Valentine's Day getaway idea! The Madonna Inn

Buck Henry, Anita Morris, Beverly D'Angelo, and Gary Kasper foolin around at the Madonna Inn, from Julien Temple's "Rigoletto" segment of the movie Aria.

White Lines

Beverly Hills. the awesome endpapers of Eliot Elisofon's The Hollywood Style, 1969.

We were going to use this as the basis for a huge room divider (2" deep roads, the red being cut away), but it turned out to be too difficult to sand the edges smooth enough for a lacquer finish.
It's still on the back burner....

Sunday Paper Carriers

L.L. Bean Log Carriers, collected from yard sales for a knock-down,
portable campaign furniture pipe dream project.

Above: from Items from Our Catalog by Alfred Gingold, 1982.
Below, a 19th c. campaign chair.

Fab.com 3-day Wary Meyers print sale!

Started at 11am. Everybody Hustle over there and buy a print!
http://fab.com/sale/ (main page)
http://fab.com/sale/2847/ (our sale)
Thanks!

Marvin Gaye, California 1976

By Annie Leibovitz, from Rolling Stone, 1977.
One of my favorite photographs ever.

Creative Playthings Rocking Beauty Hobby Horse

Vintage Creative Playthings "Rocking Beauty" Hobby Horse amongst the goods at an old-timey auction house out in Maine the other night. Designed by Gloria Caranica in 1964, it's in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Museum. And now in the permanent collection of our son's room. ...And in the permanent collection of the auction house is this amazing Wacky Races-looking Edwardian gent.

related: http://vintageforkids.blogspot.com/2010/12/design-for-kids-bruxelles.html
http://daddytypes.com/2006/05/12/wild_creative_playthings_hobby_horses.php
http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/2011/01/fletchers-room.html

Bowie by Skrebneski, 1978

From the book Skrebneski Portraits: A Matter of Record (1978)

previously: Bowie at the Beeb

Design Research Van, San Francisco, 1960's

The Design Research Dodge A-100 van circa 1966-
a moving advertisement as it made daily deliveries around San Francisco.

From the awesome and highly recommended book Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes, by Jane Thompson and Alexandra Lange, which deserves a much bigger blog post.



related post: Design Research's Bentwood Baby Chair, 1968

Happy Year of the Hobbit Dragon!!

It's both!!

Conversation with Smaug, watercolour by J.R.R. Tolkien.

Shopsin's Plate

From a Brooklyn Goodwill to our kitchen!

Shopsins.com, and

Shopsin's General Store in the NY Times

Misty Mountain Hop

Beautiful and intense Images De L'Himalaya by legendary Italian photographer and mountaineer Vittorio Sella (1859-1943).

"Learn it all, and throw it out." Helen Frankenthaler

"Easels were respectable, but destroy the easel. Sable brushes were wonderful but get a house brush."

Right on.

Paul Rand on Trademarks

Frank Zachary and Alexey Brodovitch on Paul Rand, and Paul Rand on trademarks, 

from Portfolio magazine #1, winter 1950. 

'Paul Rand is a boyish-looking 35-year-old Brooklyn-born designer whose ability to create good-looking advertisements has earned him an international reputation, a horde of imitators, the vice-presidency of a large Manhattan advertising agency (William H. Weintraub & Co.) and a $100,000-a-year income. As a trademark designer, Rand is relatively little known, although he has produced some of the most effective and original business trademarks in use today. This insert (below) demonstrates his virtuosity in this field. It also reveals Rand's grasp of the technique of trademark design, which is to give concrete form to an abstract idea by means of a single graphic shape or symbol, without assistance from the written word. Says Rand:

"A trademark is the signature of a company as opposed to the signature of an individual. It should as closely as possible embody in the simplest forms the essential characteristics of the product or institution being advertised. It should be easy to identify, and it should serve to glorify the merchandise in question, which is often dull and utilitarian by nature. A trademark is a miniature poster, which should sell in a nutshell".
Rand's best trademarks bear out his theory in practice, deriving their appearance and visual impact from the form and function of the product involved, as in his Coronet Brandy waiter whose head is shaped like a brandy glass, and his Helbros Watch Company monogram H which ends in the tight flourish of a coiled watchspring.'

$100,000 in 1950 equals $900,000 today, so this should be very inspiring if you're a graphic designer under 35. Alas, not so much if you're older.

Alexey Brodovitch's PORTFOLIO magazines: if you can find them and afford them, they're well worth having.

The Umbrellas of Tuscany

The classic green umbrella used by all the farmers in Tuscany. Made of heavy duty bright green canvas with a thick wooden shaft and red painted handle (carved from one piece of wood). I bought one when I lived there in 1988 and gave it to my parents, who have to walk a quarter mile every day to get their mail, which seems a very Tuscan-farmer thing to do.  

Below: The only other one I've ever seen outside of Tuscany (even though it's actually in Tuscany): from a Sarah Moon fashion spread in Realities magazine, 1968. 

Deyan Sudjic's London Spacecraft, 1985

British journalist and author (then) and now Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic's awesome London loft, designed by Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. It actually itself looks like a small Design Museum itself,   or a spaceship that's been travelling around galaxies, curating. The only thing missing is a Braun KF 20 coffee maker. The bicycle and Norman Parkinson poster are from Earth.

  from Suzanne Slesin and Stafford Cliff's amazing The International Book of Lofts (1986).
...and not actually designed by Kubrick and Scott, but by Jan Kaplicky in London and David Nixon in Los Angeles, two architects in the transatlantic firm Future Systems.
(sorry Greg)

Buon Appetito! We're in Food & Wine magazine this month

Food & Wine magazine came over for a Christmas party we had with some fabulous friends, some vintage dinnerware, a crazy bronze elk tray, and vintage Italian recipes from Linda's Nonna and Mamma. You can read all about it and get the recipes fantastica in this month's (December) issue, out now.

a couple of behind-the-scenes pics:

Saul Steinberg's Views from New York

Saul Steinberg's famous New Yorker cover from 1976, "A View of the World from 9th Avenue", 

and above, "Olde New York", his rare view to the East.

David Hockney, Saul Steinberg, and Frank Stella

from Renate Ponsold's book Eye To Eye

Shazam! Lightning Bolt Drawer Sachet- $25

Linda made these lightning bolts from vintage tinsel metallic fabric, stuffed 100% with Maine balsam pine.

Guaranteed to smell like a forest of Christmas trees for years to come. Limited edition- we only have a couple yards of this fabric. Yet another perfect gift idea!

Available here: Lightning Bolt- $25

Lauren Hutton, Richard Avedon, and a super cool clear hair dryer- Jun Rope, 1973

Vintage 1973 Nike Oregon Waffle Trainers

Whoah!!!!

The first waffle-soled Nike sneakers ever. From the back of a closet.

Everybody Hustle prints, $25

Our newest print is inspired by the company motto in a 1920's office.
We thought it was so appropriate for these times that we redesigned it a little to hang in our own office. (It should hang in everybody's office!)

24"x19", printed with archival ink on 100lb. Bristol board. Shipped rolled.

$25, available *here*