— The immensely talented Finnish designer Kirsi Iggy Rouvinen (more popularly known by the quizzical name “itKuPiLLi Imagenarium”) was one of the first mega-talents I discovered in the digital collage world. Her name was almost synonymous with the site where she sells most of her material: Mischief Circus. And it was an exciting day that I was able to secure her as a member of my KAIZEN Design Team. Her work is exquisitely vintage, and somewhat mad. And I love it. Enjoy my interview with itKuPiLLi …
Q. You’re one of the most popular content designers on the scene. And after looking through your work, it almost seems that’s ALL you do is create content. Do you pursue any other kinds of art?
Seems funny, but everything else, including creating art of my own, almost feels like a nuisance. The only thing I truly love to do is create digital collage kits. Emphasis on digital. Because, without any doubt, digital is my thing. It is like all my dreams come true. I’ve been creative all my life, working with papier mâché, wire, drawing, oil painting, knitting, pretty much anything crafty that you can imagine.Tried everything. But nothing, absolutely nothing, has ever captured me like creating digital collage content. I love it.
Q. How did you get started as an artist?
When I was a little child, I collected German die cuts and paper dolls. I also made my own paper dolls, I just adored them. And as funny as it sounds, I was actually making collages way before I even knew that collages were actually art form. I actually remember dreaming: What if I could resize and recolor the stuff I’m using … how amazing would THAT be?! (Didn’t have Photoshop back then, of course. Ha!)
My childhood home was always beautiful, the colors amazing, filled with wonderful design and art. My dad is an architect and mom was an amazing colorist. We traveled quite a lot and always visited art galleries and museums. So art has always been in my life. I honestly never dreamed of any other career than being artist. Even though I briefly studied architecture (which felt kind of like art, though mostly because my dad of course wanted me to become an architect and join to his business), I ended up working as an interior designer at his office. I did that for 15 years and I loved it, working with colors, experimenting with different styles.
Q. What made you shift away from interior design, and when did that happen?
After my younger child had born, I quit my office job and set up an interior/craft/antique boutique. I ran that for about 12 years, but near the end of that time I discovered photo-editing and photo artistry. My kids help me in the beginning, but it soon became an obsession to me. An absolute OBSESSION. Very soon I did not want to do anything else. All that interested me was creating digital collages. I closed my shop in Finland and soon after that I visited my soon-to-be husband in California … and I am still here. I totally dropped everything else, and put all my attention on learning Photoshop.
At first I made blog backgrounds, but somehow discovered digital collage sheets … and voila! I experienced an instant success with my very first Etsy shop. I don’t know how it happened, or how I was so lucky, but customers loved my stuff. After couple of years I was asked to join Mischief Circus (Deviant Scrap at that time). And there I started making digital collage kits full-time. And that has been my obsession ever since.
So here I am, seven years later. And for seven years I have done pretty much nothing but create digital supplies. Which is fine, of course — since that is the one thing I love to do above all else!
Q. That takes real courage to choose ONE thing and throw everything you have into it. Most people get distracted by every bright and shiny new thing … But not you?
As I have become older and wiser, I simply don’t want to do anything else. All I want to do is what makes me happy. I want to enjoy every moment of my life. And I’m so fortunate to be able to do this. I don’t ever need to force myself to work — the work is what makes me happy. Extracting content and coloring it digitally and preparing all this material … it’s like meditation for me. I do everything very slowly, and yet the slower I go, seems the faster the results I achieve. (Maybe because with each element crafted with so much time and care, everything comes together better in the end.) I just love that peaceful feeling I experience when I work with Photoshop. Everything is compact and organized and perfect … no litter or junk to clean up.
Q. You work slowly, but I’m curious … how many hours each day do you put in toward crafting new content?
I work almost every day, all day long. But it never feels forced. I take as many breaks I need (sometimes a whole day off), but usually just lunch and dinner breaks, creating all the rest of the day.
Twice a year I take a one-and-a-half month vacation and travel back to Finland. Altogether, I spend about 3 months every year with family. And I do nothing during those months, except taking photographs of course, which is partly my hobby, partly the way I gather fresh material for my work.
Q. One thing more I’ve wondered … Your work is delightfully vintage in feel. Was that an early choice, or did it just happen?
I’ve been always a bit rebellious. I’ve always wanted to do things my own way. I’ve never cared at all how things are conventionally done. But even working with the most advanced technology … I still love everything old! I want to retain the antique feel to my images. That’s a deliberate choice. It’s the reason I’ve chosen mostly to use fine art and vintage photos when crafting my kits. But who knows, I might try to combine more of my original drawings in the future, which I’ve done a little. That could be the next step in my journey.