Karmic Utopia with Nänni Pää

Meet Nänni Pää, a Glasgow-based illustrator and creative powerhouse whose work radiates colour, community, and an infectious belief in possibility. From painting live murals to running her collaborative art and upcycling space, The Woom Room, Nänni’s journey is as vibrant and uplifting as the art she creates. 

Which artists, past or present, have had the greatest influence on your work, and why?

I have so many! But I think I have to say Ursula Kim-Ling (aka. MissU Kam-Ling) because although I have a gaggle of online artistic crushes to choose from, this girl is a real life inspiration and good friend.

When I first started out as an illustrator I was riddled with self-doubt and wondering if this career path was even a possibility when I stumbled across a studio next to the Barras in Glasgow (Scotland) while visiting a friend's studio next door. When I peered through the huge window into this studio, all I saw were these two silly boys (@stilllifeworkshop) giggling and messing around and surrounded by beautiful illustrations and an assault of colour. Just looking into this space, I knew I needed to somehow move into this building and meet these people.

I messaged the guy who ran the space who said there was a desk in a studio available and to come in the following week. I turned up on the day and it turned out that it was in that exact studio. After yapping non-stop (covered in glitter from the previous night) to one of the boys, he said that I could move in and that was where we first met.

Ursula brings people up with her. She loves her community and working with kids but also she is a powerhouse. She included me in her plans and schemes and filled me full of self-belief. One of the first things she had planned was an event in the Assembly rooms in Edinburgh, where she had created a magical 3D land of her characters that you had to manoeuvre yourself through to get to the stunning ballrooms either side. One of which she had organised for me and a couple other illustrators to paint murals live, while bands like Fatherson and Babe played onstage next to us. She also included me in helping her paint her installation at the V&A in Dundee and countless other things. She made me feel like anything was possible and I will always be grateful.

Is there a particular book or author that has shaped your creative process or sparked new ideas?

Another tricky one as there are so many! But I want to pick the most accessible one, so I will say the Alchemist by Paulo Coelo. I think a core element of being an artist is actually fostering a strong sense of self-belief and this book really helped me cultivate this within me. The Alchemist is about a young goat herder who is full of hope and dreams, and essentially it kind of trains your mind to be in this reality where you believe that the universe will do everything to align you on the path you desire. The only thing holding you back is your belief in this, your drive and your clarity in what that is.

How does music influence your art? Are there any songs or genres you find particularly inspiring while creating?

I love so many genres of music but a running favourite of mine has to be Hiatus Kaiyote and Mitski. Hiatus Kaiyote to me feels like if someone pulled a silk hanky through each of your ears, it really blisses me out, which is really essential to getting into a good creative flow. I am obsessed with Mitski and her stage presence, lyrics and general persona. The way she moves on stage is ethereal and powerful, moving away from the commodification of feminine sexuality that we see in mainstream/contemporary music and culture. Although I also like this aesthetic and empowerment, there is something so special about going against the grain. I actually had a moment where her band was playing in the Barrowlands upstairs from my shop (@thewoomroom) in the Barras, Glasgow, and they came down and bought some of the jackets that I up-cycled. I have honestly never been happier.

Are there any films, TV shows, or documentaries that have deeply resonated with you or your artistic vision?

One film that I have always been hooked on is ‘Mood Indigo’ (L'écume des jours) directed by Michel Gondry. It came out in 2013 and is this beautiful, devastating and silly romance between Chloe (Audrey Tautou) and Colin (Romain Duris). The main reason for my obsession was the layers of interlinking stop motion animation. From the food they were cooking - wriggling and dancing on the table or trying to escape their grasp to the doorbell that would turn into almost a little beetle creature and run around Colin's apartment ringing until someone stomped on it. Also, at one point his shoes appeared to be autonomous beings and started running off and barking. I don’t want to give too many spoilers and there are so many ridiculous and gorgeously filmed parts to this movie so I will just say this - there’s something so delicious about watching a film that has such a high level of craft in so many technical areas but also demonstrates imagination, ingenuity, and silliness. It was really awe-inspiring to me and will forever be a favourite. I love a go-hard-or-go-home approach to projects and this film really hits for me in this way.

