We Can't Decide...Can You?

We've lived in our town house for over a year and so far, haven't done anything with this wall in the kitchen:



So we've been thinking, thinking, thinking and have narrowed in down to three (um...pretty great) options. We can't decide, so I'm calling on all of you to weigh in. Seriously. Even if you weigh in anonymously, I'm really interested in all of your opinions. Because that's the way we roll around here.

Alright, option number 1:
This set of four prints by the immensely talented Blanca Gomez. They are 8.5"x11" and I'd probably hang them in a row.



Option number two:
We already have the polar bear print by Jay Ryan, and could add to the collection with one or both of these. They are 20"x26".




Option number 3:
We could purchase these old movie posters which were designed by my all time favorite graphic designer, Saul Bass. It'd be one of the only ways to have some of his work displayed in our house. They'd be the standard poster size, 24"x36".




So there you have it. Thoughts?

Wedding Invites

Custom wedding invites for our friends Bryan and Jen.

Friday in the City

I spent Friday afternoon in the City with my new friends Jess and Jenn (of Vista Bella Photography!). We started with coffee/tea/hot chocolate at Tartine Bakery in the Mission, then hit some of my favorite shops on 16th Street (Jess found a great shirt at Sunhee Moon) before heading over to the Haight for a bit more shopping (Doe!).

I found some super cute things at Doe: this little doe pin and this magnetic Decole Red Riding Hood hook (I'd recently seen it on someone's blog and was super excited to actually find it!). Then we hit another great store (which I'm totally blanking on the name) where I found replacement juice glasses for ones I'd found years ago and broke (I seriously never dreamed that I'd ever see those again). Lastly we went into a little vintage store where I found these owl salt and pepper shakers...which make me ridiculously happy. Yup.

Thanks for spending the afternoon with me Jess and Jenn!

New Art!



This past week, I finally got to Ikea to get frames for the new prints I have (Thanks Soom!).

The Home Sweet Home print is from Jenn Ski, and the Cat Bird print is Matte Stephens.

Love!

In other staying busy news, I'm currently printing the wedding invites I designed for our friends Bryan and Jen. I'll post photos when they're all done!

Movie Love.

While I was at RISD, Herman and I were lucky enough to catch a screening of the documentary "Helvetica" followed by a Q&A with the director, Gary Hustwit. It's an incredible film, full of the fun, geeky things that we graphic designers love, great interviews with some of the top graphic designers (a couple who I was lucky enough to see/listen to at RISD), a beautiful homage to one of the most ubiquitous typefaces, and in general a great description of what graphic designers do. Seriously, if you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out.

And just this weekend I read about his new film, "Objectified", a documentary about industrial design and our relationship with manufactured objects. This is now on my must see list (see both trailers below).

Helvetica:


Objectified:

Um. Finally.

This is such old news that it's almost embarrassing.

Back in January, when Target announced that they would be releasing a line of Orla Kiely goods, I, along with the rest of the design blogosphere people, was incredibly excited. But when they actually released the line, I was in Australia...so I had my friend Wendy on the lookout for the one thing that I really wanted: a set of the pear canisters.

Unfortunately, at least here in CA, her stuff went really fast and reduced me and my friends to a bit of a crazed state where we visited every Target within reasonable driving distance (multiple times a week) trying to get our hands on something Orla Kiely. Some stores had stuff. Others didn't. It was crazy (And I have to say a huge thanks to both Wendy and Susan who at different times managed to grab me some really great stuff...just not the ellusive pear canisters).

Since I couldn't find the canisters, I decided to just order them online, knowing it would take a bit longer, but at least I'd get them. Um. That was on February 15th. Yeah.

Last week I called them and was told that, hey, look at that! They're shipping tomorrow. Tomorrow came and I still didn't get a shipping notice from them.

So then (yes, this story has an ending) yesterday, I needed to run to Target and since I didn't want to drive all the way to Cupertino or San Mateo to hit the good Targets, I ran to the one close to our house. The dreaded dark cave Target that lives in some other dimension and rarely has a good selection of anything. And guess what they had. Yup, and entire display of Orla goods...including numerous sets of the canisters! Even stranger was the fact that other Targets had been clearancing this stuff for the past few weeks.

So finally! I am a proud and happy owner of a set of Orla Kiely pear canisters.

Now I just have to figure out what I want to actually do with them.