Mysi Ogonyok: animals from the secret garden not only for children
If you want to plunge into fantasy land, surround yourself with posters from Mysi Ogonek.
Agnieszka Kowalska
Mysi Ogonyok has long been a store of not only drawings, but also other beautiful things for children and parents.
This is a unique place that brings together artists and brands that produce toys and goods for children. The store is based on original illustrations, postcards, calendars, painted with soul and taking us to the nostalgic time of childhood memories. They are original, unique, drawn and colored by the artist Katarzyna Struzhinska Goraj, who creates a world as if taken from Beatrix Potter's secret garden. It is filled with animals: mice, foxes, squirrels, hedgehogs, badgers, deer, butterflies, birds; plants and flowers.
Posters by Katarzyna Struzhinska Goraj are available in the Mysi Ogonek brand
Children love this atmosphere. But not only children. This is evidenced by the history of the creation of the Mysi Ogonyok brand.
“It was 2017,” Karolina Viderkiewicz recalls. - I was browsing social networks and quite by accident I found a picture of Kasha. I fell in love with him at first sight. I love this unique line that touches and touches the senses. A quick consultation with my husband and a decision - we order 100 calendars from Kasia and try to sell them.
It turned out that Kasia permanently lives in London. But a spark immediately flared between them, and distance is not a big problem these days.
Between Lutomiersk and London
Karolina Wiederkiewicz, a philosopher by education, comes from Silesia, but five years ago love brought her to Lutomiersk, a picturesque village near Lodz. The current employer has agreed to continue working from home. – I sold telecommunications equipment. And although I was grateful to my company for this flexibility, it was not entirely my business, she recalls. Karolina Grzeydziak, a neighbor from Lutomiersk, helped her decide to start her own business. She had been thinking about a children's goods store for a long time. They became friends, and today Mysiy Ogonyok is led by three of them: Karolina, Kasia from London and Kasia from Lutomiersk.
The suggestion for children was a natural direction. “We had three pregnancies together,” laughs Carolina. Youngest son is 4 months old.
The girls wanted their children to grow up with aesthetic things and play with educational toys. That's why they stocked up in their store. Their motto is: "Surround yourself with beautiful things and good people."
The history of the creation of the name Mysi Ogonyok is also funny. – Our customers probably think that we are talking about a sleeping mouse with our logo. But that came later. Mouse Fire came from my braid because my husband called it the one on my head. When I asked him about the idea of a brand name, he had no doubt that if it should be mine, then it should be Mysi Ogonek, Karolina recalls.
Hand-painted posters
Posters are still their main product range. Today there are 120 of them on sale. Pigment printing makes them look like hand-painted. Calendars have been the most popular since the beginning. Customers are looking forward to them, and Mysi Ogonek makes their waiting even more pleasant, revealing the next stages of creating works - from a pencil sketch to a finished product. After a year, each drawing can be cut out, framed and hung on the wall like a poster. Animals from the works of Katarzyna Struzhinska Goraj also appear on other Mysi Ogonek products: stationery, gift cards, letters to Santa Claus, decorations for birthday cakes, coloring books, wrapping paper, pins. A gift hit is a set of six mini bird posters, with Christmas Reindeer dominating the tree and flowers on a black background in my rooms with a vintage aesthetic.
– Each package that leaves our studio is packed as a gift. We always give something in return, something elusive from ourselves, but creating a magical aura, emphasizes Karolina.
From a dedicated tab on their website, we can also download and print, for example, planners or lesson plans for free. This work was appreciated, in particular, by Eliza Kmita, Maya Sobchak and Zosya Kudny, who showed posters of Mysia Ogonyok in their social networks. Sales began to grow. Katarzyna Struzhinska's drawing style also appealed to Lara Gessler's Goray, who asked her to illustrate her book Nuts and Bones.
2021 year of nostalgia
This year Mysi Ogonek presented a new collection called "Nostalgia". More exotic here. There are ibises, birds of paradise, parrots, butterflies shimmering in different colors. They help us survive until summer. The plans include porcelain, decorated with their patterns. “We don’t follow fashion, trends, we rely on Kasha’s artistic intuition, because for an artist the main thing is what his heart tells him, and not what is fashionable,” explains Karolina.
Kasia often looks for interesting toys or educational games for them in London, which they then introduce into their store. They offer, among other things, beautiful numeracy puzzles, a garden treasure board game, cute Maileg mice, cute mice, Miffy hare lamps.
- Cape Ogonyok is our space, without a ridge. We are like sisters. Every year we try to go without children to Topach Castle near Wroclaw to relax and plan new things, says Karolina. “Our clients also give us a lot of energy. Your joy is our passion!
You can find more articles about beautiful items in the passion I decorate and embellish. A selection of the most interesting brands in the Design Zone from AvtoTachki.
Photo: Brand Mysi Ogonyok.