I saw a documentary once about Keith Haring and, just to paint you a picture, I was sitting watching this in my friend's ‘goth’ shop helping her run it while she worked her other jobs. It got to the part in the film where Haring opened a shop in NY with affordable tees, hoodies and prints etc and he had painted all the walls in hundreds of little figures creating an immersive experience for people to be in while they shop. In the film he was talking about how he just wanted to create art for the people and wasn’t interested in the idea of one group of rich elites having access to his work and only them and their group of equally rich pals could experience his work. His work was for the people and about the people and was mainly street art in high traffic areas. So as I was watching this film and on screen is a scene where they show Grace Jones covered head to toe in hand-painted Keith Haring illustrations (in preparation for shooting Vamp, the 1986 cult film in which she played Katrina, Queen of Vampires) in walks this dancer who I ended up chatting with called Divine Tasinda. We spoke in great length about the documentary - and after mentioning that I was inspired and would love to create my own print shop where we sold sustainably made, affordable prints from local artists and build a community - she said that if I did end up pursuing this dream that she would perform for the opening night and I should paint my designs on her body just like Haring. So in one month I did just that with the help of my friend Hannah Wright (owner of the goth shop). It’s called The Woom Room, I spelt it that way as I did not want it to be perceived as an exclusively feminist space (plus it’s more visually fun). I wanted to invoke the idea of creation within the womb but ensure that it was a creative community for all. So long story short, I have been running this shop and the creative events for the community affiliated with it on the side of my illustration career for the past five years, and have built a really beautiful collective curating local events in the process. We will be opening a central workshop at the start of next year to bring the public into the Glasgow art scene a bit more, and (hopefully) in a gentle and therapeutic way.

Do you look to other art forms - like photography, fashion or architecture - for inspiration? If so, how do they impact your work?

What springs to mind when you ask this question is the architecture of the Grecian Renaissance during the Roman Empire where they recycled a lot of Greek knowledge in the hopes to create a utopian environment for the human mind. They would build courtyards in ornate buildings, not too big - so that a mother could not call to her child - or too small so that everyone in the building could not meet for a banquet. The society was structured in this way that the richest families would be the ones investing in public works, like libraries to uplift the people and educate society. I think there's a lot about the valuation of art and artists, and also civil processes we can hope to emulate from this period of time and it has greatly impacted my thought process when it comes to making art. My understanding of that time was that they believed that living in beautifully crafted, community based environments made you feel closer to gods as you were living in heaven, and made you more motivated to pursue your life's purpose. So I always want to create work that uplifts people and makes them want to get out of bed in the morning. I would love to create this sort of heaven in a print to hang on your wall.

Have any specific brands or design movements inspired the aesthetics or concepts behind your art?

This is super hard to pinpoint because there are so many avenues to go down, but for me right now I recently read a book lent to me called ‘Cradle to Cradle’ and is a manifesto for manufacturing collectives  that centres on nurturing members physically and mentally. Examples of this are production lines and warehouses with trees and green spaces interspersed throughout, long communal lunch breaks, and working efficiently but only 4-6 hours a day. The thought being that you spend most of your time in your life working and why is that not also a beautiful environment. I love that they think about every aspect of sustainability, like building furniture in a Japanese tradition that has no permanent fixings so that when you disassemble it in the future it can become something else very easily and without damage to the raw material. From Birth to Rebirth. This is the sort of thing that gets recycled around my brain when I make design decisions. I try as much as I can to create things in a sustainable way and use sustainable packaging. I definitely need to create more utopian scenes and dreams of the collective future.

I have an idea for an exhibition called ‘Daylight Savings’ hopefully starting on the 21st of December that is about up-cycling objects from charity shops and giving them a new lease of life, but also a symbol of a positive future. The world is very bleak right now but my idea is to create a series of objects with illustrations (in collaboration with other Woom Room artists) with themes surrounding protection and love on them, to act as a representation of what world we could be living in and striving for. Upcycling is our future.

Is there a recurring theme or message in your work that’s driven by something you’ve read, watched, or experienced in popular culture?

