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‘swell things’ Category

  1. Swell Things No. 24

    June 30, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. I recently saw a few of Richard Baker‘s painted facsimiles of vintage paperback books. In these realistic paintings he leaves no detail unnoticed down to the tattering on the paper covers or the wrinkling from age. I also love the visible text block edge on the tail side.
    2. This raw and distorted, geometric portrait is apart of a larger series of work from Boston-based painter Josh Jefferson.
    3. I love these lush and whimsical illustrations from Helsinki-based designer Eero Lampinen.
    4. Photographer Chris Buck is best known for his celebrity portraits until recently when he had a 10″ figurine of himself 3D printed by start-up Doob. Now he’s taking dozens of pictures of his miniature self in the most unlikely places. Check out the PetaPixel article.
    5. Sarapes are blanket-like shawls worn in Mexico and are often woven with brightly colored threads and fringed at the ends. In his series called Sarapes, artist Adrian Esparza has been exploring his own Mexican heritage by deconstructing these blankets and transforming them into large scale geometric string art.

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    6. This is by far the weirdest motion sensor device I’ve ever seen. PomPom Mirror was created by Daniel Rozin and includes over 900 faux fur pom poms, which are manipulated by 460+ motors to create a reflection in real-time. Check out the mirror in action in this video.
    7. Papers for Characters is a wonderful series by design studio Atipo, in which a single sheet of paper is manipulated in a simple way to represent a famous movie. The one above is… Dracula!
    8. Every Monday Elvira Johanna Duives uploads the next “portrait of the week”. Her fantastic miniature portraits are sized at 5.5cm x 4cm and are not painted (nor are they latch hook as I thought), but created through the use of Copic markers and colored pencils. The fat markers offer the desirable soft edges that she gets with each portrait. I love them and apparently she does commissions!
    9. The Getty Museum put together this concise, yet informative video on how manuscripts were made. The video includes the production of parchment and how it is transformed into a workable surface for the scribe before finishing off with one way the parchment signatures would have been bound. The binding demonstration is done by the great William Anthony.
    10. Idiot Box is a photography series from Donna Stevens capturing the glazed expressions of children while watching television. Their zombie-like stares are glowing from the light of the screen; some are caught in mid-expression. But overall the portraits are quite chilling.


  2. Swell Things No. 23

    May 31, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. Environmental artist Steve Messam recently built a weight-bearing bridge in the middle of the English countryside. The unique part of this bridge is that it is constructed using 22,000 sheets of paper, carefully stacked without the assistance of glue, staples or screws. It’s has since been traversed by thousands of people and animals.
    2. I love paintings of flowers and I’ve just come across the vibrant and luscious work of Australian painter Laura Jones.
    3. 98 different foods were cut into perfect 2.5cm cubes at the request of Dutch newspaper De Volkskrant for a special feature on food. These tiny bite-size pieces were created by the Netherlands-based design studio Lernert & Sander; they are absolutely gorgeous and some are quite puzzling to their origin.
    4. New to my radar is Morgana Wallace, the creator of detailed hand-cut paper and hand painted portraits. The characters are whimsical and feature details of layered paper delicately painted with gouache elements adding depths and intrigue.
    5. Abandoned Love is sight-specific installation project spearhead by artist Peyton Fulford. Using diary and text message submissions from people all over the world, Peyton installed these messages of heartbreak and sadness across abandoned building doors. The words are displayed like that of a party banner, offering play on the human experiences and interactions as well as projecting our vulnerabilities in forgotten public spaces.

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    6. Waldeinsamkeit is a German word referring to the feeling of being alone in the woods. Ella Frances Sanders is an illustrator and author of Lost in Translation, a book where she explores 50 words that don’t have a direct English translation. This book is filled with poetic and highly expressive words that pepper languages around the word. My other favorite is komorebi, a Japanese word for the sunlight that filters through the leaves of trees. Absolutely beautiful.
    7. Who knew books were such thrill seekers? Roller coaster-like tracks are one type of system installed in libraries as a means of accessing books for patrons. Gizmodo recently put out a short piece on the Telelift system currently installed at the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Hungary.
    8. This musical installation piece is just strange, yet entrancing. Artist Neil Mendoza created a collection of automated motorized objects, each complete with at least one knife. The machines move together to the beat of the Bee Gees’ Stayin’ Alive.
    9. Tara Donovan is a Brooklyn-based sculpture artist creating large scale pieces using everyday objects. The piece above was made solely from clear buttons. It’s so stunning and surprising how this normal object has been magically transformed into an organic-like structure.
    10. These earrings belong to Gintare of Utena, Lithuania. She’s views them as a good luck charm and wearing them make her feel strong. This passionate story comes from a site called Totally Money that presented a project called What We Really Value: Through the Lenses of 50 Photographers. Many of the objects are gifts or relics from parents and grandparents. But the project is thought provoking and charming. What’s your most valued item?


