Hi Kreadid,

Can you introduce yourself in a few words? Who are you, where are you from and why/how have you become an illustrator?

Hello! My name’s Didier Gérardin, I’m 44 years old and I live in Nancy. That’s in the Lorraine region in the north-east of France. I started my first job as an advertising artist at a printing company. I worked the for a fair few years and learnt a lot. Today I have two jobs. I mainly work as a graphic designer for the city of Toul. Well, it’s actually a small town with 17,000 inhabitants. And then I’m a freelance graphic designer with a home office.

Can you tell us how you came up with the idea for ‘Armistice’? What was your source of inspiration? Your designs are often quite controversial…

I got the idea when watching a TV documentary about the conflict between Israel and Palestine, which I thought was very moving. This made me think of all the other armed conflicts that happen all over the world. There are peace treaties that are broken on a daily basis, and many big and small atrocities that people do to each other. As soon as you turn around, you get shot in the back… I can only say ‘Peace, man!’

Do you commit yourself to a good cause? And if so, how?

Not really, actually. If at all, then on the spur of the moment. Oh yeah, I’ve been contributing t-shirt designs for the ‘Solidays’ for the past 3 years.

How long have you known laFraise? And how did you become aware of this little fruit?

I became affiliated with the red fruit in 2006. Before it was taken over by Spreadshirt, it had a bit of a garage atmosphere back in the day. I happened to come across it while surfing the net, if I remember correctly.

If you were to recommend laFraise to someone, what would you say?

Hm, dunno. Let me get back to you once you make a good offer!

Do you have any hobbies other than drawing? And if so, which?

Yes, I love music. Without music I couldn’t work. I’ve always wanted to learn how to play the guitar, but I’m just to lazy. Today my son has picked up playing the guitar, both accustic and electric. I find comfort in that now.

What projects are in your pipeline for the year to come?

Start playing the guitar! And to create lots of printable desingns for laFraise, of course!

Could you sketch your version of strawberries and cream for us? Thank you for this interview, and for the sketch!

Yes, but I don’t like cream… So long!

Visit his site.

Hello to all of you,

This selection hasn’t been easy even if we had pretty obvious cool designs. First of all, we congratulate georgeslemercenaire and his design with an abyssal atmosphere that we liked. We couldn’t let “The last pi” pass away and we laughed  a lot on this one. Congrats as well to the podium winners “little joker by Donnniiie and “best friends” by Scro. Thanks again for your amazing work.

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PRINTS

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blblbllllblbboubblbou by Georgeslemercenaire

The last pi by xraysucks

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PODIUM

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Best friends by Scro

2600 brouzoufs

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Little joke by Donnniiie

1300 brouzoufs

Hi Harantula,

Please introduce yourself in a few words, tell us who you are and where you come from. How and why did you become a graphic designer?

Harantula is the fusion of Héctor San Andrés & Javier Sanz, two Spanish young minds which enjoy creating and sharing their works. We both have studied a Biology Degree, and by the time we ended it up, we decided to start running in the designing world. Creating, drawing, painting is what we truly love…so why not try to make this passion to become a real job?

How did you conceive your design “I don’t like this game” and how did you get the idea? What inspired you and what is the story behind it?

Well, when we were Biology students, we used to spend a lot of hours making jokes in the Faculty café about the weirdest animal shapes, and how we usually make a connection between something very common in our normal life and the animal morphology. Of course there are plenty of sexual comparison (worms, squids, snakes and many others).

Do you like products of the Sea?

We definitely love fish and seafood! Specially, the typical Spanish “pescaíto frito”. You are invited to come here to try it!

And could you please speak about the design “Seven” with which you won the 7 sins contest? How did you get this particular idea and how did you conceive it?

That week, we were talking about doing something more “artistic” than we used to do. The 7 sins have too many interpretations, but we wanted to do a rough design with a powerful combination of colours, and that´s exactly what it came out!

How long have you known laFraise and how did you find us?

We have known laFraise since last year, and we finally signed up last summer. We didn´t come across the site, it was a friend of us (Wirdou), who told us about this site. He is a good friend and he also studied Biology with us.

If you would recommend us, what would you say?

The thing we like the most, is that you have to give your best if you really want to get printed in here, because of the high level of the designs that you have up for scoring every week. As a result, you host one of the best t-shirts catalog in the whole Internet.

Do you have hobbies other than drawing? What are they?

Of course! Both of us play basketball in  different teams. Hector loves playing bass guitar and me (Javier), I’m mad about alpinism.

What are your expectations for this year?
We hope we will learn as much as we can, reaching highest levels. We would love to have hundreds of prints too!

Could you please draw us your interpretation of strawberries with Chantilly cream? Thanks for the interview and the drawing!

Become a fan on Facebook

Rockers!

Escape from modern times by Malo & The Whale

•••

2nd place : 2600 Brouzoufs

Honey Comb by zakihamdani

3rd place: 1300 Brouzoufs

Pillow Fight! by Letter Q

This special contest is all about creating quirky, bizarre and amazingly beautiful ad posters. We are looking for visual advertising in the style of the 1950s or 1960s. It is completely up to you what theme you depict.

