by Ellen Shaughnessy
A winter bite is in the air and the sun is leaving us entirely too early. As that grey dread creeps in for the season, we decide that it’s high time to get out for some ‘Boutique Easton’ cheer. The first snowflakes weave their way through Easton YOGA’s south wall balconies as we walk up Pine Street to discover what must be Easton’s teeniest secondary road, and we fall upon 34 Sebring Street ‘Oh dear! oh dear! I shall be too late!’ and POOF: we are in the world of MaGiK.

MaGiK Design Shop, that is. In an unassuming large building fronting 5th street that rained like a sieve until Maciek Albrecht & his wife and Creative Director Elli discovered it in 2000, there now exists a wonderland of design. A large modern roaring fireplace is the centerpiece in Maciek’s back-studio which is a massive bright space with soaring ceilings, where he is flanked by his wood-cut ‘screams’ plus a queer looking party of many other hand-crafted quirky woodland rabbits and critters.

His love for Easton is apparent with a giant ‘Easton’ folk sculpture that crowns his studio mantel, plus a multitude of artistic wooden bugler renditions dotting the studio – he is now offering ‘customized’ buglers to match your mood or home decor. The prices of his wooden art sculptures, Easton theme posters, cards, and even his original drawings which come with their companion published tear sheets (from NY Times Book Review, etc) are all very fair.

What inspires him? “Every day brings achievements, smaller or bigger. I think realizing our vision, from a concept to finalizing it in any materials and form – this is success.” After twenty years of experience as a character designer on projects including animation, advertising, editorial, logos and toys, Maciek’s clients include HBO Family, Sesame Street, Scholastic, Nick JR, MTV, Curious Pictures Toys, Condé Nast, and The New York Times.

…oh, is that all? Curiouser and Curiouser! I have to say that I was just not expecting to meet a very down-to-earth Emmy-award winning genius on our Boutique Easton tour, when we left the house earlier today.

Maciek took us down, down, down – into the lower level gallery with hundreds of his original drawings for Condé Nast and The New York Times on display and for sale. In case there was any doubt about how prolific or creative Mr Albrecht is, the pudding is here.

From a career that began with drawing, he moved into animation for which he has been awarded three Emmys. “I’m an observer and a thinker. I’m fascinated by how people and things move, beginning with people walking, parkour extreme sports, to the movement of sound waves.”

An extremely impressive resume includes Character Design for HBO’s animated series Classical Baby Art, Music, Dance and Poetry. Maciek has also done designs on educational films for Sesame Street, Between The Lions, Scholastic and he was Episode Designer for TV series “Little Curious”, Wonder Pets, and a mini series “MAXI”. He was Film Designer for these station’s IDs: MTV, TeleTV, TF1 and Mr Albrecht has done Commercial Designs for: NYNEX, HERSHEY’S, Music Fest, and Comedy Central. His awards are simply too numerous to list here, but if you check out Maciek’s website you will be stunned.

When asked how he made the jump from drawing to animation, Maciek responds: “I’m trying to capture the motion in illustration, sculpture. Defiantly animation does it all, it’s an illustration in motion. In my life I search for capturing the moment – I go back between illustration and animation to do that. The 3D artwork I do now, is a leap toward the 3d (other) dimension. What will come out of it? I will know probably in my last days on this planet.”

Anon, to sudden silence won, In fancy thy pursue The dream-child moving through a land Of wonders wild and new, In Friendly chat with bird or beast — And half believe its true. ~ from Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

“My story with Easton began with a mural I’ve painted on the intersection 3rd St and 611 in late eighties (now gone, repainted). We moved here from NY in 2000, and opened Magik studio. We hope Easton will achieve its momentum, when everybody will feel good about it.”