Jonn from Kunjom

il-lokal: Hi Jonn, may you tell us about your creative background and how you started your creative journey?

Jonn: Though not immediately obvious, I grew up in a very creative family.

Both my parents held down ‘regular’ jobs but did creative things in their downtime exposing my brother and me to a myriad of ways to express ourselves, be it with a pen, a camera, a needle and thread, or even a welding torch.

They instilled a creative curiosity and a problem-solving mindset which drew me towards becoming a designer. The fact my brother is a writer, director, and actor further highlights the creative foundations our upbringing laid down.

il-lokal: How did you develop your making skills? What was your learning path to get to where you are presently?

Jonn: I started drawing at a very young age, one of my earliest memories is sketching out a tree house when I must have been 3 or 4 years old. I started shifting towards expressing myself digitally around ten years later, commandeering my Dad’s PC and spending hours messing about on Photoshop.

From that point on, things happened organically. Whilst I decided to get a degree in Communications to allow myself to explore other means of expression — such as photography, audio, and film — by the time I graduated, I was all in on design and was steadily developing my illustrating skills during my downtime.

That formula hasn’t changed much over the intervening two decades. I’m having a very fulfilling career as a designer whilst engaging in more illustrative projects, such as the Malta Tube Map, my depictions of Modernist buildings, and kunjom.com, in my spare time.

il-lokal: Where do you find inspiration? What are your go-to sources?

Jonn: This is going to sound so cliche but I’d say my key inspiration is just being curious. I’m rarely not digging into something totally random subject, be it Ancient Greek mythology, Brutalist architecture in Eastern Europe, or the entire back catalogue of seminal British electronica and sophisti-pop duo Everything But The Girl.

I tend to go through phases of getting engrossed in these subjects and they, in turn, spark some creative juices which I use as fuel to record that moment in life.

For instance, the Malta Tube Map emerged from a period when I was fascinated by the London Underground, and kunjom.com was sparked by a growing interest in heraldry.

il-lokal: Do any of your designs hold a special or personal meaning for you?

Jonn: Honestly, they all do, I’m extremely fond of nostalgia and my work tends to be stepped in it. An immersion into a random subject may spark an initial idea but the final outcome tends to be shaped from a personal angle.

To use the examples I mentioned above; on the one hand, the Malta Tube Map was created when I lived in London and was seriously considering moving back to Malta; The Kunjom.com project, on the other hand, is deeply referential to the coats of arms my grandparents had up on their walls when I was growing up and (I adored).

In most cases, Malta is at the heart of my illustrative work. I am proud to be Maltese yet I haven’t lived on the island since 2009, so my creations are a way to maintain some kind of connection.

il-lokal: Tell us about your workspace -  where do you create and what tools do you use regularly?

Jonn: I share an apartment in Berlin with my lovely wife Tiziana, and she’s been nice enough to allow me to turn our second bedroom into my creative den. 

I work remotely as a product designer at Meta and use the space both as a home office and personal studio. The setup is pretty straightforward, I have an L-shaped desk area split into two sections: one is fully digital, with computers, screens and so forth; whilst the other is purely analogue where I can sketch, cut up samples, etc.

The rest of the space is mainly made up of shelves packed with books and legos, with prints filling any remaining wall space, and our two whippets — Bou and Pina — taking up the remaining floor space.

il-lokal: When do you work? Is there a time of day that you prefer or something that helps you work?

Jonn: Like most creatives who hold down a day job, the honest answer is any spare moment I can grab. That tends to be during weekday evenings and on weekends.

il-lokal: Are there other creatives whose work/products you particularly love or admire?

Jonn: So many, but because I’ve ranted so much already I’ll distil it to one — Malika Favre. She’s become a global success using a clean and geometric style I love. A few folks have said my style has some semblance to hers which I consider a massive compliment.

il-lokal: What’s next for you?

Jonn: I’d love to compile a book with the coats of arms of the 100 most common surnames in Malta. Reaching a century was the initial milestone of the kunjom.com project and I feel this would be a great and lasting way to commemorate that.

I’m also having a great time creating illustrations of modernist and brutalist buildings. It’s a real passion project that celebrates some amazing architectural heritage, many of which are unfortunately either neglected, under threat, or have even been demolished. 

I’m not exactly sure where the project will take me, but if I can use it as some kind of platform to generate awareness (and perhaps even appreciation) for these stunning structures, then that would be amazing.

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