Happy 2012! We hope you’re having a great start to the New Year. Yes, it’s that time of year again, you’ve (hopefully) had a good rest and break and you’re now looking ahead at what you want to achieve this year.

In amongst all that planning you might be thinking about picking up some new hobbies, developing new skills, generally just doing some more creative stuff… I caught the crafty bug a little earlier back in December, making (by my very fair hands) a small number of limited edition Arty Globe Christmas stockings and was truly smitten!

They were very quickly nicknamed - "the man-made" stockings...

Thank you to Miss Libby Rose for your wonderful tutoring!

Although the weather here in the UK has not (thankfully) realised it yet, it's this time of the year again and gosh how quickly has this year swept away... It's been a fruitful year for us and we hope it has been a good one for you too!

We wish you a lovely time during the Christmas (or Chanukka) holiday period and we hope your New Year will be fabulously fruitful and endlessly rewarding.

To next year!

Hartwig Braun & Isaac Lilos

"Today 6 teenagers will hear the words 'you have cancer', 6 will hear it tomorrow and 6 the day after..."(source: Teens Unite)

Those of you who know me personally, would realise that if I am going to do a 5km run around Greenwich Park dressed as Santa on the 4th December 2011 - it must be for a very good reason indeed.

I know that this run will be a total shock to my body and I don't think Hartwig was too wrong in his depiction of the run (and me) below... I was just very surprised to see he drew me still standing, I guess he was trying to be kind!

Running has never been my forte nor has it been my passion but when I was contacted by Adrian Day, the editor of 'Greenwich' Magazine, and asked if I would join him to help raise money for 'Teens Unite' to assist their ongoing fight against cancer, I said yes without hesitation or thinking twice.

I am very proud to be running together with Adrian and my fellow Greenwich Market shop owners and friends: Maria Livings ('LUSH Designs'), Dominic Aldridge ('Good Ship') & Ben Oakley ('Ben Oakley Gallery').

Together we hope to raise enough money to make a difference in someone's life. To do that, we have created a page on "Do it for Charity" website and we kindly ask you to click on the link below and give whatever you can:

Click here to support us on our "Do it for Charity" website page.

Someone else already said it the best way - 'Every little helps...'

Support us and I can assure you that whatever happens, and even if I have to crawl on my hands and knees to get to the finishing line - I will complete this run if it would help at least one teenager fight cancer and have chance to live life to the full.

A big thank you in advance,

Isaac Lilos

As part of the Elephant Family charity outdoor Jungle City art extravaganza in the Scottish capital during August & September, Hartwig has been asked to transform a fiberglass crocodile sculpture by dressing it with his distinctive hand-drawn design style of the Edinburgh cityscape.

The Elephant Family is a charity, set up by Mark Shand (brother of the Duchess of Cornwall - Camilla Parker Bowles) raising money to protect the endangered wildlife in south-east Asia. Last year their Elephant Parade in London involved more than 250 artistically dressed fiberglass baby elephants dotted around London for 4 weeks. The elephants were later auctioned and raised over £4 Million pounds, which were used to establish migration corridors for the animals to minimize and prevent human-animal conflict.

Hartwig is one of the 130 artists, designers and celebrities from across Scotland, England and the rest of the world that have been invited to adorn various wild animal sculptures especially for the event which aims to raise awareness and funds for the survival of endangered wild animals.

Hartwig really liked the idea of taking part in this event saying:

“To be chosen for Jungle City amongst such prominent artists is a real honour, marking a key step in the journey since establishing myself as an artist. I’m extremely proud to be able to make a contribution with my design for such an important charity that is having a significant impact on animal conservation.”

The drawing of the Edinburgh image, one of Hartwig's most complicated and detailed designs to-date, took around 7 weeks to complete - working literally night & day:

The artist’s Jungle City sculpture is of Edinburgh showing the city as you’ve never seen it before! Within the hand drawn illustration wrapped around the sculpture are many historic and recognisable landmarks including the Castle and Castle Rock, Grassmarket, the Usher Hall,Princes Street Gardens, the Royal Mile, the Hub, New College, Bank of Scotland, St Giles' Cathedral, University of Edinburgh, Canongate Tollbooth, "Our Dynamic Earth" exhibition building, the Scottish Parliament, Holyroodhouse Palace and Calton Hill.

Click on image above to see a bigger image.

Click on image above to see a bigger image.

Due to the nature of Hartwig's work we had to get a specialist team to apply the intricate artwork onto the crocodile. Under the artist's direction the image was neatly and meticulously wrapped around the animal in a process that took almost 3 whole days to complete. The process involved printing the artwork on a special material and carefully heat-wrapping it onto the fibreglass body of the crocodile in a process, which requires steady hand and lots of patience:

The results were stunning! It was the first time we have applied Hartwig's work onto a 3 dimensional item and it was wonderful to see how well the image translated onto the curved body of the crocodile.

“I am thrilled to see my artwork so vividly come to life wrapped around the crocodile as part of this important and exciting event in Edinburgh. The nicely curved and undulated back of the crocodile resembles Edinburgh’s topography with the Royal Mile as the spine climbing up all the way to Castle Rock – the city’s head.”

The countdown has started for the Jungle City outdoor event which launches in the Royal Botanic Gardens on 16th August and will see the animals unleashed on to Edinburgh’s streets on 6th September 2011. All the animals will be later auctioned to raise money for the charity and we hope croc-a-doodle will find a good home, where it will be looked after with love & care.

For more details on the event and the other fab animals taking part visit Jungle City or Elephant Family websites.

For all lovers of the metropolis! Presented in practical, light and portable tin box, this bold and colourful 54 piece jigsaw puzzle duo makes a great fun gift to remember your trip, or an entertaining way just to pass the time on the flight. Guaranteed to keep the kids (aged 3 to 93) occupied and stave off any boredom! And once the final pieces are put together see how many famous landmarks can be spotted.

This is a special bespoke product we developed for EasyJet, which is now exclusively available to purchase onboard all their flights since April this year. It is featuring Hartwig's drawings of The London Eye and The Eiffel Tower.

'The string for the pearls' - Within busy and dense central London the Thames is a precious gap giving us a refreshing sense of airy space. The river, bending and meandering through the city, connects many of the iconic landmarks, which line its banks like pearls on a string." (Hartwig Braun)

The 2011 Serco Prize for Illustration is a competition by the London Transport Museum, in partnership with the Association of Illustrators.

This year, the competition's theme is the River Thames and entries had to feature the river as a central feature of London and London life. The illustration should draw attention to the benefits of the river.

This is Hartwig's entry for the competition, which has been shortlisted to appear in the exhibition at the London Transport Museum next month. The 3 award winning illustrations will be announced on Monday 9th May 2011 at the exhibition launch and private view evening.

The exhibition runs from the 10th of May until 3rd of June at the London Transport Museum in Covent Garden. We are both looking forward to seeing the exhibition and the rest of the shortlisted entries.