Open letter to Santa

Dear Santa, this year I have only one wish. It's Kasper's new book about a wolf that wanted to become famous.

I do realize it's been previously published in black and white, but Santa, come on, black and white? It was only tiny in its A5 format as well, so this is definitely the one to own.

Yes Santa, it's in Swedish, but so what? I will only be looking at the brilliant, lush pictures anyhow. Especially as the artistic standard is so outstanding.

Santa, you know I have been good all year, so should we say it's a deal then? That's what I thought.

Oh, and can I have a pony as well?

Okay, never mind the pony, the book will do just fine. Thanks Santa, you're the best!

PS. In case your little helpers are really busy it's available in quality bookshops as well. Or why not head directly to the Napa Gallery, I know they have other nice stuff too!

Zines

Jaakko has two new zines out
It'll End In Tears, a small comics zine, published by Cafe Royal

and A Collaborative Project zine with Henna Hyvärinen, published by Editions Kaugummi

Tietoviidakko in Turku

Tietoviidakko (Data Jungle) mosaic by Jukka Pylväs and Jenni Tuominen is revealed in entrance hall of ICT House in Turku. ICT House locates in Turku Science Park. Building offers working facilities and laboratories for three universities. Some 3000 students and 700 researchers and teachers operate in the fields of computer science, information technology and e-media.
Building is constructed in 2006 and it is designed by architects Lahdelma&Mahlamäki.

Jaakko's exhibition

Another practical decision by Jaakko Pallasvuo. In Detroit Gallery, Stockholm, 6-15th November 2009

Osaka exhibition

Kasper is exhibiting in Osaka at the moment as part of the Personal Circles -exhibiton at the OOO Gallery.

Since you can't all possibly go, here's what on display, complete with handy explanations if you can't figure out what exactly is happening in the pictures:


Our daughter Stella is now one year old. She likes it when we read books to her, preferrably with pictures of cuddly farm animals. I have however illustrated a few children's books myself, and whenever Stella wants me to read to her she always brings me one of those. I'm always very flattered, but lately I've come to realize it's probably not because she loves the illustrations, but more because I'm never too busy to eye through one of these books, so it's a guaranteed way of making daddy read.


We don't own a car so Stella is not that used to travelling in one. She usually gets sick, so it's good to bring a set of clean clothes whenever you go somewhere.

Last time we borrowed a car was to go to my grandmother's birthday. My lady partner Maija was very hungover – as was I, but not to the same extent – and was complaing silently in the backseat that she was not sure she was going to manage the two hour drive without being sick.

Everything went fine, and we made it in time. My mother greated us on the steps on the building and her first question was ”so, you managed to drive all the way here without anyone throwing up”. I was a bit startled; did we really look that hungover? It took me about ten seconds to figure out she actually ment our daughter Stella.


This cot is borrowed from a friend, and it has a cool rainbow-sticker on it. However, Stella's has used it perhaps 4 hours in total during her first year because she tends to sleep between us. I would probably do the same if I was a child.


I love second hand stuff. There's this big flea market every weekend close to where we live, and I always try to go. Often I end up buying a coffee mug with some funny text , like ”I love Florida”. Last time I counted we had over 70 mugs at home, which is a bit much considering there's only the two of us using them.


The keyboard is my dad's, but I'm borrowing it for an indefinite time. It's an early 90's model and has these really plastic sounds and separate buttons for ”rain”, ”thunder” and ”train approaching” which you can press at any time. I try to play it at night when I'm done with everything else. This spring I've taught myself to play the theme tune to Super Mario Bros.


When you flick through interior design mags it always strikes me how people obiously always has gone to great lengths to clean up before the photographer came, so it always looks like they just moved in. I'd be much more interested in seeing what the homes look like when they have laundry drying on the back of chairs and old newspapers laying around. Maybe there already are magazines like that?


When I buy toys for Stella I always try to pick out stuff that was around in my childhood. I realize this is a bit sad and she won't probably care much for these things once she gets older. Right now though she's too young to complain so I'll probably have another year or so before she starts forming her own opinions. We've also mutually agreed on not buying Stella any Disney-products, but I'm not even actually sure why? Maybe becuase they're lame?


Most buses that come in from the north and east of Helsinki pass the bus stop which is ten minutes from our home, and there's also a metro station. I don't really have to use the metro in my daily life, but I try to whenever I have the opportunity, just because I love the smell of an underground train. I do realize the smell of pee, damp concrete and recycled air is probably not to everyone's tastes... but I find it an enchanting scent. I almost whish I had to commute on a daily basis so I could smell it more often, but obviously the novelty would wear off pretty soon.

Yume Modern Art 19.10.-7.11.2009

Napa has an exhibition in Yume restaurant! Yume is a modern Japanese restaurant located in Palace Kämp / Helsinki. In this exhibition you will see works by: Anna Virtanen, Jenni Rope and Jenni Tuominen. It's also the very first exhibition by Napa's new Japanese illustrators Kozue Himi, Takeru Toyokura and Romi Watanabe. See photos here.

Luxurious online shopping

Kasper is happy to announce the launch of the Kasper Stromman Exclusive Webshop, a new luxurious concept for online shopping.

”We are a premium webshop specializing in unique products” says Kasper, ”finally there's an outlet for the most distinctive of products, acquired from all over the globe”.

The Kasper Stromman Exclusive Webshop is open as from today on www.kasperstromman.com.