designer's library

National Stationery Show, May 18-21 (Booth 1448)

At the beginning of this year I started a new project/division called Mixed Co., which provides grassroots marketing and representation for independent designers. The first of several shows planned for 2008, we'll be at the National Stationery Show (Booth 1448) from May 18-21 at the Javits Center in New York City representing a talented group of designers including Allymoon, Good on Paper, Linea Carta, Laurel Denise, Nantaka Joy, and, of course, my company Mateo Ilasco. If you'll be visiting the show, do stop by and say hello!

Lines & Shapes, Vol. 2

I'm so happy to be a part of Maria & Lena's Lines & Shapes, Vol. 2. Other artists featured in the book are: Jim Green, Maditi, ThussFarrell, and Stephanie Waddell. It was great exploring the book's theme, "Block". I decoupaged wood blocks with graphic symbols and strung them together to create flexible wood block sculptures (see image above for one of the sculptures).

Below is an image that didn't make it into the book which shows almost all the blocks.

This image is in the book. I share a studio with a 3 other artists/designers, including Lisa of Good on Paper, and this is an image I shot of the blinds on her front window. I love black and white stripes!

The book is only $21 plus shipping or you can get a subscription so that you get all volumes. If you need visual inspiration, you should definitely have these on your bookshelf!

Greg Lamarche

With the Stationery Show coming up, it's been pretty busy over here and blog neglect has totally set in. But I did want to post about Greg Lamarche, a collage artist, whose work I saw on White Walls, an urban art gallery, in San Francisco. I can't believe I haven't been to this gallery yet. And I'm bummed I missed the Ian M. Johnson show back in February. I'd love to get one of his pieces for my home.

On a happy note, I was able to get tickets to the Flight of the Conchords show in SF. Thank goodness they added another date.

Post-Modern Economy

Just some quick Modern Economy-related updates:

-Congratulations to Hae Min Cho of SF for winning the $150 prize package raffle!

-Thank you to Jane Maynard for posting about the sale on her blog and for taking great pictures of the sale. We brought our camera but forgot the all-essential battery so we didn't have any images from the event.

- And with all the busy-ness preparing for the sale, I didn't realize that tickets went on sale for the Flight of the Conchords concert in SF. And now, the all the tickets are sold out. Not cool.

(Image above: ©2008 jane maynard design)

Modern Economy 3rd Annual SF Sale

Hey, we're having another Modern Economy sample sale this Saturday! New to the SF sales will be goods from designers like Virginia Johnson, Dermond Peterson, Fleurville, Petunia Pickle Bottom, J. Mendicino, Offi, Petit Collage, Ses Petites Mains, Xenia Taler, and Agnes and Hoss. Most everything will be marked down from 25%-75% (sometimes more) off retail. Come to get stuff to jazz up your house, get clothing and accessories for the summer, and get gorgeous goods for your baby! Here are the details:

Modern Economy Sample Sale
Saturday, April 12, 2008
10:30am to 3:00pm

Fort Mason Center
Bldg. A Conference Center
San Francisco, CA

Admission is free.
And credit card only, people!

For more info, visit: http://www.modeconomy.com

Articles

I was featured in the Wall Street Journal yesterday in a cool little article called "Crafty Hobbyists Create New Careers Using the Web". Though in the article it seems current, I actually started that wedding invitation business with a partner many moons ago...like 9 years ago and sold it about 3 years ago!

And I was also in another article back in February in the Washington Post and Entrepreneur.com that I forgot to mention. It was an article called "The Benefits of Pregnancy". I like how she used the term "blindsided" to describe my pregnancy (my tactful parents had a better word to describe it) --which just means that when you're crazy busy running your own business (and trying to go to grad school at the same time) you sometimes forget to take a certain daily dose of a certain something that stops surprises like this from happening. So take note women business owners! And seriously, I don't know what possessed me to think I could run a business and finish architecture school at the same time. Sometimes I overestimate my abilities to multi-task. Just a little bit. And I also have to point out that contrary to the article, I do not own a "craft store" (it might have been confused with the wedding invitation retail shop I used to own). I do have a studio in Berkeley, but please don't come knocking on my door looking to buy foam stamps or glue guns. Though I may part with my beadazzler for the right price.

Nickey Kehoe

So I learned about this design duo Nickey Kehoe (Todd Nickey & Amy Kehoe) from Domino magazine's "Domino 10". I love that they describe their approach to interior design as avoiding "design diva energy"! I can understand that. While I can appreciate that type of diva energy and design style, it's not exactly something I'd want in my house. I'm sure their portfolio doesn't show their current projects, so I hope they add more images of their warm minimalist style.

Dagmar

Nice logo and nice clothes by Dagmar. And they're Swedish...of course.

Pattern Magic Vol. 2

Alright. Since Lisa's told me that she's "tired of looking at the computer wires" on the previous post (and really, so am I)--I've finally put together a new post. Things have been super busy lately and because of all the work I've been producing over the past month and half, it's given me some carpal tunnel issues. Great. So I've had to limit my computer work, like blog posting.

But anyway, I got this book called Pattern Magic Vol. 2 a few months ago. While I don't plan on making any of these pieces (I don't know how to sew and the wearability of some of the pieces are totally questionable--like the bottom image), I was intrigued by the sculptural and architectural forms of the clothes. Really beautiful pieces.

Core Memory

I just got this book, Core Memory: A Visual Survey of Vintage Computers. It's really visually inspiring (and supremely nerdy), but I love seeing the organization of wires, switches, and buttons! Who knows...I just might make a trip out to visit the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley to see all these computer dinosaurs.