  3. Swell Things No. 22

    April 30, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. These delicately, detailed paintings from Brian Roberston are other-wordly and quite enjoyable.
    2. A couple of delightful flip books by Scott Blake using just a hole punch.
    3. Success with watercolor is such a mystery to me, but Lorraine Loots has masterfully condensed entire nebulae and planets into miniature paintings in her Micro Cosmo Mondays series.
    4. Artist Veronika Richterová transforms plastic bottles into cartoonish plants and flowers. I’m particularly tickled by her series of cacti.
    5. Sophia Narrett creates these luscious embroidered pieces of art that greatly mimic her oil paintings. The stitching is layered and layered creating lights and darks, just like paint on a canvas.

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    6. Japanese artist Aki Inomata, crafted these 3-D printed shells modeled after real architecture for hermit crabs. His concept for the project swells from the idea of a “home borrower”: the movement of one home to the next.
    7. Dear Data is a fascinating year-long project between designers Giorgia Lupi in New York and Stefanie Posavec in London. Each week the two compiled data measuring one aspect of their daily lives and then creatively illustrated their findings. Each chart was drawn on a postcard with the key transcribed on the back. Such a inspiring series!
    8. These edgy glass sculptures project perfect gradients. Sculptor Niyoko Ikuta has created a beautiful series of glass pieces that display the wide range of translucency of its material.
    9. The Black Book of Carmarthen is a 13th century vellum manuscript that recently revealed centuries’ old hidden messages under the use of a black light.
    10. At the Prado Museum in Madrid, a very special exhibit is on view that enables the blind to touch and therefore experience famous works of art. Estudios Durero, a Spanish printing studio developed a special 3-D printed process called Didú, that transforms the flat paintings into sculptural pieces.


  4. Swell Things No. 21

    March 31, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. Check out the sculptural paintings from Boy Kong. They include brightly colored imagery of overly fantastical creatures.
    2. For years, artist Liz Nielsen has been perfecting a unique photographic process which includes overlapping shapes and tampering with the exposure to create subtle shades of color. These pieces are extraordinary feats of photography.
    3. Let’s Talk About Margins is an excellent article by Craig Mod poetically discussing the importance of margins, especially when it comes to page layout. When done correctly, the layout becomes overlooked by most, but the process of creating such perfection occurs only after several diligent drafts, suffering through to the find the right solution.
    4. These portraits from Han Xiao depict the human face in garbled swirls of thick paint and pops of color. Like the brushstrokes themselves, the expressions are tangled. Han finds inspiration in Frances Bacon; her work expresses themes of life, conflict and confrontation.
    5. If you’ve worked with a bone folder tool before you may have wondered where they come from and how they were made. Brien Beidler offers a brief post on his blog complete with images documenting the process of cleaning deer legs into smooth bone folders.

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    6. Liz Payne is an artist combing hand-painted fabric with embroidery and beading techniques. I especially love her embroidered typography and tone on tone stitching.
    7. Need some vegan leather? Why not grow your own. Suzanne Lee, Creative Director for Modern Meadow, has developed a “bovine-friendly form of leather by “coaxing” animal tissues cell into tough cowskin-like material”. This is all kind of interesting and kind of strange.
    8. Ali Eslami created a 3-dimensional world reimagining the paintings of René Magritte.
    9. The Crystallized Book series from artist Alexis Arnold transforms discarded books into non-functional objects of beauty; almost reminiscent of excavated geological specimens displaying layers of history. The work is absolutely stunning and a wonderful way of giving live back to a book on the brink of death.
    10. The science of why stepping on Legos makes you want to die. Enough said.


  5. Swell Things No. 20

    February 28, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. Israeli artist Ron Arad’s obsession with the Fiat 500 began when he father was almost struck while driving one. This recent installation series put on by the artist exhibits a collection of flattened Fiats, which was achieved by using the metal press at a shipyard to crush each car to 12cm thick. The results are just surprisingly stunning.
    2. The Last of the Teddy Girls is a collection of photographs from Ken Russell portraying the girl gang subculture and their male counterparts in a post-war London of the 1950s. The portraits are a magnificent representation feminine style and independence.
    3. I’m really loving these brilliant and colorful collages from artist Anna Ovni; could perhaps inspire a future leather design binding.
    4. Check out this beautifully illustrated 15th century manuscript of Claudius Ptolomaeus’ Cosmographia.
    5. I’m always intrigued when artists introduce unusual materials into their work. Alison Foshee illustrated a series of fauna using staples because in her words was the best way to highlight the contour of various plant life.

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    6. Xylotheks: an object where the container is a fundamental component of its contents. In this case, the wooden book boxes store wooden objects. These objects were particularly popular in Germany in the late 18th to early 19th centuries. Xylotheks are a surprising discovery for me and are quite interesting objects.
    7. Every year new words are added to the dictionary, so it only makes sense that new hand gestures would make their way into American Sign Language. Read the fascinating article and see the signs that represent words or phrases like: selfie, photobomb, and food coma.
    8. Charles Young is the paper engineer behind Paperholm: a growing paper city. The best part is that many of these miniature building models are animated. I love the detail and quirkiness behind the project.
    9. I recently stumbled upon this phenomenon referred to as kawaii cuisine coming out of both Japan and Denmark. Each of these cooks are creating itty bitty foods using plastic doll cooking equipment and candles to cook the food. Reality can be a bit bizarre some times.
    10. In the early 1900s, Thomas Cobden-Sanderson threw 2,600lbs of his bespoke typeface Doves Type into the Thames. For the past three years designer Robert Green has been trying to recreate this lost typeface. After thorough research, Green discovered the spot where the coveted type was tossed into the murky waters. Green was able to uncover a total of 150 pieces, just a small portion, but enough to help him finish the digital version.


  6. Swell Things No. 19

    January 31, 2015 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. A lovely and growing collection of the world’s most spectacular libraries from photographer Franck Bohbot.
    2. Artists Thomas Rousset and Raphaël Verona traveled across the Altiplano region of Bolivia to photograph the diverse spiritual richness of the culture. Check out these colorful and breathtaking portraits of healers, witch doctors and medicine men.
    3. NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month is celebrated every November to encourage aspiring writers to produce 50,000 words within the month. A different set of aspiring creators adapted this concept by starting NaNoGenMo or National Novel Generation Month. Developers set out to write a code that generates a novel. My favorite is an interpretation of the Voynich Manuscript.
    4. A small village in southern Japan holds an eerie secret. Since her return to nurse her dying father, 65-year old Tsukimi Ayano has been replacing all members of the village whom have either moved away or died with a life-size replica doll. The 35 remaining residents are greatly outnumbered by these stuffed life less dolls. What a bizarre scene to stumble upon.
    5. I don’t know if you’ve ever scrolled through image after image of Japanese kids with fruit balanced on their shoulders, but it’s quite strange. Check out these portraits from photographer Osamu Yokona.

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    6. 1000 Colours is a 1000-piece puzzle created by Clemens Habicht with production help from Lamington Drive Editions. Each puzzle piece is an individual color and must be successfully paired with its closest color relatives. I love puzzles and this one seems quite challenging!
    7. I love embroidery and I love books; when the two meld it’s magical. So I was instantly drawn to Once Upon a Plant from Serene Ng. Sewing through paper is a delicate process, but Serene manages detail and lettering with swift and simple stitches.
    8. When Pegge Hopper moved to Honolulu, she became greatly inspired by vintage images of the native island woman. So much that she began painting portraits of these photographs.
    9. State of Play just released Lumino City, the first video game constructed entirely out of paper. Some games add paper texture, but the creators behind Lumino City spent three years physically creating each set out of paper, wood, miniature lights and electric motors. I haven’t had the chance to play the game, but you can bet that it will be soon!
    10. Well I seemed to be obsessed with portraits this month. Danish photographer Ken Hermann found inspiration in the sellers of Calcutta’s Malik Ghat flower market. I love the richness of these images; particularly the stark contrast between the subject, his flowers and the backdrop.


