Color My Walls Pretty

Fun and funky wallpaper from Jonathan Adler. Loving the sixties vibe of both of these.

Art with Purpose

[Above: Yasmine Surovec, Karolin Schnoor. Below: Amy Ruppel, Erik Otto]

The Working Proof is a group seeking to marry artwork and social responsibility. Every Tuesday, they release a new piece of artwork by an emerging artist where 15% of the proceeds of the artwork goes to a charity chosen by the artist. The prints are in limited editions created by the artists themselves and can be done in any medium such as silkscreening, letterpress, linocut, giclee, etc. And as an added bonus, they do an great indepth interview with every artist!

The Midcentury Modernist: Home decor porn for designers

From Eames to appliances, The Midcentury Modernist is now officially my favorite home decor blog. Gorgeous plywood furniture and those deliciously minimalist lines from California to Sweden, this is a feast for the eyes. Warning: maybe be detrimental to bank account. You've been warned.

Eye Candy: Ben Javens

Ben Javens creates lovely illustrations which he chronicles in his blog. From sweet to rockin', his work totally makes me smile. He also has a shop on Big Cartel to purchase hand screenprinted prints and other objects d'art.

Design Sponge, the Swedish Version

Emmas Designblogg is a contemporary home decor and lifestyle blog from Sweden. Its a different look at a well-worn topic. Yes, there's a little bit of nesting going on there but heck, Swiss Miss is doing it too.

sfgirlbybay: surf style beauty

[Surf Style collages from sfgirlbybay]

In keeping with the tropical/holiday theme this week, this is, sfgirlbybay, the online moniker of interior design writer/editor Victoria Smith. She has recently featured several tropically-themed posts so I thought this was a perfect time to introduce my favorite interiors blog. sfgirlbybay features a wide array of interior design-related topics and her posts occasionally feature her own lovely photography.



[Photos from sfgirlbybay's recent trip to Napa Valley]

Mini Goals Chalkboards

Mary Kate McDevitt has been creating a whole mess of Mini Goal chalkboards with amazing, hand-painted lettering. Her chalkboards leave space to put just two to-do's which is enough to make everyone feel as if they've accomplished something for the day without getting overwhelmed.

[More images on Flickr.]

Eye Candy: i.anton

Spotted on Flickr, the vintage, dreamy, almost-film-still-like images of i.anton. Prints of her images are available on imagekind.

Eye Candy: A Fied Guide to Stamps of the World

Gavin Potenza created his perfect world of mid-century styled postage stamps into a lovely print entitled, "A Field Guide to the Stamps of the World." Available at Tiny Showcase.

Holiday Windows on Fifth Ave.

New York Times photographer, Bill Cunningham, narrates a walking tour slideshow of the holiday windows around Fifth Ave. in New York City. There are some clever ideas, concepts and mechanics and some spectacular exhibits of excess in this five-minute piece. It provides a great opportunity to see these windows from the comfort of your warm office, and a chance to see outrageously expensive displays, the likes of which might not be seen again for some time if the ecomnomy keeps going the way it is.

Perpetual Calendar

If you've been visiting P+P for awhile, you'll notice that whenever I stumble across anything that even hints at being a perpetual calendar, I pounce on it like a cat on fresh catnip. This is no exception. Challenged to utilize Corian to create a functional item, this delightful perpetual calendar was created. Being made of the same sturdy material as kitchen countertops, I suspect its durable enough to survive a lifetime.

[Link from Modern Craft, thankyouveddymuch!]

Alphabet Table

This is a table only a design could love! Well, okay, maybe not just a designer but who else would spend hours trying to identify each letter's font or original creator? This table is available from, of all places, Crate and Barrel for $899 and is carved from a single piece of wood to look like individual letterpress blocks then covered with tempered glass on a metal base.

Field Notes Calendar

OMG! I love calendars, I love stationery of all kinds and I love what Coudal is doing with the Field Notes brand so I must gush about the 18-month Field Notes Calendar. Simple, classic and just $8.95.

UPDATE: Check out actual photos of the calendars, which started shipping on Monday, Oct. 13.

Finally— A Use for all those old lenses

This old lens coffee mug is a very clever example of reuse. Not sure I'd really want to drink coffee out of a nasty old lens, or how they'd survive the dishwasher, but one crafted out of porcelain would be awesome!

[From Gizmodo]

OOO, Blog Love!

Through the crazy twist of events that can only happen on the internet (from Operation Nice to hit counters to Amazon to...) I found the Orange Beautiful blog. Officially, Orange Beautiful is a customized design firm out of Chicago specializing in letterpress invitations, cards and an assortment of paper ephemera like bookbinding, screenprint posters and more. All of these are truly lovely. The big news for me is the fun, pretty blog filled with fashion, interiors and design that accompanies the official site. Its my very own dream version of Lucky magazine. I mean really... how could we not love girls who include photos of gnomes in her travel photos (and drives a Mini)?



[Photos from Orange Beautiful. Card available through Etsy.]

Collage Artist: Kareen Rizk

Even Kareen Rizk's website shows his collage skills at their best. He has included some lovely photographic work as well as some of his more commercial design work but his true talent is his collage work – modest color, clever composition and thoughtful juxtaposition. Though there is little information on his site about his work, there is a trail of breadcrumbs to find him in places like DeviantArt, MySpace and Flickr. A selection of his Giclee prints are available at BlueFlip or in his Etsy shop.




[Link thanks to Modern Craft]

Exhibition: Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product

[Sample plate made for Merigot Paints: "Couleurs Terrisse" / Manufactured by Ancienne Manufacture Royale de Limoges / France, ca. 1885
Glazed porcelain / Museum purchase from General Acquisitions Endowment. 2005-11-2 ]

The Cooper-Hewitt Museum is currently hosting an exhibition called Multiple Choice: From Sample to Product. The work in the show is an assortment of sample books and other sampling formats that have been used over the years to market products as diverse as wallcoverings, ribbons, lace as well as prints and drawings, color samples and paint chips.

The work will be on display through September 1, 2008.


[Sample book: A Descriptive Handbook of Modern Watercolor Pigments / Written by J. Scott Taylor / Published by Winsor and Newton, Ltd.
London, England, late 19th century / Hand-painted watercolor on Whatman's drawing paper, printed paper; fabric-covered board
Smithsonian Institution Libraries, ND2430.T24 190 CHMRB]

[Shout out to my father-in-law who recommended this exhibition to us!]

WhereWeDoWhatWeDo

Take a peek at the DIY visual collection of workspaces at WhereWeDoWhatWeDo. Since its Friday afternoon, take a break and photograph the mess that is your own workspace and upload it to the site so other people (specifically me) can get a voyeuristic glance at your world.

Growbots Dance to the Beat of a Bunny Drummer

Lest you think all our posts are getting a little too serious here at Pica + Pixel (especially for a Friday) allow us to introduce you to the Junk Bunnys. This is a 2-color silkscreen poster created by the Growbots and available on Etsy. Go forth and rock out.

[Thanks to Drawn for turning our attention to the Growbots]

Shameless Self-Promotion: The Kirsten Edition

Our very own Kirsten has finally made her limited edition silkscreen posters available for sale on Etsy. There is a set of four nature-inspired prints. Each print is about 9.5x12 inches and two- or three-color. Each print is available individually for $15 or a complete set for $45.