Step into Spring 2013 with Marimekko

Marimekko Spring 2013 – full catalog here.

It’s (almost) that time of year again, SPRING! To celebrate, I’m sharing new images from Marimekko‘s Spring 2013 campaign, “Colour for a reason.”  Aren’t these colors and textiles like a breath of fresh air?? Be sure to drop by one of their stores, or check out their new collections online here.

Spring 2013 at Marimekko – Colour for a reason. Get into it!

Maija Isola pattern from 1961, today in 2013. How great is that?

Read Full Post »

Kapitza Geometric – Digital Textiles

Kapitza Geometric + 100 Geometic Pattern Fonts

Months ago I stumbled across Kapitza’s Geometic pattern book while researching textile design and feel deeply in love with the colorful visuals. How great is it that designers began developing pattern fonts much the same way pictorial or symbol fonts exist today. The book was developed by sisters Nicole & Petra Kapitza who together run the independent design firm Kapitza. According to abduzeedo.com, “Both sisters share a passion for everyday life, minimalism, patterns & colour. Their studio is based in East London, a vibrant and dynamic area which forms part of the inspiration for their work. Other inspirations include nature, people and software. The sisters have been developing an extensive series of unique picture fonts and illustrations that lie somewhere between image resource and art project.”

So you may ask, what are pattern fonts? “Pattern fonts can be installed on your computer just like any other font. But instead of letters they contain a graphic shape on the keys. The power of pattern fonts lies in the way they allow patterns to be created in any software application (from word processing to graphics); and standard font features – like size, leading and letter spacing – make tweaking and tuning pattern designs limitless and easy.” – abduzeedo.com

Sadly, it appears the book is out of stock, but check out the website to see if more are available here. You can also purchase just the pattern fonts (here) or vector art (here). So get into Kapitza’s Geometric pattern book with the video and happy patterning!

Read Full Post »

2000 & Counting

It’s been a while since my last post but a lot has happened in the last few months! No longer am I an unattached freelance designer, free to design for any client of my choosing. I’ve entered into an exclusive long-term (design) relationship with …. Moroccanoil! In a few days I’ll have been there 2 months. Time really does fly. While adjusting to a full-time work schedule, I’ve tried to blog here and there but I haven’t been able to get back into my grove, but I plan on changing that soon. I have a huge list of artists, designers, illustrators and photographers I’d like to share, and hopefully some new work of my own too.

I also want to celebrate that for the past FOUR consecutive months, I’ve hit 2,000 page views. While that pales in comparison to many design blogs out there, it’s miles away from the 17 views a months I had back in May 2010. This blog has been a great outlet for me to share inspiration and put into words my goals and passions, especially when it comes to design during my two years at Pratt Institute. Blogging turned into cheap therapy for a grad student that never felt at home in an MFA program. Good bad and ugly, it’s all here. And some really GREAT things have come from this blog too!

While studying abroad, I blogged about Scandinavian Textile Design and was featured on a few blogs about my travels through Sweden, Finland and Denmark. Blogging about the artists we saw and the showrooms we visited ignited my interest in learning more about textile design and writing about design in general. It also gave my blog a particular focus. Last summer I was completely shocked when I was invited to interview with a creative director that has and continues to make work I greatly admire. Last month my thoughts on resume design and interviewing were featured on another blog, also to my surprise. So while this remains a side hobby, no matter how small, your hobbies and interests can open doors! So here’s to opening new doors in the coming months and sharing more stories.
-Daniel

See more of my pin’d type quotes (here) on my pinterest.

Lastly, a quote from one of my favorite posts, and read more about Marimekko here.

 

Read Full Post »

Lotta Kuhlorn: Book Designer

Earlier in June, I blogged about Lotta Kühlhorn, the Swedish pattern, textile, product and graphic designer. I was first attracted to Lotta for her beautiful pattern and textile designs that cover tea towels, cutting boards and trays in many Scandinavian stores, but she’s done an impressive amount of book cover design, the holy grail of graphic design. I wanted to take a moment to look at this work more closely. So sit back and enjoy more of the work of Lotta Kühlhorn, and if you’d like to see her pattern/textile designs, check my earlier post here.

I also really like this style of her illustrations.

Hope you enjoyed seeing more work from Lotta Kuhlorn.
Check out her website here.

