“My little studio, which is always a mess, no matter how hard I try to keep it tidy.”

“This is my main working area, where I spend far too much of my time. I work from a laptop with a 2nd (30″) monitor. On the left is my paper list of things to do. I seem to be surrounded by external hard drives (more are strapped under the desk). On the right is one of my analog working areas.”

Marian Bantjes is a designer, typographer, writer and illustrator working internationally from her base on a small island off the west coast of Canada, near Vancouver. She is a member of Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI), and regularly speaks about her work and thoughts at conferences and events worldwide.

Marian’s art and design crosses boundaries of time, style and technology. She is known for her detailed and lovingly precise vector art, her obsessive hand work, her patterning and ornament. Often hired to create custom type for magazines, advertising and special projects, Marian’s work has an underlying structure and formality that frames its organic, fluid nature. It is these combinations and juxtapositions that draw the interest of such a wide variety of designers and typographers, from experienced formalists to young students.

Among her international clients, she counts Saks Fifth Avenue, Penguin Books, GRANTA, Wallpaper*, The Guardian, WIRED, Stefan Sagmeister, Winterhouse (Bill Drenttel & Jessica Helfand), Maharam, Ogilvy & Mather Chicago, Young & Rubicam Chicago, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Print Magazine, GQ Italia, and The New York Times, among others from Europe, Australia and South America.

Marian spent 15 months writing her book, I Wonder, printed in 5 colours throughout (mostly CMYK + Gold) on a coated stock.

“This is one of my drawing areas. Top left is a Hebrew poster given to me by Oded Ezer, in the middle is the poster that Henrik Kubel designed for my talk at RCA in London, on the right is my own “Grapes” poster. Below it on the right is my Poetry Poster in the middle is my name in fun fur, and on the left is a pencil drawing I made for a calendar. The desk is disturbingly surrounded by cardboard in which I store my posters. One day I will have proper flat files.”

“This is the working area to the right of my computer. It’s where I keep my inks and pens, plus Pantone books and drawing pads. But it tends to suffer from an overflow of paperwork from my main desk.”

Your copy of I Wonder awaits. Marian’s world should be discovered here. Marian is on twitter @bantjes