caricature + pictograms

always forgive your enemies nothing annoys them more - oscar wilde

noma bar conveys intensity and intricate story lines with no words and negative space.  born+schooled in israel with a move to london after graduation, pictograms are a logical and clever go-to for the non-native speaker in new land.  “i’ve always found pictograms to be fascinating – they can tell stories just as well as words, and they can have multiple interpretations. so i began collecting them in their various forms (stickers, etc.), and i learned to develop my own sign language.”  – bar (@newyorker.com)

political cities

bar began illustrating in a bunker with his family when a radio active symbol looked alarmingly like saddam hussein.  this drawing earned him his first commission in london.

this is the end

but bar is not strictly limited to political topics – his whimsical paperback, guess who: the illustrations of noma bar features icons from all walks.  diplomatic characters and artistic influences line each page, including charlie chaplin – who earns cover status, as bar notes “silent comedy was also a great influence on me—telling stories without words.”

dlylan + potter

i think i’m in love with this guy.  this response to What do you have for breakfast? in the wallpaper Q+A sealed the deal:
Cornflakes, coffee and humous. I love humous, I would like to be buried in a large humous jar. me too.

see more powerful works here

 

meet : aïssa logerot

the french designer most known for the light graffiti instrument : halo light, has several ‘handy’ designs that i am especially fond of . . . <best part: toothpicks are removable/changeable>

chopsticks AND toothpicks

also

spoon/chopstick +

wait for it

soy sauce dish!

though truth be told i like to use chopsticks as a compliment to my spoon when enjoying tasty noodle soups.  still – better than the spork.  aïssa logerot also designed this clever coffee table, which sows the weight of any objects resting on it

instable

plus – the individual wooden pieces can be removed + rotated to display a grey face – creating words, designs or chess boards.   love me some multifunctionality!

unstable

 

meet : anna maria

bouquet rug + water blossom pillow

anna maria horner lives in nashville with her husband and six (!) children.  she designs homegoods and fabrics mixing shabby chic with pops of vibrant color – bringing age-old family traditions, such as quilting + crocheting, into the modern interweb world.  at the recent quilt market in houston, the back wall of her booth displayed a beautiful coverlet – simple in design but complex with intricate fabrics: a real show piece <also – awesome couch!>

new anna maria fabrics

seems perfect for remnants sitting around – so long as they are in the same color scheme -or- if you are good at arranging hues in a pleasing grid : i love muslin walls for quilt preview

up close

to relieve you of my total geeking out, i’ll end here – but if you’d like, see more on her blog

 

please enjoy : ji lee

all-in-one card stamp

while touring google’s mountain view campus this past summer, i had the pleasure of briefly meeting google creative director ji lee.  i thought my first encounter with the inovative mastermind was his brilliantly designed google business cards.  foolishly forgetting lee was behind the bubble project years prior.  lee’s focus <and strength> in the bubble project, business card, and stamp pictured above is clear : versatility.  the interactive nature of his direction unifies lee’s vision and propels him into a class of phenom talent.  can’t wait to see what’s next!

 

meet: sebastian E

with stops in edinburgh & washington – santiago, chile native & fullbright scholarship recipient, sebastian errazuriz came to nyc in 2006.  his work is monumentally inspired by marcel duchamp – relating duchamp’s found object art with his own displacement of everyday ‘common’ objects.

The Tree, 2006

sebastian E had a “10-meter high magnolia tree planted in the center of chile’s national stadium where director pinochet tortured political prisoners 30 years ago <prior>. during a whole week, the de-contextualized stadium was open to the public as a park. a cathartic soccer match played before 15,000 with the tree in the middle”  clearly his work is not just aesthetically pleasing but also reflective, political and thought-provoking.

The Cow, 2005

another example of his duchampian style, sebastian E placed a cow, “rescued from a slaughter house . . . taken to a recreated farm on top of a ten story building in the center of santiago; bartola the cow grazes silently”

Repisa N5

mimicking piano keys, this bookshelf only takes up as much space as necessary & that amount is variable.  it’s functionality is on par with it’s elegance.  from an interview interview, sebastian E says “I try to Google every idea I have. Normally I go up to page 40 in Google, and if by then nothing has appeared, I want to think that it just doesn’t exist.”

