Just got back from such a lovely family vacation. Next week I’ll share some photos. Today we spent the day just answering emails and catching up on tasks.

I’m working busily on new patterns for the August Printsource show. I want to have lots of new conversational prints, brocades, and florals. I’m playing with some fun color palettes that I’ll share before the show. Here’s a little sneak peek of a sexy modern toile in a peachy, pinky, red palette. I also tried one in a burnt orange palette with a dusty turquoise background.

I’ll be covering other surface pattern companies before Printsource too. So far I posted about Peagreen. Stay tuned for more in the weeks before August 4th.

Have a truly superb weekend everyone!!

I’m getting really excited for the August PrintSource show. I’m especially looking forward to seeing the UK based company, Peagreen’s booth. Their prints definitely stand out. At the show they display large banners of their bold and illustrative patterns living up to their “design agenda” with “fresh, contemporary, versatile, intelligent, and unique” designs for the edgiest clients from Urban Outfitters to Moma to Ikea. They’re right on top of the game with their own blog and limited edition art shop.

Above are some of their bold patterns and motifs and below is my little interview with them and a couple of posters I have my eye on for Henry’s room. Henry will be born in October so I figure I better start his room off with some fantastic Peagreen posters! Enjoy the interview and check out Peagreen’s site for yourself if you won’t be visiting them at PrintSource in booth E18/20 (down the aisle from my little booth, E8).

1. How long have you been in the surface pattern business? The pea left the pod in 1996 and has grown since then!
2. How did the collective start? An idea & a doodle
3. When did you go international? We launched our first collection at Premier Vision, Paris in 1998
4. Do you work from personal points of inspiration or follow trend watching sites? We get inspiration from anything & everything from blogs, shops, books (new & old), vintage items, movies, music, magazines, exhibitions, old photos and toys & flea markets!
5. Do you use trend watching sites for color or motif ideas? We keep up with themes and trends through all these sources…they are all great!
6. Plusses and minuses to working in a collective? So many ideas not enough time!
7. Anything else you would like to share with Maquette readers about you and your designs? We are currently working on a range of limited edition Art Print Posters that you can buy from our website and a Gallery show at our studio in September which we will release super special new prints and products for the event. Come and be a Peafriend & follow our Blog for the latest!!

I love to hand letter. A friend of ours just left for The Norman Mailer writing colony so I made her a card with these sentiments.

Yesterday I showed you a photographic series that Kate Miss came up with. I asked some friends to follow the theme and document their July 4th weekend for Maquette readers. Today I have Erin Loechner of Design for Mankind and Jessica Goldfond of Shiny Squirrel.
Erin:

Jessica:

Kate Miss of For Me, For You is one of my favorite bloggers and photographers. She shares these perfectly simple, or full of energy moments in her photos. After looking through them you feel like you experienced the world through Kate’s eyes. I think this is harder to do than one might expect. Kate’s shots go far beyond simple documentation to the expression of a feeling or a visceral moment.  She curated some of her favorites for us here at Maquette from her July 4th weekend at a cabin in the woods with a bunch of friends.

More of Kate Miss’s Weekends:

1. Bits Of My Weekend, July 6th
2. Bits Of My Weekend, June 29th
3. Bits Of My Weekend, June 15th
4. Bit Of My Weekend, May 26th
5. on a different note: Kate’s photographic contribution (for Love Book)

I love Kate’s series so much that I asked a few other blog friends to try it out and share it with us. Tomorrow I’ll share weekend pics from Erin Loechner (Design for Mankind) and Jessica Goldfond (Shiny Squirrel) respectively.

Other Kate Miss posts:

Kate Miss shop announcement & Kate Miss poster round-up

Imagine deciding to write a personal and unique letter to everyone in the world… Lenka & Michael did just that, here’s what they have to say about it, “In April 2009, we sent a personal, handwritten letter to each of the 467 households in the small Irish village of Cushendall. We hoped these unsolicited letters would prompt neighbourly discussion, spreading across the town, promoting community curiosity.” To see the letters larger and be able to read them more clearly click this.

via Mirabel Press

I have to link to this incredible stop motion animation. 60,000 pictures shot, 9,600 prints developed, and more than 1,800 pictures shot again. No post production!

This weekend we’re going to visit my aunt and uncle in Gloucester Mass (where the Perfect Storm took place). We’ll go to the beach for long walks, to a lobster pound so that my dad can teach my husband how to eat a lobster the New England style, we’ll take an outdoor shower (really nothing is better), and we’ll enjoy being away from the city a bit. It will be hard for me not to be working on art stuff and checking email and blogs but it will also be really really good for me to take a little break… I think. I have a couple of posts lined up for Mon-Tues, till I get back. Then I’ll post some pictures from the trip. Have a great weekend yourselves. XO.

