Maya Romanoff's 2010 catalog

1st Dibs has a nice profile of artist and textiles designer Maya Romanoff, coinciding with the Maya Romanoff company's 40th anniversary.  Romanoff might be best known for his incredibly creative wall coverings, which utilize all types of materials and designs, but he has had his hands in the fashion and art world as well.  Take for example the awesome Bess' Sunrise installation on the now-demolished Chicago Sun-Times building in 1988.  Romanoff draped the building in huge hand-dyed canvases mirroring the patterns made by the reflection of a sunset on the Chicago River:

Romanoff's wall coverings can have a similar monumental feel, even if they are indoors in one's home.  See the 2010 catalog here.  My favorites from the collection are "Ajiro Marquetry," "Mother of Pearl," "Precious Metals," and "Half Plaid," which looks like a design that could fit easily within a Gustav Klimt painting:

 

Album cover for Charanjit Singh's "Ten Ragas to a Disco Beat"

This is a great album cover designed by Dutch illustrator Stefan Glerum.  I believe the typography is one designed by Glerum himself: ethnic disco monotype.

Kitsune's spring/summer 2010 collection

French record label/fashion house Kitsune has a few nice pieces in its spring/summer 2010 collection, which they have titled "Kitsune Golf Club."  Don't let the name deter you, there really are some nice shirts in the collection:

I like the pale color of the shirt, and that it's a collared shirt with buttons that only go down halfway, but it's not a polo shirt (see my ramblings on polo shirts in this post).  Man that dude's hair is distracting...

This western-style shirt is very nice.  It might look a tad nicer on someone with broader shoulders, or who wasn't standing in such a schlubby pose, but it's still a very nice shirt. 

Again, I like the pale color of the shirt, and the two-tone color adds to the effect. You don't usually see shirts with white collars and cuffs that also have a white pocket, but it's nice in that it breaks up the color of the midsection and adds a little more balance.

You can barely see the patterned shirt but it's quite nice; I especially like the bolder white strip down the middle.  It's not something I would wear with a navy or black blazer, but I understand Kitsune is going for the whole preppy vibe so, whatever.

I don't really have any intentions of discussing women's fashion on this site, but I have to point out that the woman's outfit in this picture is awesome.  And notice the same western-style shirt on someone who wears it a tad bit better.  Come to think of it, Kitsune threw in a lot of western shirts into this collection (see the entire lookbook here), and they're not something that I would normally associate with golf club style.  Interesting...

Incidentally, here's a neat interview with Kitsune's founders in 01 Magazine.

Shogun Tavolo lamp by Mario Botta

I saw this lamp today in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Highlights From the Modern Design Collection galleries.  It was designed by Swiss architect Mario Botta in 1986 and manufactured by Artemide.  (Botta is probably most well-known in America for designing the San Francisco Museum of Art's building.)  The light is diffused through two metal shades and creates some crazy light patterns (check out the images at Stylepark); the outer shade can be adjusted as seen fit.  I would love to upgrade the IKEA desk lamp I've had for 10+ years to this...

Two nice art gallery websites

The past week was the first annual New York Gallery Week, and while going through the list of participating galleries on the website, it occurred to me that web design should be a pretty important thing for art galleries.  You don't want to do the artists you represent a disservice by showing samples of their work on a crappy-looking and difficult to navigate website.  Or even a boring website.  A stylish and attractive website could make a potential buyer more inclined to actually visit the gallery.  And a creative website that shows outside the box thinking can set a tone for the gallery and the kinds of artists it represents.  Of course, one might say who cares what the website looks like as long as the artwork looks good.  The problem is, the artwork is being shown in the context of the website, and why would you shoot yourself in the foot by pairing good art with bad design?

So here are two art gallery websites that caught my eye:

Participant Inc.  What I like about Participant's site is the band that goes across the website and reveals text superimposed on the homepage's photograph as you scroll up and down.  I like the concept of hiding and revealing at the same time.  It's a little clumsy as is, and the left-justified screen makes the site seem unbalanced, but it's a very interesting concept.

