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Karola Rubene ☼

@irkarola

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The world is my playground
Art direction / graphic design / scarves

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My journey to the red caviar canapé hat (featuring Orests). 🧡
#papermache #papiermache taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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10 months ago

Silk care in the Baltic sea, with a pattern born from Riga’s Alberta street historical tiles.
🌊🌊🌊

Photos as always by @kristapsdeics

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#design #designeverywhere #scarf #designfeed #designbywomen #designinspiration #illustration #itsnicethat #scarves taken in Jūrkalne, Latvia by @irkarola

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a year ago

Wearing a scarf with the same daisy pattern that I saw on tiles in Vienna. During the Art Nouveau period, daisies were commonly used as decorative motifs. With their simple yet elegant shape, daisies fit well within this aesthetic.
In general, it is much easier to find and capture historical tiles in Vienna than in Riga, because stairwells in Vienna are mostly open.

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#designbywomen taken in Baltic Sea by @irkarola

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2 years ago

I’m excited to share a beautiful discovery from the historical tiles at Stabu St. 57 – a simple flower pattern I found, which has now made its way onto one of my scarves.
For a long time, I wanted to find a simple historical tile pattern in Riga, but the only simple ones I kept finding was with checkerboards or ones with Auseklīši (not sure what that’s called in English). One morning, I discovered exactly what I had imagined – a tile with a flower pattern made of just five circles. Sadly, the quality of the tiles is very poor and I think that very soon these flowers will disappear completely.
Once I noticed it, I began spotting the same flower pattern everywhere, even on one of Barcelona’s panot tiles, historically used to fight against city mud.
I found these Stabu st. tiles in late August, a time that always feels like the start of autumn, and despite finishing school years ago, I still associate September with the school year. Naturally, I thought the scarf should feature the colors of my old school uniform from the Riga French Lycée (see picture no. 6), even though I avoided wearing it back in the day.
Thanks to Orests, the model, who did a great job as always! He’s ready to continue modeling, so I can share his portfolio if needed. Thanks also to @spukta for animating the flower in 3D exactly as I envisioned, and to Kristaps for being the photographer (as always). 
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#design #designeverywhere #scarf #designfeed #designbywomen #designinspiration #illustration #itsnicethat #catsofinstagram taken in Stabu Str. by @irkarola

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2 years ago

All the flowers I created over the summer are finally together 🌸
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#designbywomen #airdryclay taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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23 days ago

I’ve had this idea of making stamps from ornaments and decorative details found on Riga’s doors and buildings for quite a while, but I never found the right object to try it with.

At the beginning of July, I finally got lucky and found two beautiful flowers on Brīvības iela. taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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3 months ago

It’s been a while since I last shared my collection of historical tile patterns, so here are some of my favourite finds from around Riga.

The collection is actually much bigger, but some of the photos are absolute trash because I couldn’t properly get inside. So these are some of the best ones.
A few of these were absolute winners and even became scarves.
Enjoy my heart project. 💗

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#tiles #riga taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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a month ago

This spring has been very hard. Actually, the hardest spring of my entire life.
So with Easter getting closer, here is something soft, fluffy, and very romantic. A little spring and Easter-related project of mine. 🌸

At the beginning of January, I was invited by the Riga City Council to take part in another competition, this time for their Easter visuals. I didn’t win, and I was honestly a bit disappointed this time, because I really believed these fluffs could make the city sweeter, and that seeing them across Riga might make my broken heart ease for a bit, even if just for a brief moment.

But instead of letting that bring me down, I made something with these visuals that feels close to my heart – a wall decoration that now hangs behind me in my office, and also a skirt with my sweet Mr. Eggman.
During the process, I also discovered Demorny by @overtype.foundry and got really excited about it. I already knew that if I won, I would buy it and use it for the project. Apparently, it just wasn’t the right moment for that yet, so now I’m looking forward to the next project where I can finally use this typeface.
And the last fluffy inspiration image is my sweet boy Orests, because honestly, he has the best and whitest fluff. taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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7 months ago

Es un kunkulītis 🩶
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© ™ matiss klavins photography © ™ taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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3 months ago

Les cygnes over the years
🦢 taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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3 months ago

This year, I had the amazing opportunity to help Latvijas Dabas Fonds @lvdabasfonds create the visual identity for this year’s Pļavas festivāls. The Latvian Nature Foundation already had an established identity, but I played around with their existing assets to introduce a sense of movement - something you often see in meadows when the wind dances through the grass and plants.
I chose a typeface made of small circles, which adds a light, airy feeling to the overall design.
On the last slide, I also included another key visual proposal I had in mind but was not chosen. Maybe nezt year? 🦋
The festival will take place next week in Pļavnieki, Dreiliņkalns – a lovely area on the outskirts of Riga. Be sure to check out the festival program!

Photos made by @kristapsdeics

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#design #designeverywhere #nature # meadow #designfeed #designbywomen #designinspiration #illustration #itsnicethat taken in Riga, Latvia by @irkarola

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a year ago

The first time I visited Slovenia was in 2017, when, quite suddenly, there was an opportunity to live there for several months through the European Voluntary Service. Before that, I didn’t know much about this country, and when I started living there, I was so pleasantly surprised—mountains, turquoise rivers, lakes, caves, a little bit of the sea, and the Slovenians themselves!
This year, I decided to give my boyfriend a trip as a gift for his Nameday and show him the country I lived in before we knew each other! I’m glad that this time I finally managed to go to the Soča River, because when I was in EVS, my monthly budget was so small that a trip around the country would have put a big hole in my thin wallet.
In any case—go to Slovenia, it’s great there! Nature really can give you energy.
P.s. The photo with zlatorog was necessary!

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#slovenia taken in Slovenia by @irkarola

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2 years ago