1968 Pippi Comes to Life Astrid was thrilled with the choice of Inger Nilsson as Pippi Longstocking for the TV series based on her books. No one had dared dream that they’d find a girl so perfectly suited for the role. The following year, 1969, three million Swedish people sat down each Saturday night to watch the televised series.
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Inspiring Lives
PIPPI’S
MOM Pippi Longstocking is loved by children everywhere. Her Swedish creator, Astrid Lindgren (1907-2002), swore she would never write books, but at nearly 40, a daughter’s request changed her mind. Like her heroine, Astrid defied social convention and challenged the way those around her thought about girls.
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)>; 3ECP?H?M ✖ 30 years old Norwegian ♥ lives in Berlin with her boyfriend ☛ Social scientist, food artist Idafrosk.com How did you get into making food art? My real job – what I’ve been doing for the last few years – is foreign trade statistics on imports and exports. But one morning in 2012, on a whim, I made my first piece of food art and posted it on Instagram, and the feedback was fun, so I started doing more. Very quickly, I had 10,000 followers. I have 192,000 followers now. What was the first piece you made? Two pieces of toast – one as a bear and one as a fox. The bear was a piece of toast with peanut butter and raisins and bananas. The main message is to show people that it can be fun to eat healthier foods, so I use a lot of fresh ingredients, fruits and vegetables, whole grain breads. The other idea is to show people that it’s possible to make a meal that’s a bit more inspiring and that can bring a smile to your face. Spread a bit of food love.
How many pieces have you made now? It must be at least 300 or 400 pieces now. In the beginning, I posted one every single morning, but now that I have a bigger audience I’m much more conscious about what I post. You’re working full time as a food artist now. Yes, I published a book, Eat Your Art Out, in Norwegian and English; it will also come out in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, and Russia. I’ve also done a few ad campaigns, and I have five regular columns and I’ve done workshops, exhibitions, and festivals. So there’s a whole range of things going on. I’ve taken a year’s leave from my work to see how it goes. A total change of life. I always struggled between the part of me that wants to do something that’s more of a vocation and something that is more creative. It’s hit me that you can’t really escape your creative urges; they want to get out in whatever way they can.
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) G MJL?;>CHA ; <CN I@ @II> FIP? 1. Oatmeal is one of Ida’s favorite food art mediums. 2. Tools of her trade. Ida likes to stress how easy it is to make food art, with a few simple ingredients and tools you can probably find in your kitchen. 3. Nutella squirrel with a strawberry, a piece entitled “Don’t Go Nuts!” 4. The Scream on toast: in her “Art Toast Project,” Ida made food art based on iconic paintings by famous artists. Pieces include works by Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Salvador Dali, and, here, Edward Munch. 5. Ida in her kitchen in Norway, where she made most of her creations.
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Your Friends in Lists Making checklists of all the tasks you want to complete in a day can be helpful. But Lisa Nola from New York has come up with a lovely way of using â&#x20AC;&#x153;listographyâ&#x20AC;? to chart all kinds of other things in your life. In her book, Friends Listography: Our Lives in Lists, she offers lists that can help you take time to consider the special people around you.
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Feel con nected
Connect
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Feel con nected
Interview
“To be normal − that was my greatest wish”
RUBY WAX The American-born, UK-based comedian and celebrity interviewer struggled for a long time with depression. Discovering the benefits of mindfulness, she has now worked mental health issues into her act. Here, she speaks to us about her past, present, and future.
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Crocheted beauties by the Annette Ciccarelli from Switzerland.
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Feel con nected
Meanwhileâ&#x20AC;Ś across the world
CROCHETING Across the Globe Once upon a time, crochet was just for old ladies in rocking chairs. But today, women (and some men) of all ages around the world are creating contemporary crochet, and sharing skills, tips, photos, and inspiration via every form of modern technology.
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Live mindfully
HAPPY WITH NOTHING NEW Need something? In the past, we might’ve rushed out to the store for whatever we wanted, but that’s changing. Now, more often we’re seeking things second-hand, sharing, or borrowing, or simply being satisfied with what we have. It’s more sustainable, cheaper, and much more relaxed.