  7. Swell Things No. 18

    November 30, 2014 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. Looking for a wonderfully cheerful article to read with your morning coffee? Check out Adam Sternbergh’s article Smile, Your Speaking Emoji. This article details the evolution of these popular icons that have been slowly taking over our text messaging conversations. As humans we first began to communicate through imagery (think cave paintings) before slowly evolving into the written word. Emojis allow for quick communication; it’s amazing the amount of information that can be compacted into a single icon.
    2. How To Be Polite is an insightful article on the practice of politeness. The author, offers some helpful hints and some of his real-life experiences. Don’t assume you know everything on the art of being polite.
    3. At the end of October, Bernard Middleton, celebrated his 90th birthday! Read more about Bernard’s career and accomplishments from this article on the British Library’s Collection Care Blog.
    4. What is Missing? is a new interactive online project by famed memorial artist Maya Lin. As you scroll over the points plotted on the interactive map some information appears: the longitude and latitude, a date and most important the species or natural land formations that are in danger of becoming extinct in that area. Faced with the seriousness of humankind’s impact on the Earth, Maya created this interactive map as an awareness to the living animals and plants that are disappearing every 20 minutes. Spend some time with this website, make sure you are in a quite space and your volume is turned up.
    5. In 2014, the Grimm’s fairy tales are reimagined in a new and lovely artistic way. Grimm Scholar Jack Zipes translated and published The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm: The Complete First Edition. The lovely artistic element of this book are the beautiful cut-paper illustrations by the oh, so talented Andrea Dezsö.

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    6. Interested in the learning the Hungarian alphabet? Explore all 44 letters with an eager little girl inside this beautifully designed children’s book, Ábécés könyv by author and illustrator Anna Kövecses.
    7. Filmmaker Frederic Bonpapa is the creator of Life Motif, a film inspired by the neurological phenomenon synesthesia. How do you capture the sensation of seeing music? The film is centered around a CGI monkey as the space around him shifts structurally by the motion of the music. Set to the sound of Steve Reich’s Music for 18 Musicians – Section II, the mood is altered by changing colors in the atmosphere and the very anthropomorphic facial expressions of the monkey.
    8. The work of Nashville based illustrator Drew Tyndell has been featured on the blog before. But I recently landed upon his animation loops that are absolutely mesmerizing. It’s a good thing the animations ends after 15 seconds or else one might find themselves with their eyes glued to their screen.
    9. Abigail Bainbridge created this wonderful and playful tutorial on Japanese Stab Binding for the West Dean Blog. A great way to introduce someone, adult or child alike, to the craft of bookbinding. Plus, you can celebrate by eating your successfully tasty book!
    10. Artist Ruben Steeman drew an individual picture daily for seven straight years. Once he reach the milestone of his 2,500th drawing, he decided it was time to put them all in a book. Check out the article on BOOOOOOOM! describing Ruben’s process for creating such an impossibly large binding.

     


  8. Swell Things No. 17

    October 31, 2014 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. Artist Lucy Sparrow opened The Cornershop in London. Over the course of eight months, she painstakingly crafted over 4,000 drug store items after a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign. All plush items were embroidered and appliquéd to resemble the real item from candy bars and cigarettes to magazines and ice cream. At the end of the summer, Lucy sold out of all her items.
    2. Lovely images from Oakland-based photographer Nika States.
    3. Glitched is a series of 3-D printed dioramas from artist Mathieu Schmitt. Each diorama is printed slightly deformed inside a smoked glass cube. The faint, white lighting creates an eerie scene.
    4. These watercolors from Jeffrey Simmons are astonishing. How exactly did Jeffrey execute such precision and exactness with watercolor?
    5. These excellent tape graffiti installations come from LA-based artist Gustavo Fuentes aka Flëkz. I love the geometric quality of these pieces and the fragility of their life.

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    6. Your House is a limited-edition artist book from Berlin-based artist Olafur Eliasson. All 454 pages are individually laser-cut and correspond to 2.2cm of Olafur’s actual house in Copenhagen. The book was designed in 2006 by Michael Heimann and Claudia Baulesch after being commissioned by the Library Council of The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
    7. These smudgy flowers from Simone Truong are delightful and delicate.
    8. The Sincerity Machine from Jesse England is an altered typewriter. Jesse laser-engraved a contemporary font out of acrylic and replaced the typeslug, so that his typewriter could print in Comic Sans. What a unique idea, but perhaps a better font for the next project.
    9. French artist Julien Maire used a 3-D printer to create 85 figurines for a film without film. The figurines were printed using liquid resin, as light passed through the tiny sculptures, the film was projected onto a screen in the distance. Such a brilliant idea and ingenious use of a 3-D printer. Bravo!
    10. The Design Observer Group puts together a list every year of 50 Books/50 Covers, each book represents the best in book cover design. 2014 hasn’t been released yet, but check out the list for 2013.

