Klara Graah’s illustrations are full of funny quips and childlike charm

Some illustrators are just destined to illustrate children’s books, and Klara Graah is one of them. Whether she’s portraying a horse getting its ‘nails’ done, a plant being watered, or a pup-filled poster asking ‘who let the dogs out?’, you know it will be done with a childlike charm, and a sense of humour that tickles kids and adults alike. This gravitation toward naive visuals comes from Klara’s personal tastes, having always been attracted “to things that are made for or by children”, she says. A big fan Tove Jansson, Richard Scarry and Genichiro Yagyu’s contributions to the world of children’s literature, Klara is currently obsessed with Gunilla Bergström’s series about the boy Alfons Åberg (Alfie Atkins in the English version), and how she zooms in on life’s “cosiest” attributes.

This technique of boiling visual worlds down to their essentials is something Klara applies in her practice too. Always having been drawn to everyday items and scenes, Klara’s will often begin her pieces with the most simple of prompts: a flower in a vase, a poem, a single word or an abstract shape. This has resulted in a portfolio comforting in its reproduction of recognisable images – but not without its quirky moments.