This post is inspired by my previous post about juice boxes by Naoto Fukusawa!
An Apple A Day poster by Vik. Stick all the apple stickers on there! It's cool looking AND healthy!
This ring by Jia Style. It's named "Burning Volcano", but it totally looks like a strawberry to me!
Sweet fruit calender by Claire Nereim.
Check out these clever juice box designs by Naoto Fukusawa. He's known for his minimal yet intuitive design approach. Ultimately he designs to avoid the need for instruction manuals or descriptions....they're pretty much idiot proof.
Even though it seems so obvious, to achieve that level of simplicity is easier said than done.
So there's really no need to come up with juice names like "World's Best Real Fruit Juice So You GOTTA Get Some and Drink It and also Your Kids Will Love It and Get Addicted To it...Oh There's also Half Percent of Calcium and Antioxidant and NO TRANSFAT....plus FREE plastic lead toy included!!"
Not necessary.
I am super excited to share a little story behind the magic of La Casita De Wendy. Thanks to the invention of blogs, I had the pleasure to "meet" Inés & Iván on my blog through L&G blog!
I decided on a whim to contact Inés & Iván to share my love for their clothes. I wanted to find out how I can get my hands on their adorable dresses! (especially the top right, and the dress with the mug prints...actually all of it!!) I also asked them if I could do a blog post about them, and to my delight, Inés & Iván replied kindly and agreed!! I was thrilled that they took the time out of their busy and exciting life to do this. Thanks guys for all your awesomeness!
So, I'm excited to share everything about them and what they do! They make work seem so effortless and life more fun than the Wii! There's too much to talk about and I wouldn't do justice if I didn't share all this goodness with everyone! So be prepared to read a long post!
Inés & Iván are two super talented fashion & textile designers based in Madrid,Spain. (cool!) They often use colors and patterns that are nature inspired and motifs that reference Iberian fairytales. The result is carefree, passionate, romantic,and expressive. In essence, their designs capture the spirit of a fairytale girl living in a modern world...
Their designs are in tons stores around the world including Barneys in New York, Matsuya, Lamp, Koh Samui and Fenwick in London, Surface to Air in Paris, Suite in Barcelona, Deli Room in Madrid, and more. (even cooler!)
The two of them started La Casita De Wendy in 02' and they both actually first got their degrees in architecture. Clothing design started off simply as a hobby, but it's a total meant to be, because it seems that everything just fell into place for them....one word.....Bjork.
Yes, no joke.....Bjork wore their designs for one of her photoshoots for a magazine spread at one point!! (WHAT?!? that's just freaking ridiculously insane cool!) I can't even imagine how I would react if Bjork ever came to me and wore clothes I designed....if that ever happened to me in a million years...I think I would be happy to just dig a grave and bury myself alive...Yeah...since I'm pretty sure that I would probably just freeze and fall into a OH-MY-GOD-BJORK-WORE-MY-CLOTHES-coma for the rest of my life anyways....
Change subject. So here's my first little interview with La Casita De Wendy!
What's the main vision behind La Casita De Wendy?
We want to design beautiful stuff for creative people and we want to be inspired by the greatest beauty of nature.
Both of you hold an architecture degree, so what inspired you both to get into fashion design?
we started to make clothes just like a hobby and because it was difficult to find beautiful designs in Madrid, so we started to sell our collections to friends... and after a few years we realized that we liked designing soooo much that we decided to continue. It was a great help that we had a big success the first time we went to an international trade show and many shops like Barneys in New York wanted our stuff... and Bjork wanted to wear some of our designs... How did you two meet and how did the teaming up happen?
We met dancing Pulp!! and we start to go out together and that's all... we connected!What are your main roles in the Company?
Now we have a lot of work so we have to organize ourselves, Inés takes care of the collection, the samples, the sales... and Iván takes care of the production and special events, collaborations, consulting etc...
Where do you get your most inspirations from? We are inspired by Fairy tales, imagination, painting and of course nature.
Besides your love for fashion, what are some other loves you have?
we love cooking, staying at home, reading, painting and living.