The winning design will be awarded with a prize in the amount of €1,500.

To put the cherry on the cake, the design will be printed as a limited edition retro poster!

Some possible topics for the poster are:

-          A fictive movie

-          a (fictive) invention

-          A product of general nature

Important here:   The design should have no more than 4 colours

If you don´t have an idea what we are talking about, try searching the web for examples or have a look at those famous designs!

http://en.lafraise.com/Submission/index/id/125080

http://en.lafraise.com/Article/index/id/1341

http://en.lafraise.com/Article/index/id/943

For more information, please read our complete briefing!

We look forward to seeing your idea!

Team laFraise

laFraise proposes a second bag pack game for more fun. It is based on the same principle as last time, purses, tote bags or any other bag, the theme is around BAGS!

This time we have a special partner Youko.fr. Youko.fr is a young French brand that make bag pack with designs created by graphic designers, a bit similar to what laFraise does and in a limited edition of 50 bags. The artists who collaborate are artists from illustration, Art toy, paper toy or graphic design. The product is a very high qualitative product and I thank Matthieu to have sent me a bag of those.

The artists who collaborated so far : Fakir, MKT4, I wear nice shit, Niark1, Tougui et Hellocow

The bags are well done with nice small details and when you receive your package, there is a label with the number on it, to certify about its limited edition.

The rules

Send your pictures with your bags on (please no picture from previous game allowed) at jeux [at] lafraise [dot] com. One participation per person or home. Jury is Nathalie from laFraise.com and Matthieu from Youko.fr. an album on Facebook will be opened for the participants.

Will be taken into account:

- Bags in good or bad conditions

- Sceneries

- Number of likes

Dates

From Wednesday, April 24^th to Wednesday, May 1^st.

Prizes

1 : A youko bag – Value 58 euros

2 : A youko bag – Value 58 euros

3 : A laFraise totebag – Value 12,90 euros

Hello everyone

From now on and every two weeks, you will discover laFraise crew with these little portrait interviews. laFraise had seen lots of people during these last years and it appeared natural to me to introduce you the actual team.

We will start with someone you know; me and then it will be Katinka’s turn, Thomas etc.

I hope you will have fun reading what we like or do not like, so that it helps you get to know us and if you have any further question, feel free to ask :-)

- Do you practice any sports or have you practiced some? What is your fave sport?

I have practiced lots of sports when I was younger but less now, or almost any at all. I played handball 4 years at college and we went to inter college tournament back to 88 or 89. I did Alpine skiing for 7 years or something and also practiced windsurfing during my summer holidays. Sport was always a good safety valve as I was a real dynamo! I did also one year of body building later on. From now I have stopped all activities at the adult age but I miss it somehow but recently I got registered at a fitness club. I am cycling now but use it to go to work. I would like to windsurf again or ski again somehow. And since it was in the 80’s before the snowboard comes, I would like to try it on! I also want to do a parachute spring later this year. Actually I have interest to adrenaline sports even if I am not practicing.

- What kind of music do you listen to?

Mainly Rock & roll / Metal but I love Hip hop as well, jazz & gipsy music, folk, funk and classical music. It all depends on my mood but I am mostly a rock & roller!

- Do you go to the disco or to concerts?

I used to go very often to concerts and much less since my son is born. I like going to the disco as well but I prefer going to concerts, there is an atmosphere I really love and when a band enters the stage, it’s for me one of the best moment. Second best moment is when a band’s playing your fave song that you shiver from it and let you carry by the music and lights over; it’s just magic.

- What kind of films do you like? What is the last film you’ve seen (Cinema or TV)?

I like Sci-fi movies and crime movies. As for horror movies I cannot anymore since it freaks me out, we have already too much horror in this life! I enjoy comedies and dramas as well. Last movie I have seen is “Skyfall” but I am not constant by watching movies and of course I am very bad when it’s about remembering actor or producer’s names!

- What kind of books do you read? Is there a book you would recommend?

I love business books and crime books mostly. Last crime book I’ve read, the story happened in the years 1200/1300, so it brings another aspect of crime and conspiracy, not the ones we know from nowadays. I would recommend Boris Akounine a Russian author. I just came across his crime books and loved it because it happened in Russia in early 1900’s and with lots of slang. It was a very interesting atmosphere and of course very interesting with the old slang, I needed lots of concentration to get through it sometimes.

- Do you cook and what is your favorite dish?

Yes I do and I have learned to do and enjoy it. Of course I am not a cordon bleu but I like it and even more since my kid was born. My favorite dish is hard to say since I love quiche Lorraine, a good ratatouille or what not the good pommes de terre sautées :-)

- What are your top 3 favorite clothing/shoe brands? (out of laFraise please)

I love Converse that is my all time favorite even if I do not own 100 pair of converse. I like who killed Bambi for their jackets (I could own them all) and H&M.

- Is there anything you haven’t done yet and you would like to try?

Yes I would love going to the space (no kidding even if I won’t stand the take off but please it must be amazing from out there J) or going on stage for one song with any band I like or to take the Orient Express as well one day in my life. Doing a world tour would kick my ass!

- Is there anything particular we should know about you like you like knitting for ex? Or any lifestyle stuff or secret that no one knows about (yet)?

I speak to my cat (Call me old maid if you want), I played violin and bass later on.  I was knitting when I was younger (taught my grandma) so that I could make dresses for my puppets but since it wasn’t so good, it didn’t that much time since I stopped it.

- Do you have animals?

Yes I have a cat, she is an old lady of 14 years named Rizzi but I call her Minette or Nenette J and she’s my house and soul protector.

- Are you engaged into a political, animal protection, children association?

I am not engaged but I have a strong opinion on it. I am for animal’s protection since we mistreat our animals and nature. I am tending to become slowly vegetarian since I do not agree with the mass consumption and the mass murder of animals to satisfy our big & stupid needs. I am just so sad to hear our many species disappear each year and how many animals are disabused. I still do not get the fact that people abandon animals; they are living beings and should be respected and not treated like shit. I think this comes from my father who is an animal lover and by watching all Cousteau’s shows and any animal documentaries when I was young. He recently bought two beehives (of course my parents live in a house and have a garden but still …) and even if I hate bees and wasps, I think it’s cool that he did it, as you may know bees are disappearing slowly and it could be an ecological catastrophe when they disappear for good.

I am also concerned now with children and childhood and would like to do more for abused children, beaten children and sometimes when it even goes further. I hate these people that we call parents that abuse their kids or just kill them, I do not get it. It makes me very furious and makes me love my child even more. The Human being is just a big disappointment and a big defeat, we are getting all sick.

Sometimes I feel like I missed my way and should have been a kind of Mother Theresa and help people. I am concerned with old folks as well. Before I wanted to engage myself and accompany the old people who are dying; I never did because of lack of courage, didn’t take the time and was afraid I couldn’t stand it after a while. But I think it is important not to forget our elder, they are the wisdom and some of them have crazy stories to tell, they are like an opened book and often abandoned because of illness and old age; it’s sad.

It’s not excluded that I will not do it sometime. I am a sensitive person and I do not like how the world is going and how we destroy ourselves and our environment. I want to teach my son how to behave well and help the others and maybe I should take some courage and do it for good, engage into something!

- Any interest into graphic design / Photography / Street-art or any other art (Sculpture  …)

I have interest into photography but more as an amateur. Of course everyone likes to make nice pictures but being a profi is something else. But I like this art and I would like to take more time in the future to practice it for good. I have learned to enjoy graphic design since I am at laFraise but I still have a lot to learn. Art in all its way is interesting; my first love is music for instance. I like everything that is creative and that has sensitivity.

- What do you like at laFraise and why do you enjoy working there?

I like the creative aspect of it and I enjoy working with our designers. They surround me with a creative aura that I like. I enjoy working there because of its creative (I can be creatively crazy or crazily creative) and apparel aspect (yes I am a girl and I love shirts) and because it’s a cool place to work at with a great office in Berlin and cool and fun colleagues.

- What is your role/job at laFraise?

I am the PR & community manager of laFraise. I take care of all external communication, E-reputation, CM. I do our blog editorial and I conduct interviews with our designers. It’s also part of my job to try to find sponsored partners for our contests.

Hi ifanknight,

Please introduce yourself in a few words, tell us who you are and where you come from. How and why did you become a graphic designer?

My name is Ahmad Ifan Rofiyandi. I’m from Indonesia. I’ve loved drawing since I was kid. I don’t know why, but it’s really fun and enjoyable. I am self-taught and just happened to naturally grow into a graphic designer.

How did you conceive your design “Aces down” and how did you get the idea? What inspired you and what is the story behind it?

In most popular card games in the English-speaking world, aces have the highest value of all cards in a suit. So I though how to defeat Ace, and I saw an Ace Club’s shape (§) looks like a tree. So, it’s easy to defeat an ace with a lumberjack and his strong axe.

What is the relationship between the tree (ecologic part) and the cards? Is it because the Ace represents death and because you need to destroy trees in order to manufacture paper?

No, it’s just mashes up/represents shape of the ace  of club’s shape as tree which falls down and I can win in a card game.

Do you play cards? And what is your favourite?

Yes, I do. But, I rarely play. Poker

How long have you known laFraise and how did you find us?

I accepted suggestion of many Facebook friends to submit one of my designs to laFraise about 1.5 years ago. So I got to know laFraise.

If you would recommend us, what would you say?
LaFraise is cool site that has many of the coolest, smartest and funniest designs on shirts.

Do you have hobbies other than drawing? What are they?

Yes, I love watching movies, cycling, and I really love to play games (digital games).

What are your expectations for this year?

I expect to be much better than previous year and get more designs printed. Also, I want to learn more and be able to make art with digital painting.

Could you please draw us your interpretation of strawberries with Chantilly cream? Thanks for the interview and the drawing!

You’re welcome.