a hoy hoy

I'm not sure that rotary phones are going to be a new trend sweeping the nation, but if they do, I bet the sexy le telefon from sundayland will be on the top of everyone's holiday wish list.

Pantone Party USA 3000

I'm feeling like one of the biggest trends in design right now is the emergence of traditional graphic design tools in non-graphic designy spots (fashion, furniture, cupcakes, what-have-you). Thanks to powerhouses like Mac and Adobe, graphic design is no longer a magical alchemy reserved for MFAs with exacto knives. Everyone is a designer now (and that's not always a good thing) and we're all embracing the new symbols of the old design world. - Remember my pixel post? - Another pro designer fave is the pantone color pallet, we simply couldn't get by without our precious spot colors, now, everyone else can join in the fun:

Clockwise from top left: Ceramic Pantone Mugs available at Graham and Green, Pantone Flight Stool available at Pantone Universe, Pantone Flash Drive, also available at Pantone Universe, Pantone Stationary available here

Oh, so colorful and delicious! Don't you want more:

The Fendi Artist Bag, in white canvas comes complete with a Pantone marker set. I don't know if I'd feel comfortable drawing on a $1,300 bag. Maybe if I could paint like Hope Perkins?

Rivet SF's Pantone Photo Set on Flickr. Rivet reminds us: "Everything has a pantone color, we just have to find it." A close up:

More pantone mania:

clockwise from top left: Pantone Toys available at yellow spiral, Custom Pantone Wrapping Paper NFS, Pantone Rugs available at Sundayland, Nike Pantone Shoes available at Kix-Files, Pantone Plate from the Pantone Dinnerware collection available at Fishs Eddy

And Finally, a Pantone Masterpiece:

Pantone Rendition of Manet's Bar at the Folies Bergere by Tim Fraser Brown. If Manet were with us today, I'm sure he would have used pantone as well

Mustafa Maluka

I have always been a super fan of Vladimir Tretchikoff, as a matter of fact I have a huge print of his Balinese Girl hanging in my living room. I am drawn to his exotic women with their slightly off kilter skin tones. Take The Chinese Girl with her blue green skin. One day while minding my own business I stumbled upon the work of Mustafa Maluka and was spell bound. His work was like an updated Modernist version of Tretchikoff, dare I say a new and improved version. The odd skin tones, large portraits, exotic women and more. I wonder if has anything to do with South Africa. Tretchikoff though from Russia painted some of my favorite pieces there and Maluka was raised in the Cape Flats. Cape Town influences or not I did a little side by side comparison for good measure.





From time to time I can also see a little Andy Warhol in Mustafa Maluka’s work. His use of bright bold colors, hair that looks like a wig and painted lips that look separate from the portrait are reminiscent of Warhol’s Ladies and Gentlemen Collection.


Check out more Mustafa Maluka on Flickr and My Space. If the man sold prints I would already have my wallet out. I think Life on the Ropes would look amazing across the room from Balinese Girl.

Pixel Perfect

Is it just me or does the idea of covering your walls in pixel wallpaper sound like the greatest thing ever? I could also really dig some pixel jewelry and maybe even some pixel printed shoes! The big, bright, bulbous look of last summer is reincarnating itself into big, bright, jaggedy pixel-land:



Top Images, Polar & Tiger Illustrations, Siggi Eggertsson
Bottom Image, Enthusiasts, Craig D. Adams



I love this couch! The fabric was designed by Design Grad Student, Christian Zuzunga and is currently in production.



Clockwise from top left: http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif
Ad for Leicia Cameras, see how it's made, here
Cloud City Lampshade, Phil Cuttance
Dee and Ricky Pixel Heart Pin, available at Fred Flare
Playa Hater Cufflinks - Koopa, available from Etsy Artist, Pixel Party
Pixel-ion ring, from etsy artist, Ulala
Wood Pixel, create your own pixel art


NY street art by kelly goller

An Igloo of My Very Own

Perhaps it the heat of July in Texas that is making me long for an Igloo of my very own. If not the heat something is drawing me into the icy world of Eskimos. Maybe it is a natural progression from the Matryoshka Doll (Russian Nesting Doll) getting a little over exposed since they both have the cute bundled faces. Either way more and more delights of the far north keep catching my eye and I thought I would share a few of my favorites.

