Maraid Christmas portrait by Ben Javens
For our brief to Ben Javens Richard asked to be climbing a tree. He seemed surprised but happy when the finished version was a Christmas tree. We love our 2019 Christmas illustration – Thanks Ben!…
Our favourite songs of 2019
At Maraid Design we pretend to like contemporary music because it makes us appear cool. To continue the illusion we have chosen some random tracks and are claiming they are our favourite songs of the…
Matchbloc in the media
One year on from publishing Matchbloc the first edition of 1000 has sold out. I thought it might be nice to collate some of the coverage of the book for which we were very grateful….
Glasgow Print Fair 2019
We worked with our pals Paved With Gold to organise and curate the first Glasgow Print Fair, a one-day event bringing together people who are passionate about print. We had over fifty makers alongside a…
Behind the scenes at Norman Records Leeds
Music is an integral part of Maraid Design. When we were based in York we regularly went record shopping together at the wonderful Earworm. Now in Leeds’ Duke Studios I’ve been visiting the city’s numerous…
Maraid Portrait by Luke Drozd
Luke Drozd has been on our wish list for a Maraid portrait for a long time, we love his playful approach to illustration. He has perfectly captured our love of ephemera, post and travel and…
MATCHBLOC the book
MATCHBLOC the book is here! The lovely Neal Whittington from Present & Correct and I have been working on this for a little while. If you have been following our instagram account you can now…
Estonian folk songs for children
I picked up the book ‘Eesti rahvalaule lastele’ in a second-hand shop in Estonia. It translates as ‘Bluebird, Estonian folk songs for children’ and was compiled by Ottilie Kõiva in 1971. The beautiful illustrations by…
Die Witwe und andere komische Monologe
I recently visited the island of Muhu in Estonia, home to writer Juhan Smuul. The Museum had many of his books for visitors to browse. The intriguing and unusual illustrations by Edgar Valter in ‘Die…
Alvar Aalto Museum, Jyväskylä
Travelling around Finland we were lucky to visit Villa Mairea and Säynätsalo Town Hall. The Alvar Aalto Museum in Jyväskylä was brilliant for interpreting the design, construction and production of Aalto’s work under one roof….