Les Papillons de Victor
To celebrate our second anniversary, last Thursday, 8 December 2011 Tulisan launched its first publication of Collector’s Edition story book “Les Papillons de Victor” – written by a French author Virginie Kasse and illustrated by our founder Melissa Sunjaya. Les Papillons de Victor – or “The Butterflies of Victor” – shares a simple story about being happy and giving unconditional love to every living being that surrounds you. The book is available in three languages and limited to 500 first copies for each version.
Project “Les Papillons de Victor” started a year ago when Virginie first met Melissa in a private holiday bazaar for the French community in Jakarta. Virginie started sharing her story of Victor – a character inspired by her son who one day came home saying that he felt as if there were butterflies in her stomach caused by a girl he really liked. Melissa felt an instant chemistry with the story that fit perfectly with the ‘Love’ theme of all Tulisan’s illustrated edition in 2011.
An excerpt from the original French version:
“Ces papillons n’attendent
qu’un signe de ta
part pour se réveiller
et reprendre
des couleurs :
jaune, rouge, bleu,
rose, vert, mauve…
et faire vibrer ton coeur
des merveilleuses teintes
du bonheur.An excerpt from the Indonesian version:
“Jika kamu melihat Victor,
kamu pasti langsung mengenalinya.
Ada lesung pipit di pipi kirinya,
yang akan terlihat saat ia tersenyum. Lesung pipit itu selalu
tampak di wajahnya.”An excerpt from the English version:
“Look carefully
inside yourself,
you will discover
hidden butterflies sleeping
in every corner of your heart.”
From Virginie’s words, Melissa started working on looking for different visual elements and references that could strengthen the idea of the story. This preliminary work brought Melissa to three interesting facts founded in three different cultures that helped built the concept of illustrations and breathed life to the story:
1. Aristotle gave the ancient Greek name ‘psyche’ for butterfly, which means soul. In many other European cultures, a butterfly is a symbol depicting metamorphosis of soul from one insignificant state into a majestic being.
2. The Chinese believes that two butterflies flying together is a symbol of love. As the story evolved the butterfly drawings are simplified the symbol of a heart shape.
3. The ancient Hindi acknowledges the existence of a specific energy field located near the human heart, called the Anahata Chakra. The energy is created and brings vitality whenever there is a transfer of unconditional love from one being to another. This chakra symbolizes love, empathy, selflessness and devotion. The seven colors of chakra are the only colors she used throughout this book.
Since January 2011, Melissa had been carrying Virginie’s original manuscript for “Les Papillons de Victor” in between the pages of her Moleskine. The story’s main character, Victor, had followed her wherever she went. The original pen & ink sketches of this project had travelled from a cafe in Bali to her art studio and favorite restaurant in Jakarta, inside a plane to Frankfurt and through an Airport lounge, and all the way to several unique places during her travel last spring through the old cities of Vevey, Montreux, Antibes, Nice, Monaco, and Menton. Finally after many sleepless nights, these sketches are carefully woven into a simple story about Victor who is always smiling and continuously giving unconditional love to his surroundings.
Along with the book, Melissa also created six master illustrated editions of “Les Papillons de Victor” as the Designer’s Edition Giclée Impression – a museum quality art print reproduction method using the highest technology of digital printing and fade resistant, archival inks which have a light fastness rating up to 200 years.
Version Titles:
“Les Papillons de Victor” (Original Version)
Écrit par Virginie Kasse + Illustré par Melissa Sunjaya
“Kupu-Kupu Victor”
Cerita oleh Virginie Kasse + Illustrasi oleh Melissa Sunjaya
Terjemahan oleh:
Melissa Sunjaya, Myra Bianda, Rassi Narika.
“The Butterflies of Victor”
Written by Virginie Kasse + Illustrated by Melissa Sunjaya
Translation by:
Melissa Sunjaya, Myra Bianda, Rassi Narika.
Sold exclusively at
www.tulisan.com/blog
and at Tulisan Shop: Darmawangsa Square City Walk, Darmawangsa VI, Jakarta 12160. Phone: 021 – 72780235