Perhaps the obsessive media coverage will come to a lull now that the memorial service is over. When someone is such a ubiquitous figure I guess the public becomes fascinated. Michael Jackson was especially fascinating. A little while ago I came across one of his original paintings on a piece of cardboard, signed “Mike Jackson”. I can’t stop looking at it. It’s intriguing to me on so many levels. The performative command Mickey has over Goofy and the way Goofy is in aw/shock are just a couple of the aspects that grab me. It’s impossible not to prescribe my own interpretation onto a painting when I’m aware of the artist’s background. I wonder if I would be as interested in this had I not known it’s maker? I’m also including some of his letters in this post. If you want to see more interesting Jackson 5, and Michael paraphernalia such as gig posters, check out this link I found through one of my fav blogs Hi + Low.

I’m super into hand lettering lately. I really don’t know much about typography but have a ball playing around with letter forms. I love coming across the real masters. I recently discovered UK based illustrator/typographer Sebastian Lester. “His typeface designs are used by Intel, Dell, The New York Times, The Sunday Times, GQ Magazine and many other companies, institutions and publications worldwide.”

What I love most about them is the way letters become designs. It doesn’t matter so much that I’m looking at words as that the letter forms that make them are beautiful and interesting. I’m a huge Seb Lester fan now.

You can purchase prints of his work in a number of great shops worth checking out:

1. ilovetypography
2. Soma
3. Scrawl Collective
4. Keep Calm Gallery

UK based designer Lizzie Allen is inspired by her upbringing in Surrey, Dubai, and New York. She worked for amazing companies like Osborne & Little and Paul Smith before striking out on her own to start a hand silk screened wallpaper studio.  “It is important to Lizzie to offer the bespoke ‘hands on’ designer approach to all aspects of her work. ”

I love the illustrative elements of her work especially the people in city scenes featured here of New York and London. I think it would be great to wallpaper a room in Lizzie’s papers but how lovely would it be to frame a large section too?!

Hmmmm….I’m thinking I could replace a mirror above my bedroom mantle with her central park scene.

These stunning shots exemplify summer. I’d love to be where that girl is right now.

The photographs are take by Anna Aden from Sweden (why are Sweds so amazing at art? See Camilla Engman & Elisabeth Dunker).

• 1,2,3 by Anna on flickr. Here’s her beautiful website to peruse as well.
• I discovered her through this photo on fffound!

I spent the 4th of July in a really mellow way this year. We went for a picnic (black bean chili, cornbread, chips, guacamole, and cookies) with friends in a beautiful park near our apt. Then we came home and puttered around and when it got dark went back out for a nice walk in the park with the pooch. We looked for fireflies for a while but when the pooch heard the sound of fireworks in the distance she got very nervous so we had to turn around. Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day and delightful evening. The air felt so good.

Just a quick thank you to all who emailed me to tell me that Daily Candy mentioned my wall graphics for Loxii. Yay!

Ok, now back to the post….Today I want to show you Wikstenmade by Jenny Gordy who also maintains a fabulous blog by the same name. Jenny just moved to NY and I had the privilege of grabbing a delicious dinner with her and Kate Miss & Jessica Goldfond the other right. We went to a lovely Brooklyn Restaurant called Flatbush Farm. I was hoping we’d be able to sit out in the garden but alas it rained….again.

Jenny creates beautiful clothing working primarily in natural linen and cotton, delicate gingham, stripes, plaids and droll floral prints that she then crafts into clean and classic silhouettes. Her grandmother taught her to sew and to wash her fabrics 3 times before even beginning. I love her work and really can’t wait to own some Wikstenmade clothing after the baby comes. If you were to only wear Wikstenmade you’d always look pulled together, yet casual, conscious of beautiful detail and craftsmanship and lovely without fuss. I love how feminine the clothing is without being overt.

I’m so happy to have met Jenny and know I’ll be seeing her again soon. Check out her blog and look for updates as her hand-made designs sell out fast, about as quickly as she announces them.

I hope you have an absolutely splendid weekend everyone. For July 4th, I’m going for a late afternoon picnic and then staying in the park until the fireflies come out and flicker all around us. We love fireworks but don’t feel like enduring the crowds this year.

