Luxembourg's Schueberfouer cover girl

(JB) With a lollipop in one hand and bright pink scarf in the other, a smiling, carefree woman flies through the air on a carousel swing.

This is the iconic image of the 2011 Schueberfouer poster campaign, which adorns billboards, buses and banners around Luxembourg City.

Despite the high profile of her work, the graphic designer and model behind the lively and energetic posters is very laid-back about her five minutes of fame.

“It never feels uncomfortable seeing my face on the billboards, because a lot of people don't recognise me in the image,” explained 27-year-old Anne Mélan, adding: “I'm a graphic designer and artist who is starting out so it's wonderful to see big posters everywhere that I have designed. It's a great feeling for me and I hope that it will help me to get more clients.”

Anne, who studied art-related degrees in Toulouse and Strasbourg, entered a competition last year launched by the Ville de Luxembourg to find innovative poster designs for the Schueberfouer. She narrowly missed out on the top spot but, coming in second place, her design was adopted for the 2011 poster campaign.

The young self-employed artist had recently completed her studies when she created the design, which she said took around two weeks to complete. With no budget, she had to use all her ingenuity to pull of a winning creation.

“I didn't have any money for a model so I used myself. I even took the photo myself. It wasn't easy because I had to sit in a position that would make it look like I was sitting on a swing. The photo took about two days because I did it in April last year and I had to wait a while for the weather to be sunny,” said Anne.

Anne's passion for the Schueberfouer is clear in the work. A Luxembourg national, the artist has attended the fair every year since as far back as she can remember and even worked there when she was a student.

She said: “I'm definitely fond of the Schueberfouer. I think it's a small other world where you can fly and escape real life. You can see a lot of people and I really love the concept. I go to the Schueberfouer every year but I never dreamed that I would feature in a poster for it!”

Anne's work can be seen on posters around Luxembourg City as well as on the special Schueberfouer cuvée produced by Crémant producers Bernard-Massard.