Things have finally died down a bit (better to be busy than not, right?). Though Vancouver is slowly falling into the winter months! Rain and gloom for the next nine months!

But back on it!  I’ll be sure to be on the look out for all things beautiful and fortunately today’s search came across Dana Tanamachi, a Graphic Designer and custom chalk letterer hailing from Brooklyn, New York. Tanamachi worked under the world renowned Louise Fili at Louise Fili Ltd. If you know anything about typography, you know anyone that worked at Lousie Fill Ltd. is worth their salt (and then some).  From Tanamachi‘s website:

Dana works full time as a custom chalk letterer and has been commissioned by clients such as West Elm, Rugby Ralph Lauren, Google, The Ace Hotel, Adidas, EveryDay with Rachael Ray, Harper Collins UK, and Garden & Gun Magazine.

She has been interviewed and featured on popular blogs such as Design*Sponge, 100 Layer Cake,Apartment Therapy, and Kottke.org.

In 2011, Dana was named a Young Gun (YG9) by the Art Directors Club.

And her work is just WOW! I love how her lettering and typography transforms into an intricate design and artwork (personally, my chalk experience is limited to hopscotch). Simply beautiful typography!

©  All work is copyright and propriety of Dana Tanamachi

And you can see her in action here:

Garden & Gun from Dana Tanamachi on Vimeo.

I came across Japanese designer Takeshi Sano, an Interior Designer based out of Japan. Sano created a ceiling design, using thousands of wooden sticks (up to 25,000!!) for Tsujita restaurant in Los Angeles, California (found via Contemporist.com). His designs reminded me of the old ‘pinface’ toy you used to see in novelty shops…but Sano’s designs are far from novelty. Here, the designer creates a scenic ‘cloud-like’ view above for the patrons of the establishment. The use of wooden sticks in conjunction to the space give off a natural, clean environment feeling. An environment where a patron can feel they are one with nature in a simplistic form.

From the designer:

I put image of clouds for the ceiling detail. There is IZUMO shrine, one of the most important shrine in Shimane Japan. The clouds we can see there, has beauty but mysterious image. I wanted to show those images on this design. I put 25000 of wooden sticks, which was shaped like drum stick on the ceiling.

In order to increase a reality of clouds, I calculate the focal length between eye line and wooden sticks and use that length for the stick length. Also I made difference on the distance between stick each other so that to make a stereoscopic effect to wooden cloud. Not only for this project. I’m always challenging to create a space that coexist art and interior. At the same time, I’d like people to feel the delicate of beauty, which Japanese have, and Japanese atmosphere when they visit here so that they will think that they want to visit Japan.  I’d like to make this restaurant as one of an element for Japanese reconstruction.

 Artwork and design ©  Takeshi Sano. Photography by Nacasa & Partners

In my previous blog posts, I’ve talked about my love of books. I have so many travel, design, fiction, and textbooks (of course, some trashy novels, some of which I’m too embarrassed to admit here what I have lining my bookcase) that I’m pretty much spilling over in books. I am having a hard time trying to find room for all of it.

So it is interesting that I came across Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio‘s  (helmed by Kazuya Morita, an architect based out of Kyoto Japan)  architectural project with small spacing. Here, Kazuka Morita and Issei Kawashima used the confining space to create an extraordinary open design intertwined with the owner’s love of books (and interest in the Islamic culture). You can see how the design helps maximize the spacing yet is able to capture the essence of simple space. Additionally, Morita incorporates the owner’s vast collection of Islamic historical books within the confines of the small space. From Morita’s website:

In order to satisfy this demand effectively, we designed a lattice structure made from 25mm thick laminated pine-board which serve as book-shelves. The dimensions of each shelf are as follows: 360mm height, 300mm width and 300mm depth. All of the architectural elements in this space (stairs, windows, desks, chairs, etc) have been designed on the basis of this shelf scale, with the aim of achieving geometrical harmony which is comparable to Islamic Architecture. This innovative structural system affords not only large amount of book storage, but the possibility of flexible floor level which can be delivered from every height of bookshelf. Each space for different activity rise up helically, giving the impression of exploring a wooden jungle gym…. Islamic calligraphy on the wall, it is written in Arabic, but the language is Japanese and Turkish.  The biggest one, written as “kun-pu-tei”, means “istanbul house”, it is the name of the house and the others are Turkish  greetings.

The incorporation of books and Islamic influence reminds me of my wonderful trip to Istanbul!

© All work is copyrighted and belongs to Kazuya Morita Architecture Studio

I’ve found another beautiful packaging design on my one of my fave things…chocolate! The famous brand/design firm Edenspiekermann designed this gorgeous package design for Tcho’s new addition to their line of chocolates Serious Notes, aptly named Purenotes (dark chocolate). Mmm…my mouth is totally drooling (plus my eyes are gazing lovingly at the beautiful package design). I simply love love love the geometrical clean lines of the design. Also, the packaging uses cold foil!

All rights/work reserved and propriety of  © Edenspiekermann

Vancouver is a beautiful city. Gorgeous landscape, great eats and awesome people. Yes, awesome people.

The 2010 Winter Olympics allowed Vancouver to finally shine on the world scene. People were friendly to tourists, partied with little trouble and when Canada won the Gold medal…it was happiness and camaraderie. It was something to be proud of.  I, for one, was proud to be a part of Vancouver shining moment as a city that KNOWS HOW TO HAVE FUN!

