I hope you are all enjoying this winter and have some time to enjoy a good book somewhere nice. Soon it is christmas! I am very happy to announce that one of my illustrations is part of a boardgame. Karin Janner (spieltz) came up with the idea for a crowdsourced christmas-themed Roulette game: Weihnachtswichtel.
She asked illustrators, friends and friends of friends to participate and draw a christmas elf. Of the elves then 37 were chosen to be part of the game. Here it is:

You can buy the game here. All proceeds are donated to Project Human Aid (e.g. building schools and libraries in Burundi).

And here is the Elf in all his glory. Thanks to my mum, who was visiting Hamburg at the time and kept saying “he needs to be a bit fatter.” – you were right!

Guerilla knitting is just the thing to do when autumn hits the city. Warm wolly things that keep your cold hands busy while you are sitting with a cup of tea and listen to the whole album of that band you like (and not just skip through the songs randomly). Then you venture out, out into the city and find that spot that is in need of some colour and drape your creation around it. There!

And it will endure harsh weather and not peel, like a paper streetart sticker maybe would. It may put a smile on passers-by, it definitely will remind you of that nice afternoon.

I have always loved guerilla knitting. I love seeing it, love how tactile it is and how indestructible. I am rubbish at knitting though. (Mum: “Clara, whatever you are doing to this wool makes it cling together..but…sorry.. this is not knitting! Let me show it to you once again..”).

I was traveling for a jobinterview in Wiesbaden and had lunch in one of my favourite places there when i noticed the flyer advertising a big guerilla knitting campaign in Wiesbaden. Delighted, i saw that the knitting would take place in the very venue i was sipping my coffee at! I got to talking to the women that were setting up the knitting space and they were just lovely and encouraged me to get over my but-i’m-rubbish-at-knitting-fear. The “Wiesbaden Knäuelt” project has been set up by an Event Agency that has set out to improve the city (as a location of industry, as a social business city). Nice pro-active approach, guys! (But please turn off that music on your homepage.)

So i picked up bright orange wool and remembered what a digital native does, when she wants to learn something.

And voilà, the orange square is enroute to Wiesbaden to be part of the big event (on November the 5th!) – you can still send something. The address is on their facebook page. Happy knitting!

Last weekend i was in Berlin to attend the Recycled Creativity festival. It was amazing.

Big shout out to the people organizing the event – it was soo good. Amazing location, great people, lots of loesjes, cool music and lots of workshops (yoga, upcycling, stencils, sewing, swapshop,..). It was very inspiring. Once again, i left Berlin with a head brimming with ideas and new friends in my heart.
Keep an eye on Kulturlabor Trial and Error! As part of Open Design City they turned trash into bird houses…for example.

Another kikai release i had the honour to work on is his new album “labor”. Since i know Marius likes his coffee, but also drinks up music with an intensity only a musician is capable of, i have had this picture in my mind for quite a while. So, last week i just went with it. Now i only wish i had dried the inside of the coffeemaker pot properly..

enjoy your meal

here for your approval,  another addition to the streetart toolkit: guerilla origami

Can’t really show you my workplace, as i have not yet taken a picture. But i can show you the cute dog that runs around here from time to time . I really enjoy the work and coming out of job-searching-hibernation did wonders for my creativity. so many ideas! I jot them all down in a messy moleskine for later when i may have time (great ideas for hot chocolate packaging). I also like, how i can’t stop my layout-eye when i walk out in the evening: i am still resizing all the elements of a poster that i come across, thinking about different typefaces and checking if the spacing is nice.. yes, i like my work.

the Mašta Magazine is a zine for creative activism and created by bright young people from all over the world – you can find out more and also participate on http://www.mastazine.net

They are currently redesigning the Logo (we have our best girls from Macedonia and Scotland on it) and i submitted my ideas earlier this week. It was a lot of fun scribbling ideas and making stuff in illustrator. I do love to think up new (and adeaquate) visual representation of something cool.

A few years back i was part of a masta-crew who did workshops for a week in the Nederlands to generate content for the new issue (theme: “drive”) – it was a brilliant week.

They published my streetart on Hansel & Gretel and some other stuff i did (yay!)
You can view past issues here

If you want to get involved: there is still time until the 10th of January to submit art/articles or anything really  for the new issue themed “growth”

well, not quite regular prison. i was in a zoo.
My friend Katharina is not only a kickass peoples photographer, but also keeps herself busy coordinating the youth club of the Wilhelm Lehmbruck Museum. I joined her and the group for a drawing session in the Duisburg zoo. I had forgotten how much fun it is to hang out with teenagers. Even if they keep taking photos…