Minoan-inspired octopus (earthen) Yanos is based on the design of an octopus on a Minoan vase found in Crete that likely dates to around 1400 BCE. A customer, who hails from that part of the world, implored me to do this design. While this is not something I would normally do, I agreed. Creating a repeat I was happy with was a challenge, especially as I was working in a sketch book without access to a computer at the time... all those legs! It was challenging but fun... and my customer was delighted. Octopuses are extremely intelligent creatures that have been known to display extraordinary behaviours. My favourite octopus story involves a research lab. Fish in one of the tanks were disappearing nightly. The researchers were at a loss as to how this might be happening. Finally, one night they set up a camera, only to discover that an octopus was climbing out of its tank every night, crossing the floor, climbing into the other tank and gorging itself on fish. When it was satiated, it climbed out of the tank and took itself back to its own tank, where it would be innocently waiting when the researchers returned to work in the morning.
