Kathryn Parker Almanas - pastry anatomy

From Kathryn Parker Almanas' Pastry Anatomy series. Very nicely done.

(Via things organized neatly)

Fideli Sundqvist

I am quite enamored with Swedish illustrator and graphic designer Fideli Sundqvist. With her deft use of construction paper, Fideli creates whimsical animals, alphabets and even towns within suitcases. You can see more of Fideli's work on her website and blog, or purchase her animal kits and adorable children's book about a puppy named Birre in her shop.

(All images © Fideli Sundqvist 2011, Via ali loves curtis)

Sara Burgess - white papers press

Can you believe the detail of Sara Burgess' cut-paper art? As she explains on her website, white papers press:

About fifteen years ago, Sara put an x-acto blade to an unfinished sketchbook. She liked the silhouettes, the relationship between positive and negative space – still does.

Today, she draws and then cuts, slicing thousands of lines until a story emerges – seeing and planning for what stays versus what falls away. She says things like, “your brain has to think of what remains” (very wise). She’s meticulous and calculated, some might say, downright crazy.

She, like you and I, didn’t realize that people still practiced this tradition. She remarks on how it’s refreshing to see someone put a lot of time and patience into something – so few of us have time and patience anymore.

In case you’re wondering, her hand cramps before her eyes get tired – a lot of people wonder that. She loves how unequivocally non-digital this craft is. It’s the opposite of technology. It’s raw, simple, soft, tangible and breathtaking.

Not only is Sara a talented cut-paper artist, but she creates designs and illustrations in a variety of media and styles, from branding and identity to wedding invitations and graphics, as well. Check out all of her work on the white papers press website.

(Via sub-studio design blog)

if I had a million dollars

I would buy...{thinking of summer: the swimsuit edition}

A Bathing Beauty One Piece in Plum Posy, from ModCloth.

 Mink Pink's Sunset One Piece, from Need Supply Co.

The calais floral ruched halter top and bottoms, from j.crew.

And both the Natalie One-Piece

and Modern Triangle Bikini from Anthropologie.

JR - Artist

 28 Millimetres : Women Are Heroes in Kibera Slum - Kenya. January 2009

28 Millimetres : Face2Face Separation wall / security fence, Israeli side, Abou Dis, Jerusalem - March 2007

 28 Millimetres : Portrait of a generation, Paris. Karcher cleaning of the exhibition on the Espace des Blancs-Manteaux (Paris 4e). October 2006

 

28 Millimetres : Women Are Heroes in the Favela " Morro da Providencia", Rio de Janiero. August 2008

 Wrinkles of the City : Shanghai, China

Inspired by this article from The New York Times, I spent some time this weekend looking through the website of photographer/street artist JR, whose "portraits of people making faces" serve to draw attention to those whose voices might not otherwise be heard. According to his website:

JR creates "Pervasive Art" that spreads uninvited on the buildings of the slums around Paris, on the walls in the Middle-East, on the broken bridges in Africa or the favelas in Brazil. People who often live with the bare minimum discover something absolutely unnecessary. And they don't just see it, they make it. Some elderly women become models for a day; some kids turn artists for a week. In that Art scene, there is no stage to separate the actors from the spectators.

The above images are some of my favorites from JR's various projects, but there's a whole lot more to see and read about on his website.

Designer of the Month: Frederick Carder

Week 4: Corning Glass Works

Frederick Carder, Vase with Reserve Pattern, 1913-1918. Blown, iridized, etched. Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, New York (82.4.240F, bequeathed by Frank and Mary Elizabeth Reifschlager). Lent to The Corning Museum of Glass (L.1262.4.2001). Courtesy of The Corning Museum of Glass, New York.

