Photos from Spain Part 1: Araceli's Wedding in Munilla

 We flew into Bilbao and then drove 2 hours to my friend's ancestral home
in the teeny tiny village of Munilla (population 100!)


Detail from a doorway in Munilla


Incredible tiles in Araceli's house

The groom, bride and guests pitch in to prepare dinner in the 14C piazza.

Dinner in the town square the night before the wedding


The groom's socks and shoes. #styley

The kiss!

Mr and Mrs. Adams.

Araceli and the very fun Louis at the reception

Fun House + Home / Hudson's bay party

Very fun party to celebrate the New Home floor on 6th floor of Hudson's Bay tonight.

Fun to see many of my favourite design people.

 Kimberley Brown, Me, Sarah Hartill and Emma Reddington

 The very handsome Arren Williams and Tommy Smythe.

 Great crowd.

 Emma and Kimberley deep in conversation.


 Margot Austin rockin her Hudson's Bay stripes and new shoes. 

Delicious cocktails.

Thanks Arren and Hudson's Bay!

My new favourite thing

is comedian Hari Kondabolu.
So smart and funny.
See here.

CBC love

Some Twitter love from two of my favourite CBC fellas: Brent Bambury + Matt Galloway.

 

#thrilled #iloveCBCradio #late #3weeksago #betterlatethannever

Inspiration: Tomi Ungerer - One of the absolute best!

On Sept 6th I saw the documentary Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story

Tomi is one of my all time favourite illustrators (his economical line!! his humour! his fabulous kids books! his incredible political posters! his saucy erotic drawings!) and I can't recommend the doc enuf. Thanks so much to Glenn Sumi for the reco. :-)
Watch the trailer here.

Covet Garden in the House!

Today the gals from Covet Garden along with photographer Jodi Pudge + assistant Ian were chez moi to shoot my space for Covet Garden's upcoming book. I was thrilled to have Jodi shoot my space as I've admired her work for years. Below some pics from a very fun day.

 Setting up

 

Editor Jessica Reid + Jodi assess the situation!

Jessica, Jodi + delicious scones from the Drake - which Jodi declared the best in the city!

Its true ... very flakey.

Jodi,  Jessica + Editor Lynda Felton in background posing in a classic "Serious Editor" pose.

Hi-larious.

Here she is doing it again!

Lynda is one of the funniest people I've ever met - she kept me cracking up the entire day.

 

Jodi shooting me while I shoot her.

Yes... very Meta.

With Jodi's shooting and Jessica + Lynda's styling + input the photos turned out absolutely gorgeous! Alas I can't show them to you until December when the book comes out. Can't wait!

ps. Speaking of... Have you ordered your copy yet?

File under Funny people

I went to hear Canadian mom turned Hollywood screenwriter /Twitter sensation Kelly Oxford this week.
Funny and inspirational both in terms of both her writing + style.

My Favourite exchange:

Interviewer: Why do you put in so many specific references in your writing like Orphan Annie's broken locket? Aren't you worried that people won't get the references?

Kelly: I put them in to bring my people closer to me. My people get the references. :-)

It's inspiration for me to always create + write from the truest part of myself - and then have confidence that it will resonate with others.

Uppercase magazine + my friend Scott

The latest issue of Uppercase magazine arrived yesterday. It was filled with all sorts of juicy features as usual but my favourite part was seeing the sweet face of my friend Scott Linder beaming from the contributor's page.

 Scott drew upon his own incredible collection of books to write his thoughtful + funny article.

Readers of this blog will have seen Scott's face several times in the past as he is my constant companion whenever I am in New York. With his saavy sense of the city + a deep knowledge of literature, art, and design - he is truly the ultimate tour guide! 


Scott Linder in his natural habitat: rifling through treasures at the Strand bookstore.

Scott maintains a fantastic tumblr called bookshelftherapy.
It is quirky and wise and wonderful.... just like him.

Way to go Lena Dunham.

Inspiration: Diana Vreeland

On the wknd I went to see this doc on legendary editor Diana Vreeland.
Inspirational. 

 Above + Below: Diana in her offices at Harper's Baazar and Vogue.

"There's only one very good life. That's the one that you know that you want - that you make yourself"
-Diana Vreeland
You can see the trailer here.

David Rakoff 1964 - 2012

Unbearably sad. One of my favourite writers.

