The colorful illustrations and joy radiating from Badger & Burke's collection drew me in immediately. Jamie and Holton have a magical sense of design that draws from their particular sense of playfulness, humor, and color.
Holton answered some questions about their brand for TMDCo.
Arielle: How long have you been illustrating and creating art? Do you have an art background?
Holton: Jamie and I have both been creating art basically for as long as we’ve been able to. We went to high school together and spent as much time as possible in the art room. After high school we were accepted to study at Emily Carr University to pursue the visual arts.
Arielle: When did you start your business? How did you get started?
H: We had the idea of creating a stationery brand as far back as 2014. The name came together first (Badger is a synonym for Brock - my last name, Burke being a family name of Jamie’s). Finding the time to build a brand was a whole other story, so it wasn’t until the beginning of 2017 that we ran away from Vancouver and traveled for a few months before settling in a small apartment in Bangkok, where we spent six months drawing, cutting up paper, and creating our very first collection of greeting cards. We came back home at the end of the year and launched our brand, and it’s been all Badger & Burke for us since!
A: How can I tell if I’m looking at a Jamie illustration or a Holton illustration, or is there an equal part of both in most pieces?
H: Some of our designs are completely 50/50 between the two of us, and for other designs one of us might do the cut outs and illustrations and the other will figure out the colours and text. We’re definitely very collaborative when we’re working and fleshing out ideas. Jamie definitely has more of a hand in all animal designs (especially Snitty Kitty), and floral patterns are from me.
A: What inspires your designs?
H: We’re heavily inspired by mid-century graphic design and illustration, we find it so endlessly beautiful. The use of colour and cut-outs from the era definitely had a huge influence on what has become the look of Badger & Burke. We’re also inspired by music, our silly dog, Matisse, tropical fruits, and our incredibly lame sense of humour!
A: What color are you really into right now?
H: Very into soft purples! We tend to use a somewhat limited palette when choosing background colours for our cards, but we just introduced this dreamy purple and we’re excited to use it in future designs!
A: What’s a dream project you’d love to create?
H: A really colourful, illustration-focused children's book!
Holton Brock and Jaime Armstrong are the illustrators behind the brand Badger & Burke, a Vancouver based brand.