Au revoir

Off we go... to Paris and Germany/Bavaria. Any last minute travel tips of places that are a "must see".

(images by the talented jen gotch)

Halloween Party

Last night, my parents had another fantastic ghoulish bash and we were able to attend. (yay!) Aren't those different costumes a hoot? V had a hard time (freaked out, actually) about grandpa 'blue man' but she loved everyone else... including the big bad wolf. It was hilarious to see her reaction to things.

Harpy

Thanks to Gentle Pure Space I've fell in love with another Flickr account. If you haven't done so already, go meet Harpy (photographs by Kari). She takes lots and lots of beautiful photographs.

Wheelbarrow Love

Awww... Isn't this cute? via NIBS (from British Cosmopolitan Bride).

Halloween Invitations

Look at these splendid invitations that Caroline made. Aren't they spookily delightful. She even posted a recipe for the fingers.

Jenna Lyons' House Tour

Have you seen J. Crew's creative director Jenna Lyons' house tour in Domino? I am swooning and smiling over pretty much every inch. See the video clip showcasing a wee bit more. I love her advice of never letting your home be "finished", but constantly evolving.

Pencil Tree

A Merry Mishap finds the coolest products, like this pencil tree.



It reminds me of this project by Fernando Brizio.

V's birthday

I can't believe our baby girl turned 2 yesterday! My sister-in-law helped plan the french-themed party and she did such an amazing job. We had crepes, quiche, and check out the cool cake she made. Thanks a million Melissa. (I am bummed these aren't the best photos.)

Serene Nursery

I love the serene modern nature of this nursery over at ohdeedoh. It is hard to believe that a lot of the items including some furniture is from Walmart?! Also, have you popped by to see their children's color contest? There are lots of fun kid's rooms to vote on. Check it out!

Halloween ideas

Some Halloween styled photographs taken by Gemma Comas for Good Housekeeping and Country Home magazines. My ... she is talented.

Thought of the day

I love the simplicity and photography of these messages by Jessica Williams, especially the last one. Say aloud, "Everything will be okay" and for some reason whatever is going on in life, it just seems to help a little. (via Bees Knees)

Tulips

Check out these amazing tulip gardens via Seesaw Designs. Anyone seen them in person while in Holland?

Thank You Micah!

Wow... thanks Micah for sharing with us your wonderful posts last week! It is always fun to see what a friend/and former classmate is up to, and it looks like you are up to a lot of impressive creative goodness. I especially loved the "Stuff you Do" post (totally not unqualified) and those outrageously cool costumes. I am anxious to see shots of the handmade little fish costume for Simon (his son) this year. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to share with us all!! Check out some of Micah's other projects here.

Halloween -- by guest Micah Heiselt

In my humble opinion Halloween is by far the best non-denominational holiday that we have. It is the only day of the year when you can turn yourself into whatever you want and still be accepted by your friends, family and society. At least as much as you were before.

The downside to Halloween, though, is that almost all of the design that accompanies it is really bad and kitschy. Kids dress up in prefab, plastic costumes and march past yards full of prefab, plastic pumpkins, inflatable witches and orange Christmas lights. There must be a universal law correlating the quality of a holiday with the amount of depressing design that represents it.

This is why I believe in taking Halloween back to the good old days of homemade costumes, self-carved jack-o-lanterns and Sugar Daddies. In a good year I start my costume planning around June or July, mull it over for a month or two and then spend a leisurely month or so followed by an all-nighter on construction. Here are some of the fruits of my labors.




I believe this is the costume that Rachel was referring to in my introduction. I had lots of fun with this one and even won a cake!




My wife and I had a great time with these. We had broomsticks inside which allowed us to stretch up to 9 feet tall.



This was a costume that we had planned long before we even thought of having a kid. We saw a baby porcupine (a porcupette) at a nature preserve in Alaska and it was settled.

So, Happy Halloween to all! I really enjoyed guest blogging this week and I want to thank Rachel for inviting me. Also, thanks to all of the nice people who posted positive comments. It’s nice to get a good ego boost now and again.

Caia Koopman & Julia Kuo -- by Micah Heiselt

I am really enjoying the work of artists Caia Koopman and Julia Kuo these days.

Caia Koopman is a true born and raised California girl with blonde hair and a sunny disposition. I can’t say I have ever had any personal contact with her, but I am told from a reliable source that she is as cheerful, bright and friendly as she is talented. I mention this only because it adds a great backdrop for her work which I will let speak for itself.