Read Full Post »

Introducing Lotta Kühlhorn, illustrator + pattern designer

Photo: Anna-Lena Ahlström

Today I’m sharing the work of Scandinavian pattern/textile designer and illustrator Lotta Kühlhorn. I stumbled across Lotta’s work while browsing the Huset Shop website (a great place for Scandinavian design inspiration) and immediately recognized her work from my travels to Sweden and Denmark last summer. Lotta is a great example of a designer using bold graphic colors and prints to create simple yet beautiful pattern designs. I particularly enjoy her fruit and vegetable patterns. According to her bio on Huset Shop,

Lotta Kühlhorn is a Swedish-born illustrator and designer. She started her professional career while attending Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design. Lotta is known for her bold patterns and vibrant colors. In the 1990s, she was one of the first Swedish designers to begin experimenting with the graphic elements of “junk culture,” using pop art, films and mass produced items as the basis for her inspirations. Lotta’s simple “happy-making” products are inspired by her childhood and feature a bit of retro seventies style. -Huset Shop. 

I really love that she turned ‘junk culture’ or things considered lowbrow into beautiful patterns and works of art. What I really enjoy about Scandinavian Design in general is designers in this genre use simple elements, patterns and shapes found around them and create pieces of art from it. It’s not that deep and conceptual … and THANK GOD! Scandinavian design is stripped down to its simplest elements and is therefore democratic and more accessible to a larger population. That’s what I’d like to do with my work. Just look at IKEA and H&M, two Swedish designed brands with simple, honest approaches to design and world-wide appeal. I don’t think as designers we should be creating barriers to understanding and communication. But I digress ..

I also like that Lotta designs book covers, which as a graphic designer myself, I really connect to.  So check out her work below, on Huset Shop and on her website here. Enjoy!

I love her simple illustrative style. Great for patterns and surface design.

Pear Mugs.

Pear Tray – cute right?

Hotplate.

Apples.

As an illustrator, her work varies in complexity of pattern.

Great kitchen illustration. Love.

Lotta uses this same approach to book cover design. I want a set of all her books!

I’m going to blog more about her book cover designs later this week, so stay tuned! Hope you enjoyed the work of Lotta Kuhlorn so far!

Read Full Post »

Introducing the designs of Maria Dahlgren

Today I wanted to introduce you the work of the amazing Scandinavian designer Maria Dahlgren! I first came across Maria’s work during a trip to IKEA when I picked up one of their KORT Art packs featuring 5 small prints of her work. I loved the playful colors, patterns and typography. I looooove the way Maria approaches type, playing with positive/negative space and color to create her the city prints, for which she is known. Now that I’ve been to several of these cities (Copenhagen, Helsinki and Stockholm) it’s fun to recognize some of the landmarks she depicts in her work.

The career of Swedish Designer, Maria Holmer Dahlgren, began at the internationally-renowned Swedish stationary company, Ordning & Reda. Maria co-founded Ordning & Reda and designed for them for 18 years. Other achievements include being commissioned to design the interior graphics for Stockholm’s stylish boutique hotel “Rival,” owned by ABBA’s Benny Andersson.

Maria now has her own thriving design company, Metagram. She designs a variety of contemporary trays and other pieces aimed at the high-end tourist market, and currently sells them in places such as Stockholm’s “Moderna Museet” gallery.

Of her work, Maria says…

“…There’s beautiful art all around us, if we just open our eyes to it.”

-Huset Shop.com

IKEA Kort – pictured above. At $5 this is a STEAL for her work

Stockholm Tea Towel

Helsinki Tray (above).
Trays are HUGE in Scandinavian interior design stores, not sure why they’re so popular, but every print comes on a tray … and they’re expensive too. Most are made from Scandinavian birch trees which are everywhere in Sweden and have the most beautiful white and black bark.

Breakfast Tray

From Futura Trays – love this series!

Stockholm Tray

Happy Thoughts Tray

Tate Tray designed exclusively for the Tate Modern. See the entire collection here.

TuttiFrutti Tray – one of my favorites!

Look at this alphabet!

Helsinki Capital Cities Print -went to a bunch of these places while in Finland – you can see the birch tree bark where is says Design Museo – makes a great pattern right.

 

Hope you enjoyed the work of Maria Dahlgen as much as I do!

 

Read Full Post »

Inspiration Sketchbook – Study Tour

Click image above to flip through entire book!

