For our Spring 2012 collection we were incredibly privileged to work with a talented illustrator out of Oslo on several prints and graphics for the season. With his shy sense of humility, Mr. Robson couldn’t have been more intriguing or delightful to work with and get to know. What a great experience that truly was so rewarding on a personal and professional level.  Here is a little Q&A Cassandra conducted with the man of the Norwegian woods himself.

[Cassandra:] So , I never asked but how did you come across my line PROSE all the way over there in Norway?
[ Jan:] Cassandra, I am not certain, but I think the first time I came across your brand was in a store in Los Angeles, maybe american rag.  I was there for only a couple of days, before driving north on the pacific highway 1 as a holiday. I really liked the casual approach you have. So, I made a mental note to contact you to see if we could do something together. I was very happy to hear that you were up for it, so thank you.

[Cassandra:] Have you always been drawing as your main form of artistic medium ?  Are people always totally shocked that you are in fact able to draw  or that your elaborate pieces of repetitive images are in fact done by hand?  I know me and both my brothers grew up always drawing … always naturally good at drawing and in school you quickly get pegged as the kid that can draw. Now a days with the presence of adobe this and adobe that and computers in art and design – I know personally I’ve had people shocked that i know how to actually draw sans “mouse.”  Tell me more about your experience as a hand drawn illustrator …

[Jan:] I have always been drawing I guess. As a kid I did little teenage ninja mutant turtles, preferably Donatello.
But I think I was 18 years old, or older, when I realised that I wanted to do something like that as work. I attended an art-school in Australia and halfway through that I think I knew what liked doing, so I stuck with drawing.
Well, some people are exited about the fact that the repetitive drawings are done by hand, appreciate the time, but that is usually when they see it as pen on paper in person. I think that when one sees it as a finished thing it shouldn’t matter how it was made, or how much time you spent on it, it should just be about how it looks, and most people look at it like that. I feel like the time frame on a piece ads some value to me, as it is made from time in my life  – if you know what I mean?

[Cassandra:] What is an average day like for you in Norway ?

[Jan:] Well, an average day  would be somewhat boring I guess, but it would go something like this-  I wake up quite early, like 7-8 o’clock. Make some tea and a breakfast. Then I’ll have that when I look at some sports highlights and scores, and listen to some music for the next hour or so, and maybe some e-mails. Then I drive off in my little old red car. Sometimes It’ll take a minute or two to get it started but it doesn’t matter, as I don’t have to be anywhere  by a specific time. When I get to my office or studio or whatever I can call it, I start drawing. I’ll draw for some hours until two o’clock somewhere, then I’ll go for a walk around some fields, sometimes I bump into a man sniffing glue on a bench and I say hello, sometimes I don’t see anyone. These fields are really peaceful. Then I’ll make some tea and keep drawing until 6/7/8 o’clock, then some e-mails, and then I go back home. I’ll stop by the local shop on my way home to get some nice food, and then make some nice dinner with my girlfriend, who is usually home by then, she is a teacher. After that we will usually just hang out at home, if it is a nice day I’ll have some lovely beers or some wine on my balcony whilst scratching my cat’s ears, then maybe play some Scrabble.

[Cassandra:] One of the things i love about all your work is the attention to geometric shapes, symmetry, a balance of simplicity in shapes intertwined into a complex bigger picture, minimal use of color – that alone reminded me a lot of my own design perspective in clothing…  are there certain motifs and themes that you always try to integrate or be inspired by ?

[Jan:] Images and objects that are ‘pretty’ in a classical sense are always an inspiration. For example, a TV episode of ‘Poirot’ might be an inspiration, as the straight, uptight and pretty imagery might combine with my thoughts and ideas into something that I think makes – in my mind -  a nice image.

[Cassandra:] You’re incredibly humble and don’t even have social media outlets such as twitter, Facebook …  yet my first reaction to seeing your work was , ” i want everyone to know about him he’s amazing!!! ” I love your work. I guess i’ve been living in the USA for too long because i immediately wanted to pimp you out. haha.  However, I often find that shutting myself out from external stimuli such as distracting social media venues, magazines, websites etc etc helps me to internalize my creativity and thoughts … thats about as deep as i can take it, hahaha . Is the desire to create and draw and have your work shown an organic process , much like your hand drawn sketches, that doesn’t need to rely on digital life?

[Jan:] For me, the best place to make something is in a room with bare walls and not much else. But it is very individual how easy you get influenced by things. I’ll see something and It will amaze or annoy me for weeks, so I try to curate what I get influenced by as best I can.
I haven’t thought too much about it, but the digital life of something can be as real as the physical life I think.
Some of my work is very dependent of the digital element, as I might I draw one piece over two sheets of paper or more, then rely on photoshop to put them together. So, I don’t have any disregard to the digital, but because I measure up and align different parts of a piece by hand, I don’t see it as the main element in what I make.

[Cassandra:] What kind of tools do you use when creating an illustration or piece of work?

[Jan:] I use felt tip pens on paper. Sometimes I use colour pencils. Then obviously a scanner and some old version of photoshop.

[Cassandra:] How long does one piece usually take and how large of a scale is that on ?

[Jan:] I usually work in A4, A3 and A2 size. One piece is usually in the same scale as the other, but it depends on how ‘much of it’ there is. Most of it is 1:1 of the finished product.

[Cassandra:] If i was to come to Oslo and you had to show me around where would you take me and why ?

[Jan:] Well. I live a short bit outside of Oslo, so I would have taken you on a little picnic or barbecue on what I like to think of as my private lookout spot over Tyrifjorden. It is a fjord that I think most people take for granted, but it is beautiful.
If I were to take you somewhere inside Oslo, we could go to Grønland to look at people deal drugs, buy some true Indian spices from local shops, and drink some lovely Norwegian beer from nøgne-ø at Olympen, which is somewhat of an oasis in this part of town.

For more on Jan Hakon Robson check out his website  http://www.janhakonrobson.com/