thinksomething

I ♥ matryoshka

I wrote about the millimeter/milligram matryoshka cards in a previous post. I've now realised that the matryoshka doll motif seems to be popping up everywhere and seems to be bringing with it a new wave of Russian coolness. I guess we're all familiar with Russian retro Soviet coolness. Hammer and sickle T-shirts, Soviet era posters, Lenin posters etc. But the appearance of the matyoshka doll takes takes the coolness all the way back to folk art. This makes me so happy. When I was in Russia I took a folk art class and painted dolls and other wooden things in the traditional style. It got me through the dark winter and showed me that I wasn't all that bad at painting. The matryoshka doll makes a perfect motif for fabrics or stationary: it's bold, has a beautiful, curvaceous form and can be as colourful as you want it to be.

Look at this wonderful Japanese fabric I saw on this site. I love the way it has short Russian words such as "happiness" and "friendship" alongside the matryoshkas. I also love these bold wall decals which are sold on etsy. The matryoshka motif is just as impressive in one bright colour.

Also I've noticed something cool that the Korean stationary designer millimeter/milligram are doing. You probably know how Japanese and Korean stationary designers use cute English or French phrases on their work. Now they are even using Russian text in their designs! Well, we always knew that the Russian alphabet had certain aesthetic qualities...

Created: 2007-10-18 17:42, Tags: design, japan, korea, print, russia, stationary