Bear & Fox – a tribute to the forest and imagination
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Even though I grew up partly in one of the world's largest cities, I have a childlike fondness for the forest. Maybe because in Sweden I spent my childhood years in the countryside, with the forest as my neighbor. I usually say that I like to "be" in the forest in the same way that some others like to "be" on the beach. Not because I have to do anything special there - but because I feel good about the rhythm of the forest.
In the forest I let go. I become playful, as if something inside me opens up. I can fantasize freely without feeling observed. There the kind of thoughts that don't have to be productive awaken. There my inner images come alive.
And sometimes I've wondered: What would a fox and a bear say to each other if they were allowed to sit down and talk?
Maybe they would plan some little pranks.
Maybe they would just sit quietly, contemplating the cycles of life – why it always has to be winter before it can be summer again.
A collection born from movement, memory and stillness
The first time I saw a bear was almost five years ago. I was traveling through Canada, from coast to coast. I remember how emotional I became, even though I only saw a small dot in the distance. A dot that I knew was a bear. I would see many more, but I didn't know that at the time.
The Björn & Räv collection is my tribute to the boreal forest – the one you can hike in both Scandinavia and North America. A place where the inner and outer landscape merge. Where the imagination is allowed to run free.
The motifs carry little stories:
A dance in the moonlight.
A fishing trip in silent agreement.
A moment side by side.
A conversation we can only guess.
And maybe, someday...
...I get to see a real bear again.
But until then, I'll let them live here – in color, shape and imagination.
On the walls of a child's room. Or in my own inner room.
☀️ /Ella