“This is how my desk waited for me this morning. The piles on the upper left are almost always there, with a manila envelope on top. Then some calendars waiting to be sent. Then there’s a pile of notes on the right. If I would have taken the picture right now, there would also be coffee in paper mug. Not very many things on the desk. In the back there are boxes to be shipped today to kiosk in New York. And wooden drawers where there’s everything that is not on the desk.”

Noa Bembibre is a Helsinki-based designer working in art direction and graphic design. Her work comprises identity, book design, packaging and custom publishing.

FROM YOUR DESKS: Your Calendar. How do you come up with your witty phrases for the Cats Let Nothing Darken Their Roar?

NOA BEMBIBRE: The calendar: every year, around August, I sit down with some pen and paper and start with January, I make quite many phrases and then choose. I don’t know is there really a method, I just think: January…Japan, jacket, James, James, nuts, notes, numbers, neurons, James’ neurons…, centenary, apothecary, Larry, furry…James’ neurons are furry – and then the next one. I do like to include at least one animal, something about numbers or mathematics, space or planets and cement or Robert for December.

FYD: What is the calendar’s font called?

NB: The typeface used for the calendar is clarendon, regular and bold.

FYD: I love your CUP 1. It’s so simple and designed perfectly. Is it for tea or perhaps sake?

NB: The cup is rather large, so I think it probably suits coffee or tea best, breakfast coffee, or breakfast tea. At first, I wanted to make a cup out of a sphere shape, then take half of the top off, a little of the bottom off, and put a whole on the side. The shape changed when in production to what it is now. There were only 25 made then, and I’ve always wanted to make it again.