Arctic Paper was here

As we love paper and specially Munken, that we use for most of our screenprints, it’s a big honor for us that Arctic Paper wanted to interview us and feature us in their series Paper Passion.

Interview with Esa and Lisa Tanttu

Love, screen printing and a whole lot of bikes

The creative agency Jollygoodfellow is run by spouses Esa and Lisa Tanttu. Together, they create everything, from brainstorming and sketching, to actually pressing motives of screen prints in their own workshop. In just a few years, they have gone from easygoing hobbyists to selling their handicrafts on an international market. 

When Esa and Lisa met in a Stockholm rock club in the early 2000s, they never thought that, one day, they would make handcrafted products together. Today, under the name Jollygoodfellow, they run a creative agency and sell products through nearly 30 retailers from Tokyo to New York. When they met, Lisa studied arts and crafts at Österlenskolan, and had thoughts about becoming a volunteer abroad, and Esa worked as a graphic designer at an agency in Stockholm. But something drew them together, and already after a second date they discovered that they shared a common interest; handcrafting.

– We tried out screen printing together the second time we met, which was extremely fun. It became a part of our relationship from that moment on, says Lisa Tanttu.

Careful choices and motivational motives

After a few years together in Stockholm, the couple moved to Malmö, in South of Sweden, to continue working on their hobby. At the same time, Lisa, who was a recent graduate from Konstfack University of Art, Crafts and Design, worked as an art teacher and Esa freelanced with various projects. The name of the agency, Jollygoodfellow, was thought of during a time when skulls and “cool stuff” was seeing popularity, whereupon Esa and Lisa wanted to stand out and instead have something witty or almost silly.

– One might think of the birthday song at first, but the name also has a double message, just like all of our motives. We make sure that everything we produce is made of carefully selected materials, and therefore we see the products as “good fellows”, says Esa Tanttu.

The motives, which Esa and Lisa screen print on posters mostly, but also on t-shirts, bodysuits and bags, they make themselves. They can be based on photographs, which later are processed digitally, but also sketched freehandedly. Esa and Lisa always strive to make simple, everyday motives, which also can be ambiguous and have an underlying political message.

– The bikes, which are our most popular motives, we developed to celebrate the bicycle as transportation. Another example, is an image of a forest with the text “we’re open”, which we produced to celebrate the Swedish legal right of access to private land, a fantastic legal right that many people tend to forget, says Lisa.

Lisa and Esa Tanttu in their studio. Behind them several of their well known motives. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

Lisa and Esa Tanttu in their studio. Behind them several of their well known motives. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

Lisa in their studio, cutting some of the posters. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

Lisa in their studio, cutting some of the posters. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

Esa and Lisa working from home, in their own workshop. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

Esa and Lisa working from home, in their own workshop. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

The screen printer Jollygoodfellow uses for making their beautiful poster. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

The screen printer Jollygoodfellow uses for making their beautiful poster. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

One of Jollygoodfellows famous bike prints. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

One of Jollygoodfellows famous bike prints. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh.

Environmental thinking – from idea to product

It’s very important for Esa and Lisa that all material they use is produced in an environmentally friendly way, and if possible, manufactured in Sweden. The color they use to print with is made on the island Gotland, and the paper they use for the posters are produced in Munkedal on the Swedish west coast. In addition, they also ensure that they use as much of the leftover material as possible, which sometimes becomes exciting combinations that they sell on the website as specials, under the category “Unique Fellows”.

– The prints can become slightly different from time to time, even if the point of screen printing is to make many identical prints, then we sell them as specials instead of throwing them away. We recycle sample prints, we save waste materials and make covers for notebooks, for example. We have also tried to braid strips from when we cut posters. We try to re-use as much material as possible, says Esa.

Living their dream

Now, Jollygoodfellow have been around for almost ten years, and much has happened since the beginning. They have gone from selling bags at Christmas markets to selling hundreds of posters through a number of retailers around the world. Esa and Lisa believe that they live in their dream project, and that the attention they get from customers is incredible. They also appreciate that they get to work with materials and techniques they feel passionate about.

– Paper has always been a big part of our work, and I’m particularly fond of uncoated paper. We use it every day in our creative process and it’s extremely important for the final outcome of the work, says Esa.

Being on the fine line between art and commercial products is nothing Esa and Lisa see as negative, however, it can be difficult in certain projects. In one of their largest projects, the “Urban Calendar”, where they made calendars with photos of different door numbers in Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm, that particular issue became very prevalent.

– Some people thought there wasn’t enough space to write stuff down in the calendar. It was perhaps a little too artistic. It was a bit frustrating, but at the same time we like to push the boundaries, says Lisa.

One of Jollygoodfellow’s largest project, the ”Urban Calendar”. This one is from Helsinki. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow

One of Jollygoodfellow’s largest project, the ”Urban Calendar”. This one is from Helsinki. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow

The print that celebrates the Swedish legal right of access to private land. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow
The print that celebrates the Swedish legal right of access to private land. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow

One of the walls in the studio, a poster with three of Jollygoodfellows most famous motives, the bike, the forest and the cone. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

One of the walls in the studio, a poster with three of Jollygoodfellows most famous motives, the bike, the forest and the cone. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

Finished posters put out to dry. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

Finished posters put out to dry. Photo by: Daniel Ekbladh

A sample print that became a so called ”Unique Fellow”. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow

A sample print that became a so called ”Unique Fellow”. Photo by: Jollygoodfellow

FACTS
Name: Esa and Lisa Tanttu (aka Jollygoodfellow)
Title: Creators
Favorite material: Uncoated paper
Favorite tool: For Esa it’s a pen and for Lisa it’s a knife.

