Background Noise

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I'm not a fan of wallpaper, in general, especially when a room has been wallpapered floor to ceiling. I've seen too many wallpaper disasters in my time. But if you must wallpaper, then an accent wall with a stylish pattern is always welcome. For me wallpaper should make you want to look twice which is why I love Dan Funderburgh's designs - which are available to buy here. He also designed some Moleskine covers which you can buy from Engrave Your Book.

Another wallpaper design that definitely makes you look twice is Paper Voyeur's flora and fornication range - as Lascivious so perfectly put it; this wallpaper imbues "European eroticism with a sprinkling of English reserve, these wallpapers nod to the florid romance of Mucha or Beardsley - an outline of the idea without the pink bits."

This unique collection of wallpaper was designed by the British design studio, DED and is popular with stores such as Agent Provocateur and Coco De Mer. Enjoy!

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Paperfinger

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Since my wedding I have developed an interest in calligraphy, and Bryn Chernoff - the very talented lady behind Paperfinger - is one of the best modern calligraphers that I've stumbled upon. What I also like about this Brooklynite's penmanship is that she also incorporates hand drawn designs which are great for extra personalisations to any wedding or event invites. Click the image to see the details and her beautiful lettering. Please check out her site and her blog too.

Images taken from Paperfinger.

Blog template update

I've been really lame at updating my blog recently, so I've been working on updating it and stripping it back bit to make blogging simpler and quicker. Let's hope I stick at it. Check back soon to see the new site!

Bill Brown & Target

This week I noticed these lovely ads in NYC's subway station for Manhattan's first Target store. Created by Mother and illustrated by Bill Brown, these ads are simple and a breath of fresh air from the usual terribly photoshopped, drop shadowed, 10 different font text vomit you normally see in the subway. Just lovely!
All images taken from Creativity Online.

Check more out here and here are some images from Brown's agents, Art Deptartment.

Scott Campbell - at the OhWow NYC

If You Don't Belong, Don't Be Long at the Oh Wow Gallery is Scott Campbell's first solo exhibition in New York.

I last posted about Mr Campbell on 24th February 2010, and I was delighted to hear he finally had an exhibit in town.

While at the exhibition I got chatting to the curator about the way he works, in particular I wanted to know if he uses real dollar bills as I had seen a photograph of him with a sheet if dollar bills in the New York Times. It turns out they they are real dollars, Campbell contacted the treasury and requests full uncut and unwatermarked sheets of dollars, they cost a little more than face value. These uncut dollars allow him to work in a larger scale and more refined due to the crispness of the sheets, making a nice contrast to his beaten up used dollar stacks.

The exhibition had only been open 2 weeks by the time I went to check it out and all but 5 pieces had sold!



Since the exhibition I've had the pleasure to meet 2 lovely people who have had tattoos done by the talented Mr Campbell and they are faultless and beautiful.

The exhibition runs from 29th April - 30th May 2010.

Don't judge a bag by it's cover

I recently read an article by a friend of mine who writes for the Salon.com, about a bag design dispute concerning Kate Spade. On googling this topic, I found that it was being discussed everywhere...

In August of this year, Kate Spade is launching a set of clutches based on "classic book covers" such as The Great Gatsby, Emma, The Importance of Being Earnest, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities. "The brand will release the 'volumes' one at a time as a sort of Book-of-the-Month Club"*. However these handbags aren't launching without controversy...


Not that long ago, French designer Olympia Le-Tan, launched a collection of clutches called You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover in Autumn of 2009. Obviously Olympia is not happy with Spade's choice of bags and feels that the design house has copied her style.


Le Tan is passionate about books, something which was ingrained during her childhood by her book collector father. She was inspired by her favourite first edition classic covers such as The Catcher in The Rye, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Moby Dick, 1984 as well as 17 other covers.

Le Tan's bags are close copies of the original first editions and it's undeniable that more craft have gone into their creations compared to Spades - for a start Le Tan only made 16 bags for each 21 covers; each made of embroidered silk with colorful felt appliqué. Spade's are new illustrated versions of their books and printed to look worn and will obviously be massed produced. But I have to say, that I don't think the idea was 'stolen' from Le Tan - the outcome is very different: differently crafted, different book covers and I'm guessing a very different price tag - although the retail price of Spade's bags haven't been disclosed yet I'm imagining that they will be the more 'affordable' of the two as Le Tan's bags cost $1,500.

I googled 'book bags' and got copious results for etsy shops and crafters. As the saying goes (and I don't entirely agree with it): there is no such thing as a new idea and Olympia and Mrs Spade are certainly not the first nor the last to have the same idea and it seem that for years people have been transforming books into bags. Michelle Pulis, a young designer who has been creating bag tomes out of actual books since 2008:


Here’s a lovely book tote bag designed by Lizania Cruz, that will unzip to become a handy shopping bag. Lizania creates many beautiful items for Anthropologie.


However I can see why Le Tan feels this way; her collection came out very recently and these gorgeous literary purses are her livelihood whereas Kate Spade is a much bigger cog and doesn't need the cash. If I were Le Tan I would take it as a compliment and reel from the amount of press this issue has received. If I could afford it, I would certainly choose a bag that had been handcrafted by a smaller fashion house over a mass produced one as it's more individual, and I'm sure she hasn't had a shortage of interest. Despite this all, I'm still a big fan of Kate Spade (and even her husband's shop - Jack Spade - is gorgeous too) and I constantly enjoy the visual feast I encounter every time I walk into the stores!

(*) Quoted from the Vanity Fair online article.
Images of the Kate Spade collection also sourced from this article.

He's creepy and he's kooky...Charles Addams

Wow, I've been very lame at updated my blog...Work has been really hectic and I'm 5 weeks away from getting married! I've spent my weekends busying myself making bits and pieces for the wedding, which I can't wait to share on here.

However this weekend, between decorating a cake stand and practicing calligraphy for the place settings, I managed to go to the Charles Addams' exhibition at the Museum of the City of New York. I was surprised how bustley the exhibition was considering it was sunny Sunday afternoon with highs of 72F. The mood of the room was jovial, I've never been at a show where so many people burst out laughing! It was infectious but the art was worthy which was evident from the surrounding chuckles.

Charles Addams' was a great American cartoonist/illustrator who drew over 1,500 illustrations (many of which were covers) for the New Yorker and of course he was the brain child of the Addams Family. He was born and raised in New Jersey, and said to have taken inspiration from the neighbourhood houses to create the Addams Family mansion. He drew familiar everyday life and injected humorous twists within each drawing, some of which you don't always notice on first glance. One of my favourites was this one:


It tickled me becuase the udder is not noticeable at first and it also makes me wonder where the milkman is...!! It's no wonder that he was a regular of the New Yorker, his charming and often creepy cartoons appeal to many audiences. He had a deep love of the city, it's buildings, the people and he used it as a background for his quirky unexpected stories.

Incidentally Tim Burton is directing a 3-D stop frame animation, not based on the TV series or films, but based on Charles' cartoons. It has Burton written all over in, in fact I can't believe he hasn't done it sooner, I just hope he branches out and doesn't hire Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter again!

The Charles Addams's: New York exhibition runs from March 4 – May 16, 2010.