If you follow the link above, you can literally flip through one of my two inspiration sketchbooks I created during my 7 weeks in Copenhagen. During our study tour of Sweden and Finland we were instructed to collect everything: scarps of paper, brochures, posters, postcards, anything. Everyday we had drawing assignments to help us get used to sketching and drawing inspiration. As someone that doesn’t consider themselves a strong drawer, this was quite a challenging exercise. So many times I take pictures or collect them online so I can “remember” something I liked. While it’s good practice to document as many sources of inspiration one can find, something magical happens when you take time to draw it. Taking the extra time to figure something out and draw the lines and angles cements it in your mind much more vividly than a picture can. We take pictures in a secon, and we quickly forget about them. With drawing you are investigating and thinking about what you see, and transfering it from life onto the page. Milton Glaser talked a lot about this during this summer course. He also talks about it a lot in his book, Drawing is Thinking. In The Accidental Masterpiece, Michael Kimmelman talks about this too. He says,

“Cameras made the task of keeping a record of people and things simpler and more widely available, and in the process reduced the care and intensity with which people need to look at the things they wanted to remember well, beacuse pressing a button required less conectration and effort than coposing a percise and comely drawing.”

But this isn’t a post about drawing per say. It’s more a post about process and the documentation of mine during my trip. One of the greatest hallmarks of Scandinavian Design is process. We were told this again and again. We were encouraged to experiment, make, sketch, paint and take pictures. Many of our experiments were trail and error but together culminated in our final textile designs. In this course, the process was more important than the final product. This is in stalk contrast to design education in the US. I can say this honestly because there’s many times I’ve done a project in a night or two days, totally disregarding process. While this helps me and other designers get by, we’re not really learning anything. We often resort to ideas we already had and that process gets exhausting. We’re left with uninspired work and no new ideas. That’s why process is so important. After this trip I feel more full with ideas for design projects than ever before. A lot of this I credit to the first mentioned sketchbooks!

I loved the shades of greens and brown I saw on buildings in Helsinki, Finland. The organ pipes appear many times in my sketchbook – I think they’d make a great pattern so that’s something I hope to work with later on.

A study of black & white.

This is a free giveaway we were given at Valilla Interior. I loved the colors and graphic patterns of their textiles. Instead of keeping this brochure in a folder I decided to bite the bullet, cut it up and glue it into my book. Now all my inspiration is together and in context with similar inspiration.

Illums Bolighus is a BEAUTIFUL store in Denmark and Sweden. It’s part design store, part kitchen, bath, home, and clothing department store. Basically they have everything you need to make your home beautiful. They also have beautiful ads like this one above. In love with the shades of grays here.

I ripped this down from the street in Copenhagen. Love the ripped edges too – gives it some character. Don’t be afraid to leave edges unfinished and rough, you can use it to create interest in your sketchbook or design work later on.

In this page I ripped up a Marrimeko ad to try and create something new. The opposite page is one of the early circles exercises I drew in the process of creating my final print.

Here’s an example of printed things I found during my trip. I saved everything and glued them into this book. Now its all in one place anytime I need to look at it. To see the entire sketchbook, go here!

Now when I look back at this book, I can isolate type treatments, color combinations, textures, techniques, and general inspiration for new projects. I tried to think of each spread as a compositions by mixed unrelated materials together creating new juxtapositions. Now I can’t take all the credit for collecting and documenting design in this style. All the credit goes to one of our instructors, Helle Vibeke Jensen. We visited her studio early in our trip and that day had a profound effect on everyone in the program. Helle Vibeke has been keeping sketchbooks in this manner for YEARS. Her studio is a library of cataloged inspiration from all over the world. Each time she goes on a trip, she buys a new Moleskine and begins collecting scraps and drawing. Here’s some photos from our studio visit.

Above: Her studio. Loved these blue chairs. Makes me dream for my own studio one day.

One of her many supply and inspiration drawers. So much fun stuff to play with.

Helle Vibeke’s library, full of her sketchbooks and books she’s illustrated and designed. To see more of her work, check out her website here.

Read Full Post »

Singerad Textil

”Signed Textile” took its start in 1954 when the Swedish department store NK launched a new collection of fabrics for the expanding public sector in Sweden. The idea was to improve the status of textile design as an art form by letting the artists sign their work. The copy right regulations regarding art work at the time was still neglected. This collection consists of 21 different patterns, some of them famous Swedish design classics. Karl Axel Pehrson´s ”Delfinisk Rörelse” (”Dolphinian Movements”) is still part of Ljungbergs assortment. You can check out all the designers and see their work here.