You can find more “paper interviewes” on the blog Paper Passion by Arctic Paper, have a look!

By |2020-04-17T11:17:24+02:00March 24th, 2017|notes|Comments Off on Arctic Paper was here

Slightly Imperfect

 

Slightly-Imperfect- JGF - 102315_1(k)

The pile of irregular tote bags have grown big, so we were thinking of something to do with them. Maybe turn them into pillow cases? But then we thought of an old print idea that has been in the drawer (or sketch book) for many years.

Slightly-Imperfect_marks

We have collected small marks for “irregular quality” during the years. The first one’s were found on cheap t-shirts and underwear bought in New York in the 1990’s.

Now we have let them be the main motif on some bags!

Slightly-Imperfect_printing01 Slightly-Imperfect_printing02 Slightly-Imperfect_printing03

Slightly-Imperfect_printing04

The expression ”slightly imperfect” is kind of funny. It sounds humble but at the same time says ”almost perfect”. Like the swedish expression ”Obetydliga skönhetsfel kan förekomma” which means something like ”insignificant beauty imperfections might occur”. And who doesn’t feel like that at times?

 

By |2020-04-17T11:17:25+02:00October 23rd, 2015|CARRY, inspiration, process|Comments Off on Slightly Imperfect

Hemp

A few weeks ago, while visiting Mossagårdsfestivalen, we bought a 100% hemp shirt which really felt nice, like linen. It’s going to be interesting to see how it ages.

Industrial Hemp or “hemp”, can provide many of the raw materials  we need as a society to function.  Hemp food, hemp oil, hemp plastics, hemp insulation, hemp concrete, hemp paper, and other hemp composites all available today!  And yes, the list goes on and on. Plus, Hemp is both Eco-friendly and Renewable.   Hemp is one of the fastest growing plants in the world producing about 10 tons of dry product per acre per year.  Hemp was one of the first plants to be processed and used by humans making the history of hemp over 12000 years long!  Hemp Building materials are becoming more and more known and available as well!

says hemp.com and further:

Hemp, like flax (linen) is one of the bast fibers. When weaving with hemp yarns, you can treat it like a linen yarn, using similar setts. It improves and softens with age. Hemp is also mildew resistant, making it an excellent yarn for towels, bath linens and carpet warp as well as in fine table linens and clothing.

Interesting! We hope you will find some hemp tote bags or hemp scarves  with our print soon!

hemp

Some hemp links:
hampvaruhuset
is a good place to buy hemp products (swedish)
hempage
producing nice hemp shirts
and here is an article  eco-trip: Hemp

By |2020-04-17T11:17:27+02:00June 27th, 2012|process, tips|Comments Off on Hemp

jollygoodfellow at Trosa Tryckeri

dsc_0018

Yesterday we were at the Trosa Printing House, an environmentally certified printer close to Stockholm. We were there to see that everything went right when our baby, urbnCal 2012, came into the world. And it did, we are very delighted! Now we just wait for the ink to dry completely, the sheets to be trimmed and the holes to be punched. Then it’s time for release!

By |2020-04-17T11:17:28+02:00October 1st, 2011|process|1 Comment

Reuse and cultivate!

urban

These suburban plants are growing in newspaper pots, and here is how you can make them using a paper roll and some old newspaper.

By |2020-04-17T11:17:29+02:00April 10th, 2010|tips|Comments Off on Reuse and cultivate!

sjukt mode

Såg Korrespondenterna: Textilindustrins bakgård på svtplay i går, en problematik som har tagits upp flera gånger tidigare, men den här gången fick vi se personliga porträtt av textilarbetare och bomullsodlare. Det blir svårt att värja sig när man hör om t ex bonden Gormail.

I Punjab odlas mycket av den bomull som blir kläder i Sydasiens fabriker. Men bomullen är den gröda som kräver mest gödning och bekämpningsmedel av alla, och bonden Gormail Singh har nu drabbats av cancer, precis som sin bror och sin farbror – och en stor del av dem som bor i området. Det är inte bara farligt när man besprutar fälten, för hand, utan också för att gifterna letar sig ner i grundvattnet.

De berättade också att det går åt 1 kg gift för att producera 1 kg bomull, det är med andra ord bara att väga sitt bomullsplagg så får man reda på hur mycket gift det har orsakat. Tack och lov trycker vi redan på ekologisk bomull, hade nog varit svårt att somna annars.

sick fashion

Yesterday we watched, a program about the textile industry, they gave us both personal portraits and facts that were difficult to hide from. For example:
To get 1 kg cotton by conventional growing you need to use 1 kg poison!

With this in mind it feels like an obvious choice to print on organic cotton. We also follow with great interest the development of alternatives like bamboo and hemp.


By |2020-04-17T11:17:29+02:00March 15th, 2010|notes|Comments Off on sjukt mode

fruktlåda blev kottlåda

Fruktlådan hamnade i ateljén för nått halvår sen, mest för den festliga reliefen (kanske nya blocktrycksprojektet). Nu när kylan kommit kan man ju inte låta lilla gubben sitta på kalla kalla betonggolvet, då var det bra att ha en frigolitlåda minsann!

By |2010-02-17T22:14:03+02:00December 16th, 2009|process|Comments Off on fruktlåda blev kottlåda

Jollygoodfellow gillar grisar med knorr!

dsc01250

Humle o Dumle (på bilderna) bökar på i sitt hägn på Överjärva gård.

By |2020-04-17T11:17:30+02:00August 31st, 2009|inspiration|Comments Off on Jollygoodfellow gillar grisar med knorr!