Curious & Co. Creative

Not Your Childhood Shadow Puppets

Brooke Forry — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:00:19 +0000

Artist Fred Eerdekens creates stunning pieces of typography art with sculpture, light, and the shadows that result from combining the two. The wire sculptures are my favorite — what looks like jumbled knots of metal become beautiful words and phrases in script.

all images via Fred Eerdekens

Szelet

Terry Baker — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:35:58 +0000

As I’m sure you can imagine, the ladies of Curious are pizza-lovers. Which is why this packaging and branding for a pizza shop specializing in slices caught our eye. Designer Kiss Miklos does a great job capturing the fun and nostalgia of a pizza shop in the bold use of red and strong type. I know what I’ll be having for lunch…

images via Kiss Miklos, found via The Dieline

Carin Ingalsbe

Terry Baker — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:31:32 +0000

I am speechless at these breathtaking vintage clothing photographs by Carin Ingalsbe. For the last three years, she has been focusing on ballet costumes—the ones pictured here are just a few from her New York City Ballet collection, but be sure to explore her site for tons more gorgeousness.

images via Carin Ingalsbe

Calendar Sale – 50% Off!

Brooke Forry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:34:47 +0000

Are you STILL without a fabulous 2012 calendar? Get on it! We’re cleaning out our stock to make room for some exciting new products, and there are a handful of colorful bunting calendars still looking for a home. Visit our shop and use the code CALENDARME at checkout to receive 50% off!

Gutenberg Variations

Terry Baker — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:46:08 +0000

There is little that compares to the rich, tactile quality of a book. I imagine artist Stanford Kay agrees: here is a small sampling of his beautiful series of paintings, Gutenberg Variations. In his own words, “Both paintings and books are vessels for ideas, experience and memory. The books we read and the paintings we love and choose to live with, define us. A book requires the reader to assemble images and ideas out of its signs and symbols. Likewise, a painting asks that you translate its strokes and drips into reason and emotion.”

images via Stanford Kay, found via Pinterest

Penned: AIGA Philly Workshop

Brooke Forry — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:10:55 +0000

On Saturday I had the pleasure of attending Penned: A Hands-On Lettering Workshop with Ken Barber of House Industries. The much anticipated AIGA Philly event had been sold out for some time and I was really excited to attend. In just a few short hours, Ken gave an entertaining and insightful presentation on lettering and his own process and experience as a letterer, and guided the class of fifteen students in our own lettering project.

Ken leading us through the early stage of the lettering process

Our assignment, using several typographic references that Ken provided, was to hand letter the word “hoagie” however we’d like (an apropos word selection for a workshop held in Philadelphia — we take our hoagies very seriously around these parts). We worked for a few hours as Ken went around the room advising and critiquing our work. Here’s a look at my process:

In my initial sketch, my G started out with a bit too much trapped space below the A, which Ken helped me to see more clearly when he came around and showed me some ways to improve. Those are his sketches on top of mine in tracing paper, below:

In my next version, I tightened up that space, reworked the H a bit, and made a few other tweaks overall (including filling in my outlined letters) to reach my final product:

Now I don’t mean to brag (okay — I do just a little bit!), but my drawing was the big winner when we all hung up our drawings and voted on our favorite. I won a CD with a sweet House Industries font, and some music from the House Industries band. Pretty fun!

Definitely keep your eyes peeled for some hand-lettered items in the Curious shop soon — I’ve been bit by the bug, for sure.

top image via AIGA Philly; all other images via my iPhone

I Fold

Terry Baker — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 13:09:47 +0000

I am completely obsessed with every single thing Matt Shlian has done. He calls his work kinetic sculpture… I just call it beautiful. Be sure to check out all the videos, which show how some of his pieces behave with a little human interaction.

images Matt Shlian, found via Pinterest

Dear Photograph

Brooke Forry — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 12:00:57 +0000

I’m what you may call a photo hoarder. It’s safe to say that I can easily waste hours looking through boxes of old family photos without coming up for air. Dear Photograph puts a different spin on this activity, as readers submit their own photos-of-photos with short notes reflecting on how things have (or haven’t) changed.

Now I can waste hours looking through other people’s family photos. Check out Dear Photograph to read each photo’s story.

1985

Terry Baker — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 13:17:50 +0000

Pretty prints available of Toronto-based Jan Avedano’s type experiment, 1985. Such lovely colors, and Wham!’s Careless Whisper was the number one song, which makes it one of my favorite years ever.

via designworklife

I Have a Dream

Brooke Forry — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:30:54 +0000

I thought this was apropos given yesterday’s Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday. I’ve never had the patience to solve the Rubik’s Cube, so working with 4,242 Rubik’s Cubes to create a mosaic? Not an idea I’d ever consider. Peter Fecteau, however, not only considered it: he made it happen. The visual result is nothing short of stunning.

images via Peter Fecteau, found via koikoikoi