Meet: Joao Lauro Fonte

I think this Brazilian graphic artist will be just what we need for a good giggle on a (gloomy Queensland) Monday. His work is silly and rather sweet with great retro style - just what I like best.

Visit Joao at his website or over on threadless.

Look At This: The Ballerina Project

I wanted to be a ballerina when I was a little girl. And then again when I was thirteen. And then again when I was 20. And now. They are so graceful and feminine and strong. Oh and they get to wear those amazing tutus... I think with Black Swan came a bit of a rebirth of the ballerina fascination for me, and probably for a lot of people. This brings me to today's look-see: the Ballerina Project. The website for this doesn't give a lot of information, simply that it "grew from the idea of New York City as a magnet for creativity; each photograph is a collaborative work of dance, fashion design and photography played out against the city's landscape." Lucky for this guy (I think he's a man named Dane) he had a whole crop of gorgeous ballerinas to photograph in one of the most photographable cities in the world. And lucky for us he's sharing (and you can buy these lovely images if you're so inclined).


I was just swapping "ballet as a child" stories with a friend of mine today—I'd love to hear yours! P.S. Mine goes a little something like this: I was four, I managed to put my hands over my head during the recital, I then proceeded to sit down on the stage and refuse to get up. And that was the end of my ballet career. We did get a photograph of me in my pink tutu though, so it was probably all worth it. My mother (who bought the tutu and paid for the "lessons") may disagree!
(images from the project site and thanks to the diversion project for the introduction)

Meet: Joel Penkman

Our friend Joel is providing us with a little sweet eye candy this Wednesday. He paints with "egg tempera" which is a very old technique using paint pigments and egg yolks (I wikipedia-ed it obviously). From what I can gather it's quite difficult as the consistency has to be adjusted constantly. Don't you think it's interesting that he uses egg-based paints to create these beautiful desserts? Well I do, but I'm easily amused as you know.


Who's ready for morning tea?
images from Joel's site via happiness, etc

Meet: Luci Everett

Oh Luci Everett, you have the handmade graphic design feel down to an art. Literally I suppose. She's a Melbourne artist who uses her watercolors and handwriting and drawings in gorgeous collage designs for musicians, events and personal projects. Her work is quite delicate and whimsical, which I of course love.


My goodness it's lovely. Visit her website to see more of her work.

Meet: Abigail Brown

Abigail Brown is a "creature textile designer" and she is absolutely amazing. Her birds are rather extraordinary creations made from repurposed fabrics and assembled into whimsical and surprisingly expressive pieces of art. She makes all of them by hand and (yay!) they are for sale. Visit her site!


Aren't they sweet? I think I neeeed that flamingo.
(And thanks to Zoe for introducing me to the new UK magazine Mollie Makes which introduced me to Ms. Brown.)

Loving: Cowboys + Indians + Fifty and Fifty

Maybe I'm homesick, but this project made me nostalgic and sentimental and proud of American designers. Wow, that's quite a build-up, but these pieces are really (really) great. Fifty and Fifty is a project that invited fifty designers, one per state, to illustrate their state motto. I love them all but thought I'd let you wander over to the site to see them for yourself, so I chose six that have cowboys and indians in them. Because I'm a little obsessed with native american style at the moment and because my favorite is the "friendship" one that represents Texas.






Geez. So good. I love that all of them have the same color palette, it really unites them. Go visit the site—they're all amazing. (Thank you Grain Edit for the introduction!)

Meet: Lovisa Burfitt + the Cherry Blossom Girl

Our new (Parisienne of course) friend is an incredibly talented illustrator and fashion designer who's worked with giants such as H&M, Bloomingdale's, Vogue and Elle. I love her mix of pencil and ink and crazy bursts of color. And of course the shoes, oh the shoes!


Have you met this chic lady, "the cherry blossom girl"? Dang. She's adorable. And unfortunately makes me a little cranky with her fabulousness. She's a stylist and fashion designer and, lucky for us, documents her gorgeous travels and wardrobe choices and macarons for us to "ooh la la" over.

Don't you think Lovisa could be illustrating Alix's life? So much loveliness.
(all Lovisa illustrations are from her portfolio and all Cherry Blossom images are from her blog)

Meet: Jennifer Causey

You should probably get yourself a snack or make some amazing lunch plans before you take a look at what I'm about to show you. Because our new friend Jennifer knows how to take a gorgeous foody photograph. I recently shared Jennifers work with you (remember? "The Makers"?) but that was a specific project of hers and I really couldn't just leave it there. Her portfolio is beautiful but I was particularly drawn to her food. I'm telling you, you're going to want a snack so be prepared...



(all images are from her delicious website)

Have a Cuppa?

