P O P

Mary Quant / THE NEWEST NEON, SPUR fashion magazine / BOOK in BOOK

April / 2008 裝苑 SO-EN fashion magazine

design envy

Love all the handmade elements and process that went into creating the branding for Oak Park Stage theater, by Blake Fili Suàrez.

I just can't get enough of...

This image of designer Nikole Herriot's beautiful rustic modern home sent me on an immediate hunt for some antlers to adorn my own walls. After a slight crisis about how to justify this aesthetic choice with my cruelty-free beliefs, I was pleased to learn that many of the loose antlers available are actually salvaged from nature, as deer naturally shed their antlers each year. And as for the antlers that are still attached to the skull, well, let's just hope that deer fed an entire family through the winter.

1. petite set of antlers from We Have It Vintage

2. vintage white stag deer antler from Lackluster Co.

3. deer antler rack no. 2 from AM Vintage

4. vintage six point deer antler by Vintage Obscura

did I mention that I love photo doodling?

Nikki Furquharson for Missbehave magazine

nothing looks cooler than doodling on photos

photographer Arkan Zakharov and fashion editor Juliana Schiavinatto for PULP magazine

dream home

Newly appointed head of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Jeffrey Deitch gives a tour of his new home and talks about why LA is magical.

I want to hang this on my wall

Framework Poster

(via Swissmiss)

nerd alert!

I am hopelessly addicted to my iPhone. People with short attentions spans should not, under any circumstances, own an iPhone4. Yet I do, and I love it, perhaps too much, much to the chagrin of my friends and loved ones who are attempting to have human interactions with me while I'm texting, checking my email, online shopping...all at the same time.

Anyway, protecting my perfect little companion is crucial, since when I'm on the go I throw it in my giant handbag where it gets scratched by keys and pens. I recently lost my phone case, so I'm on the hunt for a new one. I have found so many lovely, stylish and unique designs that I'm having a terrible time choosing just one. Which is your favorite?

clockwise from top left: Pocketdogs cell phone case, wood engraved case from Grove Made,

Yellena James for Uncommon, leather Scandinavian case, gray wool herringbone case by Stash, Le Faust leather iphone cases in assorted colors

homemade is best

As part of an advertising campaign focusing on their kitchen appliance selection, IKEA published a 140 coffee table book focusing on one of the best things you can do in a kitchen: baking. Inspired by high fashion photography and Japanese minimalism, the folks at IKEA took a different approach to food photography by focusing on the ingredients themselves, creating graphic still-life photographs that are good enough to eat...literally. 

bike style in los angeles

One of my least favorite aspects of Los Angeles is the lack of public spaces. Well, this Sunday, following the example of cities like New York and San Francisco, Los Angeles will shut down 7 miles of city streets in an effort to challenge the notion that automobiles rule the road. From 10 am to 3 pm, routes from East Hollywood into Boyle Heights will be closed to traffic, encouraging the community to reclaim these public spaces for anything from cycling to yoga to games of pick-up soccer. The event, known as CicLAvia, was inspired by the concept of the ciclovia, which is Spanish for bicycle path. Bogota, Colombia was the first city to host such an event three decades ago. Now each Sunday in Bogota, hundreds of thousands of people take to the temporarily car-free streets. Check out the CicLAvia map for the full route.

In anticipation of a day full of cycling without the threat of road rage fueled SUVs, I've been browsing my all time favorite cycling shop Adeline Adeline. Located in the Tribeca neighborhood of NYC, this shop eschews the high performance and fixed gear bike culture, instead focusing on "comfortable, relaxed riding for pleasure with an emphasis on the beautiful European city bikes that women ride in Copenhagen and other bike-centric cities." Before opening the doors to Adeline Adeline, owner Julie Hirschfeld was a successful graphic designer, and clearly she's translated her design expertise to the artfully curated selection of bicycles and accessories in the shop.

