Happy Sleepy is Marc Ngui and Magda Wojtyra.
Marc and Magda chibi heads with Buddhist thangka inspired flowers. Drawings by Marc, colour by Magda.
Happy Sleepy is the name of the first stuffed toy that Magda made based on a creature Marc drew.
Dinner in a cold house, Savigny-sous-Faye, France 2008.
We are two Canadian artists/designers who both studied architecture at the University of Waterloo, and have been more or less Toronto based since then.
We have been together as a couple for 10 years, working from home studios on drawings and paintings, soft sculpture and toys, photos and digital art, installations and video, and comic books. Marc makes drawings for many of the websites Magda designs, and we often work together on various art projects.
From 2005 to 2009 we were travelling full time around the world, doing work from laptops. We spent time in Vancouver, Montreal, Central America, South East Asia, a year in the French countryside with side trips to Rome, Berlin and Amsterdam, and the last leg of travel was 4 months in south India and a month in Nepal. There are photos from our travels and projects on Flickr. It was inspiring. The long term travel gave us freedom to explore in depth ideas and models of human consciousness and evolution, as well as ply ourselves with all kinds of delicious and colourful cultural and natural splendour.
Marc Ngui and Magda Wojtyra, aka Happy Sleepy, at the Moonlight Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal 2009.
Back in Toronto since the summer of 2009, our current projects include a graphic novel, stuffed animals, paintings, leather earrings, and a website and identity for an art and science fair to be held at the Harbourfront Gallery in Toronto in May 2010.
We are especially interested in living with sustainable luxury and closely with the natural world.
About Marc Ngui
Marc in a silk scarf from Hong Kong and a bespoke suit from Kathmandu. Toronto 2009.
Marc was born in Georgetown, Guyana, and grew up in Windsor, Ontario. He believes DIY is the way to go and has been making zines since 1989. He divides his energey equally between his inkwell and his digital drawing tablet.
Recent projects include illustrating a children’s book about public space and urbanism titled Watch This Space to be put out by Kids Can Press in the spring of 2010; an interpretation of Timothy Leary’s Eight Circuit Model of Human Consciousness as a “totem pole” Flash animation called Totem Pill; and an oversized book-painting called Rotate Thought Objects: I’m Ready for My Chip.
These days Marc is busy cranking out his most recent graphic novel, a magnum opus called Cat Nap.
To see a truly heroic variety of drawing styles, go check out Marc’s drawings on his website, Bumblenut Pictures.
About Magda Wojtyra
Excellent bed head on a 7 month old haircut. France 2008.
Magda was born in Kalisz, Poland, and moved to Toronto, Canada when she was 9 and Poland was still communist. Her art is focused on color in a major way and includes handmade soft art, photography, digital art, and painting.
Under the name of RNA Studio Magda designs websites and visual identities for educational, research, and small business clients. Most noteworthy (read: most fun) of these are the zany websites for biochemistry research labs at the University of Toronto.
These days the laptop sits right beside the sewing machine, which makes it very convenient to divide the time between turning out a storm of Happy Sleepies and then putting them into the new Etsy shop.
The most recent obsessions are the world of hand embroidery and the world of custom Wordpress themes.
About Happy Sleepies
Happy Sleepies are soft, abstract animal toys sewn from an original pattern by Magda based on Marc’s drawing of topsy-turvy creatures named Jig and Limp that act as a museum giftshop guides in the graphic novel Enter Avariz. They are so named because held one way they look like they have smiling closed eyes, and when turned upside down their eyes look sealed with sleep.
The first Happy Sleepy made in 2005. Well, that's Sleepy on the left and Happy on the right, and really they are one. The pattern has been perfected over the years, and the myth has grown in depth and detail.
Happy Sleepies are enlightened beings because they always remember their freedom to choose how to be. They can zoom around in excited high energy or dream in restful slumber or choose to feel anything in between whenever they want.
In the Land of Happy Sleepy all art tastes delicious, looks fascinating and sounds melodious. All our items are original works of art, and most are unique and one of a kind. And all stitching is straight and neat!
We make things according to rules of luxury and efficiency, shunning waste. For example, the fabrics we use are very high quality, often 100% silk brocade or wool and yet usually come from mill end rolls, or industry cut offs. Our designs are sometimes the result of piecing together scraps from our own work – nothing is wasted and the result is unique. Equally, packaging for shipping is often hand decorated, repurposed material.
Right now the best place to see a bunch of these guys is the Happy Sleepy Art and Toys Shop on Etsy.
Pyramid of Crafty Love: group photo on product photography day. It's great to have these piles of soft happy things around!