I want it all!

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.

Girard Girard!!

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:

Coffee Break?...Perhaps Finland?

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.

L&G Storytime No.7: Modern Furniture, Its Design and Construction

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.

Ta ta for now!

Playing with Fire

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.

When? What? Why? and Hue?

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.

L&G Vintage Book Subscription

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

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.

Happy Reading!

No Butts About It!

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

L&G Storytime No.6: And That's Ahhhhhmore

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!