The Sopp Collective
The Sydney based design group, The Sopp Collective, was founded in 1999 by Katja Hartung and Thorsten Kulp from Germany, Nelson Alves from Portugal and Kåre Martens from Norway: Your most recognisable work are the CD covers that you’ve done. What is it about that medium that you like working with so much? ‘We love music. And on top of that, album cover art and other music related jobs generally offer a great opportunity to explore personal vision. We wouldn’t mind doing it all day, everyday of the week. In saying that, we really enjoy working with other industries too that allow us a similar freedom’. What’s been the best CD artwork you’ve seen by another designer? Kåre: ‘That’s a tough one. There is a band in Norway called Kloroform who had the whole cover knitted. I thought that was pretty sweet. The designer, Martin Kvamme, asked some old ladies at a nursing home to knit the covers for him’. What does Sopp refer to? Sopp means mushroom in Norwegian. That doesn’t make sense to the rest of the planet that doesn’t speak Norwegian but the name has just stuck with us and we like the sound of it’. What’s usually playing on your stereo when you’re illustrating or designing? Kåre: ‘That varies a bit between the members. Personally, I’m a bit of a BBC addict so I tend to listen to the radio a lot’. Katja: ‘Yes, in particular the movie show, which is very entertaining, though not so productive to work with. Apart from that, my music never gets played for apparently obvious reasons so I won’t answer that one’. Nelson: ‘Right now, I love Jenny Wilson and the Battles album’.
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A little infectious lollipop rock anyone? Feel free to embarrass yourself singing along at the stoplight. If the other drivers give you that look, roll down the windows and spread the love.
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