#66 Sailing with Nibling and Tooticky 2014
The third Moomin summer mug with a yellow and light blue background is called Sailing with Nibling and Tooticky. The mug with a limited availability was launched in spring 2014. The original illustration ceramic designer Tove Slotte picked from Tove and Lars Jansson’s comic #20 Moomin under Sail (1959). The script for the comic is made by Tove together with her brother Lars and the illustrations are all made by Tove Jansson herself.
#67 Skiing with Mr. Brisk 2014
Arabia started to produce winter and summer mugs in 2006. The first four winter mugs had a dark blue background and the next four had a background with white and light blue tones. Starting in 2014, for a few years, Arabia’s designer Tove Slotte decided to use a somewhat darker color, grey, in the mug designs.
Moomin mug Skiing with Mr. Brisk is designed by Tove Slotte based on the original illustrations by Tove Jansson. Even the smallest details on this wintry mug are from Jansson’s comic #5 Moomin’s Winter Follies (1955).
The mug was launched at the same time with the mini mugs and a bowl. Skiing with Mr. Brisk bowl was only the second bowl in the winter series, while the first summer bowl was produced as early as in 2006.
#68 Moominhouse 2015-
In honor of the 70th anniversary of the Moomins in the year 2015, Arabia launched a Moomin mug with a much-wanted decoration of a Moominhouse. Although the mug was launched to honor the jubilee year, it is still in Arabia’s production, at least for the time being.
Tove Slotte, a designer of Arabia’s Moomin products, made drafts for both two and three-storey houses in which numerous of Moominvalley’s characters have been added from various Moomin comic strips.
Slotte’s versions of Fillyjonk, Stinky, and Moominmamma are inspired by the drawings of Tove Jansson in the comic #13 Club Life in Moomin Valley (1957). Snufkin, Moomintroll, Moominpappa, and Sniff are based on Jansson’s original comic #18 Moomin and the Golden Tail (1958).
The model of Hemulen’s aunt is based on Tove Jansson’s illustration in comic #2 Moomin and Family Life (1955) and Little My on Jansson’s comic #10 Moominvalley Turns Jungle (1956).
“I also wanted to have the redhaired Salome the Little Creep into the mug because Tove Jansson herself often drew small unnamed toffles and whompers in her illustrations. I have drawn the mug’s Salome the Little Creep myself, trying to be faithful of the illustration in the book The Dangerous Journey”, mug designer Tove Slotte says and continues: “The illustrations of Mymble and Snorkmaiden in turn, are drawn by combining a variety of Jansson’s illustrations in her comics.”
Because Moominhouse has also a roof, Tove Slotte wanted to try the roof for the mug as well by making a paper roof just for fun. Moomin mug manufacturer Arabia was thrilled about the idea and you now get a decorative roof with every Moominhouse mug you buy!
Can you see any differences by comparing this sketch of the mug and the mug in production?
Read more about the designing process of the Moomin mug Moominhouse from our previous blog post:
Designing the Moominhouse mug
The Moominhouse mug was created to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Moomins and is now part of the permanent Moomin x Arabia range.
#69 Keep waters clean 2015
Keep waters clean Moomin mug was one of the exclusive products for the Swedish Keep Sweden Tidy / Håll Sverige Rent Foundation and their campaign to save the Baltic Sea. The mug Keep waters clean is also known as the HSR, referring to the name of the foundation, Håll Sverige Rent.
Nature and the sea were always close to Tove Jansson’s heart, and her love for nature is often reflected in the world of the Moomins. In the 70s, Tove and her brother Lars Jansson illustrated several Moomin posters exclusively for the Håll Sverige Rent foundation, for saving the Baltic Sea. The original artwork for the Keep waters clean Moomin mug is from one of these posters which Tove Slotte has adapted into a ceramic mug.
In 2015, the mugs were only on sale in Sweden and, exceptionally, in Finland exclusively in the Moomin Shops in Helsinki and in the moomin.com online store with the worldwide delivery. By purchasing the campaign products you contributed to the foundation’s work to spread the knowledge to school children and their parents about the environmental effects of littering.
Cover photo and original illustrations: Moomin Characters
Mug images: Fiskars
Even the smallest details of the Moomin mugs can be found in Jansson’s original artworks – the history of Moomin mugs by Arabia, part 15
The mug Moomintroll will be discontinued in December 2018!…