About KNIKO

What it is

KNIKO finds real words in other languages whose parts say something unexpectedly literal, and draws that literal reading. German calls a glove a Handschuh, a “hand shoe”; Indonesian calls the sun matahari, the “eye of the day”.

How it is made

Every word is checked against dictionary sources before it is shown. If the parts of a word do not really mean what the reading says, KNIKO does not show it.

The pictures are made with an AI image model. The ones in the gallery are picked by hand.

KNIKO is a one-person studio between the Netherlands and Bologna.

For teachers

You are welcome to use the pictures in class. They are licensed CC BY-NC 4.0: credit “KNIKO (kniko.io)”. The details are in the terms.

Work with KNIKO

• Shops and museums: stocking KNIKO words.
• Teams and events: shirts with a mix of words.
• Schools and language courses: words and pictures for the classroom.
• Licensing and partnerships: apps, publishers and brands.
• Press: images and background for an article.

Write to [email protected].