Meg Hunt

Illustrator Meg Hunt considers herself a jack-of-all-trades and with good reason. With a list of passions that include printmaking, cartooning, an avid zest for exploring new things and continuously branching out from her comfort zone, it’s no wonder she’s an interesting person who likes to get her hands dirty. Fortunately, she has heaps of talent to back up her passions, and her work has shown up in a variety of print and product mediums with clients such as The Disneyland Resort, Cartoon Network, Plansponsor, Radiolab/WNYC, Monoblock, Storey Publishing, Oxford University Press, Junior Scholastic, HOW Magazine, Jamie Magazine, Utah Valley University, BeerAdvocate, Vegetarian Times, BUST, Brown Alumni Magazine, Fantagraphics Books, Image Comics, Brand New School, Las Vegas Weekly, Portland Mercury, Seattle Metropolitan, the Stranger, Threadless, Time Out New York/TONY Kids, Utne, the Washington Post, and Yale Alumni Magazine.

Her goals are “to fill the world with my creations, and make people happy in the process.” With her beautifully exuberant creations and ever growing portfolio and skill-set, we’d say she’s well on her way to accomplishing just that.

April 10, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Book Review: Fashion Futures

Nowadays, the fashion engine is moving forward at a faster pace than ever before, with advancing technologies and new materials reinventing clothing as we know it. You may not realize, but the technology that goes into the design process – from textiles to construction – has been steadily evolving at impressive rates so that the “future” we envisioned has arrived – and it’s only getting more inventive.

Fashion Futures explores the surprising sources that inspire futuristic garment design such as: biological science, climate change, space suits, artificial intelligence, genetic engineering and nanotechnology. Offering up a fascinating survey of these new directions, Fashion Futures charts the transformational products, design processes, maverick materials and groundbreaking practitioners that are revolutionizing the industry.

Design expert and author Bradley Quinn also explores radical retail operations, forecasting and its relationship with other disciplines. Featuring inspirational interviews, design illustrations and prototypes, this read’s educational and thought-provoking for any fashion enthusiast.

Cover image via Colette

March 29, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Trey Speegle

A unique mix of commercial and fine art has characterized Trey Speegle’s diverse career. Using one of the world’s largest collections of vintage paint-by-number paintings as raw source material, he draws inspiration from it as a “visual vocabulary.” In his work, Speegle explores themes of hope, love, longing, and loss by using affirmations, double entendre, and word play that resonate with a broad Pop appeal. The Texas-born artist was part of the 80’s East Village art scene, designing catalogues for art galleries, producing downtown club events and curated various shows. For 25 years, he art directed and designed for many publications such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and US Weekly.

In 2009, he collaborated with Anthropologie to adapt his artwork to a variety of decorative home objects such as gift soaps, plates, puzzles, pillows, rugs, and bed linens that were available throughout the United States and London. He was also commissioned by Stella McCartney to create a 18 X 32’ painting as a backdrop for her runway show in Paris in October of ’09. Smaller versions of the painting were also created for McCartney’s Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London and Beijing shops in April ’10.

February 15, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Micah Lidberg

The work in Micah Lidberg’s portfolio is abundantly colorful and frequently inspired by nature and dream-like worlds. His star has been steadily shining as his exposure grows in the gallery, product and editorial worlds. Nearly every drawing looks like it’s out of the playbook of Where the Wild Things Are, only infused with colorful, random twists that push the genre 10 leaps forward. When asked by Jessica Goldfond, of The Shiny Squirrel, what inspires him, Lidberg’s answer reminds us why you should trust your creative gut, “I’ve only had one memorable epiphany. A professor I had in England, Japser Goodall, told a bunch of us students to draw whatever we wanted to draw. It sounds silly that that sparked my epiphany, but it did the trick. I’ve been drawing furry dinosaurs and deranged clouds ever since.”

February 8, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Famille Summerbelle

The work of Famille Summerbelle first caught our eye with their whimsical and meticulously detailed paper cut city maps, landing them in the top of our pattern designers list. Created by Anglo/French duo Simon Summerscales and Julie Marabelle, the inspiration for Famille Summerbelle came from the combination of family life experiences and a love of design and interior decoration. Together, they sought create the things that they wanted for their own home. La Famille Summerbelle’s design aesthetic is grounded in creating a mix between France and the UK. Famille Summerbelle may be a growing global brand, but they are still clearly very much a family business, reflected in their family friendly designs and sustainably focused mindset.

All products are imagined and designed by Julie, whose background is a mix of Fine Art (which she studied in Paris), and Theatre Set Design (which she studied at St Martin’s in London). This provides a balance of both artisanal skill and an understanding of dramatic backdrop in her work. Simon is managing director, and comes from a background in advertising where he worked for the world’s largest independent advertising agency, Wieden + Kennedy. He has worked internationally with brands such as Nike, Honda, Nokia and the Guardian Media Group.

January 30, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik

Nienke Sybrandy

We first noticed Dutch artist Nienke Sybrandy when we spotted her beautiful sheer curtains of trees composed in code that are now used at the James New York hotel. Her work is consistently interesting, innovative and playful and traverses mediums to explore her ideas.

“My work comes from observations of everyday life: small events in the house, the streets, actions and traditions: I walk around it and hold it upside down. My favorite material, and muse, are objects that are so obvious that they have to be overlooked. I lift them out of the shadows and put them in the light, so that their hidden meaning is visible. Each object is a carrier of stories and symbols. The smallest thing has a great theme. A nail is a sign of hope and desire and photocopied a bunch of flowers is about the same mortality as seventeenth-century painting. By using everyday objects can be small to the large unite and make a connection between today and earlier. This process of observing, analyzing and reinterpreting taking shape in images and objects by their “personal” story by no means obvious.”

January 24, 2012 | By: Shayna Kulik