What would your dream studio look like and where would it be? we love our studio as it is, but we would love to be more in the country, we are doing a vegetables garden in our backyard and we dream about having a big garden in the mountains and being able to work from there...So, I found out after the interview that besides all the amazing things they do designing clothes and textile...it ALSO turns out that Inés & Iván have started teaching fashion workshop called El Estudio!! They teach fashion workshops right from their atelier with students from all over Spain, Britain and beyond!
They teach them everything from creating their own sketch/inspiration book, to creating their own line, to branding, to ways to start their business! So by the end of the 16 week course, the students themselves can achieve their dream of designing their own line! You can see lots of great process photos from their El Estudio blog, too. I love seeing all the rich watercolor drawings and inspirations.
God! I so want to take off and live in Madrid for 4 months and take that workshop! (I'm talking to you God....can you make this happen?? it can count as my birthday present!)
They teach them everything from creating their own sketch/inspiration book, to creating their own line, to branding, to ways to start their business! So by the end of the 16 week course, the students themselves can achieve their dream of designing their own line! You can see lots of great process photos from their El Estudio blog, too. I love seeing all the rich watercolor drawings and inspirations.God! I so want to take off and live in Madrid for 4 months and take that workshop! (I'm talking to you God....can you make this happen?? it can count as my birthday present!)
Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing about them!
Okay, gotta go and figure out a plan to live/work/study in Madrid now since God isn't responding to me....I can never count on that guy!
You can also read their blog to read more about their inspiring lifestyle! If you can't read Spanish like me, use the handy google translate to read their site!....I don't know what I'd do if google didn't exist. Cheers!
L&G would like to share another book!! It's Betty Crocker's "Dinner For Two" Cookbook FILLED with amazing illustrations by Charley Harper. This cookbook is a total feast for the eyes especially for all of the Charley Harper fans out there.
We like how these illustrations are looser and more playfully sketched than a lot of his other work.
The cookbook is also filled with recipes for American favorites such as these delights below:
Roast beef, broiled hamburgers, speedy baked beans, green salad, quick brown bread, biscuits, apple pie, and strawberry shortcake. Mmmmm...
Try as they may to make the food photography look appealing, you can literally feel your arteries clogging as you look at the spreads. Thank goodness they had Charley Harper illustrations to keep the photos of shellacked roasts to a minimum.
You can see tons more images, here.
I've been eying on these origami pillows on UO for awhile now...must get. Actually I already ordered it!! I'm not always this compulsive, but I have a good feeling about these pillows....very good feeling.
Ever since I saw the magical origami animation I can't stop thinking about...so much that I had to get these pillows to sleep on it. It just brings back all the great childhood memories of doing origami....oh the satisfying feeling lining up to corners and making perfectly creased crips edges.....mmmm...crispy paper edges...
Via Reference Library
I would really REALLY like to get my hands on one of these Apartamento Magazines....they're about to release their 3rd issue on April 20th...all the way in Milan. Also they're putting together an Everyday Life Objects Shop.....UGH! it all sounds sooo cool!!! WHY do I live in Seattle and not Italy!?
Just look at the photos of the past issues (which are sold out! grrr)....what rich images, thick quality paper, great content and layout?....
Okay, can someone quit hogging it and pass that over to me please...., like NOW.
Dude, seriously.
I'm drooling over all the clothes and accessories at Stand Up Comedy, Portland.
loose and comfy-looking drappy clothes by Cosmic Wonder Light Source.
Clever cape dress by Mono.
Love this pair of peep-toe ankle boots by LD Tuttle.
Simple yet graphically striking book bags by Werkplaats Typografi.
Just saw over at Grain Edit that House Industries came out with a WHOLE line of products with Alexander Girard's illustrations and graphics! I've been a huge huge fan of Girard's work for years now and it's great to see that his spirit still lives on. House Industries dedicated 4 years capturing the essence of Girard's work and spirit. They first started off creating some font types....then next thing they knew, they were designing toys of all sorts, plush dolls, books and more!
See their whole collection and their great website, here.
