Dream café

With hundreds of thousands sold each year, the Flax advent calendar is a dearly held tradition in Norwegian homes. 

Continuing in last year’s direction, the task at hand was to depict a modern Norwegian Christmas. Everyday and relatable, but still magical. Removed from the nisser and log cabins of past years without losing its position as the “original” or diminishing its broad appeal.

“The cold, blue outdoors, and the warm, bright indoors” serves as the central visual concept. From the Yuletide rush outside, our gaze is drawn to a couple sitting peacefully with their coffee by the café window — reminding us to both make time for and cherish the small moments in life.

Inspired by Trondheim’s independent Café le Frère, where my partner and I had our first date, I took the liberty of painting us in as the couple in the window. While the café’s name — Café De Rêve: Dream Café — was chosen through an internal naming competition at Norsk Tipping, referencing their “give the dream a chance”-tagline.

In addition to the physical calendar and its in-app counterpart, in the time up through december it could seen on large-scale adshels and at retailers nationwide. The illustration was also brought to life in a live-action commercial produced by TRY and Motion Blur, for TV and social media.

The personal and local inspiration behind the motif garnered both approval from my mother-in-law and media attention, including an interview with Addressavisen featuring the café’s owner and me.