January 8, 1918, was the date that Steuben Glass Works became the Steuben Division of Corning Glass Works, a firm that had been founded by the Houghton family in Corning, NY in 1868.[1] Although this was a blow for Frederick Carder, he not only remained managing director of the plant, but was still given fairly free reign to continue on with the company, despite the new management.[2] During this time, Carder continued to design all of the forms and decorations that were to be manufactured, with his policy being that he would then continue to produce an object as long as it was sold.[3] His reasoning during the period of 1903 to 1932 was that "designs discontinued themselves," remarking that that "sometimes when a vase or stemware group doesn't move, I double the price and it sells like a shot!"[4]

Steuben Division, Corning Glass Works, Intarsia vase, 1920s. H. 17.4 cm. (69.4.221). Bequest of Gladys C. Welles. Courtesy of The Corning Museum of Glass, New York.

Just prior to the 1920s, public taste began to change towards functionality and modernism, with the elaborate decorations derived from traditional style loosing their appeal.[5] In 1932, when Steuben's new president decided to concentrate on colorless glass, Carder left Steuben entirely to become design director of Corning Glass Works.[6] Although many expected the move, which was supposed to place Carder into semi-retirement (he was 69 at the time), to essentially mean the end of his career, Carder's work was far from done.[7] He immediately started converting his new office into a studio-workshop, surreptitiously installing enough equipment in the office to experiment with glass casting, developing architectural glass applications.[8] Carder had been interested in using glass as an architectural element in buildings for years. He was finally successful in having architects use Steuben glass as both an interior and exterior feature during the 1930s, with his largest installation for sculptured glass panels for the RCA Building at 30 Rockefeller Center (now the GE Building and home to NBC Studios).[9] In 1959, at the age of 96, Carder's glassmaking career ended when he finally closed his studio and "retired."[10]


[1] Paul V. Gardner, "Carder in America: The Start-Up," The Glass of Frederick Carder (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1971), 42.


[2] Ibid., 42-3.


[3] Ibid., 49.


[4] Ibid., 49.

[5] Ibid., 50.


[6] The Corning Museum of Glass online, "Frederick Carder Gallery," http://www.cmog.org/dynamic.aspx?id=196 (accessed March 24, 2011).

[7] Paul V. Gardner, "Carder in America: The Start-Up," The Glass of Frederick Carder (New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1971), 51.

[8] Ibid., 53-4.


[9] Ibid., 121.


[10] The Corning Museum of Glass online, "Frederick Carder Gallery," http://www.cmog.org/dynamic.aspx?id=196 (accessed March 24, 2011).

life is too short for the wrong job

Berlin-based Scholz & Friends' advertising campaign for jobsintown, a German employment website, is absolutely brilliant. Featuring human workers powering everyday machines, it's a very clever idea that perfectly matches the jobsintown slogan of "life is too short for the wrong job."

And while I don't understand German, the television spot that was created as part of this campaign, which features a fisherman whose true vocation lies elsewhere, is pretty great as well.



(Via designboom)

handmade for japan

I know I've written a lot about the different ways that you can help support relief efforts to Japan, but I hope you all don't mind if I mention just one more. Handmade For Japan, an online auction organized by potter Ayumi Horie, goes live tomorrow, and I have to say that I am truly amazed by this incredible show of support from the art and craft community.

Lisa Solomon　リサ・ソロモン
Kite flying, 2010
10"
Gocco, acrylic, ink, and embroidery on paper doily
retail value $300

Ron Meyers　ロン・メイヤーズ
generously donated by Charles McDonald
Vase with four animals
9" x 5.25" x 5.75"
Retail value $240

 Lisa Congdon　リサ・コングドン
The Finch, 2010
8" x 8" x 2"
Gouache on masonite, framed in 1/4 inch birch
retail value $300

Hamada Shoji　浜田庄司　ハマダ・ショウジ
generously donated by Beatrice Chang of Dai Ichi Gallery Ltd
Iron Glazed Flower Vase
1970s
8.5" x 4.5" x 4.5"
Stoneware with iron glaze
Retail value $4,000

The above images are just a small sample of what you will find in this auction, which includes a wide range of work from potters, painters, textile artists, and illustrators. You can find an action preview on the Handmade For Japan site, with the auction running on ebay from tomorrow, March 24, through Sunday, March 27. 100% of all net proceeds collected will be donated to Global Giving's Earth and Tsunami Relief Fund.

hearts + hands

HEARTS + HANDS is a community effort organized by Lynn Russell, of Satsuma Press, bringing together more than 60 independent artists. 100% of the proceeds from the HEARTS + HANDS raffle, which will take place on March 28, will be donated to relief efforts in Japan in the aftermath of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami.

