First I take some triangles....

Besides Richard Scarry and Al Jaffee, another artist-hero of my Marvy Marker-stained youth was Ed Emberley, whose how-to-draw books taught me and countless other kids how simply drawn lines and shapes can be put together to make fish, trains, dragons, spiders, barns, Indians, sauce pans, pigs, hot rods, weirdos, entire worlds, etc...

A rare opportunity to see some of his original drawings and book layouts is on now, so if you're in Los Angeles in the next week (hurry!) you should absolutely check out this show:

From the LA Times:

For generations of creative kids, some of whom are now fine artists, Ed Emberley's step-by-step cartooning manuals such as the 1970 classic "Ed Emberley's Drawing Book of Animals" can be summed up in a few words: Best. Books. Ever. On Saturday, Emberley will make a rare Los Angeles appearance at an exhibition featuring original mock-ups from his beloved drawing books -- 13 of which are still in print -- along with new works.

The show, "Ed Emberley & Friends," will also feature murals by five contemporary artists including curator Caleb Neelon and Los Angeles-based painters Seonna Hong and Saelee Oh -- all of whom learned to draw the Emberley way.

Breaking a drawing down into simple shapes and squiggles, the award-winning children's book illustrator crafted easy-to-follow visual recipes for colorful characters that have an innocent charm and super-cute factor that have endured for 40 years after they were created. (I mean, just look at that little yellow mouse, below.)

For the show, Emberley has created a signed, limited edition of 18-by-24-inch prints of the animals, above, and one of his lessons, right.

Ideal for a nursery or kid's room, and mighty tempting for nostalgic adults who also admire midcentury design, the prints will sell for $30 each. Original Emberley drawings are priced at $300 and all proceeds will benefit children's hospitals and the Art for Kool Kidz program.

The artist reception, which is open to the public, is Saturday from 7-10 p.m. at the Scion Installation L.A., 3521 Helms Ave., Culver City. The show runs until Aug. 7.

-- David A. Keeps

related: Draw a Sasquatch the Ed Emberley Way (Boing Boing)

and

the rarity of The Wizard of Op, including endpapers, at Stopping Off Place, (and the missing couple of pages, but no endpapers, in 1997 gif-style at Maurice D. Wagschal's homepage)

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Koji Tatsuno

Designer Koji Tatsuno's (Alexander McQueen's old boss) very cool Paris apartment. From British Elle Decoration magazine, 1998.

70's sofa and rug found at the Marseilles flea markets.

"Home is about creating a space you feel comfortable in, and to me a comfortable environment is one that is aesthetically pleasing."

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Fiam glass nesting tables

Three thick glass nesting tables made by Fiam Italia, makers of Cini Boeri's Ghost Chair. Linda found these browsing Craigslist one day but the listing was over a month old. We called anyway and the guy said he still had them, that no one had responded. They were his boss's, who had a yard sale after he got divorced, but nobody bought them there either so the guy took them. Crazy. they were $40.

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Double Happiness

Two awesome old Chinese lamps from a yard sale, $5.

Related: "The Lover":

featuring more happiness and really beautiful production design.

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a to z by Bob Gill

A to Z picto/typoographic color matching flipbook by legendary graphic designer Bob Gill, 1962.

A slightly redesigned edition was reissued by Italian publisher Corraini last year, which can be found at Jenny Dalton's small but excellent book dept of Little Big Magazine.

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Richard Scarry's Best Vacation House Ever

At St. Jean Cap Ferrat on the French Riviera.

From the book "The Busy, Busy World of Richard Scarry"

...and the Google Street View is, as expected, incroyable:

also I do believe I can see either Olympia or Fiona getting into her BMW.

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Old School Pre School

Prefontaine School.

Not to be left out of the shoe department, our son Fletcher has these tiny vintage Nike sneakers waiting for him as soon as he can run around, or walk- or really- fit schmit- I guess we could put them on him now. The red pair (marked 1982) is from a yard sale in Maine a few years ago (forward-thinking), and the blue pair (1983) was found by our friends on top of a garbage can in Brooklyn.

Laptop for scale/son reference.

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Zut Alors! Happy Bastille Day!

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Domestic Landscape Bliss

Designer Fantastica Ettore Sottsass, from a 1974 Oui magazine article on the new domestic landscape, photographed by Giuseppe Pino. 

And relatedly, really enjoying all the fascinating posts

lately about Poltronova at the excellent blog RoLu.

Sottsass' luminous mirror, a photograph of which doesn't seem to exist without a half naked or enraptured woman in front of it.

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Pottery Class

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Keith Kustard and Macaron

Introducing Keith Kustard and his little friend Macaron,

via the pencils of John and the needles of Linda.

The two plush compadres are destined to make starring appearances in some future Wary Meyers projects, and have a permanent gig hanging out in Fletcher's room, but for right now they're lounging on the second floor gallery of Corduroy Surf Boutique in Portland, who also have prints (below) and a couple of original watercolors for sale.

Keith & Macaron in the Florida Keys: 20x16"(15x12"image) archival print $35

Keith Kustard and Donavan Frankenreiter.

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Calif.

Chateau Marmont by Jenny Agutter (Logan's Run, An American Werewolf in London) from her awesome book Snap.

Coincidentally Dennis Stock's more awesome book is loaded with photos of ape extras hanging around Los Angeles, taken during the filming of Planet of the Apes, 1968. But I just love these two photos.

somewhat related, and if you've never seen it,

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