Terada Mokei

Came across this chap today on my daily alerts from Cool Hunting. Not only is his website super cool but his paper engineering is divine. I love clever uses with paper and Mokei's scenes are simply beautiful.

Sunday Style

Sundays are most certainly a day of rest in our house. Tea in bed followed by a trip to Judges for their gorgeously doughy croissants. Then it's back home for Something for the Weekend whilst reading the Sunday papers.

The first thing I do when I get the Sunday Times is break into the sealed magazines and read Style. And boy what a gorgeous issue it is this week. The Big Spring Issue is bursting with colour and is most certainly a serious tease for the warm months to come.

If you're a graphic design student I'd seriously recommend taking a regular look at Style magazine. It's a synopsis of fashion today and tomorrow. And fashion, like graphics, is influenced by what's happening now, economically, environmentally, technologically and so on. Design is so fluid and what is seen on the catwalk often transcends into other design disciplines.

So what's hot? Vivid colours like tangerine, coral and lime are going to be big this year. These bold statements of colour are optimistic and celebratory and are an escape to the uncertain times in which we live. So I can see lots of vivid colours being used across design generally this year. Take a look at the wonderful work of Lesley Barnes. I adore her use of colour and her style of illustrations that for me capture some Midcentury magic and a trip to Dior en Paris feel about them.

Someone else embracing colour is the Cambridge Satchel Company whose satchels are to die for. At first glance of their website you might think you've accidentally tapped in a website for one of those little catalogues you get with the papers selling all in one thermals and feet warmers however do not be deterred, for they have some absolute gems if you take the time to browse. I think I'll definitely be 'bagging' one of these - boom boom.

Right, enough of my ramble, I'm going to get back to the papers and put that kettle on.

Sources: Style Mag, Cargo Collective and Retro to Go.

Chocolate Highs

Tonight I came home high on chocolate. And not just on any old chocolate. Green and Blacks chocolate to be precise. For chocolate taps into the same receptors in the brain that marijuana taps into. Yet the chocolate alone wasn't the sole cause for my increased state of consciousness. Tonight I came back truly inspired by Mr Craig Sams, cofounder of Green and Blacks who gave the most intellectually stimulating lecture about not only cacao and the Slow Food movement but also his career journey which left me truly in awe and eager to go get. It's easy to get bogged down with the day to day and it's only by steeping out of the box now and then and doing something a little different that you look at things with a new perspective.

Go Wild

Recently teamed up with Maika Crampton of Whisk Illustration to produce some promotional materials for local charity Mallydams Wood who are putting on a fantastic charity ball on 9th April. It's going to be a 'wild' night - I can't wait! To find out more, click on the above image or look up The Wild Mallydanimal Ball on Facebook.

DIY moves with the times

In this day and age, you'd think DIY would be much easier. We can read the daily paper at the swipe of a finger yet putting up wallpaper still requires a pasting brush, a pasting table and the patience of a saint - oh and glue of course. Well that could all be set to change. Yes there's paste-the-wall wallpapers now but let's be honest, that's still a faff. But looky here, NY company Tempaper have come up with sticky yet removable wallpapers that come in really cool patterns. Hmm...now for a wooden floor that sands and stains itself!

Design a Deckchair for the Stade!!

How cool. A competition to design a deckchair for the new Stade in Hastings Old Town. See this link for more info. 20 winning designs will be selected by the Judges and made into real deckchairs!! Love it.

Harper's Swan

I love the work of Charley Harper. Harper's animals have so much charm and I adore the colours he used. I've been trying to find some art to go in my bedroom and I've fallen in love with this vintage screen print. One worth saving up for me thinks. Take a look at more of Harper's wonderful collection at Castor&Pollux.