COCO x Joni Majer
We’ve been hard at work since last year with illustrator Joni Majer to create our new drinking chocolate range for 2022.
Joni believes in a deep connection between humankind, nature and our wider environment. It was this shared outlook which made Joni the perfect collaborate to launch our new 100% recyclable, resealable pack. We’ve changed much more than the design though. Now both flavours are vegan with a new 45% Colombian dark chocolate.
Joni Majer was born in the wild Berlin of the late 80s, travelled France and then settled in the small German city of Saarbrücken near the French border.
Working with clean lines and a restricted black and white colour palette, Joni’s style is unmistakable. She takes a deep dive into her subject matter and then adds another twist and layer of meaning. She conveys twisted, surreal thoughts and complex subject matters into beautifully simple illustrations.
Joni Q&A
What is the inspiration behind these works?
"These works originally dealt with the information tsunami these days. We are oscillating between having all the information and not being able to focus on what is important. But really it is all about how we want to eat all of the chocolate and can't decide."
Of the two illustration you did for COCO which is your favourite?
"I see them as a sweet couple. Again, how could i decide?"
Where do you feel the most inspired and can you tell us more about the process of how you create your work?
"I spend far more time thinking than drawing. When I have to be inspired, I go into my head and I stay there until suddenly things I saw or heard fit together in a weird way, like an unexpected puzzle. I like a good twist and clean drawing. I love a black line on white paper, it gets me all excited.
Often, I see something, but not the right way. This, oh, this looks like…but it's not moment is quite an inspiration for me."
We noticed that you have an intriguing way of incorporating negative space into your illustrations. Can you tell us more?
"I like to transform shapes, give them a new meaning and test how far I can go with abstraction. How one thing depends on another. What does the image need to still be recognisable? What is the essence? These thoughts can end up in negative space, because it is the final abstraction. To make somebody see something by the absence of it. "