Sven Markelius (1889-1972) was an advocate for Swedish Functionalism. Some of his most important commissions were the Students´ Union Building of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm 1928 – 1930, the Swedish pavilion at the World Fair in New York in 1939. He was also a member of the distinguished committee of architects occupied with the creation of the UN-building in New York at the beginning of the 1960’ies. The pattern consists of a field of triangles in four different sizes. They are constantly repeated in a complex play between light and dark, big and small. The variation of the sizes gives the pattern depth and movement, an impression that is enhanced if you view it at a distance. Here it is printed on modal satin.

I’m in love with this design by Sven Markelius – read his bio here.

I saw the blue colorway at the National Museum in Sweden. Love it.

Theodor “The” Svedberg (1884-1971) was a scientist and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1926. Svedberg was an intellectual leader in culture and had a wide interest in literature. He had an extensive correspondence with August Strindberg and he was also a good amateur water-colour painter. The Svedberg participated with two patterns to ”Signed Textile”: ”Genetics” and ”Atomics”. If you know a bit about chemistry you will probably recognize the DNA of Drosophilia (the fruit fly) in the pattern ”Genetics”. ”Atomics” is a playful pattern where figures from the world of atom physics form decorative patterns in brilliant orange and rose on a black background. ”Atomics” is printed here on hardwearing pure linen.

Astrid Sampe (1909-2002) was born in Stockholm, but has her roots in Sjuhäradsbygden (Seven counties region). During the years 1928 – 32, when she attended the College of Applied Art in Stockholm, she was given the opportunity of pursuing parallel studies at the Royal College of Art in London. After having completed her education, Astrid made several journeys in Europe. It was she who set in motion the project ”Signed Textile” that was launched at NK in 1954. The aim of the project and the collection was to create materials with strict graphic patterns for public interiors, both for big theatre-curtains and for small windows in ships and trains. It was widely considered a great achievement that Sampe managed to rally so many well-known names for the collection and later on this contributed more than anything else to stress the importance of the designer behind the pattern. Earlier the designers of patterns were never given a prominent place in marketing.

 

Anders Beckman (1907-1967) was a pioneer in modern Swedish advertising art and a well-known poster artist. Beckman was in charge of prestigious commissions such as the marketing of the Swedish Pavilion at the world Fair in New York in 1939 and the graphic design of the Helsingborg Exhibition, H55, among other things. Anders Beckman contributed with two patterns to ”Signed Textile”: ”West Coast” and ”Smoke” (above). This was the first time that the advertising expert Anders Beckman drew patterns for textile prints. He was of the opinion that the same freedom existed when you composed a textile pattern as when you composed for advertising purposes and while the ever-present cigar in his hand sent its smoke upwards, the pattern ”Smoke” curled its way continually upwards.

Olle Eksell (1918 – 2007) made himself a name as an innovator of artistic graphic designs for utility goods during the 1950´ies. He became inspired by the American way of life, after having spent a short period at an art-school in Los Angeles. When he returned to Sweden, he started working as an illustrator, advertising expert and exhibition curator. Olle Eksell contributed with two patterns to ”Lena Horne”Signed Textile”Lena Horne”: ”Lena Horne”Lena Horne” and ”Margret Rose”. He has given both his patterns female names, because, it is said, he had two different types of women in mind: Lena Horne represents the sensuous, primitive woman and Margret Rose the romantic aristocratic. Both of these patterns are small in scale and are intended for various decorating details in public interiors.

Olle Bonniér (born 1925) belongs to a group of artists of concrete art, ”The Concretians” and he explored the principles of Concretism in theory as well as in his art. At the beginning of his career he used very bright and strong colours, but later he changed to contrasting colours, often black and white. Bonniér’s expression was non-figurative and he was interested in the dynamics of colours and forms. His sculptures in Plexi-glass and metal were produced as pure objects, concrete but non-representing. Olle Bonniér contributed with two patterns to ”Signed Textile”: ”Positive – Negative” and the pattern ”Raxt”, which has been described as follows: ”This composition sounds what it looks like: ”Raxt” – the sound of the jet-planes in black thunderbolts.” ”Raxt” is printed here on a strongly bleached cotton-canvas in black, grey and light beige.