Hello friends! I spent most of today telling this cold that's trying to take over my body that it is not welcome and also (and more importantly) catching up on the zillions of blog posts I've missed over the past month. I've been particularly busy and preoccupied so I'm very behind, and am truthfully still very behind, but I did run across two things that I thought you'd be interested in.
Up first is a project from Brooklyn photographer Jennifer Causey called "The Makers". She interviews and photographs small business owners/artists/you know people who "make" things. One of my favorites is her profile of Brooklyn (and Oakland and San Francisco) based coffee shop, "Blue Bottle". The moustached owner seems to really love the art of roasting the beans and his shop looks a bit like a chemists lab with all of those dials and jars and funnels. It's really quite interesting to see the process.


(via design is mine)
And then I came across this lovely coffee shop in Mexico called "Cielito Querido Cafe" and knew that you'd be able to picture yourself enjoying a hot beverage there as well. It's gorgeous.

I love the lively colors and all of that fabulous typography. And the fact that I can enjoy a delicious coffee sends me over the moon.

Modern Movie Posters

I'm really enjoying this new trend of reinventing classic movie posters (in the traditional or cult sense). I particularly love the pieces that boil down the plot to a single scene or icon. So clever.



images from top: line drawings // i can read movies // simple icons // art deco // pictograms

Meet: Paul Barbera

What can I say about Paul Barbera? Are we interested in the fact that he's Australian but now splits his time between Europe, New York and Australia? Or that he received a Bachelor's degree in 1994 from the Victorian College of the Arts? We may or may not even care that he's traveled all over the place (India, Brazil, Turkey, Bali...) and worked for some big names (David Jones, Coke, Ikea). You and I are very nice people and we're proud of and interested in all of these things, but they shadow our main concern: his amazing portfolio. Amazing. We love his use of space and light, his saturated imagery, his interesting layouts. Oh and the word cupcake in ribbon—we really like that.



He has more images on his site and his representations site. And yes, they're all lovely.

Arnold Eagle + the MCNY Collection

The Museum of the City of New York sounds like a magical and wonderful place doesn't it? I wish I would've visited when I was in NYC a few years back but to be honest with you, I didn't even realize it existed. (But now we all do and we won't make that mistake again.) Browsing their website I was particularly interested in an exhibit by Arnold Eagle titled "One-Third of a Nation". He was part of the WPA in the late 1930's and this particular collection documents poverty in New York during the Depression. It's probably inappropriate to tell you to "enjoy" these images, but I think you'll be intrigued by them as I was.

The Art + Home of Tove Mauritzson

Tove Mauritzson is a fabulous Swedish artist with a fabulous Swedish home. Her art is a bit over-the-top for my taste generally but I think paired with her perfect amount of bright and light house the whole thing makes my heart skip a beat.



Images are from mixr (via a new favorite: the diversion project) and Tove's website.

Meet: Christopher Stott

I am always so impressed by fine artists. And I'm doubly impressed by photo-realist fine artists— people like Christopher Stott. His paintings are incredibly life-like but you can tell that they're not photographs, which is a very important element (to me) with photo-realism artists. I still want to see the hand of the artist in the work.



Visit his blog and website. (Thanks to Uppercase for introducing us and a big "yay" to Christopher for his Anthropologie commission!)

All the Buildings in New York

When James Gulliver Hancock moved to NYC a year-ish ago, he decided to start drawing "all the buildings in New York". You gotta love a lofty goal. Now I'm not sure if that means that he's really trying to draw every gorgeous building or if it more implies that he's just going to keep on keepin on until he's bored (perish the thought!). I've always enjoyed drawings of the exteriors of buildings and New York is just so full of fabulous architecture that this project was destined to intrigue me. You're going to enjoy it I'm certain.



Good news! You can purchase any of his drawings (that's right any!). Visit his blog and his website. And thanks to the design files for introducing me to this project.

Meet: Johnny Miller

Johnny Miller is another one of those "behind the lens" artists that I knew but didn't know. In other words I've seen (and admired) his work for years, even to the point of ripping his images out of magazines for my massive "inspiration" folders, but didn't know his name. He's done work for Martha Stewart, Kate Spade, Target, Chronicle Books, Real Simple, Blueprint (rest in peace darling) and on and on. So much inspiration in his portfolio!




All images are from his portfolio site. Visit!

Bell Jar Art

I've always loved a jar. Whether it be one of those old time-y jam jars (you know, the ones with the little fruits on them?) or a beautiful turquoise Mason jar or a bell jar. I love that bell jars in particular can transform its contents (no matter how mundane) into a piece of art. When I get a place of my own again I'm definitely going to figure out a place for a bell jar or two. Another great thing about these pieces of art? You can change them easily: pinecones in the winter, a collection of feathers in the fall, a huge artificial magnolia in the spring, a pair of vintage pumps any time of the year... the sky's the limit.




What would you put in your jar? Do you have one? I want that mini trailer in the drawing above in mine. Adorable.
images from: emmas design blogg // sadie olive // apartment therapy // lonny // home shopping spy // houzz // sanctuary // cox + cox // we heart it // the bedlam of beefy // a print a day // the drill hall // remodelista // day