Thank you all Fellow Travellers, Fellow Venturers, Fellow Pioneers and anyone joining me on this journey on Patreon! And welcome on board for the launch of our adventures in 2024 Adam Gundacker, Alexi A., Amber Dill, Andrew Ling, Brad Bailey, Brad Baker, Brian Soares, Browning Hi-Power 9mm, Cameron Esfahani, Cassandra, Chris, Chris S, Christine Wasserbaech, Curt Loyd, Dan Woodington, Dean davis, Dustey Long, Eric Lee, Erica R, Ethan Li, Fenrir, Hus Mihai-Alin, Irving Camacho, J.Seidy, Jack Dee, Jacob, Jamie Morrison, Jason Goldman, Jennifer Lin, Johnny Kwei, Kareem E, Kevork, Laurent, Manu, Marcus Renlund, Mark Burns, Mark Hurrell, Matthew Romeril, N.Lee, Nikko, Nurul Alam, Paul Chiu, Paul Flick, Robert, Ruoying Hao, Sang Nguyen, Sarah L., Serge Angelov, Shane Cook, Sheng Zhan, Shermjack, ShuffleCut 52, Spencer Kuchle, Tammy Jones, Teodor Tron, Thanh Collector, Tim Coonfield, Uwe Klöppel, Zea1y, zsk3zz, Đức Nguyễn Quang, 丁念!
now you're talking
What do you do?
I work as an English teacher, writer and illustrator in Japan with a degree in Psychology, but consider myself a creative of sorts. So this day I might be writing a fairy tale about the fletcher's daughter, and the next I might be drawing a paper parrot.
What do you write or illustrate about?
I write and illustrate nonsense. The absurd is never of trifling importance to the imagination, and in fact, the more senseless it is, the more senses it invokes. It seems nonsense can be even more fantastic than fantasy, yet oftentimes more engaging and poignant than contemporary news telling.
Why nonsense?
I find nonsense comes quite naturally to me. Possibly because I have a good grasp of imagination and an even worse grasp of how to communicate it. It also helps that I'm a dyslexic living in Tokyo, so I've forgotten half my English, and the other half I could never spell.
Who inspires you?
From Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland to Bruegel’s series of allegories there are many creatives that capture something special, that depict worlds unseen yet still describe the world we see everyday. In terms of life and career it is fair to say my mother, as a business woman, entrepreneur, painter and writer, influenced me a fair bit.
What are you working on now?
I am constantly working on a consortium of pieces, but at the moment; a novel to be revealed, my next playing card project centred on riddles and puzzles, and a private commission of a charismatic cat.
Have unanswered queries?
Contact me here.
Green Feet
I have always believed in respecting fellow people, recognising all animals, and revering the natural environment around me. I believe we should be thankful for the lives we've been given, and acknowledge that we are only a small part of a much grander, beautiful, fierce and genuine world.
As such, I want to create a company that behaves in a conscientious and open manner.
Packaging
Framed and Unframed Prints
In the framed prints - protective paper sheet on glass, plastic coverings beneath frame, protective cardboard sheet in box, and frame box all repurposed so our activities created no additional waste.
In unframed prints - protective paper is 100% recycled, and paper, protective cardboard sheet and cardboard box are all recyclable.
All products use as much cardboard in place of plastic as possible, as an industry trend is permanent recycling, the cardboard is recyclable and also itself produced from over 90% recycled cardboard materials. (For more information see www.zendanren.or.jp [Japanese])
Bubble wrap - a special locally acquired green bubble wrap made with 15% green polyethylene, an organic material derived from sugarcane, reducing carbon dioxide emissions and being safer for the environment. (For more information see www.putiputi.co.jp [Japanese])
Tape - a special material made from recycled plastic bottles.
Logo sticker printed on thin recyclable Japanese washi style soft paper.
Cups, Cufflinks, and Other Products
Cardboard boxing, tape and stickers all information as above.
Product padding - environmentally friendly, locally sourced natural wood padding where needed.
Books
Currently I use Amazon as my distributor and Createspace, an Amazon subsidiary as my printer. This process allows for a print on demand system, which means that I don't print stockpiles of books, but one book is printed for each order. This reduces excess production as items are only made upon order.
I also hope to convert books to ebooks as soon as possible and promote this avenue to cut down on any production waste.
Playing Cards
All my playing card products consider all parts of production. The paper cards are recyclable and made from sustainably sourced paper, the ink is soy ink. The cards are wrapped in biodegradable cellophane and packaged in upcycled, recycled and recyable materials. The bubble wrapping is locally sourced and derived from sugar-cane extracts. Even the masking tape is recycled.
Animal Welfare
I dedicate all of my work to various causes related to or directly in support of animal welfare.
In my luxury art playing card project Sensu, we helped…
Symbolically adopt a critically endangered Amur Leopard through the World Wildlife Fund. Helping monitor and protect the remaining individuals left in the wild.
Supported wild red fox population through The Fox Project, an award-winning charity in the UK focussed on the rescue and rehabilitation of red foxes, for release back into the wild.
Worked with the International Anti-Poaching Foundation to help protect the endangered wild elephants and other wildlife from poaching by training otherwise impoverished and often abused local women to become rangers. Providing support to those women and protection to their lands and those animals they are shared with.
In previous projects we have achieve similar things from symbolically adopting critically endangered mountain gorillas to supporting wild lobster populations through The National Lobster Hatchery.
A portion of all profit from large projects and orders is used to support the work of ARK, to rescue and rehome abandoned and displaced cats, dogs and other animals around Japan. Ark work tirelessly to this end, and also to educate people, communities and organisations on proper animal care to reduce the amount of abandonment and abuse these animals receive.
People People
As I work I hope to develop connections with all sorts of other creatives, artisans and general fiddlers. I hope we will learn from each other, work on projects together, and help lift each other up as we all strive to make touches of beauty and tastes of imagination.
Shinyurigaoka
The area where I currently live in Japan, is thriving with creative activity. I hope to try to help it develop further through events, installations and networks of local businesses and people all working together.
Appearing in the local market events under my shop name Clocktown, I join all sorts of local craftspeople in sharing and displaying our works.
Displaying work in collaboration with local businesses such as family run veterinary hospitals (animal illustrations) and local restaurants, I create a community of visual art lovers and draw more visitors and local residents into these establishments.
The Team
As an independent artist I write my nonsense stories, poems, riddles and more, illustrate them by hand, and publish and print by myself. All projects are entirely hands-on, including the creation of this website! But I also work closely with lots of other creatives in collaborative projects and shared development amongst artists.
Working with local artists such as Miho Hanyu, a wonderful traditional potter, in developing a series of ceramic cups, and in holding joint exhibitions and work shows. (Contact her at susieisus@gmail.com)
Working on collaboration pieces and joint promotional campaigns with other developing artists on Instagram and social networks to help build a community and help each other grow. For example, this joint work with beautiful Katarzyna, a wonderful illustrator and pattern designer. (Instagram page www.instagram.com/katarzyna.rusek.graphics)
And of course I work with a variety of specialised printers and established makers in Japan and around the world. For example, playing card manufacturer ShuffledInk, a family owned printer out of Florida, USA, were an absolute pleasure to work with in creating my special Tails of Mischief prototype decks. Their customer service, quality and performance in creating these pieces was really outstanding and I look forward to working more closely with them in the near future.
Shuffled Ink gorgeous printwork
I hope to work with and jointly elevate experience, creativity and exposure of local artists and groups, as well as independent and talented artists around the world.
Joint Venture
If you'd like to have a word, please feel free to contact me.