Social Media Explained by Mac Web Guru Douglas Wray
#SharpFunny

5 year old analyzes logos

Cincinnati, Ohio-based identity designer Adam Ladd asked his 5-year-old daughter her impressions on some popular logos. Watch it here.
Unbearably cute (and perceptive!) and for some reason made me cry. :-)

If ya wanna know what's on my mind... check my Pinterest boards

I'm working on a bunch of illustration assignments this week so won't have much time to blog.
In the meantime if you wanna know what juicy things I'm thinking about you can always check out my Pinterest boards!
Here are a few faves this week.

Pinned onto "Books to Order":

The new tome on Alexander Girard by Todd Oldman.
Girard is best known for the bold colourful textiles that he created for Herman Miller - and he has long been a Total Mentor. Todd Oldman is a Mentor too. :-)


Pinned onto "Inspiration":


These adorable Stag + Hedgehog lampshades by UK based Lush Designs.
(Discovered thru Living Etc magazine)
Lush design = Marie Rodgers + Maria Livings. They seem like my kind o'women! Hilarious.

Pinned onto "Funny Writing":

Yep two.
I find this to be quite true...

See you in Pinland!

Inspiration: Unzipped

Over the holidays I rewatched one of my favourite docs: Unzipped.
The doc follows designer Isaac Mizrahi as he plans his fall 1994 collection.
Directed by Douglas Keeve.

Very inspirational + a great peek inside the creative process.

Isaac Mizrahi drawing + deeply focused. I LOVE this photo.


In his Manhattan apt kvetching to a friend and freaking out re: his upcoming show. (Classic creative person!) Decor note: Love the salon wall!

One of my favourite people in the doc is Issac's producer Nina Santisi. (Above in headset) She is so grounded, organized + supportive - ie. what every zany creative person needs! When Issac's show is a success she is the first person he calls. Significant.

Inspiration: Comedian + Writer Demetri Martin

Demetri Martin is talking about his creative process on Q right now.
Really great. Smart + funny.

Some good lines:
"I have to make sure my writing is a by product of my life" (ie. authentic - not just carried out for a goal of making a movie)

"If I spend the day making things I feel good. If I spend the day reading Twitter I feel lousy"

" I love Stand up comedy because it gives me a short feedback loop"
The same could be said of blogging. :-)

A-mazing: 'Outside the box' by Joseph Pelling.

How adorable are these espresso sipping characters?

I like to think "Outside the box"


Animated short film Outside the box by UK based Joseph Pelling.
One of the best things I've ever seen.
Love the illustration, animation and writing.

Jian + Gary Shteyngart

Jian Ghomeshi + Gary Shteyngart
(Don't you love that unshaved look?) yum.

On Saturday I went to see Gary Shteyngart at The IFOA. He did a hilarious reading of Super Sad True Love story followed by a hilarious interview with Jian Ghomeshi. Really... it was a laugh a minute.
Some favourite lines:
"A bunch of us writers in New York meet every night at Café Sabarsky to bemoan the end of literature. Between 11pm and 2 am is the Crying Hour. We all freak out... and we all have an HBO series in our pocket."
"As Jonathan Franzen says "Welcome to Fiction... the new poetry!"
"Being the child of immigrant parents I work 3 times harder than any of my peers - cuz I don't have a trust fund to fall back on."
Part of the interview will be played on Q tomorrow (Wed Oct 26). Highly recommended!

ps. The time has come for me to declare that I think Jian is a National Treasure.
Yes very corny.

Press: Design Lines

The Winter Issue of Design Lines hit stores today!
It is beautifully designed as always by Melissa + Henry of Sali Tabacchi.
(Yes I'm biased:-))

The issue includes a big feature on paper goods made by Canadian artists. My silk screened Alphabet cards are included in the list. See below.

The list also includes great cards from Kid Icarus + Whigby. (who I adore!)
(Whigby is founded by the talented + funny Frank Viva. I will write a full post on him at some point!)

A close up of my Alphabet cards

Available at:
TYPE books
883 Queen St. West Toronto
and
Good egg
267 Augusta Ave. Toronto

ps. The issue also includes a feature on the gorgeous home of Paul Bain + Isa Spalding written by my friend Alison Garwood Jones. Way to go Alison.
pss. Look at that Paul Smith Rug. Soooo juicy. Also I love the painting over the sofa. It reads "Over the Sofa". Wish I thought of that.