The Little Cosmica Elina Mug Factory ☕✨

How on earth did mugs become part of my art?

Well, because mugs are lovely. 😊

They are small everyday objects that carry surprisingly many feelings.

Many people have a favourite mug that somehow makes their morning coffee taste a little better. The kind of mug you reach for even on a gloomy Monday morning, when the day is getting off to a slightly sluggish start.

And if there is a beautiful image smiling from the side of the mug, it might even bring a little smile to your face.

I think that is quite a wonderful task for art.

There is sometimes an idea that an artist shouldn’t focus on things that are “inessential”, or turn art into too much of a product.
But I suppose I am following my own path in this matter, too. 😄

For me, one of the most important things art can do is actually very simple: if my work brings someone even a moment of joy, beauty, wonder or a smile, then I have succeeded.

That’s why I don’t really think of the mug press as turning my art into products. I think of it more as giving my paintings a new life.

And, honestly, it is also incredibly fun to take one of my paintings, turn it into an image that works on a mug, adjust it, mirror it, print it, cut it out and finally watch it become a real everyday object through the pressing process. At that point, there is starting to be quite a little factory going on next to the artist’s desk. 😂

The little Cosmica Elina mug factory is still in its testing phase, though. We are finding out which paintings want to become mugs – and which ones immediately announce that they absolutely do not. 😄

Not every image works as a mug, and that is something I have had to learn through trial and error.

Some images need plenty of space and breathing room. Others seem as if they were practically born to wrap themselves around a mug.

And perhaps that is the nicest thing about mugs: art doesn’t have to stay on the wall. It can come along for morning coffee, sit on a desk, travel out into the garden, join you in a cosy corner of the sofa – or end up in a friend’s hands.

A little piece of art in the middle of an ordinary day.

If it makes someone smile, isn’t that a pretty good reason to make a mug? ❤️

A little announcement from the factory: the mugs are still in the testing phase.

I’ll share more when production really gets going – depending, of course, on how the factory manager gets the production line humming. 😂☕