Handmade on Peconic Bay is a handmade print company by husband of yesterday’s post feature, Cynthia Rybakoff. Matt Shapoff creates beautiful paper products using 19th century cyanotype techniques in combination with 21st century digital design.
Right now Matt has a variety of cards out for the holiday season but I think my favorites will always be his nautical-inspired prints. Matt has an Etsy site where you can accquire some of these mini pieces of art for your very own!
Design*Sponge came to town a few weeks ago to promote their new book Design*Sponge at Home and for creator Grace Bonney to give a lecture at SCAD. The talk was awesome as is her book which you can buy here. I just have to say that the most awesome part of the whole experience was having the ultimate geek-out moment of being (inadvertantly) FEATURED on D*S. Yes, that’s right folks, I’m famous. Click here and see below. Hells yeah. (I’m in the hot pink shirt)
Last spring I had the pleasure of meeting jewelry designer Cynthia Rybakoff at Brooklyn shopping haunt Artists & Fleas. Not only is she super nice but her designs are beautiful. I bought a gorgeous sterling silver necklace with a petite shell engraved on the pendant. I am loving her new collection, Mixed Messages, that debuted at Bendel’s for Fashion’s Night Out. The gold is classic and the geometry of the pieces give them a modern edge.
Who knew something so gross could be so…pretty? These “bacteriograms” are by artist Erno-Erik Raitanen who cultivated bacteria cells on a colour negative film.
What girl doesn’t love Audrey Hepburn’s classic style? Well here’s to the man that put it in print. These three posters are designed by the famous Bill Gold who did many illustration style movie posters from the mid-century. I love the crisp treatment of text and color-blocked illustration.
There is a trend circling in the design of album and book covers right now. Both Mylo Xyloto from Coldplay and Steve Martin’s book An Object of Beauty channel the knockout lettering filled with abstract/colorful designs. I’m not sure that there is an explanation better than that, haha, so just take a look.
I have had my eye on this book for awhile now and have yet to get my hands on it. It is a compilation of writings by celebrities on their experiences in India written to raise money for the victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks. I have India and other Asian countries on my travel list and am itching to get my hands on some good, related reads. Let me know if you all have any suggestions!
-grace
When I was a kid I would visit my grandmother’s farm in Maryland. I loved her antique furniture. Especially her green armchair. This armchair, however, was her armchair and I spent the better part of my childhood trying to finagle my way into getting to sit in it. I finally decided that when I had my own place I was going to have such a chair, one that fit me perfectly and that only I could occupy. While mine isn’t the dreamiest of interior decor it is absolutely perfect, accompanied by my coffee table topped with none other than Grace Bonney’s new book, Design*Sponge at Home.
I was lucky enough to see Grace Bonney speak last night in Savannah and get her to sign my copy. Yay!
And because everyone needs their own special chair, here is more chair inspiration from one of my favorite illustrators, Maira Kalman. I saw her exhibition at the Jewish Museum this summer in New York. Absolutely lovely.
And, the chair is pink. Even better.
One of the reasons I love having the Marc by Marc Jacobs store in downtown Savannah is there amazing curation of art and design books. The other week I happened upon American artist, Philip Taaffe’s Anima Mundi and it is now on my list of to-buy’s. Taaffe combines geometry, color, and nature to create new landscapes that keep me mesmerized forever. Read about the original exhibition of this body of work here. And buy the book here.
I am loving these new stamps from USPS.
They are a nod to art nouveau with a touch of whimsy and make sending snail-mail even more fun than it already is.
I am also having a paper crush on these cute thank you note sets I found at HomeGoods, via Chronicle Books.
RUNS WITH MARKERS 