– a blog about my work, research, ideas, typography and passion for books.

Barcelona, May 2012

21.05.2012

TRAVEL  |  Spending three weeks working in Barcelona, included the OFFF festival is a good way to spend the month of May. The OFFF festival has given a lot of inspiration by watching good work from great speakers. OFFF is an entity in continuous transformation, alive and evolutionary. More than a decade ago, it was born as a post-digital culture festival; a meeting place to host contemporary creation through an in depth programme of conferences, workshops and performances by the most relevant artists of our time. These days, OFFF keeps being a reference event throughout the world. A festival hosted in Barcelona, New York, Lisbon and Paris which has featured renowned artists such as Joshua Davis, Stefan Sagmeister, John Maeda, Neville Brody, Chris Milk, Paula Scher, Rick Poynor, Erik Spiekermann, Dvein, Erik Natzke, Vincent Moon, among others…The festival where a new generation of artists has originated and developed. All of them started attending OFFF as spectators. Today, they take up its main stage.

Being in Barcelona with its outstanding architecture, colours, graphics, decor, food, beach, shops and coffee at Cafés el Magnifico is highly recommended.

Pure happiness

11.02.2012

INSPIRATION | Good design is a tough job. New lovely book received today, directly from Germany and the publisher Hermann Schmidt Mainz. 40 projects. 40 theses. 1 manifesto by Kirsten Dietz & Jochen Rädeker. People mostly judge design on whether they like it or not. Although that is important, it is but one criterion. This book not only showcases their work, but also sets out in twenty theses the basic principles of what constitutes good design. Theses for an informed discussion, which is necessary if design is to be more than just pretty to look at. When designers understand their career as not just a job, but an attitude. This is what the book is about, what concerns the writers, what they believe in.

Beijing September 2011

11.09.2011

TRAVEL | Visited Beijing to establish contacts. The goal is to create a book related to a possible paper clip exhibition in 2014. New culture, good food, interesting meetings, exhibitions and wonderful people. Met Tone Helene Aarvik, First Secretary, Press and Culture at the Royal Norwegian Embassy, and Xiaoguang Qiao who is a well-known Chinese paper cutting artist and a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Both meetings were very successful and will hopefully be an important contribution to the continuing process of a book and an exhibition China in 2014.

And of course The Great Wall, The Forbidden City, Hutongs, opera, many cars, heat and a lot of pollution. And not to mention: inspiration!

Paperworld 2011 in Frankfurt

16.02.2011

TRAVEL | Being at the Paperworld exhibition in Frankfurt early in February with psaligraf Karen Bit Vejle was inspiring. Thousands of different notebooks, paper, pens, cards and bags gave me a lot of new ideas to bring back to Norway.

My daily dose of type

06.01.2011

INSPIRATION | 365 days Typoinspiration from the Typodarium for the year 2011. 365 different fonts: bread-and-butter types and typographical baubles, character sets and punctuational marks, old masters and wild youths, favourite fonts from all over the world.

I love it!

Berlin November 2010

19.11.2010

TRAVEL For four weeks I have been living in a studio flat in Kreutzberg in Berlin. I have been working on several projects which I brought from Norway. I have rented a bookbinding studio in Künstlerhaus Bethanien, trying to prepare an upcoming workshop, been inspired by food, cafes, people, bookstores, magazines, galleries, places, shops, the turkish market outside my door, visitors, the weather, new shoes and a lot of street art…