Mitchell-Innes & Nash.  The photographs of the gallery space that make up the background to the website are what make Mitchell-Innes & Nash's website stand out.  Instead of using white or some other color as the background, they use the background space of the website as an opportunity to showcase the physical space of the gallery, making the viewer feel connected to that space.  The site was designed using exhibit-E, a partner company of Dan Miller Design that focuses specifically on web design for art galleries.  (Dan Miller Design and exhibit-E have pretty awesome websites too.)  Fittingly, exhibit-E has written a book entitled The Art World and the World Wide Web.  Obviously, people have been thinking about web design as it relates to art galleries long before I did.

 

5BoroNYCs "Hazy Towers" t-shirt

This t-shirt, made by 5Boro, might be my favorite graphic tee out right now.  The "Hazy Towers" image shows the Empire State Building in the foreground, and the former Twin Towers in the background, melding into a faint blue-grey watercolor wash.  It's a striking image, a fitting memorial to 9/11.  The shirt is a stark contrast to the bold lines and in-your-face designs of most graphic tees made by street wear companies, which ironically makes it stand out all the more.  Really, really nice.

Unis spring/summer collection

Unis's clothing is great for the guy that likes to look good without being ostentatious.  There are a few really nice pieces in their spring/summer collection.  I don't know if I would put on an outfit of solely Unis clothing (a little flair can be good too), but Unis's shirts and jackets are easily paired with other clothing, and the styles are classic, meaning they can stay in your closet for a lifetime.

I'm generally not a fan of polo shirts.  I think it's because of all the wannabe I-banker dicks I knew in college named "Chase" or "Chance" or "Chet" who wore polo shirts relentlessly. (Word to the wise, if your polo shirt dangles far below your waist, so far that it covers your ass, you automatically look stupid.)  But Unis's "Tristan" polo makes me a believer.  A lot of polos have a hefty look, but Unis's are trim and unassuming.  Unis makes it possible to wear a polo and not look like a prepster.  Just please stay away from the tan Dockers.

One thing I like about Unis's shirts is that the collars are small.  Like I said, Unis is not about being ostentatious.  This shirt is their "Felix" style in white/green stripe.  The trench coat ("James," grey multicolor) is pretty nice too.  The pants I'm not so sure about.  They're the rust color of their "Gio" chinos, the product Unis is probably most well-known for.  Unis's chinos are great in other colors, but in this instance I'm not convinced.

That shirt ("Adam" in grey) is perfection.

New Jersey Nets vs. Brooklyn Nets t-shirts

At some point within the next few years, the New Jersey Nets basketball team will make its highly controversial move to Brooklyn.  The Atlantic Yards project (where the Nets' new stadium, the Barclays Center, will be located), has become one of the most hotly contested real estate developments in the annals of gentrification.  It's no wonder that the debate has had ramifications in street wear.

The "Keep the Nets in New Jersey" t-shirt, made by No Mas, has a simple, vintage look to it, perhaps appealing to feelings associated with the franchise's history.  Ironically, the italicized lettering of "Nets" and the red, white, and blue coloring of the basketball is similar to the team's logo when it was based in New York in the '70s (a similar logo was also used when the team moved back to New Jersey):

The black t-shirt, made by Entree, is decidedly more modern with the Helvetica typeface of "Nets."  I saw a kid wearing a white version of this t-shirt at the gym today, which I prefer to the black one shown here, and which seems to be more in tune with the team colors of red, white, and blue.  While No Mas's t-shirt bears a simple, declarative statement, Entree's t-shirt is making a statement in its own right.  The design covers the entire t-shirt and forces you to take notice.  Entree's design is also a riff on an older Nets logo (see below), except with a silhouette of the borough of Brooklyn above the team name instead of the state of New Jersey.

Good news for web designers--more typography available

As reported in the L.A. Times today, several large collections of typefaces will soon be made available online, giving web designers more typography tools to work with.  Web designers have long felt restricted by the typeface choices they've had to work with.  But readers who are used to the beauty and diversity of typefaces in print have also found reading on the web to be grating and jarring. 

