Interview With New BH Member Cricicis Design

By Leah of cricicis design

- Tell us a bit about yourself.

My name is Leah Ammerman, and my business is cricicis design (pronounced CRICK-a-sis.)
I produce illustration and paper-goods out of Boston, specializing in note cards, boxes, hand-bound journals, and custom bookplates. These items feature clean, bright illustrations which are drawn by hand or digitally in Illustrator. My work is generally minimal, with a big attention to detail.

- What is your background?

I graduated from Massachusetts College of Art with a bfa in graphic design. Since then I’ve been trying to learn how to bind books, and print with a letterpress.
I also work for a small event design and invitation business in Chestnut Hill, where I manage projects, take a lot of pictures, and make a lot of illustrations.

- Apart from creating things, what do you do?

I have really gotten interested in hiking and backpacking over the past two years. I have recently hiked in the Great Smoky Mountains, Shenandoah National Park, the White Mountains, and a few places in-between.

I really enjoy going out to listen to my friends' bands play.

I've been trying to take more film pictures, but I'm pretty sure the roll in my Canon has been in there for years at this point.

I love learning about food. Last summer my boyfriend took me on a trip to a neat organic farm in Sudbury where we helped out and picked beans. I would love to spend more time learning how to grow food.

- What is the first thing you can remember making by hand? How and why did you make it?

I spent a ton of time drawing on paper when I was growing up. The name cricicis actually comes from a drawing I made when I was about four. The drawing is of my backyard and the surrounding woods. At the top I tried to write “I like to listen to the crickets” but I couldn’t spell well. The above pronunciation is my best interpretation of the word cricicis, which was how I spelled 'cricket'.
- About your artistic process:

My creative process starts with naturally having lots of paper laying around everywhere I look. Many of my illustrations are of actual objects you might find in my workspace, like cats and airport chairs. A lot of my note card, bookplate and notebook illustrations are often leftover sketches from other jobs that I couldn’t bear to toss. I’m glad that sometimes other people also find them charming enough to want to stick them in all their books, or carry them around in their pocket in the form of a notebook.
- What's your favorite color?
Red is my favorite.
- What are your favorite materials?

Micron pens, especially red ones.
- Are there other mediums you’re not working in that interest you?

I would love to have more practice with etching, and letterpress. I also really enjoy drawing with oil pastels- I really should pull them out more often.
- How do you promote your work?

Mostly I hope that good customers will come back for more. I make business cards, which are actually little envelopes filled with stickers, to pass out. I tend to stick mostly to flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/cricicis) for posting photos of what I'm working on.

- Read any good books lately?

Let The Great World Spin by Colum McCann