Dress N4

his pieces always contain an element of humor – though not always lighthearted, the works very much speak for themselves & so I will allow them to  . . .

Accesories

Special Edition

Various

lego head

homage

these images and many more pictures and concepts can be found on his site.

 

meet: tara donovan

Untitled, 2003 - paper plates + glue

using mass manufactured materials to form beautifully organic topography, tara donovan sculpts with repetition.  her installations are acclaimed as a devotion to technique: using one object repeatedly – often approaching millions in count – donovan invites us to reconsider the configuration of common objects.

Nebulous, 2002 - scotch tape

Nebulous, 2002 - detail

the fluidity and beauty both within and surrounding Nebulous + Untitled [pictured above + below] are astonishing given the medium.  the sheer quantity of materials paired with an architectural vision, construct stunning biomorphic forms.

at an early age, i pledged my allegiance to mother earth by vowing to never use styrofoam cups – despite potential dehydration.  it is therefore with muddled admiration that i call this next work *favorite*

Untitled, 2003 - styrofoam cups, hot glue

Ace Gallery, los angeles

simultaneously modern and timeless, the cups flow and take shape of a bleached inverted underwater world – or the terrain of uncharted galaxies

Untitled, 2003 - detail

Ace Gallery, new york

last year, her show at the met was extended three times and visited by nearly 335,000 visitors.  as a 2008  macarthur fellow, i look forward to donovan’s second solo exhibition scheduled for spring of this year.

 

meet: max wanger

hang in there

max wanger is a skilled and thoughtful photographer.  his use of light, color and composition are each delightful in their own right.  by integrating a wonderful sense of humor to this foundation, fairy tale images develop.

up, up and away!

mw’s staged scenes of wonder are particularly elegant.  the snapshots appear effortless + playful – simultaneously utilizing subdued + sophisticated tones of color.  below are highlights of his in-love work [read: a much broader body of subject matter can be found here]

joanna + alex

grace + dominic

shoko + julian

mw was gracious enough to answer our begging questions:

the robotic: which camera do you prefer to use and why?

right now i’m loving the 5D mark II. it’s great for low light and i love being able to shoot video with it. so much fun.

the curious: favorite time of day?

late afternoon. sundays. in the summer. there’s something about the warmth, the light, the air…

the nosey: do you push couples to be creative or do they push you?

a little bit of both. i like to give couples the freedom to do as they please. they can bring whatever they want to the table. but i also know that my job is to make sure they have fun and are happy with the final product. whether they know it or not, they always push me to be better than the last time, to step up my game and be as original and creative as possible. i’m always being pushed to be the best that i can be.

the reflective: how has your work transformed since you began?

in the beginning, i guess i followed certain rules and i let that get in the way of my growth. now, i don’t like to follow the rules. i trust my instincts and my eye and don’t worry about anything else. my work is also much more reflective of my personal style and aesthetic now.

the artistic: what inspires you?

new york, tokyo, paris. little kids with style. rodney smith and tim walker. my family. margaux. good music. monocle magazine. naoto fukusawa. anthony bourdain. the aloha spirit. the sartorialist.

the silly: what is your guilty pleasure?

the bachelor. margaux (my fiance) got me into it. i was completely against it at first, but by the third show, i was hooked.

the professional: what is your favorite part of the job?

it doesn’t always happen, but it’s the feeling you get when you know you’ve taken that one great shot. it’s usually not planned, it just happens and when it does, you just know. that’s an amazing feeling.

for more on max, he blogs + works in los angeles.

 

meet: alexander girard

alexander girard was one of the pivotal figures in post-war american design.  best known as a mid-century textile artist for herman miller, girard was brilliant with pattern + shape. his work ranges from fabric –to–> restaurant design –to–> airline re-branding.  my favorite of all of girard’s work are his wooden dolls:

reproductions: $160 each

influenced by countries where craft and folk art thrive, girard found inspiration from traditional processes and motifs.  he was excited by cultures seemingly untouched by industrial reform and created the dolls for personal use [objective: 1/2 decorative + 0.5 toy]

the wooden dolls now have serious competition [for #1 in my <3] : bicycles!
electra bicycle company offers two beautiful girard motifs featured on the amsterdam style
[tree of life in white + madonna in red]

MSRP $750

for even more girard shopping, additional objects are sold at house industries.