Girard is an iconic Modern American designer who managed to integrate his expressive and vibrant colors, patterns, and graphics in everything imaginable. I couldn't help but include a ton of images of Girard's work. They're all just too good! Let's look at all his amazing accomplishments...
he designed textiles for Herman Miller (these are re-pros of his prints on maximo) God! I want all of that!
he designed a whole line of furniture,
did the branding for Braniff airline (remember those fab & glam pink and orange airplane interiors? Yup that's Girard!),
designed the interior for La Fonda Del Sol Reasturant, even down to the smallest things like the cups, glasses, teapots, mugs, plates, placematts, utensils, napkins and everything!
Girard is just like all his other crazy Herman Miller friends from the 50's (Eames, Sarrinen, Noguchi, George Nelson, etc.) who paved the road for modern American design. I don't understand how they all managed to make everything they did so totally awesome.....I swear the crack must of been better back in the days or something...there's just no other explanation.
Here's also a little Girard 101 by Todd Oldham below:
Ever dreamt about what your perfect cafe would feel and look like? I saw this on awhile back on Twig&Thistle, (Kathleen finds the best packaging inspirations!) and all this makes me totally jealous of the Scandinavians and how they're always one step ahead with their coolness. I love everything about this adorable place, SIS. Deli+Cafe in Finland. Not only do they have a well designed cafe that specializes in ecological and organic products, but their branding and packaging is totally perfect. I've always wanted to visit Finland and the surrounding Scandinavian countries. They seem to have such a great sense of warmth and thoughtfulness with their flawless integration of design in their everyday lives.
Just look at it....so simple, so fresh, so clean, so cute and handsome all at the same time!! I just love the use of black & white checkered pattern through out.
In the words of Liz Lemon: "I want to go to there"....and steal their coffee cups, bags, cookies, and even their menu. I bet even their napkins are cool....I'll take a whole pile of them. Okay, fine... I suppose I can pay 1 Euro for a heart-shaped cookie.
Guess what time it is?....it's storytime!! YAY
Quite possibly the number one reason to appreciate vintage is the furniture. I mean who can deny the power of minimalism, the quirkiness of organic designs, the richness of Danish teak? Furniture design truly hit its stride and this book written by Mario Dal Fabbro in 1949 was put together in the exciting early years.
The book is an incredible mix of lightly dimensioned technical drawings of design classics like Saarinen’s Womb chair and the Eames’ LCM along with do-it-yourself style projects. The book covers everything from chairs, tables, and desks to built-ins and shelving systems. All the drawings are hand done and have a consistent quality to them that is consistent throughout the book. There’s something about them that is mesmerizing and makes you want to learn to draft the old fashioned way.
We were particularly captivated by all the tricky folding designs that are throughout the book. In addition to some traditional folding furniture archetypes, there are a bunch of clever designs we’ve never seen before. Like these folding beds:
Or this sideboard with a swivel out work surface:
Or this articulating side table:
All these swiveling and fold out actions is like could turn your house into a life-size pop-up book! They certainly don’t make things like they used to, which is why it’s so great to have vintage books remind and inspire us to take use a put a little bit of past in our present.
Chika and I went on a little field trip to the Bellevue Art Museum to deliver some of our Chikabird goods for the BAM gift shop, so we thought...why not culture ourselves a little while we're at it! 
And boy, were we in for a treat. One of the most striking exhibit there are these series of glass pyrographs by Etsuko Ichikawa , where she literally paints with hot molten glass on thick paper that stretches 20ft tall. WHA-?! Just watch the video and be prepared to be visually mesmerized by the movement of the fire, the smoke, and the hot glass as it dances and drifts on the paper. Simply enthralling.
If you're a pyromaniac like me..you'll REALLY like watching this. FYI,I don't actually burn things down, I just like watching fire...and can do that for hours.
We first saw Etsuko's work and met her at SOIL gallery (an Seattle artist co-op organization) and were totally in awe by her work. Etsuko's process is similar to the swiftness of how Pollock throws his paints down allowing serendipitous results...where the process of creating the work is art in itself. Of course the actual results in comparison are entire different from each other. There's a level of serenity in Etsuko's process and work, and we think she is WAY more badass since she using hot molten glass at the end of a heavy 10ft long metal rod! DAH-NAH-NAH-NAH! (electric guitar sound)
Watch more videos of Etsuko making the prints at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma.
