In autumn 2006, Danish illustrator Helle Vibeke Jensen travelled to Japan together with graphic designer Mette Salomonsen, with support from SJSF. The aim of the field trip was to do research and collect material – photos, sketches and notes – as new inspiration for their visual and graphic design projects.
Besides visiting art museums and galleries, they studied street graphics, graffiti, functional visualisations and information graphics. They also looked at illustration and graphic design in books, which they found in the many second-hand bookshops of the Jimbocho district in Tokyo.
In Japan, they found, graphic design and illustration are closely related lines of work, while the two professions seem more separate in Denmark. Exploring them together proved enriching. They looked at the same things but often drew different conclusions, and the discussions that followed gave them both valuable new insights.
Among the many works inspired by Jensen’s stay in Japan are the acclaimed children’s book Slangehund, Snake Dog, Hebi Inu and her print designs for Issey Miyake’s PLEATS PLEASE spring–summer collection 2007.
