Today’s Quarantine Stories are brought to you by Marju Kask, TMW’s hospitality manager and Uku Kristjan Küttis, the founder, partner and graphic designer of AKU, one of the leading design agencies in Estonia and TMW’s long-term partner.
Marju Kask, TMW’s hospitality manager takes care of our foreign delegates, but she has been involved with our festival in one way or another from the very beginning – both by contributing to our music program in the Jazzkaar programme team and by hosting the TMW Kids programme as the project coordinator at the Estonian Children’s Literature Center. In 2017 Marju lead the national Youth and Children’s Culture Year and was in charge of the beautifully ambitious Children’s Republic tour that within the Estonia 100 celebrations reached the furthest corners of Estonia.
Uku-Kristjan Küttis is the founder, partner and graphic designer of AKU, one of the leading design agencies in Estonia and TMW’s long-term partner. AKU, whose projects include Estonian pavilion at EXPO 2015 and the identity of the city of Tallinn, won 3 gold and 1 silver prize at The Estonian National Festival of Creativity Kuldmuna last year as well as the Design Agency of the Year title. In 2014 Uku received the DC*E Designer of the Year recognition. At the heart of the TMW’s visual identities created by AKU have been both exotic migratory birds, the crossroads of ideas and original Estonian fonts, all expressing the ever-changing nature of the festival. AKU is known for boldly uniting different media with the belief that good design should make our living better, easier and thus happier. Uku was TMW’s head designer already in 2009, teaching our team to value the impact of good design since the very beginning.
What are you listening, watching, reading etc?
Marju: I’m reading Tove Jansson’s collection of short stories Travelling Light and news by Estonian Public Broadcasting. I watch documentaries and listen to my children and nature more than anything else at the moment.
Uku-Kristjan: I don’t listen to music much lately. Mainly because I decided to make music for myself on my own. I think about what kind of a track I would like to listen to at the moment and then I’ll try to figure out how it could sound. Then I’ll try to create it. It’s like a quiz with myself.
What are you feeling and thinking in this situation?
Marju: I feel that morning and evening are both smart now.
Uku-Kristjan: Cabin Fever. Losing the rhythm and sense of time. Getting rid of routines and being confused by it.
What kind of future are you dreaming of?
Marju: We all share the same universal dreams now, plus the belief that they will come true. There is eagerness to act in full force to reach them.
Uku-Kristjan: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