Retro Colours

Sometimes one just has all the luck in the world ... and this week it was me!! A week ago I responded to an ad on a typography newsletter offering a remaining lot of bookbinders linen. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one, and not even the first one ... so bad luck. BUT! ... a few days later I received an email after all, saying that if I was still interested I could buy the bookbinders linen per meter. So yesterday I went to the library (the selling party) and I met the guy who worked in the bindery of the library years ago. These days the library has sourced out the binding process, so the bindery department, somewhere deep in the cellars of the building has been closed for a long time. But whow, it's a real treasure house; big (and I mean BIG) bookpresses, small bookpresses, board scissors and a lot of happy retro coloured strong bookbinders linen. It was nice to see the library from 'the inside' and meet this nice guy with whom I measured over 70 metres of the coolest linen. 
..and after that ... I had to transport all those heavy meters to my house ... by bike .... I did it in two stages. Luckily the rain stopped for a little while when I biked home heavily loaded, fantasising about all the booklets I can make with this incredible material ...

Flavourites Live Business

Once a year it's Flavourites Live time. This sparkling event in Amsterdam, powered by MamaMarketing, offers webshop owners a stage to show their products 'live'. Located in the inspiring location 'De Overkant' this event hostst a consumers fair and a b-to-b event with workshops, lectures and providers focussed on b-to-b-products.

Since the schedule was pretty full, the first lecture was already at 10 in the morning. That meant an early trip to Amsterdam, to the other site of the IJ by ferry. After a refreshing and hasty - yes I was late again - walk to 'The Overkant' the first lecture  from Carlotte Mos/Ocher was about to start. Luckily a bit later than scheduled :) Carlotte told us a lot about branding. You are your brand! You and al your expressions. Ofcourse you know this stuff, and you heard it before, but she managed to tell these facts in such an inspiring way, supported by a beautiful designed presentation (you are your brand! :) ), that it really had an impact on me. ...I have a lot of work to do coming weeks ...

This vibrant start was followed by lectures about Pinterest (with some usefull tips), SEO (more good tips!) and content strategy. One other lecture that stood out was about trends in e-commerce, media & social media by Lieke Lamb. She is a true performer and speaker. It is wonderful to listen to her. Well founded facts and opinions brought with humour. The most important things she had to say; focus on mobile, desktop computer use will be replaced by mobile applications.

A lot of input, together with the inspiration from the course Blogging Your Way from Decor8, my head is full with new ideas and stuff that I have to improve in my blog and on my site....

Those beautiful Autumn Colours

You might starting to think that I am a little obsessed with autumn leaves. I am sorry ... but they are just so beautiful and the splendid colours seem to change every day. I promiss this will be the last blog about autumn leaves :)  But you might see some of those colours back in my booklets later on....Today I was sitting in the train, staring at those yellow, red, green and brownish colours and I was thinking about how to process them into my booklets. I think I have some great ideas, so I will experiment with them coming weeks ... hopefully with good results I can show you later on!
By the way I made this collage in Photoshop, practising my lessons :) It's so much fun working with this tool and understanding it more and more.

Graphic designer Monice Janson

Last week I met Monice Janson, an interesting Rotterdam based graphic designer. Monice has a love for typography, which is evident in her work. Her appealing projects are characterized by refinement and clarity. Besides the more standard graphic design assignments, Monice also develops free work, like the project 'Onderkast'. This funny and ingenious artwork has been exhibited in De Aanschouw Rotterdam, the smallest galery of the Witte de Withstraat in Rotterdam. The insects in The Onderkast project are built up from letters, two T's form a beetle, two K's together form a frog and if you put enough S's together a spider will be formed. The shapes are cut out of rubber, so the shadows form an interesting second layer.
For more projects or information, you can check out Monice Janson's site: www.monicejanson.nl

Opening concept store Webshops Only in 's-Hertogenbosch

Today is the grand opening of the concept store Webshops Only in 's-Hertogenbosch. This store is a initiative of Alonie and Marieke, who are also webshop owners themselves. Yesterday I went to 's-Hertogenbosch to decorate my space in the store. I really like the atmosphere in the shop and Alonie and Marieke managed to invite a lot of high quality trendy shops for their concept. This shop is definitely worth a visit! This evening is the opening for the participants and friends & family, so starting tomorrow you can rush to the shop to gather all your holiday season gifts!

Since Alonie and Marieke worked so hard to get everything done, I thought it would be nice to give them a small present for the shop-opening. I made two simple notebooks with their logo. Hopefully they like them!

Feels like Autumn today

It will be a rainy drizzling day today ... time to remind the exuberant autumn colours I saw in Norway last September.

Prien's Booklet for your Purse in black and red

What's going on at the moment?? I should be posting more blogs ... but a lot of things keep me from doing it. Things like:
- following a professional PhotoShop course at Mediacollege in Rotterdam
- following an interesting e-course about blogging at Decor8
- preparing new stock for the Webshops Only Shop in Den Bosch
- designing and preparing flyers and nametags for the Webshops Only Shop
- working on new assignments, such as a box, an address book, some notebooks

So there are a lot of new things I want to show you ... soon! It would also be a great opportunity to show off my new Photoshop skills as well :)

For now I just want to introduce these new Booklets for you Purse; small notebooks for, yes indeed, in your purse. Always handy to write down that amazing idea that pops up in your mind when you are waiting for the train, or when you are stuck in traffic or something like that.
On a special request I made the Prien Booklets for your Purse in black and red as well. You can find more colours at  www.prien.nl.

A3 Portofolio Folder

For a set designer Prien made an A3 Portfolio Folder in black. The client was looking for an A3 square folder to show her portfolio to potential clients. It had to be very easy to change the 300 grams portfolio sheets. In close cooperation with the client Prien developed a folder with four anchorages in matt black. The outside material is sturdy and can be cleaned with a damp cloth if necessary.
Hopefully my client will get a lot of new clients with her stylish portfolio folder!

Decor8's E-Course Blogging Your Way

Last Friday the e-course Blogging Your Way from Decor8 started officially. We had to do some reading and update our profiles .... but today ... we finally start the course .. I am very curious! As you might have noticed, sometimes I was a bit lazy with posting new blogs ... but with the help of this course I am planning to give this blog a boost. There are so many ideas in my head ...with some discipline and new guidelines they should result in an interesting and beautiful blog about bookbinding and everything that inspires me and hopefully you!

BoekKunstBeurs in Leiden

Yesterday my friends and I visited the BoekKunstBeurs in Leiden. This fair is situated in an old church in the center of Leiden. It is always a pleasure to visit this yearly event; walking around in a nice environment, talking with enthusiastic exhibitors, meeting acquaintances and checking out new products. Of course I bought too many things, so my arms still hurt because of carrying all that stuff around, but my head is full of new ideas ... now I need a lot of time to carry out all these plans :)