It seems to me, at least, that many websites and blogging platforms have placed an emphasis on ease of producing and publishing content, rather than on ease of reading and consuming content.  The two need to go hand in hand, engineers and designers need to be working together.  But people who specialize in design ecology are becoming a hot commodity, so it seems things are changing for the better as more people are giving thought to user experiences.

Album cover for A Kiss In the Dreamhouse

This is the cover to Siouxsie & the Banshees' 1982 album A Kiss In the Dreamhouse.  What I love most is the lettering of the band and album title.  The art deco style of the lettering in combination with the Ancient Egyptian-like symbols and characters evoke the mystery of early 20th century Orientalism.  But the design was supposedly inspired by Gustav Klimt's paintings.

More furniture made from the Coney Island boardwalk

I previously wrote about Olde Good Things making furniture from ipe wood salvaged from the Coney Island boardwalk.  As mentioned in Gothamist today, Uhuru Design is also making furniture from salvaged wood from the boardwalk.

Check out Uhuru's "Cyclone Lounger," inspired by the Cyclone, the famous wooden roller coaster at Coney Island.  My favorite part of this lounge chair is the stylized metal base, made to look like the wooden truss of the roller coaster:

Uhuru's Coney Island Line of furniture will be launching at the Bklyn Designs 2010 design conference this weekend.

Moleskine artwork

And continuing with the stationery, although less on stationery products and more on what people do with stationery, Fuck Yeah Moleskines is a tumblr site I came across that showcases artwork in Moleskine notebooks and sketchbooks.  Quality varies, but it's just cool to see what's inside people's sketchpads.  The artwork shown above is by Scottish illustrator Wil Freeborn, who shows drawings in his Moleskine notebooks on his site.

Handmade Tibetan sketchbooks

A few days ago I mentioned Shopsins five year diary and how I am addicted to stationery.  Continuing with that theme, here are a couple small sketchbooks I picked up at the Rubin Museum of Art store.  They are handmade in Tibet.  The one with the flower print has a cloth cover; the other one seems to have a linoleum cover or something similar.  What drew me to them are the really nice cover prints.  Why not have your sketchbooks look nice on the outside as well as the inside?

Cool stuff on Etsy: Custom cabinet knobs

It never occurred to me that cabinet or drawer knobs could be more than just a circular piece of wood.  But this Etsy user (PinkPomegranateCo) embellishes knobs with graphic paper and then seals them in.  Great idea.  Could add a nice, subtle flair to a room.

Shopsins' Five Year Diary, and my addiction to stationery

I saw this five year diary at the MoMA Design Store in Soho.  It's designed by Tamara Shopsin (of Shopsins General Store, and daughter of the owner of the famed Shopsins food joint in the Essex Street Market) in collaboration with The Ice Plant.  I have a weird addiction to stationery; I browse stationery stores like people browse clothing or shoe stores.  I can even be a little elitist with stationery.  If I see someone with a Moleskine I think, What a rookie.  (That's not to say I don't own more Moleskine notebooks, in various colors and sizes, than I know what to do with). 

Perhaps my addiction to stationery has to do with the potential symbolized by an empty notebook and a blank page.  Buying a new notebook is like embarking on a new adventure, filling the pages with your own content, until you end up with a little microcosm of yourself in book form.

Anyways, when I saw this diary at the MoMA store, I forced myself to walk away from the display.  I told myself I didn't need to buy any more notebooks, and besides, I had already gotten a 2010 planner, what was the point in getting this.  But in the end I couldn't resist.  My rationalization: my planner is for things I will do, and this will be for recording my concrete accomplishments on a day to day basis; plus I won't need to buy another one for five years.  The real reasons: I couldn't get over the soft feel of the cloth cover, and the handsome look of the red and white lines.  The diaries also come in blue and black, and I wanted to buy copies in all three colors, but there are limits to my rationalizing...