Tiny Pencil: Issue One – The Forest Issue
64 pages / 21cm x 27.5cm

Filled with lush, monochromatic landscapes, the Tiny Pencil is a new artzine that celebrates graphite-based illustration in all its glory. Founded by Amber Hsu and Katriona Chapman, the inaugural issue explores the theme of “Forests” and features sketches of fantastical funghi, wizards and eerie woodland creatures. Included are contributions by Raymond Lemstra, Kristyna Baczynski, Nick Sheehy, Luke Pearson, Lizzie Stewart. Ward Zwart, Liam Stevens and many others.

Pick up a copy here. Also Tiny Pencil issue 2 is now available for pre-order.

More book picks after the jump.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Here’s the latest round of books and goods to hit our shelves. This week’s entries include items from MidCentury Magazine, Chronicle Books, Corraini Edizioni, Sappi, Milkfed Press and Princeton Architectural Press.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Continuing with Unit Editions thoughtfully curated collection of design related titles comes, Scratching the Surface, a selection of writings by Adrian Shaughnessy. Over the past 18 years, Adrian has contributed significantly to the ongoing discourse centered around graphic design. His highly successful How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing your Soul has sold over 80,000 copies worldwide and has become a staple for young designers seeking practical advice. With this latest volume, we are presented with a sampling of essays and reviews that helped establish Adrian as an authoritative and critical voice within the design community.

Featured are musings and meditations on music and art with ample space dedicated to Adrian’s writings on graphic design. Designed by Spin, the layout is sparse, but complete with liberal amounts of pink adding a much-needed visual punch.

Pick up a copy here.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

A Handbook of California Design, 1930-1965 is the latest title from LACMA curator Bobbye Tigerman and profiles 140 of the most significant design figures from the mid-twentieth-century. As a companion to the catalog California Design: Living in a Modern Way and the exhibition of the same name, the book features Grain Edit faves such as Saul Bass and Alvin Lustig, as well as many lesser known but influential practitioners. Also included is an extended reading list, images of the exhibition installation and sources for further research.

Designed by the award winning designer Irma Boom, the book is a beautifully crafted object in its own right. The layout is restrained in its approach, but shines within the subtle details. I especially appreciate her “Connections and Collaborations” diagram which takes on a pattern-like quality that possibly emulates some of the textile work of the era.

You can pick up a copy at the LACMA shop as well as Amazon. The exhibition, which recently wrapped up in Tokyo, makes its next stop at the Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand on July 7th of this year.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Fresh picks from our favorite publishers! Here’s the latest books to hit our shelves.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Flying Eye Books is the latest branch in Nobrow’s budding empire. The imprint will strictly focus on Children’s titles while retaining the same quality and curation that you would come to expect from Nobrow.

For their first release, they worked with award-winning UK-based illustrator Viviane Schwarz to create an awesome robot book – literally. The aptly titled Welcome to Your Awesome Robot provides you with everything you need to design, build and test a robot from cardboard.  With instructional comics and Vivienne’s charming sense of humor as your guide, the book is fun to read and makes for an excellent family activity.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

Irving Harper: Works In Paper is a recent monograph from Skira Rizzoli celebrating the multi-faceted designer, Irving Harper, with a focus on his incredible collection of paperboard sculptures.

As the director of design at George Nelson Associates in the 1960s, Harper contributed to numerous mid-century creations, namely the Marshmallow Sofa for Herman Miller furniture and the Ball and Sunburst clocks for Howard Miller, and also leading the design of the Chrysler pavilion for the 1964 New York World Fair. According to Julie Lasky who penned an essay for the book, the pressure of work ‘almost drove him to knit’, yet with his skills in building client presentation models in cardboard, he soon eased his way into sculpting with paper. Inspired by Picasso, African Art, Surrealism and de Stijl, Harper constructed whimsical characters and breathtaking abstracts mostly out of paper in addition to straws, wood, toothpicks, twigs, spare materials from his office and discarded doll parts from his daughter. His collection numbered close to 300 when he ran out of display space in 2000. He completed his stunning final piece which appropriately graced the book cover – an owl with glass eyeballs and draped in folded brown paper feathers.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

What better way to start off the week than with some exciting new releases from our favorite publishers? Our latest installment includes whimsical architectural renderings by James Gulliver Hancock, reissues of obscure illustration classics by William Wondriska and Robinson and much more!

(more…)

Share on Facebook

From books on vintage record cover art to typographic notecards, here’s the latest batch of items to hit our shelves.

(more…)

Share on Facebook

To celebrate the launch of our upcoming online store, we will be holding a special preview sale.  If you would like to receive an invite, email us with your details. Please include “grain edit store” in the subject line of the message.

*To access the store you will need a code which will be sent via email prior to the event.

Share on Facebook