A loving hommage

For JUKSEREI, Copenhagen-based illustrator Isabella Hemmersbach has re-interpreted the popular croissant motif.
A loving hommage
A loving hommage

Thought of you x

ISABELLA HEMMERSBACH

As a Renaissance woman, Isabella Hemmersbach combines a wide range of interests and her practice unfolds in many different fields of work, all with a love of life as the common thread. Isabella alternates between working as an illustrator, advisor to artists and a consultant in the arts, design and lifestyle industry. Her specialties are strategic, visual communication and business development as well as daily management of the Charlottenborg Foundation. Isabella graduated from CBS and afterwards took a course in illustration at Central Saint Martins.

Isabella's illustrations explore how a few strokes can capture the subject and situation, triggering recognition and emotional responses. Faces, bodies or everyday objects are often the focus. The paper and colours are chosen based on the nature of the subject. She works primarily with watercolor, ink, and colored pencils on colored paper.



How did the collaboration with JUKSEREI come about?

IH: JUKSEREI reached out to me and invited me to reinterpret their croissant motif for a riso print*. I wasn’t super familiar with JUKSEREI, but after speaking to people about the brand, it turns out quite a few of my friends knew it and really liked their designs a lot.

The Risograph is an environmentally friendly printing machine originally from Japan. The Riso prints with soybean and rice bran oil-based ink, the print masters are made of hemp or banana leaf fiber.

How was the process of creating the illustration?

IH: I was asked to work with the croissant motif. I started by making some drafts with a portrait and their croissant necklace across collage style which would be drawn in water colour. After going over my first draft with JUKSEREI and getting some input from them I realized the riso technique had some limitations so I decided to change the work. That’s when I was inspired by the bag of croissants lying in our kitchen, and drew the quite literal drawing of a croissant. The drawing is based off an image of a croissant I took a few years ago, but I found it fit quite nicely with JUKSEREI’S croissant, which also has been around for a few years.

What inspired you?

IH: With two small children, love and big declarations of love are often reduced to small gestures in everyday life. The ultimate gesture of love in our house is to stop by the bakery on the way home from the nursery and buy a croissant for the other person. Inspired by the greasy prints croissants leave on paper bags, I've made two prints showing croissants tone in tone (one in red and one in purple), and in a format reminiscent of a post-it message, saying what the croissant symbolizes: I've been thinking about you, kiss <3. I hope the print will hang in kitchens and homes and remind people of the feeling that someone out there has been thinking of you and sent you a kiss.

What is your favorite piece from the collection?

IH: The Pearl Necklace with the croissant is really cute <3.


Thank you so much, Isabella. Discover Isabella's favorites: CROISSANT Pearl Necklace, AMORE Charm Earrings or browse through our tasty CROISSANT collection. Photo credits: Marie Hald. Pictures taken at our launch event of Isabella Hemmersbach's "thought of you x" art prints at Copenhagen's beautiful Apotek 57 eatery.