1) Flying Igloo Necklace by Bumble Sea
2) Princess Tina Wallet at Chocosho
3) Eskimo Shirt by Lucha Workshop
4) Eskimo Dinner Plate by Tonianne Wolfe

hypercolor my world

I've been seeing a few random hypercolor shirts here and there lately, as soon as I saw one I KNEW the hipsters would be tripping all over their Tom's sneakers to slip into one. Today I saw that American Apparel had added the gem to their line-up, so I know it is totally, one hundred and thirty percent official: hypercolor is back. Expect to see this at every bar with a eurotrash thursday night DJ for the next few months. Here are a few of the designs you may come across:



The ladies could be rockin any of these adorable options from Anzevino and Florence (don't worry, they have manly versions too). Hopefully all the girls will also have that haircut because it is cute cute cute!

If you're looking for something a little more old skool hypercolor, this baggy tee may be the one for you:

Available at Body Faders, they are calling their (rather extensive) line of hypercolor shirts dyenamic infusion. Is hypercolor trademarked? I guess so... this may make our frantic hypercolor google search difficult, but I trust we can do it.

Incase all the funny handprints on everyone's shirts aren't enough to make you forget the horrible pit-stains you get from clothes that change color with heat, but you still want to get on the color bus, how about you go with this fancy bench:




The swamp lounge available from Visual Reference Studio. This is part of a series of hypercolor benches from lead artists Nuno Goncalves Ferreira & Erin Hayne. The designers also make hypertouch walls and, guess what!!? their website is hypercolor too! (of course, they're calling it thermosensitive. tomato, tomAto.)

Whatever you choose to call the new hypercolor incarnate, get used to seeing it all about town.

Hells Bells I Love Cells!

Are they molecules, honeycombs, bubbles, blood cells? Whatever they are I am seeing them everywhere and having health class text book flashbacks. Not just becuase of the pictures inside but because I was a compulsive bubble doodler. I would draw circles, cirlces, circles inside of those circles and more circles. So there is also something soothing and familar about the art. Our first example is by Ashley G and is called You Make Me Happy.

To celebrate my new found love of this pattern I am doing a synchronized Naughty Secretary Club and Badassical post with different examples. I am finding the pattern on everything from pottery to prints.


Abstract Bubbles Necklace by Bumble Sea, Set of 6 Orange and Creme Bubbles Card by Crafterall and Cloud Ring by Alisa Miller.


Serving Bowl by Michelle Antonisse, Accumulated Propagation by Scribble n Scratch and Mini Salt Pinch by Michelle Antonisse.


SEIZE - screenprinted wooden cuff bracelet - beech by Sara Schalliol, Honeycomb Necklace by Brevity and Estrogen Molecule Earrings - in 14K solid gold by Made with Molecules


Radiolaria Bracelet by Nervous System, Coral Bowl by Element Clay Studio and Growing Dress Mini Print by Eek Design.

Goodbye Gladiators, Hello Gaiters

Last winter I became slightly obsessed with colored spats to be worn on boots. I never got around to snagging a pair before the Texas heat crept up on me and it was too late. Spring and summer rolled around and with it amazing knee high gladiator sandals from Balenciaga that had me drooling. Now that I have gladiators in silver, gold, black and copper I needed a new direction to turn, a new shoe quest to go on. A random spin through Etsy brought the work of Les Frivolities to my attention. Her line of Corseted Gaiters smack of hipster Victorian goodness. Almost any shoe can instantly be transformed with just a few snaps or fastens of a button. Choose between short or tall, several different designs and a rainbow of colors. Wish the red pair came in green, Les Frivolities takes custom orders. Not to mention if the leather gaiters offend your Vegan sensibilities they can also be made in non-leather materials.

Color Me Bad

Ok, I have to be honest with you, I really really didn't see this trend coming but for the last week or two I've been seeing coloring books and crayons running rampant across this world wide web of ours. Witness:

Pages from the gangsta rap coloring book by Aye Jay Moreno. I imagine that this is what Hope would have colored in when she was 4. The rest of us weren't that cool for another 20 years. For the less hip color-er, there's this option:

From the Executive Coloring Book by Marcie Hans, Dennis Altman & Martin A. Cohen. It's totally worth reading this for the captions, the one above says: "THIS IS ME, I am an executive. Executives are important. they go to important offices and do important things. Color my underwear important." If only I had that color!

