Why we've been off the radar and why Alfons Mucha is to blame.
And so it happened that we were reached out to by Mucha Foundation Art Museum asking us to collaborate on a new collection for their umbrella organization, Mucha Trust.
Who would've thought .)
We got a ticket into the endless world of Mucha's imagination and a free hand in selecting and reworking his art. At first it made our heads spin, but after a few slaps we snapped out of it and flew through the universe of his unique work like a flock of thirsty (cosmic) bats.
Images hidden across all sorts of compositions took on clearer shapes and we sensed a hidden potential, waiting more than 100 years for its rebirth and for confirmation that Mucha, through his approach to visual art, was ahead of his time and essentially founded the craft we call graphic design.
How we approached it and what you can look forward to.
The basic premise was "don't do it like everyone else around". Transfer printing got an absolute ban. A full-colour plastic print slapped on your tits, nah. No 1:1 reproduction plonked in the middle of a tee and similar designs you know from gift shops.
Thanks to the freedom the foundation gave us, we were able to adapt the original work for classic screen printing and simplify it into something resembling contemporary authorial design. Some designs we managed to push all the way to the extreme, where only fragments or typography remained of Mucha's work.
The collection is built on seven visual motifs drawn from the works and ornamental output of Alfons Mucha, which are part of the Mucha Trust Collection.
The six figurative and poster compositions are complemented by a standalone graphic symbol derived from one of Mucha's Art Nouveau ornaments. It was converted into a contemporary vector icon.
Each motif was adjusted so that it works as a distinctive apparel design while preserving the recognisability and artistic integrity of the original works.
The official collection drop, or the assault on the centre of Prague continues.
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