Maurice Vellekoops’ Graphic Memoir Debuts

Maurice Vellekoop’s Graphic Memoir debuts

We couldn’t be prouder of Scent Lodge illustrator Maurice Vellekoop. He’s just published a gorgeous and very honest graphic memoir that chronicles his remarkable life and career. The Canadian artist, who lives in a charming cottage on Toronto’s Islands, has worked for Vogue, Elle, Rolling Stone, GQ, the New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar and Wall Street Journal among others. He has the rare talent to bring alive characters in his illustrations with washes of vibrant colour. (His technique and use of colour was inspired by Disney’s 1940 film Fantasia.”

“I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together is that rarest of things: a book about coming out to a loving yet conservative family that is as heartwarming to read as it is to look at,” writes CNN’s Anderson Cooper. “It’s an incredibly moving, funny and ultimately triumphant account (spoiler alert) of what can only be described as a magical fairy tale.”

Maurice became fashion’s “It” illustrator in 1994 when American Vogue editor Anna Wintour sent him to Paris to sketch the autumn couture collections. With fashion editor Kathryn Betts guiding him from salon to salon, Vellekoop took in the spectacle of designers, supermodels, celebrities and high powered clients. His resulting illustrations ran as a comic in the magazine to great fanfare.

A graduate of Ontario College of Art and Design, Maurice chose felt pens and watercolours as his mediums and gained immediate acclaim for his work signing with Toronto’s REACTOR Art & Design Studio. Scent Lodge was honoured when he agreed to create art for the site depicting a glamorous, fun and aspirational Canadian world of fragrance and fashion. You’ll notice there is always a sly nod to Canadian customs and eccentricities in each drawing. His new memoir is now available on Amazon and in bookstores across the country. We wish him great success with the book (which took him ten years to complete.)

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