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Featured Artisan – Brooklyn Lyceum Spring Market and Handmade Cavalcade!
There is something about toast that evokes a sense of comfort, home, breakfast. Maybe it’s the fragrance that wafts through the house, or maybe it’s the crunchy bread combined with the melted butter and jam. So I wasn’t surprised when I started noticing the influence of toast on creative design in the artisan markets around New York City. This is the first of two postings on toast as inspiration for design.
Illustrator and graphic designer Virginia Kraljevic doodled in her school notebooks – a lot. And they were good. She would continue to hone her drawing skills through her professional experience in publishing, fashion design, and window display design. She has created unique artwork for album covers, business cards, stationery, and more. Her work evokes a sense of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton meet Jim Henson; dark-ish yet whimsical.
Virginia’s wonderful notecards feature many of her illustrations, including one with two pieces of toast that caught my eye. The boy and girl toasts are obviously in love with each other, and the caption simply reads, “For the Love of Toast.” It turns out that Virginia likes to create characters out of random inanimate objects, and toast is one of those things with great potential for fun and silliness. When I first met her, she had turned those two toasty lovers into 1” toast puppets with tiny movable legs to amuse her (older) brother, who was visiting her at the market. I thought they must be an important part of her permanent display because they were ridiculously adorable. Imagine my dismay when she told me later that someone else had bought them. I can only hope that I’ll have toast puppets of my own to play with some day…
Virginia finds that organic spelt bread makes the tastiest toast.
You can see her designs on her illustrated website, virginiakraljevic.com, and purchase them on her Etsy shop. I like to check Virginia. The Blog! on a daily basis for inspirational tidbits.
Come out and meet Virginia Kraljevic in person at the upcoming Handmade Cavalcade (April 21) and the Brooklyn Lyceum’s Spring Food and Craft Market (May 1 & 2)!