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.
Check them out - 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

Sketches

More sketches for fashion book

A few more sketches for the book I'm working on.
Today when working on the Lilly Pulitzer dress I researched the history of the company and found it so interesting that I wrote a little story about it. I love the connection of the dresses with a juice stand.

Sketch

Sketch for a book I'm working on about how to dress after age 40.
I think this businesswoman looks kinda wonky like - she's gonna do the twist on the subway platform.