Owen & His Brown Paper Bags

I’ve been working from home this past week, which has me in and out of the apartment quite a bit. One of my projects has me texture scouting, so every time I need a coffee, I grab the Canon to get some high resolution imagery along the way. As you can imagine, I pop my head into every new nook and cranny that emerges in my five-block radius. This brings me to the newly opened Owen store on Washington St. While they were setting up yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice the brown bag wall installation. So simple, very bottle-on-the-subway-chic, with an Anthropologie-like application. I’ll forever be a fan of small things in mass. What do you think?

June 8, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Twitter Influencer: Spiros Halaris

Spiros Halaris is a multi-disciplinary illustrator, graphic designer and art director. He has served as freelancer, collaborator and staff member to various ad agencies, boutiques, brands and publications worldwide. He is also the founder of the creative studio, KOKOMI. His work consists of bold lines and graphic shapes, frequently incorporating typography and vibrant hues.

Halaris’s illustrations are like fluid dreams, woven together with pops of whimsy and a mature hand. It’s no wonder that brands and clients are eager to collaborate. Proving that he’s a triple threat, Halaris also contributes as an arts columnist for Glass magazine and a fashion correspondent for Filep Motwary. On twitter, it’s easy to see that he is as versatile as his work, sharing all that inspires him.

June 8, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Book Review: Paper Works

Paper will forever be popular among artists for all of it’s transformative qualities. It’s a medium where the limitations are dependent upon the designer – a topic which is explored at length in Paper Works.

Paper Works has a little bit of everything – from carved paper books, to room-encompassing installations to avant-guarde fashion, and so on.

For those of us perched behind a computer, this book will inspire you to start crafting again.

Cover image via Kronalion.

June 7, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Textile Inspiration & Children's Illustrations

I find when I’m searching for inspiration for patterns or textiles I often start by looking at objects rather than the actual patterns on things. I love to find a collection of objects with a similar purpose or hand that I can group together to discover a new shape or texture. Here’s one of my recent inspirational collections:

Children’s Illustrations:

On the heels of my Pebeo Pen project, here’s some more inspiration. Tom Seidmann Freud was a woman, and, yes a relative of the Sigmund Freud. She died young, suicide, after her husband’s career failure. You can read more here.

Aren’t these beautiful? They are mostly children’s storybook illustrations, but I love how they have a natural narrative quality that makes the idea of words seem non-essential. The fifth image today is not from Tom Seidmann Freud, but these German Christmas ornaments seemed like they could be characters in her illustrations, don’t you think?

By Kimberly Hall

June 6, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

City Perspectives from Above

It’s always fascinating to see how illustrators, photographers and editors choose to portray a city. Recently a crop of overlapping interpretations have been surfacing online and in print. Vasco Mourao is an illustrator-turned-architect with an arsenal of highly detailed drawings. This Mourao image of Manhattan recently appeared in The New Yorker.

Stepping into a more commercial category, the Blackberry Bold campaign has chosen to express mobile diversity by taking an overhead shot of a city intersection on a rainy day. Rounding out the category with the overhead image frequent flyers are all too familiar with, we have a photograph that was recently published in The New York Times T Magazine (photographer unknown).

June 6, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Buki Akib's Fela Inspired Bags

If you’re ever in London, you must stop by The Darkroom. It has our heart, as everything’s beautifully curated and bold patterns bedeck the floors, walls and windows. Their latest collaboration comes from Buki Akib, a Nigerian-born knitwear designer and Central Saint Martins graduate. Her line of bags pays homage to Fela Kuti and his many wives and mixes eclectic textures, patterns and color to capture a unique African style.

June 4, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik