apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

The concepts behind the posters
"I started the project around Mothers' Day, and 'Pangaea' was the first concept. My mom is an avid gardener -- the house in Michigan where I grew up has an enormous, incredible garden, plus a lily pond and now a greenhouse with about 100 orchids. So 'Pangaea' was a tribute to her."

" 'Place In Space' was inspired by those idyllic, autumnal reading-in-the-park images that appear so often on New Yorker covers, plus homesickness for Ann Arbor, plus a story in 'The Martian Chronicles' about the overnight greening of Mars, plus a Postal Service song that I'm kind of obsessed with. I liked the idea of relaxing in zero-gravity in a hydroponic forest on a perfect Martian fall day, with leaves falling up instead of down."

" 'Ice Age' was inspired by straight-up mid-century poster design ... I'd toyed with showing kids building a mastodon snowman, but sledding is more fun."

"The past and future Japan posters came from a primal desire to see a samurai fight a robot. I wanted to make two posters that worked as a pair, and so the compositions are coordinated so that they're aiming at each other, and the backgrounds line up. And I was also attracted to the idea that the past and future of one specific place would have a relationship in a third time -- the present."

What did you learn over the course of the project?
"It's always been my experience that the most rewarding work is unpaid, and this project was no exception. I don't think you can always count on your day job to provide total creative satisfaction -- and really, it's not your job's job to make you happy. Working on the posters was a GREAT creative experience."

To purchase the posters, click here. All proceeds for the posters ($20 each or $90 for the set) go to benefit 826la.

-- Ana