Meet the creators of “Mister Fairy”

Florian Pigé and Morgane De Cadier

Recently, I was able to have a virtual conversation with Morgane De Cadier and Florian Pigé to learn more about the minds behind Mister Fairy. After meeting at the Émile Cohl School in Lyon, France, where they both studied illustration, Morgane and Florian began working on their first book together, To the Top, which came out in 2015. It proved to be a fruitful collaboration: since then, Morgane has written five more stories that Florian has brought to life with his illustrations. Mister Fairy is the first to be translated into English. 

As kids, they were both big readers. Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are made a huge impression on Morgane while Florian was fascinated by Pierre Gripari’s Les Contes de la Rue Mouffetard, a collection of children's stories full of witches and other fantastic creatures. It’s this taste for the whimsical, wondrous, and weird that shapes the stories that the duo creates today. “Humor is always important no matter what. I think there is a lot that can be accomplished through laughter,” said Florian. 

Alex: What was the inspiration behind Mister Fairy?

Morgane De Cadier: It all started with a drawing . . . one day, I drew an angry-looking elephant in a tutu with a wand in its hand. When I got home, I showed it to Florian, who immediately fell in love with the character. He quickly redesigned it in his own way and I started to think of a narrative. 

For this book, the original idea was born with character. We had a vision of ​​an elephant in a tutu and we looked for a story for him, not the other way around. The process was different from our previous projects. Usually I start by writing and then I pitch what I have to Florian. It’s only then that he starts brainstorming visuals for the characters, and he shows them to me as we go along. Either way, we always work together. We talk a lot about our projects and ideas, and we take each other's opinion into account.

Alex: Mister Fairy's setting is split between the forest and the city. As author and illustrator, what was your process like in bringing those two very different worlds to life? 

Florian Pigé: We wanted to associate the forest with a warm environment, where the characters live closely together. This emphasizes the fact that Mr. Fairy feels out of place in his very congruent surroundings. When creating the forest, I favored lots of color and infused everything with green tones. 

Conversely, we wanted the city to appear gray, sadder, and with lonely characters who care less about the people around them. It was difficult for me to make the city unpleasant because I am very much a city person!

Alex: What message would you most like readers to take away from Mister Fairy? 

MDC: We should never feel useless or worse than others . . . everyone has something special to contribute. It only takes a little patience to discover yourself and understand the gifts that we carry inside.

FP: It’s normal at some point in your life to doubt yourself; to not know what you have and to compare yourself to others. Despite everything, without knowing it, we are all indispensable, and talent can come from anywhere.

Mister Fairy leaves the city after making his mark and heads home to his friends.