Naissaar

In 1994, news was circulating in the architecture circles in Estonia, that a delegation of Japanese businessmen were on their way to visit the newly independent Republic of Estonia seeking new business and investment opportunities.

Using a Canon NP-3225 copy machine, the artist and designer Tõnis Vint put together a booklet of simple black and white prints on bright colored paper to attract interest in potential investors for what, at that time, had already been a five-year obsession about a fantastic special economic zone in the former closed military zone on the island of Naissaar (Estonian for Woman’s island).

In traditional Japanese binding, he presented a wide scope of his work and references from others, most of them re-drawn in classic oriental dotted technique, ranging from Yakov Chernikhov inspired constructivist megastructures appropriated with Estonian flags to studies on traditional craftsmanship and comparisons of Japan and Estonia to mappings of Feng-Shui axis and energy flows.

In addition he provided an overview of the contemporary architects of Estonia—many of which had just opened up their own first offices in the new and exciting free market economy.