For more information and to make a donation, please visit HEARTS + HANDS.

the woven nest

Oh wow. I love me some built-in furniture, but a built-in staircase? I'll bet you've never seen the like of the woven nest, from the London-based atoms studio.

Not only does the woven nest have a built-in, wrap-around staircase, but much of the furniture in this home features elements that appear to grow organically out of the structure itself. According to the architects:

This home for an actress and musician carefully slots between buildings and sitelines, and wraps built-in furniture into every available surface. Both plan and Planning constraints generated a complex series of intertwining spaces, enlivened by light and interconnectivity...The house assembles around the central open stair, its timber strands growing upwards towards the light and unleashing delicate tendrils to frame each step, a single thin metallic line dancing across their lines to offer the lightest of additional support to the hands that seek it. To the right, spaces sneak into the stair – as bathroom storage below or the underside of the desk above – while to the right the open treads fan and splay into a generous array of surfaces for the living room. Their lower steps support a seat and soft-spot, while their upper elements flow around the sitter with a sea of books and shelves.

(Via design milk)

Blog About It

I'm always on the lookout for new, delicious recipes. Even with a large collection of cookbooks, sometimes it's nice just to be able to do a search by cuisine, type of dish or even ingredients. While Epicurious is one of my all-time favorite online sources for meal ideas, I've recently found myself pulling a lot more inspiration from blogs. So for today's Blog About It, I present two of my favorites, both of which happen to showcase delicious food from the comfort of tiny urban kitchens: Smitten Kitchen and Everybody Likes Sandwiches.

Deb, of Smitten Kitchen, not only knows a thing or two about cooking, but she does so from a 42-square-foot, circa-1935 half-galley kitchen in New York City. At yet, somehow, she manages to cook and take gorgeous photographs of some truly tasty meals.

Smitten Kitchen is the sort of place to go to for good comfort food, tons of tutorials and lots of stuff made from scratch, especially breads and baked good. Some of my recent favorite recipes from just these past few months include green bean salad with fried almonds, edna mae's sour cream pancakes and chocolate-peanut spread. There's also handy things like a recipe index, cooking conversions and information about how to be a better food photographer.

(Photos © Smitten Kitchen 2006-2010)

And then there's the Jeannette, of Everybody Likes Sandwiches, who also manages to make magic out of a tiny space, this time, in Vancouver.

Everybody Likes Sandwiches is an uncomplicated journal about food...not just sandwiches. It's a place I like to go to when I'm looking for fresh, seasonal and great tasting recipes. You know, the kind of stuff that's generally not only delicious, but healthy as well (except for maybe the salted caramel almond pretzel popcorn, which is just totally dangerous). My advice? Try the fennel, grapefruit & blood orange salad, which has quickly become my new favorite lunch.

(© 2005–2011 Recipes & content are copyright of Everybody Likes Sandwiches and Jeannette Ordas)

seven wonders

Happy spring everyone! I know that I'm generally not one to talk about anything as specific as shops in my neighborhood, but sometimes, you have to break your own rules, especially when it's for someone as awesome as your own sister. 

 

 

Have I ever told you all that my sister, Melissa Blumberg, has an amazing eye for fashion? Well, she's now putting this talent to very good use with Seven Wonders Vintage, a new store in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. It's only about a week old, but Seven Wonders is such a perfect addition to the neighborhood that it looks like it could have been in its location at 606 Manhattan Avenue, selling awesome vintage items, for far longer. Much of Melissa's inventory is from estate sales, and while it's primarily clothing, there's also a great mix of shoes, jewelry and accessories as well. Seriously, folks, if you're ever in Greenpoint, it's totally worth a visit. Store hours are 1-8 on weekdays, 12-8 on weekends.