Annu Kilpelainen Finland

Cover Image - Annu Kilpelainen

Before Finnish illustrator Annu Kilpelainen (officially) became an artist, she worked at a biscuit factory where she designed and hand-iced cookies for corporate parties and birthdays. Now a full-time illustrator (although we would argue she always was one), she hasn’t forgotten the lessons she learned at the biscuit factory—the importance of keeping her designs simple, something she was forced to do back then because there’s only so much you can fit on a biscuit. These days, she often focuses her work on creating technicolor flower patterns, cars and heroines, which, according to the Annu, she owes to biscuits.