Travel as Therapy

This is one of the lovely hostels we were staying in during our travels in Thailand (loog choob). The beautiful, modernistic, open architecture was a breath of fresh air and helped me organise my thoughts after weeks of hectic, confusing life in Hong Kong. Holidays aren’t only for fun as far as I’m concerned. Travel can also play a critical role in helping us to grow in our personalities. I read an extremely interesting article written by The School of Life about that notion and I’d love to share bits and pieces of it with you while I’m having some travel experiences in Thailand over Christmas myself.

Travel can function as a form of therapy in our lives. When it corrects the imbalances and immaturities of our natures it can complement to the ‘inner journey’ that we’re on. After all we’re trying to develop our character in a certain way: “We might be searching for how to be calmer or how to find a way to rethink our goals, we might long for a greater sense of confidence or an escape from debilitating feelings of envy.” Travel experiences can help us with that, the outer journey can assist us with the inner one.

But in order to work a therapeutic effect, we need to change how we go about choosing our destinations. Instead of choosing a ‘beach holiday’ or ‘outdoor fun’, we should look how a destination can nurture our soul. “There are places that could help with shyness and others with anxiety. Some places might be good at reducing egoism and others might be good for helping us think more clearly about the future”.

The School of Life is currently writing a Psychological Atlas of the world. A great project if you you ask me. Read more about it here. Travel in the outer world can push us to where we need to go within. Happy Christmas travels, hopefully it gives you some opportunity to think which direction you want to go in 2015 (figuratively speaking:)). 

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Cards for Christmas

Made a lot of new Papercup card-packs for The Bookshop in Mui Wo (Hong Kong) today. The cards were printed in Sheung Wan where I used to live, an area that traditionally has a lot of print shops around. Unfortunately, for most of these print shops, it is hard to survive modern times. By printing the cards in one of the few remaining traditional print shops in Sheung Wan, I’d like to support the neighborhood and it’s rich legacy.

The illustrations are nice to keep, frame or send for Christmas. You can also find them in my webshop.

Printable Wrapping Paper (2)

I really like little details, that means automatically that I like to spend time on wrapping things nicely in beautiful colored paper, with ribbons and funny cards. I was working on a Christmas flyer for a Fair Trade Fun Fair that’s coming up and I got inspired to make the pattern, into some sheets of cool wrapping paper. The color-palette is festive for all the upcoming December celebrations, but at the same time it’s also fresh and modern looking.

If you like it, you can download the wrapping paper here (A3 size) and here (A4 size) for free and print it yourself. A little surprise for the holidays from my studio (only for personal, non-commercial use).

Christmas Fair Trade

Christmas is in the air! It’s one of my favorite seasons with lots of festive moments to look forward to. Among those moments is the Fair Trade Fun Fair that’s going to be held in Union Church (Kennedy Road 22, Hong Kong, 9th of December). They will sell lots of unique products from Mongolia, Nepal etc. and support the local communities out there at the same time. I did the flyer en poster design for the event. The sparkling stars represent little glimmers of joy, warmth and sincere attention in a grey and indifferent world.