Jamie & Brian from Iacoli & Mcallister (founder of JOIN:Design) made it all the way to the big apple recently to showcase some of their colorful Mini Pedestals and Frame Pendants at the "Hue Are You?" exhibit organized by the American Design Club at the Future Perfect in Brooklyn from March 20th-April 30th....I feel like I should draw a mind map for all these groups and people. But Jamie & Brian are getting tons of excitement from coast to coast! YAY!!
"Hue Are You?" is a collection of up and coming designers around the states bring together new work involving the theme of color. AmDC's mission is similar to JOIN's, where we're all joining forces to promote designs made in the U.S. of A. High-fives to all the AmDC people from the west coast! Hi-5! 5! 5! 5!...and so on.
Here are some work shown.
nesting tables, elisa werbler.
Set of color crayon rings, timothy lilles.
Furniture by Paul Loebach.
Wish we could see all the awesomeness in person! But if you can't make it to the show like us, you can see more photos on Jamie & Brian's blog.
Dylan & I would like to present to you our newest project: A vintage book subscription service: L&G's Creative Literacy Bill of 2009!
We're here to provide some assistance of our own in these tough times. We decided to do our part to educate and inspire the populous through the power of vintage books. Our Creative Literacy Bill has all you need to inspire your everyday life and keep you optimistic during these hard times.
How it works: Ladies and Gentlemen hand selects each vintage book in the collection and sends one to your door each month for 6 months per subscription. For you, it's a literary surprise every month! We promise to only provide inspiring books we would want in our own collection. You promise to enjoy them. Simple, no?
We offer 4 "Stimulus Programs" each with a specific theme (click for more details or to subscribe):
Operation Crafty Freedom=Craft & How To Books
Residential Beautification Act=Home Decor & Improvement Books
No Inner-Child left Behind=Children's Books
Graphical Assistance Program= Books with inspiring graphics
Happy Reading!
L&G also shares select vintage books on it's Storytime Segments for Poppytalk. You can see some examples of books we pick up and share, here.
We just picked up these incredible original prints by Northwest artist Walton Butts at a local rummage sale. We've come across small items of his stuff before, but never such a great a collection of prints. We just had to buy them all up because he has this incredible way with color, texture and pattern in depicting scenes near and dear to our Seattle home. I haven't been able to find much info on him beyond that he worked out of the Washington State in the 60's, 70s, and 80s.
A pair of like prints in different colors:
A whimsical beach scene with clam diggers...great depth
A mythical tree on the beach
Ciao Bella!
Today, Dylan and I like to do a storytime...that's a little bit more personal: we'd like to share these great vintage Travel books, specifically about Italy. Italy holds a VERY dear place in both of our hearts....Yesterday was our 5th year annivasary and Rome was where we did a study abroad program together a year after we got together! We lived in a cute 300sqft apartment in the the Trestevere neighborhood and then traveled, explored, and ate our way around Italy, walked through numerous Roman ruins, got inspired by the glamorous Design shows in Milan, and witnessed a great historical event at the Vatican. Ahh...those were the days. These travel books reminds us of all the great things about the country and the culture.
Italy was where we found our common love for all things old & rustic. The dynamic of old & new was simply amazing...thousand year old buildings with spray painted tags, tiny Smart cars driving through narrow allies on cobble-stoned road, adorable old Italian couples and hip trendy young 20 year-olds all hanging out in a piazza after midnight.
In fact, we both took this silly Facebook "Where should you live?" quiz, and we BOTH got ITALY!! I took it first and asked Dylan to take it afterward. I was little concerned as he was taking the quiz, because if Dylan had gotten a different location, that would mean that our relationship was never going to work and we'd have to break up right away. Luckily, that's not going to happen. :D
Hanging out in the middle of a piazza is always fun. This is where people congregate no matter what time of the day it is. Our school studio was right in Campo Di Fiori. It's a food market during day, and a place to party at night. Old Italian men would sip their espresso and eat a cornettos (pastry) and just hang out. It was a perfect place to people watching.
