• Original Art: Original illustration from Cartoon Saloon’s Irish Folklore Trilogy series
• Era: 2008–2020
• Region: Ireland

Celtic mythology and breathtaking animation come to life in a first-of-its-kind stationery collection created in partnership with Irish animation studio Cartoon Saloon. The studio’s powerful stories and mesmerizing visuals have captured the hearts of young and old alike. With their striking original artwork and captivating scenes, the connection we feel with these emotive tales is undeniable.

Cartoon Saloon’s celebrated Irish Folklore Trilogy is a series that particularly resonates with us. Exploring universal themes and emotions, the Academy Award–nominated fairy tales take viewers through visually lush and immersive worlds.

Favouring the traditional craft of hand-drawn animation, the films’ swirling, intricate patterns of ancient Irish art breathe life into the stories they tell. This approach sets the studio’s work apart in the animation world, which has gone almost entirely digital. It’s these shared philosophies that made this collaboration feel like a natural step for us. We are thrilled to have Tomm Moore, who has directed several of the studio’s most successful films, contribute unique illustrated elements exclusively for our collaborative covers.

Reproduced here is artwork from Song of the Sea (2009). For the second installment in the Irish Folklore Trilogy, Moore wished to craft a modern fairy tale that borrowed characters and themes from the ancient tradition of the “seanachai” – traditional storytellers. The film draws on a number of Celtic mythologies and folk tales that are interwoven throughout the narrative.

The only film in the trilogy to be set in modern times, Song of the Sea’s main plot is inspired by mythological selkies of Irish folklore, who live as seals in the sea but become humans on land. It follows the story of a young Irish boy who discovers that his mute sister Saoirse, whom he blames for the apparent death of his mother, is a selkie who must free faerie creatures from the Celtic goddess Macha. Song of the Sea is a beautiful and timeless tribute to the tradition of Irish storytelling and the lessons that endure.