     


  9. Swell Things No. 16

    September 30, 2014 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. After reading an article about the difficulty in conversing with strangers on the train, my husband referred me to The Stranger Project 2014. Over the course of one year, the gentleman running this project, will connect with one stranger per day. Sitting down to discuss their lives and get to know them. The profiles are completed by a portrait.
    2. Motion Silhouette is a beautifully bound and interactive children’s book that utilizes the shadow cast on opposite sides of a center pop-up to create the narration on either side of the page. On one page a silhouette pop-up of a tree casts a tree-like shadow for a flock of birds, while on the other side becomes a massive lightning bolt over a city. Click here to watch a video of the book in action.
    3. Any Arrested Development fan will remember the Living Classics Pageant scene when George and Buster recreate Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam. Little did I know that this was referencing Pageant of the Masters, which occurs every year in Laguna Beach, California. You can read more about it in this New York Times article here.
    4. The Future Library is an expansive project just introduced this year by creator Katie Paterson, a young Scottish artist. A forest of 1,000 trees was planted outside of Oslo in Norway; these trees will become the paper to publish the works of 100 authors picked once a year over the course of 100 years. 2014 marks year one and Margaret Atwood is the first author to participate. The work she writes will not be published until 2114, the year The Future Library will be released. I’m intrigued by this project, yet disappointed to know I’ll never get the chance to read this work by Margaret Atwood. Read more about the project here.
    5. Samantha Bittman is the textile artist I would have wished to be, if I had become a textile artist. Her black and white woven pieces are a maze for the eye, stringing your vision from left to right then back again. Just stunning work!

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    6. Miniature Calendar has been churning out stunning miniature scenes since 2011. Each image is listed daily and uses everyday objects mixed with miniature figurines to add a bit of color and whimsy to your life.
    7. The Houghton Library at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts houses a collection of 20 miniature books written and bound by Charlotte Brontë and her brother Branwell. The two siblings, 13 and 12 respectively, created fantasy worlds called Angria and Glass Town. The books measure less than 1 inches by 2 inches and include minute script of wild tales and adventures.
    8. Anna Valdez is a magnificent painter who incorporates so much life and color into her work. Enjoy!
    9. Ever wanted to unleash the power of a Bookbook. IKEA’s recent ad campaign for their new 2015 catalog is brilliant. A geeky looking spokesman sitting in front of a whitish wall talks about the book as if it were a handheld device. Which it kind of is!
    10. Enjoy this elaborate paper animation: The Collagist, from artist Amy Lockhart.

     


  10. Swell Things No. 15

    August 31, 2014 by Erin Fletcher

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    1. This is just a wonderful animation from Lucrece Andreae. It puts a bit of humor into flash dating.
    2. #5DaysOfPreservation is a project by Kevin Driedger, who invited any institution or individual to post images over a 5 day period depicting preservation. Thus creating a catalog of images for a deeper understanding of the variety of processes and skills involved.
    3. Rachel Niffeneger is an extremely talented artist and one that I’m proud to have met during our undergraduate studies at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. Some of her most recent work can be seen here. Although her figures are gruesomely painted, Rachel’s use of pastel and bright colors creates a wonderful juxtaposition.
    4. Massive yet delicate paper sculptures by Peter Gentenaar.
    5. Amalgamated is a collection of vases designed and constructed by Studio Markunpoika. Each vase is comprised of several pencils glued together at each facet and then shaped using a lathe revealing the inner structure of each pencil and different points creating unique patterns.

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    6. Book artist Jen Bervin found inspiration in the imitable Anni Albers. In Draft Notation, Jen recreates weaving patterns through the use of a typewriter, which is commonly done by weavers and documented in Anni Albers’ On Weaving.
    7. Breakbot’s music video for Baby I’m Yours featuring Irfane, is a watercolor animation. Each frame is hand-painted one by one. I’m continuously amazed at the lengths people will go to create a unique music video.
    8. So I’ve mentioned this video before, but it’s just too cool. Metal band Throne created an animated music video for their song Tharsis Sleeps. Each frame was machine-embroidered and are up for sale through their website. This video was made possible through a successful Kickstarter campaign.
    9. The MTA Zine Residency organized a group of participants to ride the F train for hours, creating content for a zine that would be printed and published and later put up for sale. The organizers of the residency are a librarian and an archivist working at Barnard College library, which holds the largest collection of zines in an academic library.
    10. Until a few months ago, Lilli Carré, existed in my mind as a talented graphic novelist. I’ve recently discovered that her talents expand into a variety of other mediums such as ceramics, film and illustration (outside the book format). You can check out her work here.

     


  • My name is Erin Fletcher, owner and bookbinder of Herringbone Bindery in Boston. Flash of the Hand is a space where I share my process and inspirations.
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