I think this would be a fun outfit to wear on July 4th, day through night. There’s no way I’d fit into the skirt due to pregnabelly…but I love it nonetheless! Truth is I’ll probably wear a t-shirt and jeans for a kick back picnic in the park but I think these possibilities are fun if you are in the mood to spif-if-fy:

1. Kate Spade sunglasses from Zappos
2. Sonia Rykiel star t-shirt from Bird
3. Philip Lim sailor skirt from Bird
4. Rachel Comey shoes from Refinery 29
5. Lena Corwin/Mociun tote from Lena
6. Rebecca Taylor Jacket from the Outnet
7. Kate Spade shoes from Zappos
8. knot necklace from the beside on etsy
9. knot ring from Erie Basin
10. Etruscan earrings from Erie Basin
11. Miu Miu bag from Net-A-Porter
12. Picnic Basket from Picnic Fun

I’m so excited about this collaboration. Christopher David Ryan (an obvious maquette favorite) collaborated with the talented Maria Vettese to create these extremely affordable and gorgeous prints. They’re absolutely perfect for summer. I love the pop of sunshine yellow. The prints above are limited edition digital & letterpress so get them while you can. I seriously have to restrain because there is absolutely no more room on my walls. I love these so much I’m thinking about what I could replace with them in my house? The sunglasses print is my fav of the lot but they work perfectly as a set, no?

a couple other Christopher David Ryan posts:
recent show and interview

I’m working on lots of new patterns for the Print Source show coming up in early August. I will share more work closer to the show. I’m also going to be doing pre-show coverage by interviewing and featuring the work of other surface pattern designers that will be exhibiting their work too. So stay tuned.

This was a gouache and pen painting/drawing that I just turned into a repeat. I might do some watercolor patterns for the show. I have done a few in the past but not too many. I’m just concerned that certain companies would not want to print that many colors because when you paint something there are far more tones than when you just use flat digital color. We’ll see how it goes.

I’m always happy to get a letter from Claire Nereim. Whenever she adds something to her shop you can be sure I’m going to love it and want it (like her t-shirt co. stymie)!

Her latest shop addition are sets of beautiful wildflower notecards. They would go quite nicely with my Nereim wildflower poster that I’m looking at in my peripheral vision above my computer as I type this post. Frankly, these would be beautiful baby shower, or wedding thank you cards…hmmm I’m thinking baby shower. I can think of a million uses. They’re just stunning.

Check her etsy shop for posters and these new floral cards.

If you haven’t already read it, here’s my interview with Claire.

I’ve always wanted to illustrate a map. Luckily I recently got commissioned by a San Francisco resident to do one of the harbor area where she and her family go for walks. This is what I came up with. Now I’d like to do one for my Brooklyn neighborhood and maybe the westside of Manhattan.

Yesterday was a busy day, I ran around the city showing my portfolio to some design and advertising companies, then I went to see the documentary on Valentino which I reccomend seeing at your local art house theater. What a character he is! Then I met up with one of my best and oldest friends also known as shop darling on the Elle.com. There’s really nothing like spending time with an old friend. We could have stayed together till the sun came up talking and catching up. Now I’m in a great mood for the weekend. I hope you have something fun planned, or something super relaxing.

Thanks again for reading Maquette. XO.

As my waist line expands with each week being pregnant (22 so far) I miss the days of belting. I am a big belter (exhibit A, B, C, D). I love belting dresses and ethereal tops. This summer that’s not going to be an option. Instead I’ll wear elastic waisted jeans, yes…sad…but very true. I put together a little collection of belts to look at dreamily. The Jennifer Behr is truly a midsummer night’s dream. The price however is more of a nightmare. I think it would look amazing with a white flowing wedding gown for a wedding in the woods. Picture that!! Frankly I’d wear it everyday. I love the rest too. Follow the link to the arrow belt to check out the buckle detail….it’s nice.

1. Skinny leather belt (in metallic blush) from JCrew
2. Braided chrystal and chain belt from Jennifer Behr
3. Moss Mills 3/4″ double buckle belt from Revolve
4. Arrow belt by Rag and Bone via Shopbop

I’ve posted about Hanna Konola before because I love her work. Last post I featured her illustration, this time I wanted to show you my favorite of Hanna’s drawings and prints. Her work is so clean and peaceful, at the same time her colors are bold and cheerful. What a nice combination, don’t you think?

I love my engagement ring. A dear friend, Maressa of Mari Tome made it for us. It to looks like an antique. If I had more room on my ring fingers I’d love to don any of these true antique gems (no pun intended) from one of my favorite jewelry shops, Erie Basin.

1. 1830’s Georgian French jet ring
2. 1770’s Gerogian Rose Cut ring
3. Conroy & Wilcox emerald ring

I just made this card for my dad and father in law so I thought I’d pop it up here on Maquette should any of you be blog reading this weekend. Feel free to grab it from my flickr, I changed the creative license so you can, and print for your papa (it’s 5X7) or send it to him digitally if he’s as diligent about checking email as you are.

Ok, enjoy! Have a lovely weekend.