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ou buy the latest model mobile phone and are thrilled at all the useful things it can do for you – until they launch the next version a few months later, and you feel like you’ve fallen behind the entire world. Manufacturers specialize in the trick: they’re happy to have you believe that you’re hopelessly outdated if you haven’t got all the latest features. So, en masse, we trot down to the Apple store and trade in our perfectly good iPhone4 for an iPhone5, or we put our perfectly good color TV on the curb so we can buy the Ultra HD TV that’s higher precision. Gradually, we’ve come to believe that new is always better, even though it may be just as good to hang on to what we have, because usually it still works perfectly well. “Companies have been confusing us for years about what we want,” Laura Anderson, chief knowledge officer of Collaborative Lab, a Sydney-based organization, was quoted as saying in Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant. Her organization encourages people to share, borrow, barter, and exchange 64 _
Live mindfully
things rather than buy everything new. “You don’t always need the newest of the new. No matter what, it won’t make you a new person.” The Buy Nothing New movement was founded in Melbourne, Australia, where a nonprofit group urged people to take a pledge to purchase no new things for a single month – the month of October. “It’s literally about taking one month off to really think, Do I really need it?” the website (buynothingnew.com.au) explains. “If I do, can I get it second-hand, borrow it, or rent it? What are my alternatives? Can I borrow from a friend? Can I swap with my neighbor?” The idea has since spread across the globe with protests and activities to call attention to overconsumption, like sitins, coat give-aways, Critical Mass bike rides, and hikes. One popular activity is Buy Nothing Day, a day in which people pledge to purchase nothing new; annual campaigns have been established in Canada, the US, the UK, Israel, Austria, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, France, and Norway, and participation now
Insight
â&#x20AC;&#x153;There is a growing awareness that it can be quite liberating to own lessâ&#x20AC;?
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COLOR & CREATE Coloring pages aren’t just for kids with crayons. We’ve found that coloring can help clear your mind, focus your attention, and bring you a sense of general peace and calm. These pages were created by three of our favorite illustrators, and are yours to color.
DEBORAH VAN DER SCHAAF, PAGE 135 “Languid, relaxed days are inextricably linked in my mind with Italy. I visit my aunt, who always has her coffee percolating on the stove very early in the morning. I think of the enamel cups she inherited from my grandmother, and her geraniums, which are just as pampered as her chickens. Those quiet, lazy summer days are linked in my mind with poppies and raspberries. Barefoot on the terrace in a yellow sundress. In a wooden beach chair, with a homemade granita (Italian sorbet), a fruit bowl full of lemons, and my favorite book. The neighbor’s cat curled up in my shadow. Small happiness.” Deborahvanderschaaf.nl
JUDITH VAN DER GIESSEN, PAGES 136 & 138 Judith has been the illustrator of the quotes on our Zeitgeist articles for a long time, and her hand-lettered typography has become something of a signature for Flow. She usually makes her quotes in color, but she’s made these ones in black and white so you can
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Simplify your life
color them in yourself. “I’ve been holding a pencil since I was a little girl. I love type, because you can combine it endlessly. I start by setting a text in different fonts, and then I begin to mix and match until I get the balance between the text and the words exactly right. Because I use different techniques and work by hand, the results are always different. Materials have a sneaky habit of doing their own thing, and that’s what makes the process such fun.” Judithvandergiessen.blogspot.com
SILVIA DEKKER, PAGE 137 “The coloring plate I’ve made is an image of my dream vacation. I’ve always wanted to have a retro caravan – a house on wheels, that I could drive and park wherever I wanted to go. The dress, shoes, and glasses I’ve drawn on the girl are also things I’d like to have. I couldn’t resist coloring in the drawing myself… everything’s nicer with a little color. But I’d love to see what other people do with it, so please send me yours by e-mail if you want.” Silviadekker.nl
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The Great
ILLUSTRATORS’ ABC The alphabet: 26 letters that are the basis of everything. We use it to describe what we love, to send invitations, to write letters, and also for the most ordinary tasks, like grocery lists. Each letter has its own beautiful form and that’s why we asked 26 illustrators from around the globe to design a letter for us. One each. On the previous pages are the results: 26 letter cards. Use them to send a personal note, to make a garland, to attach to a gift...
Contributing Illustrators: A - Maartje Kuiper B - Caroline Ellerbeck C - Judith van der Giessen D - Gemma Correll E - Natascha Boel F - Studio Ping G - Annemoon van Steen H - Annelinde Tempelman I - Gertie Jaquet J - Chuck Groenink K - Floor Rieder L - Geertje Aalders M - Lieke van der Vorst
N - Ruby Taylor O - Tif Fussell P - Andrea D’Aquino Q - Elisandra R - Fiona Richards S - Jennifer Judd-McGee via Lilla Rogers Studio T - Kim Welling U - Rebecca Green V - Joëlle Wehkamp/Studio Sjoesjoe W - Polly Fern Sergeant X - Sue Doeksen Y - Verónica de Arriba/Depeapa Z - Monique Wijbrands
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