typeface

Lately, I've found a lot of my usual sources of inspo dull and a little tired. And then yesterday I discovered Friends of Type. Run by four guys, the website/blog/store posts all sort of art relating to typeface. Some are hand drawn, some are things they've found, some are animated, some of them make very little sense, but all of them are fun, fascinating takes on the written word. Here are some of my faves.

Check them out at friendsoftype.com

street art

The other day, the Sartorialist posted this photo from Berlin:

I love this photo: the sassy-sweet pose of the girl and the dotted outline with the tiny scissors in the lower corner. I also love the simplicity of the black and white. Even on the already tagged up wall, the girl dominates the space like she owns it. I think its cool how the rest of the graffiti is black with the exception of the bright blue letters and the remnants of the hot pink poster. Street art and graffiti has always been interesting to me. Though there are definite cases when graffiti is a pain in the ass and totally disrespectful (like when my third grade neighbor's house was tagged), there are also times when its obvious the maker went to a great length to create his/her piece. I can across a book once that was all about the LA graffiti of the early 90s. There was some AMAZING stuff in that book. Where ever I am, if I come across some that I find interesting, funny, meaningful or just plain cool, I'll photograph it. Below are some of my favorites.

There's something about the face on the left that draws me in. She looks almost sad.

Fort Funston, SF.

I loved Calvin and Hobbes as a kid.

Was really surprised to see Hobbes on a wall in Arles, France.

I found this one on the interwebs a while back.

Not only is it a really good motto, I love the dripping paint.

I'm thinking "town" was intentionally misspelled, but I thought it was funny nonetheless, especially since it was right at the start of one of the main streets that goes through China Town in NYC.

the triumphant return of wallpaper

Over the past few years, wallpaper has been on a slow and steady march back into the mainstream; and make no mistake, this ain't the same kind of stuff your granny covered her parlor in! I had wallpaper in one of my childhood bedrooms . It was white with a pink floral stencil print that came to mid wall and then had a border print of a messy English garden and cottage. It was awful. I also had thick rose colored carpeting, so that room was just an all around design snafu. BUT! Wallpaper you can find today (and yes, you can still find all the floral your heart desires) comes in a huge array of prints and colors, from the whimsical to the downright wacky. While I have no space in my current apartment for wallpaper, in a larger place I would definitely consider putting some up. Here are some of my favorites.

Sassy fishnet paper from Flavor Paper. Also comes in metallic silver ground color with hot pink fishnets

C'est Magnifique paper from a company in Germany and available at anthropologie.

Trompe l'oeil drape by Vivienne Westwood that a friend showed me and I instantly fell in love with.

Photo-real Stacked Paperbacks by English artist Tracey Kendall.