Christmas means traditions; at Midnatt it has become a fond one to reveal our annual Christmas card, or should we say mini art print, collaboration every year when December sweeps in.
With the first snow slowly falling outside the windows, nine floors up, we had a cup of hot coffee with this year’s Christmas card artist – Evelina Kroon. Evelina has been a Midnatt favorite since we first saw her art. The colors, the straight forward patterns, the vibe – you get it; we are big fans and very proud of this collaboration.
Everyone who places an order in December can add the prints Busi and Sup, by Evelina Kroon as a complimentary gift. They are A5 in size and printed on high quality 324g paper.
Hi Evelina! We are so intrigued by your art. In short, how do you work?
Hmm, it never really takes shape inside my mind. I’m not that aesthetic. Rehearsals are my thing. Consistency, what never ends, makes me content. I work almost exclusively with my eye gauge. The technique is like a classic weave without me knowing anything about that craft. The practice is pleasantly effective. It quickly becomes decorative and, in a way, eternal. It never ends. Ask my kids, they might hate it one day just because of that, haha.
I have a background in free art and illustration, but I find it difficult to draw and illustrate these days. It’s somehow filled with too much anxiety. The patterns are easier to distance myself from. I make my own rules, and that moves me forward. In the little leeway I have in between the patterns, I can sneak in little messages and meanings, but no one knows that. And it is not essential for the expression itself. I like that.
How come you wanted to do this collaboration?
I’m not an over thinker; I often navigate by feeling and personal chemistry, and I like you guys. Is it an Aquarius thing? No, but you have a fantastic business idea, and I sleep well in your sheets. Now I want your checkered bedspreads too..
Tell us about the prints you made for us!
Sup and Busi , Forest and Bush in Korean, roughly. You really can’t translate directly like that because then I would have to give you Korean characters, but I still thought those names were nice with Midnatt’s expression. Pattern-wise, we talked about a soft color scale and the right dynamic between the two patterns so they would fit together nicely. And I think it turned out great.
How do you feel about Christmas?
I love everything before and around Christmas. Making it cozy at home and stuff like that. The holiday itself is perhaps a bit too stressful for me. Christmas Eve is not my coziest tradition. But we do invite my large family with five younger siblings to our home. As in many families with a focus on food and drink. It’s always a chaotic and messy Christmas because no one adapts to the kid’s will …
No Christmas without..?
Viviane, our 88-year-old neighbor. We love her! We moved the celebration to the stairwell with her when there was a pandemic. The New Year’s celebration also took place on the stairs. But now it’s worth its weight in gold for us to have her on the inside. If you ask my dad, no Christmas without Karl-Bertil Jonsson on TV.
What do you have up and coming – 2024?
I am working on a book, and no one really knows how it will turn out. But it will come out in the fall. It is a practical book attempting to explain why I do what I do. Right now, in a light-hearted manner inside small short stories. With practical elements. It’ll be fun. What’s more, I have some prints out and I have just launched plaids for Layerd.
And if you dream big?
I want to make tiles and floors and things that are more large-scale. The art I made at Sergels Torg in Stockholm felt big and significant to me. (Editor’s note, google Evelina Kroon, Soltorgstrappan.)
Text and photo by Josephine Blix