When observing Marian Bantjes, you get the sense that she detests living life in the rat race for money. She left her digital agency, Digitopolis, to live full time in her small island vacation home off the coast of Vancouver. She kept herself creating with a series of self-guided excersises that were preformed purely for the joy/ challenge of creating. We got to peek inside her dirt collection from all over the world, her process for making her annual valentines cards, and her bedroom were she revives her creativity by sleeping, alot.
One thing that struck me is the slightly occult feeling about her. The clothes that she wears, and the book store that she took us to exudes an old world flavor that reminds me of mythics of ancient craftsman and magical beings. Later, she reveals briefly, that she has been known to have an interest in illuminated texts. "I like to read anything that invokes wonder".
Her work reflects the style of illuminated texts with the use of patterns and symbols that are meant to create a riddle that rewards the viewer when it is figured out. "Marian is often not hired for her style, but her brain". It was her insightfull contributions to the blog "speak up" that caught the attention of the graphic design community. Her deconstruction of Santa Clause and the alphabet brought these seemingly average parts of everyday life into a new perspective, invoking wonder in everything around us.
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