INTERVIEW
Blancmange
An imagined café by Laina Deene
Celebrating the eccentricities of food from an era gone by, illustrator Laina Deene has imagined her very own café, Blancmange, elevating the colourful concoctions and sculptural foodstuffs of the 1970s.
Laina is part of our 2024 Future Makers cohort. Blancmange came about as a way to explore Laina's love for illustrating food whilst seeing her work in new contexts, in this case bringing a eatery brand to life with an illustrative visual identity. Currently a work in progress, she has plans to build on what she's created for Blancmange, and try out fresh ways to present her work.
We spoke to Laina about her experiences crafting the idea and developing the illustrations so far. As the name might suggest, expect jelly moulds, pastel tones and plenty of nostalgic warmth!
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I’ve always loved drawing food, but the 70s pieces have been especially fun because the dishes are vibrant and chaotic. There's so much jelly!
– Laina Deene
Tell us about your inspiration behind this project, and your love for 70s food.
I find the colours and textures of 70s food so intriguing. I’ve always loved drawing food, but the 70s pieces have been especially fun because the dishes are vibrant and chaotic. There's so much jelly!
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How do you imagine Blancmange, who might visit?
I thought about this a lot whilst working on this project, and imagined it as a sort of blend between Wes Anderson’s Grand Budapest Hotel and Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. There would be bright pastel colours, intricate ceramics and eccentrically dressed people around the cafe.
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I kept imagining what it would be like to visit the cafe, and I think it would be fun to explore that some more.
– Laina Deene
We love the use of texture and choice of colours, there's a real warmth – is this intentional?
Thanks so much! I’m always trying to find ways to make my work more textural, especially if it’s digital. I much prefer working with hand-drawn mediums and prefer the outcome, but I often switch to digital so that I can make work whilst commuting. It can be good sometimes, though, as I can very easily fine-tune my colours and play around a bit more. I usually start any piece by picking out all of the colours first!
Has the project changed the way you think of your work going forward?
I really enjoyed the development process and breaking the project down into steps, which made it feel more manageable. When working in this way, it means I’m able to not worry about the final outcome and just enjoy experimenting, or idea generation, which is important for making pieces feel exciting and different.
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What’s next, is there anything this has spurred you on to create or explore?
I would definitely like to finish this project and develop more of the ideas I have for it. Whilst working on this, I kept imagining what it would be like to visit the café, and I think it would be fun to explore that a bit more. I want to make sure I’m keeping up my practice, especially when it comes to sketchbook drawing, and build up my portfolio so that I have a consistent style.
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About Laina Deene
Laina is a Brighton-based illustrator with a passion for hand drawn illustration, making use of watercolours, pastels, pencils and more to explore colour and texture. Clients include Wieden + Kennedy x It’s Nice That, Penguin Random House, Lush and more.
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