Seasons Greetings!

Click on the image and use your keyboard arrow keys to navigate through the album.

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas / Happy Holidays or whatever you celebrate this season, and what better way to do it than with some talented designers.

In order of appearance (left - right):-
1st row: Adrian Johnson’s ‘Six Geese A-laying’; Darling Clementine's 'Candy Cane';
Tom Gauld's '4 calling birds' & Rob Ryan's G2 Christmas card.

2nd row: Jotto Seibold's 'Olive the other Reindeer'; Craig Ward's 'Season's Greetings'; Alison Carmichael's 'Baubles' & Christoph Neimann 'Let it Dough'.

3rd row: Yulia Brodskaya's bookcover for the 2009 Neiman Marcus 'The Christmas Book'; Kate Sutton's 'Robin'; Jessica Hische's '6 Geese are Laying' from her personal project & Frode Skaren's 'Opposites' Christmas card.

Have a great one everyone!

If You Could - Exhibition

If you are in London this weekend then go and check out the If You Could...Collaborate exhibition at the A Foundation Gallery, Rochelle School, London E2 from 15th — 23rd January 2010.

If you could is the brain child of art directors Will Hudson and Alex Bec and this is their 4th annual exhibition. There are some amazing and hugely talented designer/illustrator partnerships and I'm absolutely gutted to be missing it, especially as Craig's work is being exhibited. Here are some of the great collaborations (there are about 33 in total):
Craig Ward, Sean Freeman & Alison Carmichael / Oliver Jeffers & Aaron Ruff / Fontaine Anderson & Deanne Cheuk / Mario Hugo & Micah Lidberg / Anthony Burrill & John Griffiths / Marion Deuchars & Margaret Calvert / George Hardie & Leonardo Sonnoli & Sara Fanelli / Rob Ryan & Michael Marriott / Jim Stoten & Andy Rementer...to mention a few!

The exhibition is a chance for creatives from all four corners of the world to partner (with a person of their choosing, regardless of their discipline) and get out of their comfort zones. It has no doubt challenged the way the artists usually work. There was no brief for this project, except to design something a little unexpected. I can't wait to see photos but here are a few tasters of the Ward, Freeman & Carmichael collabration - a type triptych of laser cut wood...

Check out the If You Could website for more photos.

Hoot-enanny!

Top row (l-r): Accessorize necklace; Owl Party paper art by Helen Musselwhite; Fingerless gloves by Manic Knitter; Thank You card by Kate Sutton.

2nd row (l-r): Cupcakes; clock by Decoylab; Paperchase stationery range; Where the Wilds things are cushion from Urban Outfitters.

3rd row (l-r): Mr Owl by Matte Stephens; Charley Harper's Twowls; Sweater by
Kate Davies (also includes free pattern); Wall vinyl by One Up Design's.

Bottom row (l-r): The Little Owl restaurant NYC; Cast-iron trivet from Three Potato Four; Door stop by Rose & Grey.

Happy New Year! and farewell 2009: the year of owls or so it seems...they kept appearing everywhere. Above is a small collection of owl things that I have spotted throughout 2009 and I wanted to share it with you, being that I am the intrepid owl.

I've always liked owls but it wasn't until I cleared out my mum's loft (attic) of my childhood memorabilia that I realised how far back it went...I actually owned a fair amount of owl ephemera. The list of owl 'things' included: 3 stuffed owl toys - ascending in height- from the 1970s (a hand me down from my mum), a photo of me with a tawny owl from when the owl man came to my primary school, a small stained glass window disc, pencil tops, a bag, a t-shirt, a small ceramic owl and the list just went on. I also found one of my favourite childhood books up there: The Owl Who Was a Afraid of the Dark by Jill Tomlinson - I still love the cover of this book!

I really liked owls and I guess I still do, hope 2010 is good for you.

Words are Pictures

Tonight I'm going to my other half's AIGA NY talk, SMALL TALK NO. 4: CRAIG WARD. He has always been passionate about design but more specifically typography and as his pseudonym suggests, Words are Pictures, he likes to mix the two to create something unique and different. He is constantly exploring the notion of word as image.

I've always been proud of the work he has created and tonight, at his first US presentation, he gets to showcase his work. He will discuss his thought and idea processes as well as his journey from designer to typographer. He has another talk scheduled in France next July for OFFF Paris 2010 conference.

Here are some of my personal favourites...

Through the Looking Glass - Bergdorf Goodman window displays

Every Christmas it's traditional for the 5th Ave stores to compete against each other via their window displays, and the Bergdorf Goodman A Compendium of Curiosities holiday window displays are a spectacle to be seen.

The theme is based on Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass. Of course it's no coincidence that Bergdorf have chosen this theme as the hugely anticipated Tim Burton film Alice in Wonderland is due out early next year.

This years window display was created by Bergdorf’s Senior Director of Visual Presentation, David Hoey, and his team of artists. The windows are spectacular; complete decadence, nods to Carroll's characters and not and inch of empty space. The team at BG have perfectly captured fantasy through their looking glass displays and they submerge you into imaginary worlds of dreams, luxury fashion and products. Curiouser and Curiouser...

My personal favourite is the paper/stationery window.

Roll up, roll up...Rob Ryan is in town!

So as promised, my post today is more craft related...Whilst in the NY Meat Packing district I stumbled upon a gorgeous custom jean shop, Earnest Sewn Co. And to my joy in their window display they had a big sign for the Ryan Town USA exhibit. The display was obviously done by the fair hands of Rob Ryan himself. His work is so beautiful and it was impressive to see it in the flesh, but I did feel a pang of jealousy to see his work and know I couldn't do it. The exhibition was at the back of the store, and bits of his paper cut and wooden letter negatives were strewn on the floor and nearly every inch of the room was covered in paper cuts, screen prints, tiles and other lovely things. Here are a few pictures, but if you find yourself in that area I would definitely recommend taking a peek. It’s on until 31 May.