here & now » design

I’M COMIC SANS, ASSHOLE.

kvr — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:36:36 +0000

It’s always a nice diversion to pass through McSweeney’s Internet Tendencies every now and then for some challenging thoughts.

MONO.CONTRIBUTORS #05: STUDIO8

kvr — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 03:33:37 +0000

We’d been wanting to work with London’s Studio8 for quite some time but never quite dared to ask – after all, they’d ascended into the top league of editorial design a few years ago, with titles such as our favourite Port magazine (which they co-publish) or the indispensable illustration/design bible Elephant to their name, and contributing to the redesign of The New York Times Magazine or The New Yorker. But when our current issue with Chris Ware finally was ready for production, we summoned our courage and dropped a polite email to Studio8’s co-founder Matt Willey, who, luckily for us, instantly said yes.

And we couldn’t have thought of a studio more appropriate for Chris Ware’s unique style drawing, with Studio8’s trademark elements all firmly in place: illustrative typography, a sensibility for paper and materials, a thoughtful approach to the magazine as object, and a playful sense of humour. It was a wonderful and easygoing collaboration – let’s do it again soon!

GUGGENHEIM GEMS

scg — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 19:11:32 +0000

Imprint’s August Heffner reports the exciting news that the Guggenheim has digitized a host of out-of-print catalogues. This is wonderful news: not only are these publications valuable scholarly resources, but together they form an inspirational treasure trove (no surprise, considering so many were designed by Herbert Matter). Look at that Klimt \<>/ Schiele cover!

SLIMTARRA

tw — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 20:19:56 +0000

Need a change in 2012?
We recommend the SLIMTARRA wallpapers!

SLIM means clever, smart, cute in Dutch. And SLIM means slender or thin in English.
TARRA (Dutch for tare weight, empty weight, dead weight) is a nice word, like DADA or ANNA BLUME.

Every little while Extrapool in Nijmegen (Netherhlands) invites artists to design a SLIMTARRA wallpaper. The wallpaper design is printed by Knust, Extrapool‘s renowned stencil print workshop, and is then exhibited on one of the walls in the Extrapool building.

SLIMTARRA has been running since about the year 2000 and the number of different SLIMTARRA designs seems to be endless. In contrast with usual wallpaper, which mostly comes on long widths of paper, SLIMTARRA wallpaper consists of many individual sheets of paper: the stencil printer restricts the paper size to an A3 sheet, so each SLIMTARRA design must fit onto a 420 x 297 mm page. This, of course, influences the pattern and appearance of the final design, allowing intricate misshapes and misalignments, giving the SLIMTARRA wallpaper its slightly irregular, charismatic aura and adding the charm of slight failure to each SLIMTARRA. It also offers the possibility to play with turning the sheet, and by doing so, varying and changing the final pattern of the design.

Get an impression of the individual walllpapers in the SLIMTARRA catalogue.

Wallpaper Design above by Zoe van Horen

MONO.PUNKT #14: WHAT WE MAKE WITH WORDS

kvr — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:10:26 +0000

This nice exhibition around words – aptly subtitled What We Make With Words – has been going on at Glasgow’s venerable Centre for Contemporary Art for almost two weeks now, but what’s really exciting to us is the adjoining art book fair taking place this Saturday, including yours truly, live and in the flesh. Because we are so ready to get out of here, from the rain and the cold, because Glasgow, as we know, is nothing like that, not at all. Sunshine, here we come.

2HB: What We Make With Words
Book Fair
Saturday 17 December 2011 / 12–17h
CCA
350 Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow G2 3JD
UK

THE VOICE KNITTING COLLECTION

tw — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 10:22:57 +0000

No Christmas presents yet?
Translate your favorite song or personal audio message into knitting patterns (orders until tomorrow will arrive in time for Christmas). The perfect scarf, cardigan, pullover, skirt, or blanket for music-lovers.

Trikoton, created in Berlin, is more than just a fashion label: as an interdisciplinary team, trikoton explores new ways of generative design and interactive production processes. Trikoton transfers voices into clothes, giving them a poetic touch.

Trikoton’s limited editions are available in selected shops in Berlin (other stores here):
Trikoton Showroom, Manteuffelstrasse 48, 10999 Berlin
Temporary Showroom, Kastanienallee 36a, 10435 Berlin
Zehnle von Langsdorff, Oderbergerstrasse 51, 10435 Berlin

MONO.CONTRIBUTORS #04: NODE BERLIN OSLO

kvr — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 06:02:22 +0000

Since they just launched their beautiful new website, what better moment to mention our friends at Node Berlin Oslo, the acclaimed design studio based in, erm, Berlin and Oslo. Talk about trans-European partnership here, but the climate remains the same: cold and grey. Node, in the meantime, are kind people, and they are one of the most versatile studios we know.

Point in case are the three issues they have produced for us so far, and all radically different: mono.kultur #06 about François Ozon with a our first but not last fold-out poster – of the adorable Ludivine Sagnier as battered Venus – accompanied by a subtle light change underlying the text. And because that worked so well, we followed it up immediately with mono.kultur #07 on Norwegian artist Matias Faldbakken, incorporating some pretty typography and not-quite-gold drawings on luxury and status symbols. Last for now but certainly not least, Node also concocted our infamous scented issue #23 on Sissel Tolaas, which, well, was special.

Here is to the next three issues, and congratulations on the new website.

TRAVEL LONGINGS

sr — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:46:08 +0000

Anywhere – A Travel Guide – “This is a travel guide that will hopefully lead you to places you have never seen before—though you may visit them every day. A place you have forgotten, a place you have never searched for or a place that does not exist.” With my longings for travel and adventure this could be the answer. Happy travels!

MONO.PUNKT #13: MISS READ

kvr — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:12:14 +0000

Ah yes, it’s that time of the year again: Idealistic young men and women flock to the grey pastures of Berlin to unleash their pretty books and magazines on art and the like on idealistic young men and women who can think of nothing better to do on a weekend than browse pretty books on art and the like. The former referring to our humble selves and our fearless peers, the latter to, right, you. All this on the lovely premises of Kunstwerke Berlin, who for the third time invited a mouthwatering range of international publishers and artists to their art book fair Miss Read. So come by and say hello to one of our tireless editors in person.

Miss Read
Friday, 25.11.2011: 15–21h
Saturday, 26.11.2011: 15–21h
Sunday, 27.11.2011: 12–19h

KW Institute for Contemporary Art
Auguststrasse 69
10117 Berlin

LIGHTNING VEST

sr — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:12:27 +0000

The Lightning Vest is one cool (and practical too) bike accessory that I’ve recently come across. It’s a hand-netted, highly visible safety vest made from a custom developed 3M reflective material. I want one!