I can’t say that I know anything about Julia Kuo that I didn’t learn from her website. I recently stumbled across her work through one of my many blog feeds and I was immediately glad I did. I enjoy how she is able to create illustrations and sketches that would feel right at home in a children’s book while holding a message for everyone. I feel like she is saying something really profound, but in a way that is subtly absorbed rather than explicitly stated. Of course, that could just be me trying to sounds all deep when, in fact, I just like the pretty colors.

Chairlift

I am really liking the song called Bruises by Chairlift. I've heard it before somewhere, but recently Apple also picked it up for an ipod commercial, they sure know how to pick 'em.



(image by Katie Chanler)

UP, AND UP AND COMING -- by guest Micah Heiselt

One of the best parts of living in New York is being able to associate regularly with extremely talented people.

It is always a thrill when I meet somebody and later find out that they are a famous illustrator or own their own highly successful design studio. For instance, it turns out that Brett Helquist has a daughter that attends the same Sunday nursery as my son. He is a really nice guy and very down to earth. I was quite surprised when one of my designer friends introduced him to me and said that he does all of the illustration work for the Lemony Snicket books (which I am not embarrassed to say I haven’t read).



As much fun as run-ins like that are, it is almost better to meet people who are on their way up. I have a few friends who I think are really going places.

Amy John, a designer living in Brooklyn, has a background in fashion and is quite handy with a sewing machine. After her first daughter was born she decided to make her own stroller blanket to battle the cold Brooklyn winters. Everywhere she went people stopped to ask her about it and where they could get one. Amy knew she was on to something and started her company, Chic Demure Baby.

These blankets are nice on many levels. They are made with organic Vermont raised wool and thus are water resistant and gentle on babies’ skin. And Amy has, in my opinion, a great business plan. She currently hand sews everything from home on her vintage Singer while raising two daughters. But when things start to take off, as they are bound to do, rather than building her company full-time she plans on recruiting other stay-at-home moms to do the same thing she is doing. I just love the idea of a bunch of ladies putting their kids down for a nap and sitting down to make a good quality, well designed product like this.




Another person I look forward to tracking throughout the years is a young photographer named Mark Weinberg. Mark did his internship in 2007 with the company that I work for and came back to NYC this last summer to freelance. He’s the kind of guy who makes professionals look bad while he’s still in school. He surely has a bright future ahead of him after he graduates next year.



This last week I had the privilege of working with Mark again when our company photographer took a much needed vacation and she hired Mark to run the studio in her absence. He took a week off class, flew back to New York and did an fantastic job. When we came into the the office on Monday morning we each had a professionally designed and printed envelope on our desks. Inside were some amazing promo prints of Mark’s work. I got numbers 13-15 from his Hong Kong trip. I definitely learned a couple of things about presentation from him.

I heart Chairs -- by guest Micah Heiselt

Whenever I am feeling particularly confident in my creative abilities or am having an especially dreadful day at work I revisit one of my most cherished dreams in life. I want to grow up to be a furniture designer and craftsman. Don’t get me wrong, I love working as a graphic designer. I love kerning, tweaking, hue shifting and control “z”ing just as much as anyone, but I can’t deny that part of me that wants to throw my computer out the window, find a nice piece of walnut and make something beautiful.

I think that when all of my stars fall into left justified alignment I will start with building chairs. To get ready for that day, I have on my computer desktop a folder called, “Design & Ideas to Steal.” When I am surfing around the Interweb and I come across a really great chair (or anything for that matter) I grab the image and throw it into the folder. Here are a few of my favorites. I apologize that not all of them have links to the original source. My approach to inspiration gathering is grab first, research later.



1. I love the simplicity of the shapes and materials on this chair. It would look great sitting in a fashion magazine company’s lobby or on the patio of a ranch house.



2. I am a sucker for bent ply and this is wonderful. Sorry, I couldn’t track down it’s source.



3. I think this chair is brilliant. It saves trees and shipping cost; it uses no glues, nails or screws; and it’s not too bad on the eyes.



4. This might just be my favorite out of the bunch. If I had a whole stack of these to pull out when extra seating is needed, I would be one happy guy. (sadly, no link)



5. I love the way this breaks free from chair norms and tells a story in the process.



6. Mahogany and concrete, what a beautiful marriage. I look forward to seeing any future children they may produce.