You are currently browsing the monthly archive for September 2010.
Windy days can be a drag, but imagine if they looked like this! Los Angeles based illustrator Patrick Hruby employs vibrant hues and interesting shapes to depict the blustery warm East wind. His use of geometric shapes is visually striking and provides a playful image to an invisible force of nature.
09.30.10 | Grace Danico | Found design | 
4 comments
Italian artist, CT, serves up a fresh twist on “modern” graffiti. It’s interesting to note that CT is from Torino, a town with a rich history in lettering. Societa Nebiolo, a type foundry known for its influential typefaces by their star designer, Aldo Novarese, was located here for many years.
More photos after the jump!
09.29.10 | Dave | Found design | 13 comments
I’m so excited, I just got my hands on a copy of Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig. After several years in the making, the highly anticipated book by Steven Heller & Elaine Lustig Cohen (Alvin’s wife) was finally released by Chronicle books last week. This is the first monograph devoted to this master of modern design, whose brief but prolific career had a profound and lasting influence on a generation of designers to come.
09.28.10 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 14 comments
Commonwealth Stacks, a newly launched skateboard line recently sent up some sweet decks. Since 2000 Stacks has existed as the creative outlet for designer and art director Michael Leon, creating Tees and the occasional deck. The Spring of this year saw Michael pursue Stacks full time, partnering with skate legend Reese Forbes to create a brand focusing on quality, style, attention to detail, and authenticity.
09.24.10 | Ethan | Found design | 8 comments
San Francisco based artist and illustrator Lisa Congdon has always been fascinated with with collecting, arranging, and organizing her collections. On January 1, 2010, Lisa took it upon herself to photograph, draw, and occasionally paint these collections for the entire year, and thus, the Collection a Day 2010 project was born.
Documenting objects ranging from vintage books and matchbox labels to colorful bits and bobbles, each collection is well curated and carefully composed. Recently, Uppercase announced that these incredible collections will be made into a book, available Spring 2011.
09.23.10 | Grace Danico | Found design | 2 comments
Cité des Choux/ Photo by Kristo
Browsing the web earlier today I stumbled upon these stunning structures designed by Gerard Grandval. Les Choux de Creteil (aka the cabbages) is a residential development located in Creteil, a commune in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The complex which consists of ten towers (each fifteen stories high) was built in the early 70s as an experimental approach to public housing needs. The petal shaped balconies, which give the buildings their unique appearance, were designed to allow privacy for the occupants. The architect originally envisioned plants to suspend from the balconies. However the idea was shut down by the developers concerned with keeping the buildings insect-free.
09.21.10 | Dave | Found design, Uncategorized | 9 comments
Kemistry Gallery is celebrating the work of legendary designer Lou Dorfsman, art director for the CBS network.
The exhibition centres on his most notable creation, the 11-metre wide handmade wooden typographic wall that he named Gastrotypographicalassemblage. Created during an era when designers were both artisans and well-trained communicators, the wall is the largest modern typographic artefact in existence, described by Michael Bierut as ‘an irreplaceable piece of design history.’ With custom type created by Herb Lubalin and Tom Carnase, the wall contains almost 1500 individual characters.
09.20.10 | Dave | Events | 1 comment
Boutique furniture company Semigood Design, based in beautiful Seattle, boasts an impressive lineup of products. I’d previously seen (and sat on) the made for Dwell magazine Rian stool, but was unaware of the rest of Semigood’s line. With a nod to the past and to Danish styling, the furniture is functional, locally-sourced and sturdy. And with the new flat pack ready-to-assemble line, it’s put together in about 5 minutes.
09.17.10 | Ethan | Found design | 2 comments
Inspired by pop surrealism and alternative cartoons, Alberto Cerriteno’s work is filled with rich textures and fantastically imagery. This print entitled Recuerdos is no exception. We see a small group of birds perching on branches sprouting from a somewhat distinguished gentleman’s head. The man appears to be crying and I hope they’re tears of joy. Recuerdos was originally created for the latest album of Mexican indie band Hello Seahorse, but is now available for purchase here.
