New work : Food quotes

Inspired by all the great signs, lettering and wall art in Stockholm and Berlin I set up a little painting station in my hotel and painted a page of food quotes using watercolour. I liked juxtaposing a funny quote by Woody Allen with the more serious of Brillat-Savarin. I plan to blow this up and turn into a mural.

Copenhagen

There is still much to post about Berlin
(I attended some Berlin fashion week events and met some great designers which I will write about)
but for now am posting a few pics from Copenhagen
Design highlights:
Bikes
Bikes
Bikes
So beautiful I want to photograph them all
the houses
the 'identifiation signs' which hang over shops
my hotel!
Betrams Hotel Guldsmeden
Bali influenced decor
beautiful and tranquil
rooms have balconies overlooking an adorable courtyard
Every detail focused to create hygge which is a very important conecpt for the Danes.
From Conde nast traveller:
Hygge is hard to pronounce and impossible to define precisely. Roughly translated, the word means cozy, but it's far more nuanced than that. Incorporating all things warm, fuzzy, and comforting, hygge is a distinctly Danish thing that embodies the highest aspirations of the culture. It's a kind of super-gemütlich state of well-being, an internal feng shui. It's the happy glow you get sitting around a fireplace on a winter evening. Drinking schnapps. Snacking heavily. Lounging in a woolly sweater on a soft Arne Jacobsen "egg" chair and sensing that there is, in fact, nothing rotten in the state of Denmark.

Berlin: Signs and lettering

As always when I travel, I am drawn to signs and lettering

Berlin: Some images

Norman Foster's eagle at the Reichstag

Photograph from Holocaust Memorial
(Protest after the war)

Holocaust Memorial designed by architect Peter Eisenman

One of so many beautiful courtyards

Sanssoucci beauty

Martin Haake and Olaf Hajek

Olaf shows me his portfolio while Martin works at his desk in background

Martin with one of his inspirational books (and mine): This is New York by Sasek

Olaf in the computer section of the studio

Olaf's paints and some paintings - beautiful!!


A rug created out of one of Olaf's paintings which hangs in the OLIV cafe in Mitte.

On Tuesday I interviewed the illustrators Olaf Hajek and Martin Haake in their wonderful shared studio in Mitte.
I will be posting my notes from our interview on Sunday but for now a few photos of their fantastic studio. ps. They are as nice as they are talented.

Monika Aichele: Illustrator on the Go!

On Monday I interviewed the illustrator Monika Aichele. We met in her wonderful apt/studio in Prenzlauerberg - a neighbourhood in the former East Germany which has undergone dizzying changes since Reunification. Her apartment was filled with a wonderful collection of books, art made by her friends, and tchtokes from her many travels. We chatted on her sweet, plant filled balcony from which we had a great view of the city.
There was a real sense of movement and multitasking about Monika. When I arrived she was dashing about finishing up an assignment while her shiny silver suitcase sat packed and ready to be taken to Munich in morning!
It was not surprising to me that she was so busy. In addition to doing illustration in a number of different styles Monika also teaches at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, maintains a resource website for illustrators called How I got that idea, exhibits her work frequently through Europe and collaborates with other artists on projects! (One of the most well known of her collaborations is the Giant Monkey project she created with Stefan Seigmeister. See photos above. She also frequently travels to Munich, New York and Barcelona! It is no wonder she enjoys drawing on trains.

One of Monika's great strengths is her conceptual illustration so I asked her several questions concerning this. She credits her ability to think conceptually in large part to Heinz Adelmann, one of her instructors at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. She explained that he trained his students to think in a way similar to that of a coach training an athlete. He always pushed her to go beyond the cliche idea - to keep thinking and thinking until an original idea emerged. To look at Monika's wondeful body work it is obvious that this intense training paid off.

Stockholm

wow.

Very graphic street cover thingies. Loved them.

Hand lettering at my hotel.
(lots of art on walls in general yay)



Home of Josef Frank textiles.

I seemed very keen so they gave me a catalogue.




Museum of Medieval History.
Stained glass and woodcuts were enlarged and printed on fabric. Very striking.


Textiles by Stig Lindberg.

