Asko Künnap (born 6 September 1971) is an Estonian designer, writer, and artist.

Education

Asko Künnap attende
Miina Härma Gymnasium
(1978–1989) and the Tartu Children’s Art School (1980–1984). He graduated from th
Estonian Academy of Arts
in product- and graphic design (1989–1995), and studied interior architecture at th
Oslo National Academy of the Arts
(1991–1992).

Career

Künnap has worked as a freelance illustrator and designer (1992–1994) as well as creative director at the advertising agencies ZOOM Ogilvy (1994–2003) an
Rakett
(2003–2014). He has received numerous nominations and prizes in competitions including the Effie Awards and the Estonian Golden Egg Competition.

Works

Design

Künnap has designed logos and corporate identities for customers including the Republic of Estonia and all its national ministries (2013); the Estonian national parks of Lahemaa, Matsalu, Vilsandi, Soomaa, and Karula (2014); the online news portal Delfi (1999); the Estonian Literature Information Center (2002); th
ABCD Baltic Defense Conference
(2010)
the National Library of Estonia
(2016)
Tallinn Science Park Tehnopol
(2010)
Hendrikson & Ko
(2015); and others. He has designed album covers fo
Dagö
Lauri Saatpalu,

Tõnis Mägi Tõnis Mägi (born 18 November 1948 in Tallinn) is an Estonian singer, guitarist, composer and actor. He is one of the most influential and remarkable names in Estonian rock music of the past 40 years. More recently, he is known for his polit ...

Villu Veski

Rein Rannap Rein Rannap (born 6 October 1953 in Tallinn) is an Estonian composer and pianist. Since 1968, Rannap has given numerous public piano performances. Rannap has been active in management and composition for Ruja, Noor-Eesti and Hõim. Pianist c ...

, The Johansons,

Jaan Tätte Jaan Tätte (born 24 March 1964 in Viljandi) is an Estonian playwright, poet, actor, and singer. Biography From 1982 to 1984 Tätte studied biology at the University of Tartu. From 1985 to 1986 he attended a graduate program at the Tallinn Pedag ...

Tiit Kikas
Jäääär, JääBoiler, InBoil, Siim Aimla, Eepiline Eesti Orkester, Svjatra Vatra
Liisi Koikson
Sven Grünberg,

Urmas Alender Urmas Alender (22 November 1953 – 28 September 1994) was an Estonian singer and musician, the vocalist of popular Estonian bands Ruja and Propeller. Born in Tallinn, Estonia, Alender began his musical career in the rock band Shades in 196 ...

Ruja Ruja was one of the foremost Estonian rock bands of the 1970s and 1980s. The name of the band comes from a neologism "ruja", for science fiction, though there are people who believe that "ruja" is actually made up of the first letters of the b ...

, Bonzo, Kõrsikud,

Aapo Ilves Aapo Ilves ( vro, Ilvese Aapo; born 20 October 1970, in Räpina) is an Estonian poet, writer, playwright, artist and musician. He writes in Estonian, Võro and Seto languages. Ilves has also written song lyrics for other artists, including sev ...

, Tõnu Timm and

Jaanus Nõgisto Jaanus Nõgisto (born 21 January 1956 in Tallinn) is an Estonian director, producer, composer and guitarist. Since 1982, he worked at Eesti Televisioon as the director of music and entertainment programs. In 2000, he created his own production com ...

, Concerto Contore, Pantokraator, Dynamite Vikings, and others. In collaboration with Estonian writer and musician

Jan Kaus Jan Kaus (born 22 January 1971) is an Estonian writer. Life and work Jan Kaus was born in Aegviidu and studied education and philosophy in Tallinn. In 1995, he took his teacher's examination. Kaus currently works as poetry and prose write ...

, Künnap developed the concepts for Estonia’s booths at the 2007 Gothenburg Book Fair and the 2011 Helsinki Book Fair. He has also designed theater sets wit
Iir Hermeliin
and Heigo Ervin Seppel. Künnap has designed and illustrated books for a wide range of publishers in Estonia (Tänapäev, Pegasus
Näo Kirik
Kite, Verb, Maarjamaa, Mustvalge, GO
Tallinn University Press
Kultuurileht, etc.), Finland
Arktinen Banaani
Robustos, an
Savukeidas
), as well as for the Firenze Contemporary Jewellery School Alchimia, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and others. He has received close to a dozen prizes in the annual Best-Looking Estonian Book Awards and was awarded the Prize for Best-Looking Baltic Book at the Riga Book Fair. He is a member of the Estonian Graphic Designers’ Association. Asko-Kynnap-WP-004

Literature

Künnap has written, designed, and published poetry: ''Pimeduse vastu'' (''Against the Darkness'', 1999); ''Kokkusattumuste kaitseks'' (''In Defence of Coincidences'', 2000); ''Ja sisalikud vastasid'' (''And the Lizards Replied'', 2003); ''Kõige ilusam sõda'' (''The Most Beautiful War'', 2004); ''Su ööd on loetud'' (''Your Nights Are Numbered'', 2008); ''Mardikate määraja'' (''A Field Guide to Beetles'', 2011) and ''Mälestused'' (''Memoirs'', 2011). His poetry has also appeared in joint collections with Estonian poets

Karl Martin Sinijärv Karl Martin Sinijärv (born 4 June 1971) is an Estonian journalist and poet. Sinijärv was born in Tallinn. By 2011, he had published 8 poetry books and a cookbook. His poetry has been characterized as etnofuturist, bringing estrangement of lan ...

