Library Notebooks

Last weeks I have been working hard at an assignment for about twenty notebooks. It was fun to see all those splendid colours around me. In these wet winter days, the rain and wind were lashing my windows, and I only had to look at those lovely booklets to see the sunshine :) Each booklet is unique. The cover is provided with letters saying 'BIEB', which is a Dutch acronym for library. When you open the booklets you figure out that the flyleads are printed with the word 'NOTE' and have several bright and sparkly colours. It was fun creating all those different booklets. mass production, with a small escape :)
The booklets are Christmast presents for the library employees. I hope they enjoy them!

Irma Boom's Chanel N°5

White white white ... my favourite colour... exhibited in the Nederlands Fotomuseum in Rotterdam... in one word beautiful! According to Anne van der Zwaag - the curator of the exhibition- white is no colour and in the same time a mixture of all colours. White can be inspiring, but also intimidating. In short: White is interesting!
Visiting the exhibition was blissful. Some artists or art works really caught my attention; for example the capriole haute couture by Iris van Herpen, Aart Klein's photo of an ice skater and the closed eyes in a white face by Erwin Blumenfeld.
All very inspiring, BUT there was also the Chanel No. 5 Book of Irma Boom, a Dutch Graphic Designer specialized in unusual (art) books. Her beautiful white book, reflecting the world of Coco Chanel, was exhibited in a showcase, but luckily there was also one copy you could browse through. Of course with the white museum gloves on :), but I have to confess I also touched the book with my bare hands... You really have to touch this book, because Irma Boom made the pages very tactile by using only embossed images and text. To preserve the die-stamp-printing the pages were not cut and the book is softbound and not squeezed. If you want to learn more about this special book, check out the short movie where Irma Boom explains some things about The Chanel No. 5 book.

Custom-made Box

One of my clients - Sandra of BUROSANNIES - was looking for a special box. For a school assignment she had to design and make a scaled cupboard. Because she is totally into felt, the material choice was easy. She designed a cupboard out of sturdy black felt, supported by some timber carriers. The presentation of the final design was at least as important, therefore phase two of this design assignment was to find an appropriate box for her creation. In close consultation we chose a firm model that we could give a sturdy look. I experimented with the possibilities to make very simple hinges, whereby the box could keep it's cardboard look and feel. Not only the hinges and surfaces have a basic appearance, but also the clasps are basic, inventive and practical. A small strip of black linen stored with a matt black button clicks on a hidden press stud, so the box can be opened very easily. The text Felt like Organizing on top of the box is the finishing touch of the design and also gives a hint about the content of the box...
Hopefully Sandra gets a good rating for her assignment!

E-course Blogging Your Way

Last month I took the e-course Blogging Your Way given by Holly Becker from Decor8. Although I had a really, and I mean a really, busy month I enjoyed the course very much. It was nice to meet other bloggers on the forum and even live. It turned out that Agnes from Stylestek also lives in Rotterdam, so we didn't only meet online, but also in real live and we will keep on doing that :) Agnes is specialized in inspiring images for websites and promoting articles etc. Her work is refined and dreamy, and her website is as white as mine :)
During the course we learned things about blogging in general, branding your blog, styling, photography, photo editing, but above all it was INSPIRING! I have so many ideas for new blogposts and how to improve my styling and photography... I hope you will enjoy my future posts - inspired by this e-course and all the other bloggers I met at this class-!

Prien Work in Progress

Working hard at a nice assignment. Just wanted you to show the in-between-phase. So cool to see all these future booklets and their soon-to-be covers. The colours make me happy!!! Later on the result...

Aurora Robson - Recycling Plastic into Art

Today I want to show you the work of Aurora Robson. She is a Canadian multi-media artist who creates serene, dreamy installations and drawings out of waste. Aurora's goal is not only to create but also to inspire other artists to do what she does with her junk mail and empty bottles: create a fascinating piece of art.
Ofcourse I can write a lot about this interesting, inspiring and renewing artist, but I think you just have to take a look at her site to actually see what she is doing with all those polluting plastic bottles. Hopefully you enjoy her work and you get inspired to think about recycling and your own responsibility to this environment!

 

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