events // efuto drive

efuto: e = picture / futo = envelope (in japanese)

Gill Eggleston an ABSPD classmate and fellow designer proposed an efuto drive. So what is it exactly? (you might be thinking). Well… about 50 of other surface pattern designers from all around the world (including myself) signed up and commit to creating 2 hand-drawn envelopes; one to send to another participant and the other one to send back to Gill for another great project she's working on (a surface pattern designer directory which is still under construction). The idea is for all of us to share a piece of our work, and receive a beautiful piece of art from another colleague. 

Here is the efuto I created for my entry in the future directory:

I posted it to myself to get some real old-school postmarks on it, but it came back with a sort of neon barcode on the left bottom corner… I guess this is the modern version of post stamps?

The efuto below is the one I made and sent to Leska (here you can read what she thought about it):

some lettering to accompany her efuto:

and this is the gorgeous efuto I received from Melinda:

efuto by Melinda Martin Sebastian of Kissing Frogs Studio

Inside my efuto I found a lovely letter written by Melinda, a piece of cotton printed with her cute bird and two inspirational article fragments (I've highlighted my favourite parts): 

(top right) print from a carved linoleum block by Melinda Martin Sebastian of Kissing Frogs Studio

I really enjoyed this project, and discovered a hidden love for the classic snail mail. It's just thrilling to open the mailbox and find new and pretty envelopes!