I love the illustration from the travel book and the image of someone drying pasta. This is where we learn to appreciate all things handmade. We were amazed by the culture of handmade artisans across all spectrum. There were specialized shops for just pasta, cheese, bread, meat and even Tiramisu! 
But as designers, it was a total eye-opener to see other artisan shops for upholstery, welding, leather goods, instruments, clothes, shoes, and anything you can think of. You can go into any shop and see all the great old tools displayed and the actual artist making them with their own hands.
We also love coastal towns like these where houses and buildings are integrated right into the landscape. This was taken off the cost of Amalfi. It was like a playground for us as we went between buildings running on century old steps and cobble stoned roads, snapping photos non-stop, up, down, and all-around.
But the most amazing event was the on the day Dylan and I celebrated our first year anniversary in Rome...That was the day when Pope John Paul II died. All this happened only 3 days after we arrived in Rome. Trust me, this is not some sick joke. We ate at a horrible tourist trap restaurant that night, and when we left the restaurant, there were crowds of people mourning at all the churches around. We stopped and went in to see what was going on and heard some other English speaking person saying that they couldn't believe the Pope died! With the Vatican only 10 minutes away from our apartment, we walked there and experienced the historical event of a lifetime. Despite the fact that we were outsiders with little connection to the Pope and the religion, we were still overwhelmed with emotion being in the mist of it all. It was as if almost everyone in Rome and even Italy gathered at St. Peters holding a candle vigil and singing for the death of the Pope. It was beyond anything we'd imagine to expereince or see.
Here are some photos from our trip. You can see more, here.
1. Shadow of clothes drying outside our apartment. 2. Ornate mosaic floor. 3. Rustic white buildings in Matera. 4. Colosseum at night. 5. Ornate iron window. 6. Eerie abandoned town of Nocera, Umbria. 7. Trestevere neighborhood (where we lived in Rome). 8. Ceiling of Capitoline Museum. 9. Natural hot spring at Saturnia, Tuscany 10. Giant broken statue at the Capitoline Museum. 11. A colorful old Fiat 500 and a Vespa. 12. Flea market in Rome.
All this talk about travel makes me want to just take off and go somewhere different! Hope some of you are planning to go somewhere fun!
Ciao!
Today is Dylan and I's 5th year of unmarried anniversary!! I know it's April fool's day, but I'm not here to fool anyone...If that was the case, it would be the lamest joke ever.
To give you a little background story, Dylan and I met at UW when we were both in the industrial design department. It took us 2 long years before we became official. It was similar to Pam & Jim on the Office (we like to compare ourselves to fictional TV characters...) where we were both too shy to do anything besides making dumb jokes and goofing around. It wasn't until 2004 when we went on a class roadtrip to a design conference in San Francisco where we officially became an item....along with the help of a little alcohol. :P
We're not proud to say that we had to resort to that, but sometimes they sure come in handy! :D
But now...we're not quite sure how we're going to tell our kids that...I suppose we can tell them when they're in their 30's.
The following year, we spent our first anniversary in our most unforgettable trip when we went on a study abroad trip to Rome for almost 3 months. (more photos, here) Going through all the photos brought back so many memories. I made a little booklet for Dylan as our fist anniversary gift before actually going to Rome. The book was titled "w/o Words" and they're just series of images that highlights our first year together with silly graphics. (FYI, I'm not a graphic designer, so don't mind my horrible layout)
The front & back cover of the book
We started dating in April, so just a little chart showing our year from month to month.
Yes....This is how and where it happened. Shots of Absolut Mandrin in SF. Oh yeah...what a romantic beginning.
And then Teddy Bear (Dylan) and Taiwanese Doll (Jean) is in love. He can't call me Chinese Doll, because I'm not from China....and yes, there is a difference.
When I dream, I tend to dream of flying with butterflies in lollipop wonderland.
Dylan on the other hand dreamt that the Space Needle was on fire...That's when I fell in love with his humanitarian character. But Space Needle...really? I can care less about that thing let alone dream about it. :P
and THAT was our first breakfast we made together....you know what that means..(double wink...with both eyes) It was supposed to be chocolate pancake, but they didn't quite turn out the way we wanted to. We ate it anyways event though it looked like dog crap.
