Have you ever wondered what it would be like if there was a hotel for elephants, run by elephants? Me neither, but that’s because it takes a special kind of creative mind to come up with such a premise, and Nicolas Burrows is someone with a very special creative mind.
The artist, illustrator and member of the popular UK-based Nous Vous collective has now taken this charmingly bonkers idea and turned it into a book called, appropriately, The Elephant Hotel.
The book was made possible thanks to a partnership between WeTransfer and ELCAF (the East London Comic Arts Festival). Run by Nobrow – one of the world’s leading comics and graphic novel publishers – ELCAF is an annual shindig that brings together image-makers from around the world every summer.
In 2016, the first ever ELCAF and WeTransfer award invited submissions for a book proposal that had never been published – either because it was commercially challenging or the idea was particularly off-the-wall (like, you know, a hotel for elephants).
Nicolas’ book won the grant to make The Elephant Hotel a published reality. But on the night his win was announced, Nicolas was actually at the hospital where his wife was giving birth to their first child.
This short film explores Nicolas’ process, his love of collage and his parental excitement at being able to enjoy his creation with his daughter.