I think that one of the books that has most impacted the way I approach projects is ‘Ruined by design’ by Mike Monteiro which speaks about how designers should have a version of the Hippocratic oath that states that they will not design anything to the detriment of humanity. Essentially everything you create people will be drawn to so you better make sure that you align yourself with people you believe in and brands you believe in. Steering humanity on a good trajectory is our collective responsibility but as designers/artists we hold way more power than we think we do. So I try as much as I can to make my art uplifting and towards a positive utopian direction.

How do trends in contemporary art or culture influence your style or the direction of your projects?

My characters and objects in my work are constantly evolving with my favourite fashion trends or ones I create of my own.

Are there any personal experiences or memories that consistently inspire the work you create today?

Ok, let me tell you a mad story from my life.Yes I am that delulu friend that just believes everything will work out and I know how annoying that is for everyone not on that train. Also, I know I am that white girl who tried to find herself in Asia. BUT when I was 24 I went to India with three friends who were all psychology graduates. They were very by the book, lonely planet guide, wanted to see monuments and things they had read about but for me this is such a dull way to experience life. I was younger and even more chaotic than I am now. A few days into the trip we were wandering around Mumbai at night along a road filled with street vendors every couple of metres. A very busy, colourful, intensely fragrant street, and I stopped dead in my tracks. My friends asked ‘what is it?’ and I was just peering down this really dark muddy alleyway off to one side. Something honestly felt like it was pulling me there. I tried and tried to convince them to go down this alleyway until finally I said “if you trust me this one time and it goes badly then you never have to trust me again”. To this they very reluctantly said a resigned ‘fine’ and I skipped down the dark dingy alleyway dragging them with me. And as we turned a corner it was as if Mumbai had erupted. All these little kids came out and were singing and dancing and held our hands and took us to this courtyard covered in Diwali lights and all these families came out of the flats surrounding. We were given food and drinks and saris were put on us and bindis. I have never been so warmly greeted in my entire life. I just remember my friend’s faces as they sat there in awe. So, fast forward to when we had taken a bus down to Goa and I had £5 in my account left and everyone was very stressed for me. But I knew in my gut that everything would work out and be fine. I am a well-versed hitchhiker, so I decided because I only had enough money for one night in a hostel and (potentially) a meal that I would try and hitch a ride. This did not go down well with my dear sensible friends but I stuck out my thumb and jumped on the back of this guy's motorbike and zoomed away.

This guy took me around the jungle on this beautiful drive, showed me stunning views and monkeys. I had the time of my life on this bike ride and ended up at the hostel a lot later than anticipated and of course my friends naturally were quite annoyed (don’t do that to your pals without staying in touch). Anyway, I walked up to the desk and the guy at reception said they were all out of beds which is so fine because it just so happened that there was a hostel down the street that had one for me. 

So I skipped over there and the first guy I spoke to who owned the hostel was opening one further north, and needed a 30 metre long mural painted and me being an illustrator and all I offered my services. He said he would give me some money, accommodation and food. IDEAL. So I frolicked back to my pals and told them that I was starting a job tomorrow, so sorry I wouldn’t be continuing with them on this journey, and wished them well. So the rest of this trip every time a job ended I would get another and another like it was breathing. Every time I needed something or someone they would appear - it was like magic.

My takeaway from this trip was if I can make it happen on the other side of the world why couldn’t I make it back at home. There is no problem too big, I just need to align myself with what I want and the universe will do everything it can to help me on my journey. Also treat people with warmth and openness because you never know where they are mentally. This trip also unlocked my obsession with Karma as a force of life and has influenced a lot of my work.

If you could collaborate with any artist, musician, or creative brand, who would it be and why?

Lazy oaf for sure.

I would love to create animations with Dominique Dumont for their song ‘Merry-go-round’ or any of their other blissful tracks.

Chappell Roan because she will always have a place in my heart for being a symbol of how glorious positive change is. Creating clothing, animations or illustrations in any form.

There are countless fashion brands I would love to collaborate with and definitely have a dream of creating a sustainably made collection that could be modelled on a catwalk one day.

I would love to work with the band JUNGLE and be their stylist and up-cycle pieces for them to perform in. I am in the process of setting up an upcycled clothing studio in the centre of Glasgow at the start of next year, so I am SO excited to see what we end up creating.

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