras as collector’s items too. The books are completely handmade and hand-bound, have bespoke display fonts, graphics and illustrations.
Story behind “DREAM | A Book Of Quotes”
My brother is a pilot with 70+ countries and 5 continents under his belt. It is not unusual for my WhatsApp to suddenly start pinging wildly at odd times, as he sends through a bunch of photos of his latest stop-over. Sometimes he’ll be walking down a street, taking photos and commenting as he goes along. Makes me feel like I’ve traveled a little too. I’m a lucky girl that way (o:
Some of the photos he sent me from Bruges (Belgium) and Paris took me on a bunny trail that resulted in a whole bunch of hot-air-balloon illustrations. (pen, ink, water-colour, pencil-crayon, metallic ink). I made the first mini-Dream book for his daughters with some of those illustrations. I wanted to give them something that they could relate to, that was not too girly, but whimsical and beautiful at the same time. I wanted something that would encourage them to explore their own creativity, believing that one nurtured dream can take an ordinary person to unexpected and extraordinary places, as it has for their father (and mother too actually).
The quotes in this little book therefore follow the theme of dreaming, imagining, creating and exploring. I designed the art-deco-looking font and the colourful caps from scratch to match the whimsical feel of the balloons. The whimsical hot air balloon illustrations are symbolic of dreams taking flight.
Funny thing is, I set out trying to inspire my nieces, but got totally caught up in the project myself – definitely the most fun I have had in a while (o:
