Epson 2021 Calendar: Gianluca Folì's Illustrated Journey

Epson launched its first calendar in 2000, annually commissioning a master of Italian photography to demonstrate print quality. In 2021, the company shifted to illustration on fine art paper, selecting Gianluca Folì (born 1978 in Marino, Rome) for the project. Folì created 'Colorseeker – L’origine dei Colori,' a twelve-month fantastical world tour. He is an internationally recognized illustrator who has collaborated with Feltrinelli, Mondadori, Taschen, L’Espresso, Il Corriere, Fendi, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, and GQ. He won silver at the Society of Illustrators in Los Angeles and gold at the Society of Illustrators in New York, and has exhibited at the Museum of American Illustration in New York, Dazzle Gallery in Tokyo, and the Italian Institute of Culture in Japan. Folì learned of the Epson calendar through Costanza Poi of The Embassy agency and was already using Epson tools. He worked with creative director Fabrizio Piccolini on themes including ecology, technological sustainability, travel, color, gender identity, and sexual orientation. The calendar was his third such project, following ones for Cassa Rurale dell’Alto Garda. Folì describes the calendar as a unique object that must sustain a visual rhythm for a month, like a painting or poster. The journey blends reality and imagination, with sketches begun during the first lockdown in April–May 2020 drawing from his old sketchbooks.