Jürgen Rooste Jürgen Rooste (born in 1979 in Tallinn) is an Estonian poet. He has been graduated from Tallinn Pedagogical University in Estonian language speciality. Awards: * 1999: Betti Alver Elisabet "Betti" Alver ( in Jõgeva – 19 June 1989 in Tar ...

, Triin Soomets,

Maarja Kangro Maarja Kangro (born 20 December 1973 in Tallinn) is an Estonian poet, short story writer, novelist, essayist, nonfiction writer and librettist. Life She is the daughter of composer Raimo Kangro and author Leelo Tungal. She studied English at the ...

, and

Elo Viiding Elo Viiding (pen name, Elo Vee; born 20 March 1974) is an Estonian poet and prose writer. Family Viiding is the third poet in her family. Her father, Juhan Viiding was a famous and influential poet in the 1970s. He was also an actor. Her patern ...

. Künnap received the

Cultural Endowment of Estonia Cultural Endowment of Estonia ( et, Eesti Kultuurkapital, abbreviated ''Kulka'' or ''KULKA''; also translated as ''Estonian Cultural Capital'') is an Estonian foundation which supports activities related to Estonian culture. The foundation was es ...

's Annual Prize for Poetry in 2003, the Estonian National Culture Fund’s Debut Prize in 2003, and the ''

Looming ''Looming'' is a term found in the study of perception, as it relates directly to psychology. Looming occurs when an object begins moving closer to the eye. As the resulting image becomes increasingly larger on the perceiver's retina, i.e., when ...

'' Literary Magazine’s Annual Prize in 2016. He is a member of the

Estonian Writers' Union The Estonian Writers Union (Eesti Kirjanike Liit, abbreviated EKL), is a professional association of Estonian writers and literary critics.Marje Jõeste, Küllo Arjakas, ''The Baltic States'', Estonian Encyclopaedia Publishers, 1991, page 64 Hist ...

and the Estonian

PEN Club PEN International (known as International PEN until 2010) is a worldwide association of writers, founded in London in 1921 to promote friendship and intellectual co-operation among writers everywhere. The association has autonomous Internationa ...

. Künnap’s poetry has been translated into and published in English, German, French, Italian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Serbian, Romanian, Arabic, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, and Finnish. Examples include ''A Fine Line – New Poetry from Eastern & Central Europe'' (Arc Publications, UK 2004), ''Tra ansia e finitude – La Nuova Europa dei poeti'' (Istituto Italiano di Cultura di Budapest, HU/IT 2005), and ''New European Poets'' (Graywolf Press, US 2008). Hannu Oittinen received the 2015 Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Prize for Translated Literature for his translation of Künnap’s ''Su ööd on loetud'' into Finnish – ''Yösi ovat luetut'' (Nidottu, 2015). Künnap has performed at a multitude of literary and music festivals, including the Edinburgh Festival (UK), the

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Rac ...

(UK), the

Ledbury Poetry Festival Founded in 1996 by a group of local poetry enthusiasts, the Ledbury Poetry Festival is now the biggest poetry festival in the UK. History The first Ledbury Poetry Festival was held in 1997 in Ledbury, Herefordshire. It was opened by jazz singer ...

(UK), the

Young Euro Classic Young Euro Classic is an international music festival for youth orchestras. Established in Berlin, Germany in 2000, it is one of the world's most important international platforms for young musicians in the Western classical music tradition. Eve ...

(Berlin), Transpoesie (Brussels), Medana (SI), Vilenica (Ljubljana, SI), Baltoscandal (EE), HeadRead (EE), Prima Vista (EE), Jazzkaar (EE), and elsewhere. He has participated in poetry tournaments in the US, the UK, Germany, and Finland; and has performed at the Gothenburg, Helsinki, Turku, and London book fairs. Künnap’s publishing hous
Näo Kirik
primarily prints contemporary Estonian poetry, including works by authors

Hasso Krull Hasso Krull (born 1964 in Tallinn) is an Estonian poet, literary and cultural critic, and translator. Krull's main points of focus in his work have been postmodernism and post-structuralism. His topics include history, philosophy, literature, a ...

