Geoff McFetridge – Graphic Abstraction

A few weeks ago I discovered the work of LA-based designer and illustrator Geoff McFetridge. After design school, McFetridge art directed the Beastie Boys’ magazine Grand Royal before starting his own studio, Champion Graphics. Recently his work was featured on t-shirts and Jack Spade’s blog. What I really love Geoff’s work is how graphic and abstract it is. His paintings are simple and minimal in form, but there’s a great sense of design in each. He also has a great sense of color. But above all, you easily see his sense of humor and wit. Nothing I love more than a designer that doesn’t take himself too seriously. How refreshing! Weeks ago, a friend alerted me that Lonny Magazine featured a profile of Jonathen Adler & Simon Doonan’s Manhattan apartment in their September 2013 issue, and to my great surprise, guess who’s work Adler is displaying in his living room? Geoff McFetridge! Great choice!

Are the pants coming on or off? I love this one, currently my iphone wallpaper!

Hilarious! 

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My work on Typography Served!

Today I got quite the surprise in my inbox from the folks at Behance. My work for Jonathan Adler is being featured on Typography Served, a site with curated work from leading creatives on Behance. What an honor! Thanks Behance!

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Jonathan Adler on Happy Chic and following your heart in design

UPDATE!! I came across this video of Jonathan Adler (one of my former bosses) speaking at Behance’s 99% Conference. In his lecture, Jonathan talks about the importance of following your heart, staying true to your vision and saying “fuck it,” in regards to other people’s opinions of your work. This comes in great contrast to what one learns in school and the world of marketing, but I believe there’s a lot of heart and truth in what he’s saying here. As someone that was in a similar situation in grad school (Jonathan tells his story about an oppressively unsupportive teacher in design school), his message resonates with me. Ultimately, you’ll be the most happy making the work you want to make, instead of the work you have to make, and if you’re lucky, and work hard, success is the best revenge.

Get into it and feel the joy.

Speaking of joy, this past Thursday I headed to the 92Y Tribeca to catch Jonathan and Simon’s talk, Style, Craft, Joy. The hour long program covered stories about Jonathan’s upbringing, the story behind building his brand, and the house that Jonathan & Simon built together on Shelter Island. Pictures of their dream house are found in his new book, 100 Ways to Happy Chic Your Life. My favorite part of the lecture was the Q&A session that followed. One person asked about criticism he receives for creating work that isn’t particularly “serious,”  … work that is happy, joyful and quirky. Jonathan said that many people don’t view him as a legitimate “designer” because he creates this type of work, and his work is somehow less-designed because it isn’t overtly serious and conceptual. I can easily relate to this idea as my thesis studied the importance of Joy in design and process. In an academically-based MFA program, I spent a majority of my time making the case for this area of study, of its merit for an MFA thesis. In the end, I finished my thesis and couldn’t be happier with my results. And Jonathan continues to expand his brand from interiors, to fashion and just about everything else that can be housed in your home or office. So cheers to joy and happy chic!

And to help bring more happy chic into your home, this weekend only enjoy 20% off in stores and online at Jonathan Adler!

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Enjoy Summer on Shelter Island with Adler & Doonan

Photography by Joshua McHugh

Jonathan Adler and Simon Doonan grace the pages of July’s Architectural Digest where they invite readers for a sneak peak of their Shelter Island home. As someone lucky enough to work for JA, I’d always been curious about this storied summer retreat. So hot off the presses, here are a few of my favorite shots. Be sure to pick up the July issue on newsstands now, and check out  Jonathan’s 10 Essentials for Summer Fun. Enjoy and happy summer!

How great are these tiles for outdoors?

I always smile at portraits of the married couple. So much personality.

Living room.

Again, how great are these tiles? The dark blue looks great with the orange.

Happy paddling and happy summer!

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DCW Design for Jonathan Adler

As most of you know, last spring I was given the extraordinary opportunity to intern for the one and only Jonathan Adler, purveyor of all things happy and chic. Now is an exciting time because most of the things I’ve designed for JA are finally hitting stores and online. One of the items I’m most excited about is the Peace & Love coasters I designed. For this project, I had just a few hours to design two sets of coasters for Saks Off 5th. One design was to use a British Flag motif while the other should use art from the existing Peace & Love pillows. To make a long story short, Jonathan liked the coasters above so much, he decided to sell them in our stores and I created another simplified version of the Peave & Love artwork for Saks Off 5th.

I designed 4 different patterns using British Flag design motifs. I really likes the ones with the strips – very nautical right?

Final Design – available now at Saks Off 5th !!

Another big project was the packaging for the 2011 holiday ornaments. In the middle of March we designed these. Who knew Christmas came in the spring?

Mr + Mrs. Muse ornament packaging.

I created the pattern on the box, which is made of the iconic lips and mustache used in the Jonathan Adler Muse collection.

Another project that was super exciting is this line of typographic needlepoint pillows we designed for an upcoming Jonathan Adler book. The chapters of the book are divided into the following sections: dwell, embrace, explore, twist, and ponder. I love to play around with type, so this was the perfect project for me. I had the idea to limit each pillow to a few typefaces and colors. One pillow would have type in shades of green (dwell, see above), another red (twist) and another blue (ponder). One of the things I LOVED about working for Jonathan Adler was the ability to work on fun projects like this with crazy typefaces. In the design work I do for most clients, I’d never dream of using these typefaces, but somehow all together they’re fun and chic. Something about this style really works for Jonathan Adler and isn’t seen anywhere else.

One last project I was super excited about was a line or prints JA was developing for a big picture frame & art company. I’m not sure what happened to this project, but I spend several days coming up with really cool type prints based on Jonathan Adler’s “Alderisms” or words and phrases JA uses a lot in their stores. Sadly this is the only one I have a copy of. How cute would this be in your apartment right?

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New Moves, New Year

Above is my finished poster for my 10 Things in 2010 project. I met with one of my thesis teachers yesterday and was encouraged to keep going in this direction. Finally, someone see’s my work has meaning and thought! The next poster I want to finish will be 11 Things to do in 2011, and we’ll see at the end of the year what I ended up accomplishing. I’m hoping they’ll be some great unexpected things, as there was in 2010! Here’s hoping …

I have lots of exciting news this week, and if everything pans out, I’ll be super excited for my luck in the new year. Tonight, I have a hot date with Debbie Millman, author of Look Both Ways, the book I’m always talking about. After meeting her in November, we’re finally sitting down and talking. I’m so excited! It also makes me happy b/c my “oh so positive” thesis teacher said I’d never get a meeting with her, I proved her wrong! Take that.

Also in exciting news, I have an interview for a design internship at Jonathan Adler! But there’s the catch, as of today. The Pratt MFA schedule online isn’t correct, so I had this great plan of using my two “full” days off (which actually don’t exist) to work there. Turns out a class I thought was at night, meets during the day. Now I’m going to have to create some really messed up schedule based around having class pretty much everyday. I have no idea if they’ll be open to that, but I really hope they take a chance on me. It just makes me angry b/c this is my last shot to do this (I can’t do the summer b/c i’ll also be busy b/c of … you guessed it, PRATT!) and I refuse to do an unpaid internship after I’m done. It’s not even so much that I refuse, but financially, there’s no way I can make that work in the Fall. I think Jonathan Alder would be a great warm up for this summer when I study pattern and textile design in Copenhagen. I’ve always loved his brand, style, and products, and I feel this could be a good fit. I’m just praying school doesn’t come in the way … yet again. Will keep you posted.

I seem to be on solid ground (finally) for thesis, might have a new internship, and meeting one of design crushes tonight … 2011 is off to a good start indeed.

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