(Curious about how these drawing are made? Check out our first project update for time lapse animations.)

(Many people are asking how to indicate which poster they want. After the project is finished, we'll send a form to you that will record your request. Did you know you can get multiples of each poster and ship them separately as gifts? For each additional poster, add $25 to your initial pledge. Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about this process.)

Backers will help fund a series of large-format illustrations of different marketplaces from around the world.

We love open air marketplaces because they mix economic and social transactions between people with a variety of purposes: business, leisure, tourism, and daily shopping. At the heart of every market is the energy of entrepreneurship. Vendors use makeshift tools and ingenious techniques to move their goods efficiently, while customers haggle with expert price negotiators to determine true market price. Many of these markets have been in operation for decades and directly reflect the cultural spirit of their locale.

As designers, we are interested in the way that all the minute details of an environment add up to create a rich and lively atmosphere. We wanted to produce a series of drawings that would represent this, and invite others in as observers.

Each drawing takes Jingyao about a month to produce, from initial research to the painstaking creation of the final illustration. Because of the time involved, we are releasing the posters in stages, grouped geographically. The first three, just in time for the holidays, are Raohe Night Market in Taipei, Taiwan; Muara Kuin Floating Market in Indonesia; and the Tsukiji Fish Market in Tokyo, Japan. As a backer, you’ll also be able to vote on what you’d like us to make next.

This project is a collaboration between illustrator Jingyao Guo and small batch design brand ODLCO. The posters are nearing completion and will go to print shortly after the Kickstarter pledging period ends.





The Markets

Raohe Night Market, Taipei, Taiwan

Raohe Night Market, detail.

Raohe Night Market

Taiwanese Night Markets are renowned for the variety and creativity of their street snacks, or “xiao chi.” They open in the early evening and close around midnight. Raohe Market is one of the oldest street markets in Taipei, Taiwan. You’ll find many families and groups of friends relaxing at the market, but it’s also not uncommon to see businessmen in suits sitting on a plastic stool, grabbing a quick meal on their way home from the office. Market stalls sell traditional dishes like Stinky Tofu, and newer inventions like Big Dog Wrap Little Dog (a sticky rice sausage wrapped around a chinese pork sausage and topped with a bunch of chinese pickles). The Night Markets embody the Chinese idea of “renao,” which directly translates to “hot noisy,” but more or less means prosperous, populous, and fun.

Muara Kuin Floating Market, Indonesia

Study models for the floating market.

Muara Kuin Floating Market

The Muara Kuin Floating Market is located in the city of Banjarmasin (River City), in the Indonesian province of South Kalimantan. The market functions primarily as a wholesale agricultural market. The boats, known as “jukung”, are manned by women wearing shaded bamboo hats. Sellers group together by type of product, and sell their goods to locals, commonly through barter, who then resell goods in villages down smaller riverways. In one area of the market, cafe boats congregate to sell breakfast to passing boats. The owner of the cafe boat ties patrons’ boats to his own and passes dishes using a hooked stick. After settling the check, he unties their boat and sends them on their way.

Tsukiji Fish Market, Tokyo, Japan

Tsukiji Fish Market, detail.

Tsukiji Fish Market

Tsukiji Market is the largest fish market in the world, most famous for the wholesale tuna auction that happens in a restricted back area. Frozen tuna and swordfish are cut with large bandsaws by expert fishmongers. The wholesale area is the most popular destination where stalls sell more than 400 kinds of seafood, from everyday staples like seaweed to exotic pufferfish. The market, which has been in this location since 1935, will be moved to a new modern facility in 2014. It opens at 3am every morning and closes at 1pm to be hosed down and cleaned.

About the Rewards

For a donation of $10, you will receive a set of 5 coloring pages. Scenes from the markets will be illustrated in black and white for you to print and color as many times as you’d like. Rewards will be emailed in a PDF for easy printing on 8.5”x11” paper.

Sample coloring page from the Tokyo fish market.

At the $25 and $70 reward levels, you will receive one or all three prints. These posters are 20”x32” and are four-color process offset prints, coated for durability. The print looks great in a standard poster frame. Each print will come wrapped with a key that points out the important features of the market. You will also receive the set of market scene coloring pages with both of these rewards.

The 20"x32" poster is shown here in a standard 22"x34" poster frame.

Special Rewards

A $175 pledge reserves one, 25”x40”, extra large print of your choice, printed at a local fine art printshop with archival pigments on a heavy matte paper. The combination of paper and ink really make the colors pop off the page. You will also receive the set of market scene coloring pages with this reward.

For the $500 reward level, you will receive a custom, 8”x10” portrait by Jingyao, drawn in ink on watercolor paper from a photograph you provide. In addition, you will receive the complete set of 3 posters as well as the coloring pages.

Ink studies by Jingyao.