The Fairer Sex?
By day Venla Kivilahti, 32-year-old Finnish native, is a BAFTA-nominated senior designer who lives and works in the heart of London, based at a company called Reading Room Ltd, where she creates some of the hottest games, websites, designs and cool stuff that I wouldn’t even know how to spell without a dictionary.
However, by night, Venla turns her well-honed skills to the world of cartoons, and with her pen poised, she directs the flashlight at the turbulent, haphazard world of dating — from a female perspective of course. I’m not a comic geek so I won’t tell you which cartoons her work is similar to or pays homage to or anything like that. What I will say is that they’re cheeky, very cute, honest and funny. Like Venla herself, I hasten to add.
I first met Venla in 2000, when we became part of the same after-works drinks crowd that flocked around Brighton Media Centre on Middle Street, was immediately impressed with her bobbed bright red hair, cool yellow bike and penchant for heavy metal. Venla’s hugely talented, so when she moved to London, it came as no surprise. Neither has the recognition her work has been receiving as of late. Her recent professional awards include a BAFTA nomination for Best Interactive website, New Statesman Awards for Best Accessible Design, Best Arts, Culture and Heritage Project in Charity awards, Highly Commended in Best Educational Initiative in Museum and Heritage Awards, BBC site of the day and Yahooligans site of the week.
Venla’s latest venture involves moving to Sydney, surfing with sharks, and deriving some inspiration from the more chilled out Aussie way of life. She promises to throw a few more comics our way once on board ship, which I will duly not drop in the sea — more to come later.
[...] More comics from Venla Kivilahti, 32-year-old Finnish designer turned cartoon diva, whose female-friendly comics were featured on TM last month. [...]
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