, Karl Martin Sinijärv, Jürgen Rooste, Elo Viiding, Triin Soomets, Jan Kaus,

Vahur Afanasjev Vahur Afanasjev (born Vahur Laanoja; 24 August 1979 – 10 May 2021) was an Estonian novelist, poet, musician and film director best known for his novel ''Serafima and Bogdan'' a story following the lives in a village of Russian Orthodox Old Be ...

, Veronika Kivisilla, Kaur Riismaa,

Kristiina Ehin Kristiina Ehin (born 18 July 1977) is an Estonia, Estonian poet, translator, singer and songwriter. Ehin studied at University of Tartu with a degree in philology and specializes in folklore. In 2004, she acquired master's degree in the Estonia ...

, Maarja Kangro, Lauri Saatpalu, Hannu Oittinen, and Liina Tammiste. Künnap has written reviews on film, literature, and art for newspapers and cultural magazines. He has translated poetry into Estonian from English, German, and Finnish, and was nominated for the Cultural Endowment of Estonia’s Annual Prize for Translated Literature in 2012. Asko-Kynnap-WP-008

Visual Art

Künnap has done works of photography, video, oil painting, silk printing, pencil drawing, digital graphic art, and digital collage. His art has been displayed in the solo exhibitions “''Pimeduse vastu''” (“Against the Darkness”; Tartu, Tallinn; 1998); “''Kokkusattumuste kaitseks”'' (“In Defence of Coincidences; Tallinn, Pärnu, EE; 1999); “''Seni parimad”'' (“The Best So Far”; Riga, LV; 2000); “''Sõnade ja sõnumite testimine''” (“Testing Words and Messages”; Visby, SE; 2005); and “''Su ööd on loetud''” (“Your Nights are Numbered”; Tallinn, Tartu, EE; 2008). Asko-Kynnap-WP-010

Board games

Throug
Revaler
Publishing and in collaboration with Priit Isok, Künnap has designed and released the board games ''Saaremaa'', ''Farlander'', ''Levi'', ''Metsa Peremees'', ''Surres kõige rohkem asju'', ''Lotte lauamäng'' (with Heikki Ernits), ''Kalale'',
Ussisõnad
' (with Julia Maria Künnap), ''Danse Macabre'', and ''Libahundid''. ''Farlander'' was nominated for Game of the Year in Finland in 2005, and in Sweden in 2006. ''Ussisõnad'' was the highest-selling Estonian board game in 2009.

Comics and animation

Künnap wrote and drew the comic strip ''Kosmoserotid'' (''Space Rats'') for the Estonian weekly ''Eesti Ekspress'' in 1993; ''Ulg'' (''Howl'') and ''Kultuuriminister'' (''The Minister of Culture'') for Estonian cultural newspaper ''Sirp'' in 2004 and 2006–2007, respectively; and ''Monsieur Le Nez ja Herr Schnabel'' (''Monsieur le Nez and Herr Schnabel'') for Estonian wine magazine ''Vine''. In collaboration with Kaspar Jancis, he was the co-writer as well as background- and character artist for the animated film ''See viimane sigaret'' (''That Last Cigarette'') and the 2007 DVD of animated films ''Must lagi'' (''Black Ceiling''). Asko-Kynnap-WP-005

Music

Künnap has performed poetry together with a number of musicians and ensembles, including Estonian Dream Big Band, Eepiline Eesti Orkester, Siim Aimla, Paul Daniel, Heikki Kalle, Tõnu Timm, and others.

Personal life

Asko Künnap is married to jewellery artist Julia Maria Künnap (b 1979), with whom he has two daughters: Hiie Mari (b 2008) and Kirke Lea (b 2014). Künnap reads, walks, sketches labyrinths and coded messages, and watches dreams. He owns no television, reads no online commentaries, and belongs to no religious or political organizations.

Books

*''A Field Guide to Beetles'', Näo Kirik 2011 *''Memories'', Näo Kirik 2011 *''Your Nights are Numbered'', Näo Kirik 2008 *''The Most Beautiful War'', Näo Kirik 2004 *''And the Lizards Replied'', Näo Kirik 2003 *''In Defense of Convergences'', Näo Kirik 2000

External links

*Personal web sit
www.kynnap.ee
*ELIC
Overview of Asko Künnap’s literary works and excerpts in translation
*LYRICLINE
Listen to the Poet: Asko Künnap

Live performances

o8jOY&feature=youtu.be Asko Künnap & Memento Mori
Kassisaba Kevadpäev 2016 *Asko Künnap / Siim Aimla
Kõige lõpus oled sina.
Jüri Üdi Klubi / ETV *Asko Künnap / Siim Aimla
Jalutu Jumal
Jüri Üdi Klubi / ETV *Asko Künnap / Heikki Kalle / Tõnu Timm
Järjest raskem on sind armastada
Cabaret Interruptus {{DEFAULTSORT:Kunnap, Asko 1971 births Living people Estonian journalists Estonian male poets Estonian illustrators People from Tartu 20th-century Estonian poets 21st-century Estonian poets Haiku poets Miina Härma Gymnasium alumni