Paper clouds

I am working on a cloud project at the moment and came across these paper clouds by American crafters gosh and golly. I think the rainbow cloud mobile is genius, so simple but it works really well.

wall art

cloud mobile

This little piggy…

I was flicking through this weekends Le Figaro, thumbing past the usual articles on the rich and famous when something caught my eye. Between the usual ads for champagne and unaffordable watches I came across an advert for tripe, nothing strange in this I hear you cry, after all you live in France but what was unusual was that the organisation charged with promoting all things to do with selling ruminant's intestines and off cuts have commissioned Pierre et Gilles to help them out and to create the image for their campaign.

The last time I read anything about P&G they had a stunning retrospective in Berlin in 2009 and then this! Anyway I'm off to the Charcuterie to buy some boudin noir, anyone for anything else?

Type talk

Just came across this on FPO, a handy reference for all those discussions on typographical architecture. It was designed by Scott Boms, Grant Hutchinson and Luke Dorny for Ligature, Loop and Stem who produced this beautiful ampersand poster, printed on 280gsm Somerset Black Velvet stock in metallic silver and glossy transparent inks (stop drooling!) but it is unfortunately sold out so no Santa treats
this Christmas.

Friday Photo

Lomograph, Halloween 2004

Beautiful books

Books make great Christmas presents for kids! With that in mind we decided to take a trip to the bookshop to check what new books were on the shelves and I came across a couple of  beautifully illustrated books.

The first is called A Bit Lost and is by Irish illustrator and author Chris Haughton. It is a beautifully illustrated book about a baby owl that falls out of its nest and is helped by a squirrel to find its mum again, nothing new there I here you cry but the illustrations are breathtaking.  I have been reading it every night to my little girl and she lights up and says "Uh Ohh!" as soon as she sees the cover. I think Santa sack may be holding a lot of these this year!

Cover of A Bit Lost

What a beautifully drawn forest, look at those colours

Some spreads from the book, all images © Chris Haughton

The next one that caught my eye was a new illustrated version of Moby Dick. This isn't the full version that is part tale of man's vengeance and a history of whaling. This is an abbreviated version that has been illustrated by French illustrator Joelle Jolivet along with paper engineer Gérad Lo Monaco. The book is only about 10 pages but boy are those 10 pages good. I let the images speak for themselves…

The cover belies the surprise of the inside spreads!

A few spreads, they don't do it justice, if you get a chance pick up a copy.

Finally I came across a stunning book where the illustrations were not printed but laser cut. I wasn't really a lover of the story more of the technical execution of the book. The book is called Plein Lune and is by Antoine Guillope, I don't think it would last long in the hands of a 5 year old but maybe one to look at together.

Again you need to get your hands on this book to see it's true beauty

Antonio Rubino

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration 1909.

A little while back while doing some research on illustrators I came across the work of Antonio Rubino. I had never heard of him before but over the Halloween holiday I had a little time to do a bit of research on him and was amazed at his body of work.
Antonio Rubino was an Italian illustrator who was born in 1880. Having graduated in law he was bound for a life in the legal system but three poems that he wrote and illustrated changed the path of his career and saw him bound for Milan. There he worked illustrating music manuscripts and articles for journals but had bigger ideas about creating his own publication and in 1908 he co-founded Corriere dei Piccoli which if my Italian serves me it is still going strong.

One of Rubino's strips from Corriere dei Piccoli, 1911

Not only did he create beautiful character strips for Corriere dei Piccoli and countless elegant illustrations for ads but after the war he created Italy's first animation studio. In 1942 he released Nel paese dei ranocchi, followed by Crescendo rossiniano (1943) and finally L'arco dei sette colori (1955)

A child's block puzzle based on the animation  Nel paese dei ranocchi 1942

A piece of Nel paese dei ranocchi memorabilia

A still from Nel paese dei ranocchi

Rubino was obviously influenced by the Jugendstil and his illustrations have a beautiful sense of time and place that still look fresh today. What I love most is his innate understanding of space and balance, incorporating typography with image and producing magical worlds where peoples imaginations can dwell. The only publication of his that I have come across is this illustrated book by Santo Alligo which is on my Christmas list now!

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

Antionio Rubino, cover illustration

 I also came across this child's bedroom decorated with Rubino's illustrations. The room is part of a collection in the Wolfsonian Museum, Genoa. It makes me want to get my paintbrushes out and create something magical for my two kids, I don't think I would be able to create something as magical as this though.

Rubino Bedroom. Image © Wolfsonian Museum, Genoa

A fantastic chair by Rubino. Image © Wolfsonian Museum, Genoa

Happy Halloween

Friday Photo

Statue, Verona 2004

Twice as Nice.

A little F&F update. This month sees the Front and Follow artist Andy Nice on tour across Europe with one of my favourite bands the Tindersticks. For this tour F&F have re issued his excellent debut album "The Secrets of Me" in a new format (minus the patch). Also this month also sees the release of 'Bones' a beautiful colaboration between Mr Nice and Isanj Dui for the year long adventure that is Arctic Circle's "Explorers Club". I recommend checking them both out.

The latest episode in the Explorers Club, illustration by Gregory Loret

A few snaps of the new Andy Nice Tour CD care of the printers

N.Y.C.–New York Crochet!

© Nicole Gastonguay

After last weeks knitted item I have another posting from the world of wool. I came across the work of Nicole Gastonguay who is a New York based artist/illustrator who designs book covers to keep the wolves from the door! I first saw her work while flicking through Tangible and recently came across it this week while searching for 'TV Dinner' on the net and the resulting image of a not so happy piece of meatloaf made me smile, as did all here other creations when I visited her site. There was an old loved feel to the way that her creations had been photographed as well, as if they were demosration illustrations from an old crochet pattern book.  I could think of worse ways of ending the week than clicking over to her site and checking her work out! I just wonder what her book covers are like!

© Nicole Gastonguay

© Nicole Gastonguay

© Nicole Gastonguay

© Nicole Gastonguay

© Nicole Gastonguay

© Nicole Gastonguay

Friday Photo

Jonny, Ireland 2009

Lunar Landing

On my way to work today I walked past a house that was having a treatment carried out to its walls, the result of which was small patches of powder at the base of the wall. I just had to take my camera out and take a few shots. It felt like I was looking through a telescope and seeing the Sea of Tranquility.