I’ve been a fan of Izak Zenou’s illustrations ever since I moved to the Big Apple.  His work is an inspiration to me for its chic, yet cheerful and fun vibe.  The illustrations look effortless and always capture lively movement.  And I love that his girls are often in recognizable New York settings.

Henri Bendel Holidays by Izak Zenou

Lately, I’ve even taken my hero worship a step further and have tried my hand at creating my drawings, a lá Izak, with ink and a bamboo reed pen.

Portrait of Pina Ferlisi Henri Bendel creative director portrait with Izak_LR

The beauty of drawing in ink and with a somewhat unpredictable implement like a bamboo reed is that each illustration is unique.  Furthermore, imperfections can become inspiration for the direction the illustration takes.  (Needless to say, no two illustrators will use the pens the same way!)

Portrait of Pina Ferlisi, Henri Bendel creative director from Retrospective opening night

As a “cyber disciple” of Izak’s, I was super excited to learn that this year’s Henri Bendel holiday windows not only feature Izak’s work – a collaboration that has spanned 20 years – but that the entire store has been fashioned as a retrospective of his work.  Even better, Bendel’s is hosting “A Very Henri Holiday Sweepstakes” this year.  You can enter to win the Grand Prize :

  • Win a trip to NYC for an exclusive portrait session with Izak Zenou, a one-of-a-kind Henri Bendel handbag hand-painted by Izak and a $1,500 shopping spree at Henri Bendel

And Two Runner Up prizes:

  • Two runners up will each win a one-of-a-kind Henri Bendel handbag hand-painted by Izak.

(Maybe Bendel’s will also create a prize specially for me so that I can just be a fly on the wall and watch Izak draw!)  

In any case, if you like Izak’s work as much as I do, you can enter the sweepstakes online at http://tinyurl.com/henriholiday or in-store at any Henri Bendel store. The contest ends at 11:59pm ET on 12/24/15.

 

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