Janine Rewell is a Finnish designer
living and working in Helsinki.
Interested in organic geometry and the
unexpected perfection of nature, she
blends imagination with reality through
illustration and installation.
Abstract shapes and fantastical animals
inspire her work, which mixes vector-based
designs and analogue materials for displays
with textiles and designed environments.
She frequently composes geometric forms
and fluid patterns using digital tools
to fashion characters and immersive
landscapes within her pieces.
DESIGN FOR WORLD MARKETS
A recent collaboration with Chinese
brand Jorya included three parts that
would be released at different times.
Three of the key visuals were used
for an autumn collection comprising
clothing, advertising, scarves and gifting
boxes. The fourth key visual was used
for a winter campaign, and the fifth
illustration was created for the Chinese
New Year campaign – the biggest
commercial season in China.
Taking inspiration from ancient
mythologies and symbols related to the
Qixi Festival and the Chinese Moon
Festival as a starting point, Rewell
developed a collection of illustrations
which were used for silk pyjamas, dresses
and shirts. When the project started,
however, the client hadn’t decided what
it would use the key visuals for, so the
illustrations had to be really flexible in
terms of usage.
“I didn’t know if they were going to
be used as clothing patterns or gifting
objects, window displays or advertising,”
says Rewell. “It was quite challenging to
decide on the colour palette especially.”
LOCAL CONNECTIONS
Having a local agent to communicate
with the client, understanding the
cultural viewpoints and differences –
and also translating if necessary – was
invaluable for the project.
“I typically work with advertising
and window displays when it comes to
fashion brands. But I also love doing
clothing patterns, and knew there was
a possibility to build a very versatile
collaboration with Jorya. That’s why
I wanted to work with them.”
Rewell secured the commission
through her agency V/Collective, based
in China. “They have really good
connections with the fashion brands
in China, because their agency profile
was more directed towards fashion
collaborations when they first started
their business.”VERSATILITY
Rewell is a strong advocate of making
time for personal projects, having
secured client work as a direct result of
playing around with ideas outside of the
constraints of commissioned work.
Noting that her clients are not always
visual people and want to see examples
of what the result would look like before
they decide to commission her for the
job, she believes it’s important to have a
versatile portfolio, with a lot of different
ideas on how to use your illustrations
attractively.
“It is very useful especially if you
want to expand your clientele into new
fields, where you don’t have existing case
examples from before.”
A set of illustrated wooden doll-
houses is a prime example. Rewell
designed these to see how her work
would translate into 3D, and she was
contacted by a shopping mall in Hong
Kong which asked if it could enlarge one
and build it on a human scale:
“Within a few years I already had a lot
of enquiries for 3D installation work in
Asia, as the word got around,” she adds.COMPUTERARTS.CREATIVEBLOQ.COMSilk dress, pattern by Janine Rewell for JoyraJANINE REWELL
CAPSULE COLLECTION FOR JORYA