 

Read Full Post »

Stig Lindberg: Jack of all trades

Stig Lindberg “Lustgarden” in Green

The designer I wanted to spotlight today is the amazing Swedish industrial and textile designer Stig Lindberg. We were introduced to Lindberg during a lecture after our study tour. It’s too bad that I didn’t have the opportunity to find more Lindberg’s work while I was in Sweden, but I’ll save you a trip to Sweden and show you a sampling of his work here. Lindberg is often regarded as one of the most popular and important Swedish designers of the last century. During his life, (1916-1982) Lindberg created a large amount of surface designs for countless products and textiles. One of my favorite things about him is how he filled his patterns. Every corner and nook is filled with an object, figure, or plant. There are almost no empty spaces in his designs but they all look perfectly balanced and full – but never too full! I particularly like how he was able to translate his skill for surface design into creating repeat textile patters. The same eye for color, proportion, and space present in his design for plates, teapots, and cups are just as visible in his textile pattern designs. Though later in his career, Lindberg’s textile designs still display his playful inventive approach to design.

According to Ljungberg Textile, that carries and prints many of the Lindberg textiles today,

“Stig Lindberg was an industrial designer, ceramist and illustrator. He was born in Umeå, but began his career at Gustavsberg´s Porcelain factory in the summer of 1937. After many years of work, he became Wilhelm Kåge´s successor as the artistic leader. His decorated faience, with a character totally of its own and his fanciful stoneware were pioneering during the whole of the 40′s and 50´s. Lindberg also created decorative works of art for public environments, several of them in enamel, mostly during the last period of his career. His co-operation with NK´s Textile Studio was initiated in 1947, when the legendary leader of the Textile Studio, Astrid Sampe and Stig Lindberg became friends. In Gisela Eronn´s book ”Stig Lindberg, Jack-of-all-trades” we can read that Astrid Sampe was much fascinated by Stig´s creativity and the way he renewed ceramic decoration at Gustavsberg.”

See more of his Berså Collection here.

I love the playful illustrations on this set of vases. I read that he did some children’s books illustrations which seems fitting in this style.

I also ground a great post here about a set of playing cards he design. I’d kill to have these. Totally in love.

These cards would make amazing prints, blown-up poster size.

Above. Lingberg print from his “Pottery” textile design.

Above. “Melody” – one of my favorite patterns.

Above. “Fruitbox” in blue.

Pillow from the “Green Lustgarden” print – see more of these at Design House Stockholm.

Read Full Post »

Bonus Post: Marimekko & Maija Loukari

So I couldn’t pick just 7 designers in seven days! I came across Maija Loukari and her work for Marimekko and immediately fell in love. Along with Maija Isola, I think Maija Loukari is one of my favorite designers currently working for the company. I really like her illustration style with simple shapes, bold outlines, and pops of color. Her website is also pretty cool with a wider selection of her illustration and textile work beyond Marimekko.

I found this video (above) by Marimekko from their 60th Anniversary show in Helsinki, Finland. Marimekko is really stepping up their branding in addition to the products they sell with their signature textiles. In Helsinki I got to visit one of their concept stores with new product ideas and store layouts. There’s another concept store here in Copenhagen I need to visit. I’m hoping for my final pattern design to create something with a vintage feel, in color and form, with a modern twist. I think Loukari has a natural skill for illustrating in this way.

Marimekko just opened their online store in the US – so I predict they’re looking to expand more in the states. So far the only store I’ve seen is their pop up store in Soho’s Crate & Barrel. So if you’re in NYC, or lucky enough to be in a place with a Marimekko store, be sure to check out their colorful world of beautiful patterns. Here’s more examples of their work and another GREAT video from their youtube channel.

Maija Louekari coasters for Marimekko. Love her B&W images with pops of color.

A selection of Marimekko pillows.

Louekari textile print, from her website.

I love how this Louekari print is paired with matching dishes that look like they’re part of the print.

Check out the Secret of Marimekko video – so well done and inspiring!

A little more about the company:

“Marimekko is a Finnish textile and clothing design house renowned for its original prints and colors. The company designs and manufactures high-quality interior decoration items ranging from furnishing fabrics to tableware as well as clothing, bags and other accessories.

When Marimekko was founded in 1951, its unparalleled printed fabrics gave it a strong and unique identity. Marimekko products are sold in approximately 40 countries. In 2010, the brand sales of Marimekko products worldwide were around EUR 150 million and the net sales amounted to EUR 73 million. The number of Marimekko stores totalled 84 at the year end. The key markets in 2011 are North America, Northern Europe and the Asia-Pacific region. The Group employs around 390 people.”

 

 

Read Full Post »