User Profile

Like an alchemist, a mad scientist or crazed professor absorbed in the finer details of crafting a lethal concoction – the process, careful measurement of included subtleties, and a tongue-in-cheek sense of self-deprecating humour drive the body of my practice. I am a jack of all trades; my fingers dipped into multiple melting pots that are set to careful simmers, to be drawn from when the opportunity calls. Chief among these bubbling brews are editorial design, typography, publication and web design – but my passion, indeed, my magic potion, involves a splatter of ink on paper, dirty fingernails from gathering previously owned work materials – real objects that belonged to real people – and the adoration and study of art history.

I believe, first and foremost, that all things are transient; that our appreciation of consumable goods – be they books or words or pixels – will eventually fade. Everything we know and love will degenerate and decay. Such inconstancy makes my appreciation of the old, the previously owned, the gathered and hoarded precious, fleeting and furious. Each project on which I work must tell a story, and as a designer, it is my obligation to translate that carefully selected list of ingredients in such a way that the narrative is understood – no matter how seemingly obscure that interpretation may become.

I consciously employ a sense of nostalgia in both my print and web work by taking seemingly innocuous items and re-appropriating them. Driven by a love of Vanitas artwork, each piece, regardless of the medium, is imbued with the metaphor of memory and the passing of time. What started as an experiment in subversion has become an obsession, but the devil is in the details, and the nuance in the subtlety of these inclusions. It has made each piece increasingly personal, knowing that the acquisition and re-sculpting has allowed me to get my hands dirty. It has helped me feel more alive, and more in touch with my work.

This, however, must not suggest that for all my meticulousness I am careful, or that I choose to play safely along the fringes. Surely not. Aggression, investigation, absorption – these are my tools. Design is my catalyst.

Kira Butler
Elixireleven Design Foundry
February 2007

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