We took a short trip to Lyon & St. Etienne in France for School. We like that poster of Bush and the message saying "Cloning, no thanks!" That other poster totally CRACK us up! This bizarre wall art was in a romantic French style hotel room we stayed in. Everything about the room was beautiful and perfect, white soft bed with clean bedding, sheer laced curtain in front of a tall window with ornate iron fence and a view of the city...and then there was that print! The dreamy flower garden with an empty chair, a cello leaning against it and a draped white cloth...and then there's the German Shepperd staring at it....HUH?!?
These are photos I took of different knobs and door details in France. I love the colors and character of it all. But the facial expression on that thing on the right totally kills us, too. We thought it was hilarious that it was on a fancy public fountain. That was the face we made when we were looking at the poster with the German Shepperd. :D
And that's us, super-imposed around Rome....and with Pope John Paul II. Awesome!
THE END.
Found this through my new favorite blog, {Black.White.Yellow}. We love this simple and pare down woode frame Jazmine Lamp by Nina Tolstrup from Habitat. Love the cable detail. Coolness.
Today is my 27th birthday! Happy birthday to all the March 30th people out there!! I found out that I have the same birthday as Vincent Van Gogh! COOL!! (don't mind him, he's just a little pissed that he didn't get his ice cream cake this year) But besides him...I also have the same birthday as um... MC Hammer, okay...not Van Gogh, but still pretty cool.... He knows how to bring the party......oh, and there's Celin Dion...eeeeh, and Ian Ziering (the guy that nobody cared for from original 90210) Ah man! my cool level just totally tanked!
Anyways, it's not about them..it's about ME!.....and yeeeeees, I'm OFFICIALLY in my late twenties and am actually looking forward to the whole getting old thing! Woo Hoo!
I got super excited when I found this great blog, Advanced Style, with photos of beautifully aged "superior" people on the street. There's a great mix of styles from really sophisticated suits to funky but fabulous outfits.
Seeing all the photos of them got me really inspired, since they all express such true grace, pride, and beauty. Just look at their cool gray silvery hair, their impeccable style & color pallets, and the perfect accessories whether it be a cashmere scarves, a handkerchief, a hat, a leather case or shades...yeah...they're pretty stylin'.....All I can say is that I got a lot of work ahead of me to ever achieve that level of coolness....
It does make me wonder though... "what kind of grandma or grandpa will Dylan & I gonna look and act like when we turn 60 or 70?" ...Thought bubble....I think I would probably be one of those grandmas who swears at all the cars when driving but while I'm the one who drives like a maniac...and Dylan would be the grandpa that would stop and watch some construction work or yell "get off our property!" when no one is actually around and grumble a lot.....oh wait, never mind, I think we already do that now....
But of course, we'd both still be rummaging for cool objects together. I don't think that will ever change. :D
Whatever type of old people we become, I hope we are as cool as them....
I also need to some of these fabulous frames. NOW!
What kind of grandma or grandpa will YOU become when you turn 60 or 70?
Today on L&G's storytime segment for Poppytalk, we would like to share with you this wonderful book, "The Camera" one of Time-Life Book series. We found this book and it totally fuels us to get even more excited about cameras and photography!
Both Dylan and I are a little obsessed with cameras these days and recently found a twin lens Rolleicord V camera to add our collection of vintage cameras.
This beautiful book contains captivating historical and artful photos as well as informative instructions on how manual cameras work.
We simply love the graphic illustrations and all the striking black & white photos.
I think our next camera experiment is to get a microscope camera! Just imagine all the amazing things you can capture...a fly..crystallization of vitamin C! Remember looking at onion peels during science lab? I'm always the one hogging the microscope!
This crazy revolver is actually a camera invented in the late 1800's. Hmm, not sure why ANYONE would invent something like this. What was the objective?!...whatever it is, I think it's a cruel joke! Imagine using that and pointing it at people you know and shouting "say cheese!!"....You'd wonder why everyone in your photos looks horrified. I would definitely add this to my list of 'really useless inventions' along with Roomba and The Jonas Brothers. (sorry!)
But this is a book filled with visual inspirations that will get anyone to pick up a camera...or if you're like us, you'll end up picking up ten cameras!