¡FELICIDADES!

I hope everyone is enjoying their holidays! I'll be posting new blogs soon...in the meantime I'm going back to the beach.

MERRY HOFFMAS!

I love how he's holding the candle! Is he creepy? Or mysterious? Or dreamy? See it again here.

2009 CALENDAR...DONE

So I finished my design for the 2009 calendar. I decided to make it in Spanish this year, since the majority of the recipients speak primarily that language. I used all these shapes that I drew throughout the year (it's what I usually do while on the subway).

Here are some pictures I took while in Hudson Valley, NY. We had a terrific breakfast at Cold Springs Cafe, fantastic pierogies in Beacon, took in the views in Garrison, and visited DIA Beacon. I'm always a sucker for the trees planted in front of the DIA, I can't help but photograph them (see image at bottom).

SOMEWHERE IN BEACON

There’s a wonderful place in Beacon, NY that a lot of people don’t know about. That’s a real shame because it’s so unique, it should be on everyone’s list of places to visit when heading over to the DIA Beacon Museum. It’s called Hermitage and it sells old poetry books, primarily from the 50’s and 60’s. But it’s also an art space and a small press (see the image at the bottom). The space is carefully curated, so every item makes sense. The first time I stepped in they were playing a John Fahey album that, with the small-cabin-feel, made me fall in love with this place. If you’re ever in the area definitely stop by.
PS- Expect more postings about the Hudson area (very) soon!

MARTINO GAMPER

This I thought was at least thought-provoking, I found it while looking through Apartment Therapy. Martino Gamper's designs are combinations of famous chairs that have been dissected to become a new chair of sorts. Some are quite funny. Take a closer look at his work here.

I saw the movie "Married Life" this week and the only thing I liked about it were the opening credits. I think they were done by Unjoo Lee Byars, but I'm not completely sure. They took vintage textile designs and animated them, making it all look like a moving collage. The patterns interacted with the figures (which looked like old magazine ad cut-outs), while Doris Day sang "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". I did some research on vintage wallpaper/textile patterns for a project I did some years ago, and I know some of these patterns (at least most of them) where taken from one particular book called "Wallpaper Designs". The book (cover image is at the bottom) includes a CD ROM with hi-res images that you can download. Like I said, it's not a great movie, but the titles were kind of cool.

This is a good friend of mine, Virginie Yassef. I received a catalogue of her most recent works and I thought it was amazing. I was very taken by the cover ("Billy Montana" - it's one of my favorite pieces of hers). It's from the Billy bookcase made by Ikea, she filled it with shelves and painted each in a different color. I also took pictures of other pieces of hers that I enjoy. Her work often times has many layers of information, making it interesting to look at time and again.

I got this mechanical pencil as a birthday gift and I just love it. It's called "Shorty" and it's made by Worther Baden-Baden, a German company. It has a great simple design and includes 3 types of lead: graphite, red lead, and white lead. The best thing about this pencil is that it writes on pretty much any surface, wood, metal, glass, plastic, paper, etc.

JUST ARRIVED...

I just received a copy of a book I designed this summer. It's a book of poems by Arsenio Rodriguez, titled "The Fermentation of Light". I'm pretty happy with the overall result, this was the first poetry book I've ever designed. It's now available at amazon.com.

L IS FOR LOSER

In preparations for my holiday cocktail party this year, I came up with this idea. Maybe it's because I'm no longer watching TV during the week...who knows. In any case, I wanted to find a way to "mark" each glass to help people recognize their drinks at the party (I'm forgoing disposable glasses). So I thought of putting a rubber band around the glass and attaching a small card with their initials.

Looking through the latest Archive magazine, I saw this series of ads for Braun nose clippers. I admit it took me a minute to get it, then I loved it. In the bottom it says "The nose trimmer from Braun" (it may be too small to read).

Working on my Christmas card...more to follow.

I bought this licorice candy when I was last in Berlin. I basically bought it because I loved the container, in fact I ended up hating the candy (and tossed them), but kept the container. The black diamond on the tin reflects the shape of the candies themselves.

I heard about this clock yesterday (it's called the "You Can Hear a Pin Clock"), nice idea. Instead of hearing the arms tick, you hear the pins move.

FOR THOSE WHO LOVE LISTS

I found this notepad in my favorite stationery store in Montreal, Nota Bene. It's called Exacompta Bloc Faf. The bottom is a piece of metal with rubber backing (so it won't skid) and it holds the pad of paper by two screws. Very simple design with a utilitarian, industrial look. It holds 200 pages and you can choose between graph paper and solid white.

A BIT OF LOVE...

Nice play on words on both of these. The first (Casanova love) is by Joseph Mueller, it's a poster available here. The second, titled "Love" is by Tsang Kin-Wah, check out her website.

Hmmm, I don't know how I feel about these...

NOTEBOOKS WITH VINTAGE ETIQUETTE ILLUSTRATIONS

I bought these notebooks earlier this year in Paris. I can't remember the name of the store, but it was on Rue Pont Louis-Philippe. Probably the best street to go to if you're looking for fantastic stationery. The man who works there (maybe owns it?) was sitting at his desk quietly doing calligraphy on some wedding envelopes. His work was absolutely beautiful.
I especially love the notebook pictured at the bottom which illustrates proper and improper greetings, the close-up picture shows the funniest one "excessive reverence".
These are made by Doctor Paper, a company from Barcelona (www.doctorpaperbcn.com).

OLD ADS FROM "LOOK" MAGAZINE

I came across these ads today at work, while looking through
an old issue of "Look" magazine from the 1950's. So great!