09.14.10 | Dave | Poster Picks | 10 comments
Almost exactly 8 years ago the first Flatstock poster show was held in San Francisco. I remember anxiously awaiting my entrance into the show, and subsequently being in awe over the work displayed. I admired all of the work shown, and eventually bought a print from Seripop.
All of the posters exhibited promoted rock shows happening in venues throughout the country and the world. Many exciting books have followed that first Flatstock, covering the exploding rock poster scene. Rock Paper Show is quite a different take on the gig-poster, however — highlighting the posters that were designed to promote the Flatstock event itself. The book contains great work from some of the top-notch poster designers around, including Jeff Kleinsmith, The Bird Machine, Aesthetic Apparatus, The Heads of State, The Small Stakes, f2 Design, and so many more.
09.10.10 | Ethan | Off Our Bookshelves | 1 comment
Herman Miller has just launched Design For You: an exciting contest powered by collective participation. Each prize requires a certain number of people to unlock it. As more people enter the contest, more prizes will be unlocked. For the grand prize, you could win one of five hand-painted Eames Rockers created by Andrew Holder, Philip Lumbang, Christopher Lee, Mark Giglio, and Josh Cochran. Each chair is one-of-a-kind.
In addition to the weekly prizes, the person who gets the most people to enter the contest will win an Aeron chair.
For more information, including a full list of prizes, visit the Design For You home page.
09.10.10 | Dave | Found design | 15 comments
Poland based artist and illustrator, Wojciech Kolacz (aka Otecki), has an eclectic mix of work that ranges from colorfully patterned sculptures to colossal murals and vibrant illustrations. His sculptures, as seen above, are hidden amongst the urban environments we inhabit, adding a playful imaginative element to an often mundane world.
09.09.10 | Grace Danico | Found design | 3 comments
Tomingekijo Music Circle concert pamphlets from 1963
In a prolific career that spanned over 5 decades, Japanese designer Ayao Yamana left behind a rich body of work that few could duplicate. He is mainly known for his elegant and delicate illustrations of women which graced the packaging and printed advertisements for Shiseido cosmetics. These concert pamphlet covers for the Tomingekijo Music Circle represent a side of Yamana that is less familiar, but equally as impressive.
09.08.10 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 4 comments
Our good friends at Chronicle Books recently released Creative, Inc.: The Ultimate Guide to Running a Successful Freelance Business
I’m excited to welcome both Meg and Joy to Grain Edit today for a special Q&A session. Ok, here we go!
09.05.10 | Dave | Off Our Bookshelves | 2 comments
Fantastic new work in the form of Ferocious Quarterly, a curated publication featuring art, illustration, design, short fiction and writing. In the words of publisher Nate Utesch, FQ is “somewhere between an art and culture magazine, a coffee table art book, and an art journal.”
09.03.10 | Ethan | Books | 6 comments
Recently Added to the Grain Edit Job Board:
Print/Retail Designer Intern – TOMS Shoes (Santa Monica/LA)
Web Developer Intern – TOMS Shoes (Santa Monica/LA)
Graphic Design Intern – Jonathan Adler (New York)
Senior Art Director – Target (Minneapolis)
You can subscribe to our job listings via RSS, Email or follow at Twitter and Facebook.
Brooklyn based artist and designer, Scott Albrecht, creates incredible work using my favorite material: wood. Creating objects ranging from wooden sculptures to typography, Scott’s work is conceptually and visually striking.
This piece, titled Heart Hands, is featured in his solo show “SOMETHINGMISTAKENFORNOTHING” at San Francisco’s The Curiosity Shoppe. The show opened last weekend, and is up until the 26th of September. If you’re in or around the Bay Area, definitely check it out.
09.02.10 | Grace Danico | Found design | 6 comments
