Friday 26 November 2010

INTERVIEW: SANDRA JUTO

From Göteborg, Sweden, soon to be in Berlin, Germany, Sandra Juto is a talented blogger/illustrator/artist/knitter so we decided to ask her some questions on her work (especially wrist worms, we are true to our mission! ;) ) and on her life.. and she kindly answered:


LT • You are an illustrator and a graphic designer, why and how did you get the idea to knit things? especially your wrist worms but your buttcrack characters too (which are soo funny, by the way! I love mr. Johan!)
SJ • I've been knitting and crocheting since I was very young and I made the Buttcrack Characters as a school project at university - I wanted to make cuddly toys that weren't "cute". The Wrist Worms were a request from my husband and when I blogged him wearing them I received many e-mails from people who also wanted to have a pair so that's how the original Wrist Worms business started.


LT •  Have you ever considered to open a real shop in your city?
SJ • It would be fun to have a physical shop, but I need to be alone when I work creatively and it wouldn't look so good if I threw out people from my shop because I wanted to be alone at that moment ;)


LT • We read that you absolutely love Berlin and want to live there with your husband, will you change your habits according to this city? Will you be knitting and creating the same things as in Göteborg or will you look for something else?
SJ • I will definitely look for something new and also go on doing the things I'm already doing as long as I enjoy it. I hope I will find the inspiration to illustrate again, I've lost that totally this year as I haven't felt very good being "stuck" in Gothenburg.


LT • Do you think that Berlin is more suitable for the work you are doing or is it only a matter of love your decision to go there? Berlin probably is way more various in its cultural background (a lot of different people from any part of the world live in that city), don't you think your work will be resized there? Or do you see its different inputs as a chance to grow as a person and as an artist?
SJ • Workwise I feel I can be at whatever place I want to be as a "private person", the reason I want to move to Berlin is because I've always felt at home there. Everytime my husband and I am there we look at eachother and say "Why aren't we living here? Why do we go back to Gothenburg?" so we've finally decided to move. I'm sure something good will come out workwise too


LT • Which is your daily routine? How much time do you spend knitting?
SJ • I take a shower as soon as I get up, have two fried eggs for breakfast together with tea and a glass of water. After that I don't know what happens - during Fall I often end up making a pair or two of Wrist Worms while sorting my thoughts. Something I need to find a routine for is responding to e-mails. I simply can't find the time to do it every day, I must find a way to select what to respond. Some days I crochet for many hours, other days I don't do it at all. I guess I'm not very good at routines, because I need surprises.


LT • We noticed that your client list includes also well-known names as Motorola, Nylon or Die Gestalten Verlag, what kind of advice can you give to young artists/illustrators to co-operate with such brands?
SJ • I have been lucky, they have contacted me after seeing my website and blog. I don't have any advices except make sure you get paid. There are so many companies (not the ones mentioned above though) who think people are willing to work for free just because they are working with something that looks like being "fun". Fun won't pay your rent or food, we all need cash.



LT • Are you happy?

SJ • I am and I'm so grateful for that. I used to be very unhappy and surrounded by other negative minded people. One day I realized that I am the master of my own mind, that I can choose to be positive instead of negative. It takes a lot of practise and it's the best thing you can do to yourself.


Sorry, English only!






11 comments:

Sonia / COZY MEMORIES said...

very interesting interview, thank you very much :)
I totally understand that Sandra would be forever disturbed if she had a "real" shop, selling online is so much more practical for sure.
And I agree 150% about being postive, it's nothing more than a state of mind.

Unknown said...

Thank you for reading it! Of course,it is so important to find our own balance that leads to a positive state of mind..we could live our lives easier!

máni said...

great interview!

Betsy said...

Nice interview. I have been watching Sandra on her blog for a couple of years, and she is always interesting and inspiring, all while creating and sharing such beautiful and amazing moments.

Unknown said...

Thank you for being so nice! If you have any suggestion for other people you would like to see interviewed on our blog please tell us!we would be so glad!! :)

claire said...

sandra is such an inspiration.

Unknown said...

Great interview!
I'm a follower of Sandra's blog for a while and she can always inspire me... I really admire her for following her dream to live in Berlin, good luck!

Masha said...

Thanks for the interview - really enjoyed reading it. Really appreciated the last question and her answer.

Anonymous said...

lovely, thank you. good luck in berlin, sandra!

Eva / Sycamore Street Press said...

Lovely interview. Sandra is one of the very first bloggers I started following, and I still really enjoy her blog and her work.

parisa mahmoudi said...

Good interview,thank you.

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