Whether you're a cyclist or not, it's impossible not to be enamored with these beautifully designed items.

from top to bottom: Pigeonco backpack, Brooks Hoxton wire basket, Linus Roadster Sport, Bicycle by David Herlihy, Bensimon canvas sneakers

back to purity, back to simplicity

Dieter Rams will never cease to inspire me. His influence can clearly be felt decades after he created some of the most most beautiful and interesting industrial design for Braun and Vitsœ, most notably in the work of Jonathan Ive at Apple. Dieter Rams' Ten Principles for Good Design was written when he was concerned about the state of the world around him, which had become "an impenetrable confusion of forms, colours and noises." This fear, and these ideas, are so pertinent today.

1. Good design is innovative

2. Good design makes a product useful

3. Good design is aesthetic

4. Good design makes a product understandable

5. Good design is unobtrusive

6. Good design is honest

7. Good design is long-lasting

8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail

9. Good design is environmentally-friendly

10. Good design is as little design as possible

for more on these ten principles go here

images clockwise from top left: Braun radio 1961, Dieter Rams, Vitsœ Shelving System 1960, Braun radio/phono combo 1959, Braun speaker 1958

on my nightstand...

The Selby is one of my favorite blogs eveerrrrrr. Love love love interiors. I can't wait for the day when I settle down in one place and can really transform a space to make it completely mine. In the meantime, I'll just have to flip through the pages of The Selby Is In Your Place and lust after the incredible living spaces of Erin Wasson, Lou Doillon and Karl Lagerfeld, just to name a few.

(special thanks to my fantastic brother and his lovely wife for this perfect birthday gift)

art crush: lizzy janssen

What better way to start the week than with kittens, horses and crystals. Surefire path to my heart. Totally loving the drawings, collages and tee shirt designs of Lizzy Janssen.

via my love for you is a stampede of horses

um, I was wondering...

via friends of type

Here's hoping this weekend brings us what's left of our dwindling summer.

from the desk of...

What happened to the good old days when people actually wrote letters to each other? And had impossibly stylish stationery to write those letters on? I've had enough of this texting and Facebook, this archive of interesting letterhead designs at Letterheady makes me want to design myself some fancy personal letterhead. Here are my favorites.

from top to bottom: Art Kane, date unknown; Muhammad Ali, 1975; Marlene Dietrich, date unknown; Michael Cooper, 1967

comic sans has it's day

It's no secret that Comic Sans is strongly detested within the design community. It has even spawned a grassroots movement calling for it's abolition.

Well, now the font everyone loves to hate is finally getting it's retribution, thanks to Mike Lacher's short imagined monologue over at McSweeney's. An excerpt follows, but for a good laugh head over and read the full version here.

"People love me. Why? Because I'm fun. I'm the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business' website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I'm banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I'm shredding "Reign In Blood" on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I'm racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who'll kill me if I don't cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you."

(shirt pictured above available from Veer)

because each day should be full of them...

This flag will soon be the newest accessory on my bike, to remind myself that every day should be full of tiny adventures. If you want yours, hurry. This is a limited edition run of 100 by artist Nigel Peake and sold through Tiny Showcase. Each flag is handprinted in Rhode Island and a portion of the proceeds go to benefit Kopernik, a non-profit that brings progressive technologies to people in developing countries.

via my love for you is a stampede of horses

virtual nostalgia

this will blow your mind,

I guarantee it.

interactive film by Chris Milk for Arcade Fire

(google images of the neighborhood I grew up in)

poketo + target

While running my usual errands last night, I stumbled upon the Poketo for Target collaboration. How did I not hear about this earlier??? My favorite artists like Lisa Congdon and Mike Perry have put their stamp on affordable and stylish items such as phone cases, umbrellas, tote bags and wallets. If I wasn't pinching pennies to offset a summer full of adventures, I would have swooped up the whole collection.

bc's los angeles showroom featured on design*sponge!

I've been an avid reader of Design*Sponge since the blog first started way back in 2004 or so. I am so delighted and flattered that they showcased my work on the BC Los Angeles showroom design in their "before and after" feature. So many people worked really hard on that room and I'm so proud to show off the finished product! See the full feature here.