Eat. Drink. Design.
Founded in 2007
I’m pretty sure that all of my problems would be solved if I bought a lamp shaped like a tomato. For some reason this doesn’t read as cheesy or kitschy to me, and I really like how they decided to make the cord red, it makes it super classy, haha… It’s currently available for pre-order, get it while you can.
As I’ve worked on The Fox Is Black over the past 4 to 5 months, an aspect I’ve been very mindful of is the overall feeling of the visuals. How there are certain styles and aesthetics that best showcase my current taste. In many ways, how a series of stories can connect tonally or loosely through subject manner. And it’s when I discover folks like Stephanie Stamatis, an art director who specializes in still life and food photography, I feel like I’ve come across someone who sees the world similarly to me.
“Drawing inspiration from nostalgia, Stephanie lends her signature aesthetic and love of objet and food to editorial and commercial clients – unfurling the medium to a reverence of the daily, poetic and surreal.”
When you view her work, you can see she has this clear vision of how she sees the world, and as you dig deeper, how her style evolves as she grows as a person. The way she’s able to work with a series of photographer to collaborate on this vision is so inspiring. An aspect of the images that I particularly love is the elements of imperfection. Her world’s feel lived in and well-loved, which gives them such a humanizing touch.
Ferragamo has launched its Fall/Winter 2023 campaign, titled “New Renaissance,” which was shot by Tyler Mitchell at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy. Mitchell, who is known for his work with Beyoncé and Vogue, is one of my favorite photographers right now, his work is beautifully editorial. This campaign is no different.
The Uffizi Gallery was chosen as the location for the campaign due to its rich history and cultural significance. The campaign features a mix of classic and modern styles, with a focus on bold colors and patterns. And like, you can’t go wrong with Kelela being one of your models, she’s so iconic. Truly obsessed with this entire shoot.
We’re deep in an era of Croc-inspired footwear, where squishiness and comfort reign supreme. Plenty of fashion and lifestyle brands have taken a jump into the space though it’s interesting to see how some brands are iterating on the style. Nike recently announced the Calm Mule, an updated take on their Calm Slide, that comes equipped with an adjustable strap on the back as well as a closed toe. It’s a bit reminiscent of the design of a Suicoke sandal, which is probably why I like it, especially in this olive color. No word on when exactly this will be released, though I’m probably going to snag a pair for myself to wear around the house.
El Departamento, a Spanish interior design studio, has designed an eyewear store in Barcelona for PJ Lobster, an eyewear brand founded in 2018. The store features a sculpted interior with slight variations in tone and texture that differentiate surfaces. The design studio has been collaborating with PJ Lobster since the brand’s inception, and the store is described as a “challenging visual exercise.” I think it looks incredible.
The interior is designed to showcase the brand’s glasses and create a unique shopping experience for customers. They played a lot with textures, which is why I love this space, including “small-grained velvety micro-cement” on the floors throughout, to the rough textured plaster on the walls that give them such a unique texture and tooth. Stainless steel was used for the shelving throughout, giving a strong contrast to the rocky surfaces throughout.
An illustrator based in Japan, born in Tokyo and graduated from the Department of Graphic Design at Tama Art University, Taku Bannai works in a broad range of areas such as advertisements, books, magazines, and artwork for record covers. He captures our everyday scenes in a papercut, minimalist style, which creates a “blank space,” as he calls it, which allows the viewer to imagine their own stories. I find his work so calming, and I love all the small imperfections that can be found throughout.
After touring through the Guggenheim Bilbao, we stopped by a hotel restaurant across the street for some lunch. As we sat down, I noticed the wallpaper behind the bar area, which was gorgeous looking, yet also very familiar. After some quick googling, I realized it was a wallpaper called Forest, which is made by Cole & Son, a British wallpaper company founded in 1875. I’ve always coveted this wallpaper as there’s something so deeply magical and mysterious about it. I love the mix of greens and blues with hints of pinks, the darkness and low contrast of it all. Simply fantastic.
It has been about a month since I last shared some typefaces that caught my eye. There’s so many great typefaces these days, with lots of folks bringing new takes on classics, and in other cases, really going out there and doing some very interesting work. Today’s Typeface Tuesday is an eclectic mix, hopefully you’ll find something interesting for your next project.
The folks over at Instrument, who in my opinion do some of the best work in the design industry, recently underwent a really immense, beautiful brand redesign. Along with the redesign, they created a couple of bespoke typefaces, Instrument Serif and Sans, both of which are now available on Google Fonts. These are great to download or use in your Slides presentations.
A little but vintage, a little bit edgy, Alfredino Semimono by Supernulla Creative Foundry comes in three different flavors. The Semimono style is characterized by essential cleanliness and strong visual impact, while the Semirounded style is distinguished by its strong contrasts between defined edges and beveled seams, giving the letters an interesting and dynamic look. The Tuttocurvy style, on the other hand, is playful and informal, with rounded, flowing shapes, making it perfect for projects involving interactions with illustration.
Wow. Described as a “super-mega-experimental-display-variable typeface” (very accurate) that are based on drawings and analogue animations made for the 36 Days of Type. The result is a typeface that is challenging, playful, and ultimately, an extremely dynamic experiment.
The folks over at Lift Type have released one of my favorite typefaces of the year, Baste, inspired by the south of France. “Through its A and B versions, Baste explores the vernacular aesthetic and alternates between the softness of the seaside and the radicalness of an arid downtown.” I love the
God I’m a sucker for cute packaging. Amour Liquide is a pocket cocktail created by the founders of Distillerie du St. Laurent and Rose Simard of 1 ou 2 Cocktails, who’ve made drinking on the go super cute. These little 100ml cans come in three flavors, Negroni, Old Fashioned, and Espresso Martini (🤮 seriously people, stop drinking these) so you’d have your bases covered with pretty much anyone you hang out with. Can’t you imagine how delighted your friends would be if you popped these out of a cooler when you’re having a picnic or a day at the beach?
Mark Cohen is an American photographer known for his innovative close-up street photography, well-known for photographing people uncomfortably close-up, using a wide-angle lens and a flash. Cohen’s style was innovative because he broke away from traditional street photography, which typically involved photographing people from a distance. Instead, he focused on the details of his subjects, often capturing only parts of their bodies or faces.
I’m a fan of his color photography, which he pioneered in the 1970s. There’s such a feeling of realness and intimacy in his photos, capturing the lives of those around him in such a real way.
As always, I take a ton of photos when I visit museums, and my trip to the Guggenheim Bilbao was no different. There’s something so captivating in all the small details. Many times we think of art as “masterpieces” thus they must be infallible. Then you get a bit closer to see how the process may have unfolded, a brush stroke on it’s own journey, a dollop of errant paint, or loose threads unraveling over time. So I thought, let’s celebrate the details.
I’ve edited together some of my favorite photos I snapped, cleaned them up a bit, cropped them to work for (most) mobile devices, et voilà. I’m still figuring out the details for a full launch of wallpapers, I thought this would be a nice pre-cursor, more to come soon 💙
Download the wallpapers here →
A quick one hour car ride from San Sebastián and you’re in Bilbao, home to the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim museum. Opened in 1997, the museum features contemporary art from around the world, as well as featuring the work of prominent Basque artists from the area. As you approach the museum, I walked up via the Nervión River side, it looks rather massive. The undulating shapes and forms are quite remarkable, and how the light hits the structure from so many unique angles. Living in Los Angeles, I’ve seen Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall dozens of times, and yet the Guggenheim does feel like it’s own unique creature.