As usual, some kids over on etsy are catching on:
Top row: The Iraq War Activity Book by a4ds, Bottom row, The Bottom Drawer Coloring book, by Interrobang. I can't get enough of that silly tattoo on her back. My husband would probably color the hell out of this book but I won't let him, ha ha.

The crayon and coloring mania continues with some awesome sculptures and actual carved crayons. Etsy seller Crayon Fawn recycles old crayons to make these cute sweet deer. I used to melt crayons in cupcake tins but they were that silly boring shape and all the colors just melted together into one big sad coloring party of tears.

Artist Diem Chau actually takes the time to hand whittle incredibly detailed people out of crayons. I don't have the patience to color a whole picture so there's no way in hell you're going to find me taking a small blade to colored wax for hours on end. But, man, they are awesome!


Diem Chau has a total rival out there in the crayon carving world, Pete Goldlust. I wonder, if these two met would they be the perfect couple or mortal enemies. I curse at you crayon enemy! Could be fun?

I think it's interesting that Chau's crayons are of people, and a bit softer while Goldlusts are so architectural and masculine. You could trap one of Chau's girls in those crayons. Danger!

I also came across John Zoller who's using the coloring book style of drawing in his artwork:
Coal Cars Coming Out of a Mine in West Virginia from the United States Color and Learn series. Zoller decided coloring book style just wasn't enough, so he went ahead and added Acrylic, Glitter, Rhinestones, Pipe Cleaners and Phosphorescent paint to his 20 x 24 piece. DE-LIGHT-FUL!

If you're into coloring, but not so much into books and maybe very into walls (like me!) you might want to purchase this made to be colored wallpaper:


Sitting Comfortably wallpaper available at minimoderns. I love that they incorporated actual classic chair designs. My walls could totally rock this.

Here are some other great coloring finds:

Sample pages from Fake Project. Fake Project gives graffiti artists a chance to try their chops before takin it to the streets. Good thing, how embarrassing would it be if you found out in front of all of your friends that your tag looked stupid on a giant billboard. Thanks Fake Project!

Apparently, the Chinese have been onto this coloring thing for a while and have been marketing coloring books to adults in a more mainstream setting, they even have a coloring for the elderly section

Graphic designer, Mimiko Akiyama, has created a Song Colouring Book especially for the elderly. The book features illustrations based on old nursery rhymes and popular songs. Filling in the colours, thus moving your hands, and singing the illustrated songs are ways for the elderly to stimulate their minds. Crazy.

All colored out? Well, I've got one more thing to show you then you're dismissed to recess where you can go color on your own:
Fan coloring book from the Loretta Lynn concert that Jen Posted on over at The Naughty Secretary Club blog. I think this was the first coloring book I noticed (because it's awesome!) and ever since I've been seeing them pop up everywhere.

So, that's that. Get out some crayons, draw some line shapes on your vans, and you'll totally be the most popular kid in class for the next 5 days.

Tentacles instead of Toes

It’s no big secret that tentacled sea creatures have been all the rage in the world of Indie arts and crafts for sometime now. Variations on the squid and the octopus were bounded to happen, I just wasn’t expecting a Victorian slant. That’s right Victorian as in big houses with gingerbread woodwork, frilly dresses with bustles and guys with skinny mustaches and top hats. Think 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea meets The Age of Innocence.

A fun example I first spotted on the Fabulist was the work of Dan Hiller. He has an amazing set of prints with mom, dad and their daughter all half man half cellaphod. Enter Modofly who makes the prints portable in the form of journals.


Perhaps my favorite of all the Octopus people is the work of Ray Cesar. I first stumbled upon Ray in an issue of Juxtapoz Magazine and was mesmerized. Ray often works with the theme of Victorian lady/girls that just so happen to have tentacles instead of toes. Ebb Tide is a perfect example.


Of course Etsy artists, who are often more ahead of the curve than most have their fair share of examples. Starting at the top corner we have Ten Arms for You by The Black Apple, Edward by 315 Thomas, Octo Girl by Cicada Field Journal and Hunters Princess by Anne Julie.


I’m waiting with baited breath for half jellyfish people from the 80’s. Feathered hair and blue eye shadow on top with stringy tentacles on the bottom.