Double Trouble

Fun and mischievous. They’re childhood friends and strong collaborators. Who is this exciting design duo that teamed up with us to create the fine LOQI x HVASS&HANNIBAL bag collection?
 
Nan Na Hvass and Sofie Hannibal met at an extra-curricular design class at school. Fast forward almost a decade and they were collaborating together while studying for their Master’s degrees in visual communication at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts’ School of Design. HVASS&HANNIBAL was founded in 2006 in Copenhagen.
 
Theirs is a natural collaboration. An explosion of creativity, of constant brainstorming and sketching to arrive at their unique concepts. These include graphic design, illustration, textiles and printmaking.
 

This Danish design duo has worked on design solutions for clients including Apple, Google, Heal’s, Hermès, The Conference, Ralph Lauren and the New York Times. They were also nominated Artisan of the Year at the Design Awards 2019 and have spoken at the ING conference in Dubai, alongside speakers from NASA, MoMA, Disney and Pixar.

 This ingenious team dreams of decorating the walls of a hotel on a tropical island far away. Or a huge gable mural in their hometown Copenhagen. At the other end of the scale, they dream of designing a set of postage stamps – old-school paper ones. Nan Na and Sofie love shaping new worlds and have fashioned a magical-realist world for LOQI.

Exclusive: LOQI Interviews HVASS&HANNIBAL

Q. A museum nobody should miss? A. The National Gallery in Østre Anlæg Garden, it’s an old museum with a new extension and the mix of these two kinds of architecture is really interesting, with a view over the park where you can see the seasons change. Q. Craziest place in Copenhagen? A. Strøget, the inner city shopping street: don’t go there. Q. An exceptional place around the world? A. Tromsø, a small Norwegian city north of the arctic circle, it’s completely dark 4 months of the year and in the summer the sun never sets, it creates a really weird atmosphere of afternoon in the middle of the night. Q. What's the secret of creativity? A. Hard work and an open mind (+ black tea with oat milk)

Q. What's your favourite quote? A. “Never trust a man who when left alone in a room with a tea cosy doesn't try it on” – Billy Connoly”  Q. What song best describes you work ethic? A. My mind is yours – Liima Q. What kitchen utensil would you be? A. Frying Pan Q. Pick two celebrities to be your parents. A. David Lynch and Björk

 

The Collection

The HVASS&HANNIBAL x LOQI collection includes four of their incredible, eye-catching prints, each featured on an artist tote bag. You can also mix and match with a reversible weekender and a set of three zip pockets.

Are you also a fan of the leafy motif in HVASS&HANNIBAL’s work? The birds bag showcases the design duos incredibly creative jungle imagery. This artist tote bag is all about their love of dreaming up magical and surreal places. The colors are so bright, they lend this rainforest scene a real-but-not-real quality which is always intriguing. Geometric patterns and bright colors are your thing? Check out the grid bag and maze bag. These designs on each artist tote bag are telling of the designers’ shared love of the Danish artist Poul Gernes.

When taking a close look at the creations, you may wonder whether these designs are digital at all? The two artists work with Wacom boards and create almost all of their work in Photoshop. But they have a craft-based approach from their work with fabric, wood, paint and dyes over the years. They have also been working with iPad Pros with the Apple pencil, which gives more of a tactile edge to the feel of digital illustration.

Grid Bag

Maze Bag

Arbaro Bag

Birds Bag

 

Stay tuned! HVASS&HANNIBAL are always coming up with new compositions to fill and develop their magical world(s). Their work is full of surprises! The arbaro tote bag is two bags in one. Wear one side for a leafy and exotic scene during the day and twirl it around for the nighttime view.

We at LOQI love these designers’ attention to detail and their endless positivity and bubbly enthusiasm. Discover their luscious masterpieces here.