Stockholm Design highlights:
Hand lettering on the wall around the door entrances in my hotel
*Josef Frank textiles at Svenskt Tenn*
Stig Lindberg pottery + textiles
Olle Eksell illustrations (seen in National museum)
Numbers on doorways
Everything in Gamla Stan
The people! Everyone so beautiful, healthy looking and riding a bike. wow
Note: Am interested in researching more about Estrid Erikson: founder of Svenskt Tenn. I have a feeling she's a guide.

Leaving today: Interviews with 3 German Illustrators

Martin Haake

Olaf Hajek

Monika Aichele

Hallo! Am leaving in few hours for my trip.
Thrilled to report that while in Berlin I will be interviewing 3 incredible German illustrators for Uppercase magazine: Martin Haake, Olaf Hajek, and Monika Aichele.
Am too rushed to provide links! Will insert later. Google them - they are all fantastic.
Pop by my blog for photos of their studios and notes from my interviews!
Auf Weidersehen!

Sketching + podcasts: Wo ist der Banhof?

My messy studio.

I am racing to get my illos finished for the book i'm working on while listening to two podcasts: both of which I find very adorable due to the earnestness of the podcasters.
Learn German podcast
is run by a fellow named Stephan in Munich. Tonight I learned how to ask Wo is der Bahnhof? amongst many other helpful phrases.

military history podcastis the creation of George Hageman a keen student in Seattle who started it when he was 13 years old! How adorable is that! Here is an article written about him in the Seattle Times.
I have one thing to say to both Stephan + George and that is LONG LIVE the NERD. You make our lives better. THANKS.

ps. If any readers have been to Berlin recently and would like to recommend some cozy cafes, design stores -- or anything else - Don't hold back! I leave in 4 days.

New needlepoint project: 'A' pillow

New needlepoint.

Wrist Watch Wednesday: Vintage Tissot

Fantastic Tissot watch found on specimen at Yonge and Dundas.
Love the font used with extreme contrast of thick and thin widths. (Bodoni?)
Also love the varying size in the numbers and swirl pattern.
Very 'Alice in Wonderland'.

Lisa Levitt

Lisa Levitt, "Folded Shirt", Linocut on Usukuchi Kozo.



Lisa's kitchen

My friend Lisa Levitt passed away this past Saturday June 13th. She was a friend from both the Y and Open Studio.(A printmaking studio in Toronto)
In addition to being a talented printmaker - specializing in lino cut- Lisa was smart, funny, fiercely independant, and possessed a remarkable visual style. Her apartment was one of my favorite spaces in the city to visit as it had such an incredible soul to it. It was filled with bold paint colours, found objects, art work made by herself and her friends, tons of books, marimekko textiles, and stacks of new yorker magazines. Her style and ability to combine objects together in wonderous ways was remarked upon many, many times at the memorial today. Open studio is in the process of publishing a catalogue of her work. I will post a link to it when it's ready.

She will be dearly missed and remembered always.

New work: Librarian shoe

New work: Book cover for Penguin UK

I just finished my book cover for Penguin UK.

I worked with the wonderful designer Ami Smithson of cabin.uk who designed the cover of Zadie Smith's novel White Teeth amongst many others.


Birdie swinging on back cover. w-e-e-e!

Completed chaise with pillows for front cover.

Squiggly elements.

Above is the completed chaise lounge which will appear on the front. For the back cover I sent Ami a bunch of squiggly drawings (above) and she played around with them until she came up with the bird swinging from the chandelier. It's my favorite part - We-e-ee!

Uppercase: A magazine for the Creative + Curious

First issue of Uppercase magazine. Already sold out!

Second issue due out early July.

Janine Vangool in her shop

I was asked to contribute some work to the next issue of uppercase magazine. For those not familiar with it - the magazine is the brainchild of Janine Vangool: a Calgary based designer + entrepreneurial dynamo who appears not to sleep! In addition to producing the magazine Janine also curates gallery shows, runs a design shop and maintains a blog which is full of curiousites such as vintage typewriter manuals. I love her sensibility + sense of design which definitely falls under the category of 'librarian chic'.
Check out the website and be prepared to be inspired.
www.uppercasegallery.ca


My Binoculars created for Issue 2.

My scissors will appear alongside an article on the history of Fiskers scissors (those famous orange scissors from Finland)

More fashion sketches