What the world saw last night was not Vancouver. What pisses me off the most is that the people looting and rioting were not true Canuck fans nor true Vancouverites. The media headlines of “Canuck fans erupt in Vancouver over Canuck loss” or “Vancouverites riots over Canuck loss” are fallacies and misconceptions. The headlines should be “Douchebags with small penises looking for some ill reason to exert power”. Disparaging remarks about Vancouver is sad and so untrue.

Most Canuck fans (and Vancouverites) were equally outraged and called on the looters and rioters for respect. But the media doesn’t show this, instead they show people fighting, people destroying public property and people just being jackasses. Of course, by now you’ve heard of the idiot who decided to post his FB status of his ‘proud moment in history’ of looting and fighting with the police (he brags about getting his fingers broken – most likely from being stupid enough to try to hit a police officer in riot gear).

And what this is what should’ve been trending on twitter last night: CongratsBruins (by this AM this is one of the trends) or GoodGameCanucks. Instead, we had CanuckRiots, DearVancouver (with tweets of  you suck) and VancouverRiots.

The other thing that gets me is the call for more police officers or the question “where are all the police officers”. I was in Vancouver in 1994 the first time Vancouver lost the Cup. Believe me, the police had a WAY BETTER handle on this than last time. From what I saw, they tried to maintain peace versus erupting in equal aggression. As well, I want to give them kudos for maintain what could’ve been a much worse situation.

As I end this long convulated post, one shining moment popped up. Vancouverites are coming down to help and clean up.

This is the Vancouver I love the most.

Absolutely adore his work. He seems to turn everything from the ordinary to the extraordinary. And adds such a fantastic flare to everything he designs.  There is certain sexual electricity that touches his work – it’s truly gorgeous and tantalizing at the same time. Remember Madonna’s cone bras??

Recently, JPG guest edited the French publication Libération (you can download and purchase the magazine here). He stylized and art directed the pages by enlisting everyone in the publication to participate in the photoshoot. He incorporates the pages of the publication and turns them into prêt-à-portie fashion in typical Jean Paul Gaultier! And in Jean Paul Gaultier fashion, this is what he had to say:

We won’t be Photoshopping the images. We don’t need to because they’re all going to be great….when a picture is good it captures only beauty, so there’s nothing to worry about.

© All literary work belongs to Libération. Photos by Patrick Swirc

Via Dieline, I found a great alternative to my mochas. Developed by Brazilian advertising firm A10 Design, the firm designed the brand identity for a line of teas aptly named Talcha. This beautifully package design coupled with bright colours and elegant typography is not only pleasing to the palate but to the eyes as well. I simply love the contrast of the exciting colours against the ultra dark background.

From Dieline:

“To stimulate interest in this market, which is largely undeveloped in this country, A10 explored vibrant colors (each color relates to a family of teas) and elements from the diverse world of this drink.

A10 created packaging that stimulates the five senses, as well as building a verbal identity that generates curiosity and also informs. From the packaging format to the history of tea, the consumer is totally steeped in the atmosphere, culture and benefits of the drink. This brand identity is used in various materials, including gift packaging, taster packaging, booklet, invitations, store, bags and other points of contact of the brand that generate a unique experience with the world of tea in Brazilian culture.”

Read full analysis here.

 © a10 Design 

As I’ve mentioned in my blog, I’m an avid book reader. Love love love books. I came across this excellent use of classic books. Simply beautiful!

Rebound Designs recycles vintage classic novels and turns them into extraordinary accessory designs! Each book is custom made and converted into handbags, coin purses and pouches. They also produced ‘naughty pins’ designed from trashy romance novels and convert them into brooches. The great thing is that if you don’t see a book you want, they take custom orders! O la la! If you happen to be in the DC area, they can be found in the Eastern Market (weather permitting). Or you can purchase the items from their Etsy.

I’m having a hard time figuring out which is my favourite one!

So, of course, I just happened to come across Kunihiko Morinaga clothing line Anrealage fashion line. This Tokyo based designer is world-renowned in the fashion world with intricate and fashion forward design concepts. His designs feature simple geometrical shapes provide seamless bodylines. Simplistic beauty at its best.

For the upcoming 2011/12 fall line (debuted during Japan Fashion Week) Anrealage perfectly married pixlated art with high fashion. The clothes mainly composed of colourful squares to resemble 8-bit pixels. From a distance, the blocks of colour perfectly blend and complement one another while giving the line a unique edge. Upon inspection, you see the colourful array of ‘pixels’…And might I add…LOVE THE SHOES!!!!

ANREALAGE 2011-12 A/W COLLECTION from TOKYO FASHION FILM on Vimeo.

All work is copyrighted and belongs to Anrealage Co. LTD

Developed and conceptualized by Taiwanese design, Andrew Wong, this exhibit design identity was done for Archi-work.

From the website:

Archi-Rock is organized by the architect and the institute of urban design, inviting designers from the fields of architecture, visual art, digital art, and music with diverse interpretations to represent the significant cultural symbols between music and architecture regarding their histories, styles, and memories.

The exhibition brings together several installations and architectural works from architects, designers’ music related works, performances from bands and musicians, as well as live concerts and new genres of architectural/experimental films, allowing you to experience the fascination of architecture and music in the street house.

All above work is copyright and propriety of Andrew Wong.