Category Archives: Art + Design

Stairway to Heaven :: Colorful Steps

Art + Design, Month of Color

I have to say, nothing makes me smile more than stumbling upon a set of clever stairs. I know that sounds funny, but if you’ve ever seen a cool staircase then you know what i mean! Rainbow colors, maybe even lights, a little extra flash. I’m not sure what it is, exactly. You stand there at the bottom and look up and it just seems so majestic and cool. Check out some of these fun and funky stairs from around the world!

Rainbow Stairs in Westbourne, England

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Bookstore (Livraria Lello e Irmao) in Porto, Portugal
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Staircase in the colourful Palais des Congres in Montreal.

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The Rainbow House in London

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The Colorful Staircase in Wuppertal, Germany.

LOOOVE these! Don’t you? I especially love the hot pink book store, and this last one. Can you imagine walking down the street and looking up and seeing that awesome stairway tucked in between the buildings.

The Colorful World of Alexander Girard.

Art + Design, Best of Alix, Month of Color, Vintage Graphics

Graphic, bold, playful, fun….we are big fans of Alexander Girard over here! His work has a childlike simpleness but is also rather sophisticated. As we embark on our Month of Color, I thought it would be fun to take a look at some of his awesomeness.

Alexander (“Sandro”) Girard was born in New York City in 1907 and was an influential figure in post-war American design. Girard was head of textile division at the renowned Herman Miller furniture company and worked closely with his dear friends Charles & Ray Eames and George Nelson. (Now *there’s* a dinner party I’d love to be invited to!)

Alexander Girard’s playful patterns and bright colors were a breath of fresh air into the otherwise stodgy and often colorless domestic world of post-war America. Drawing inspiration from folk art — Girard’s personal collection reached some 100,000 items — he brought a dimension of taste and color to his work with Herman Miller and their other design leaders, George Nelson and Charles Eames. Today, Girard’s fabric designs are timeless expressions of charm, wit, and originality.

(from Herman Miller.com)

An avid world traveler, Girard’s designs always reflected his love of festive colours and patterns and influences from around the globe. You might remember this post I did a while back on airlines of the 1960s. Alexander Girard was responsible for revamping Braniff Airlines, launching an amazing campaign called the “End of the Plain Plane.”

He redid their entire identity…from airport lounges and plane interiors (orange and pink seats, anyone?) and even painted all the jets in bright candy colors. He also infamously hired Emilio Pucci to redesign all the flight attendants uniforms!

Yep. This was a man who had a fine appreciation for color! Sadly he passed away in 1993, but his legacy and passion lives on! There have been many awesome re-releases of his artwork. Here’s how you can add a little Alexander Girard into you (and your kiddo’s!) life.

MEMORY GAME + BLOCKS

The always awesome House Industries has partnered with the Girard Estate and released some amazing pieces featuring Alexander Girard’s artwork. The memory game is one of my favorites! He originally created the colorful images as environmental “enrichment panels” that were designed to spice up the Herman Miller offices. Each game comes with 72 pieces and a limited-edition wooden box. Buy one here. The building blocks are also colorful and fun (and printed with non-toxic, kiddo-safe inks). AND then a little something for mama…..they also have an amazing collection of Gerard-inspired fonts. Me want!

THE CUTEST GROWTH CHART.

Pincushion has taken some of his most iconic designs and put them on five fantastic growth charts! These are so great and would look pretty fab in any wall on your house. {They won’t be for sale til June/July, but you can pre-order one here.)

SIMPLY AWESOME TRAY.

The Vitra Museum has released some of his artwork on these super snazzy serving trays. Score this sweet Alexander Girard Mother + Child Serving Tray here.

ADORABLE BOARD BOOK….ABOUT COLOR!


image: alison moore

This adorable chunky board book celebrates the vivid, playful, and sophisticated world of Alexander Girard (the cover features the vintage 1972 illustration “Girls” and there are 26 other classic Girard designs inside). Get a copy of Alexander Girard Color, here.

So there you have it. His work just makes me smile! And has me dreaming of a more colorful and fun airport….

 

Leapin’ Lizards, it’s February 29!

Art + Design, Vintage Photos

It happens every four years. But I have to confess I didn’t really understand WHY we had a leap year. So I did a lil poking around and found out some cool stuff. Like did you know Julius Caesar introduced Leap Years during the Roman empire over 2000 years ago? Me neither! So here’s the skinny on WHY we still have leap year every four years:

“Leap Years are needed to keep our calendar in alignment with the Earth’s revolutions around the sun. It takes the Earth approximately 365.242199 days – or 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 46 seconds  – to circle once around the Sun.

However, the Gregorian calendar has only 365 days in a year, so if we didn’t add a day on February 29 nearly every 4 years, we would lose almost six hours off our calendar every year. After only 100 years, our calendar would be off by approximately 24 days!”

source: time and date

ZOINKS! Pretty crazy huh. I think it’s so cool and weird that there are some people who technically only celebrate their birthday every four years! Are you a leap year baby or do you know one??

images: Philippe Halsman (all but last image. source unknown.)

Philippe Halsman was a renowned photographer for LIFE magazine in the 1950s (shooting an unprescedented 101 covers!). He was commissioned to shoot portraits of many famous people, and one day had the unique idea to ask each person to take one final pose and JUMP for the camera! He called the series Jumpology and as you can see, the results of his quirky request were pretty amazing. Everyone from Audrey Hepburn, Brigitte Bardot, Benny Goodman, Richard Nixon to even the Duke and Duchess of Windsor agreed to “jump”. So awesome. And so fitting for today. Oh, and that very top photo is of Mr. Halsman and Marilyn Monroe.

Turn Cute Kiddo Art into Even Cuter Plushies!

Art + Design, Things We Like

This is fabulous. And it was part of my links that are coming up in a bit….but I had to give them their own post so you could see ’em in all their glory.

 

Childs Own will take a drawing and transform it into a one-of-a-kind stuffed animal. I think it would make such an amazing gift for a little kiddle. Of course, Martha Stewart shows you how to do it yourself, so if you’re ambitious you can give it a go! See how over here.

Can you stand the cute? Do you have a favorite kiddo drawing you’d like immortalized? I would have LOVED this as a little girl!

 

I’m a little tired. But I love this artwork!

Art + Design

Happy Friday everyone. I’m here in lovely Boston on a freelance writing assignment. I’m working with one of my old ad partners, and it’s great to see him again. But lemme tell ya, yesterday was brutal! I woke up at 4:45am to hop on my 6:20am flight (yeech) flew on a crowded plane to Salt Lake, raced to make my connection and arrived in Boston around 4:30. I had to go over to the office to check in and because things are fast and furious on this special project, I had to work UNTIL MIDNIGHT. [cue Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard for the Money”]

People I’m whipped! Did I mention we also adopted a doggie? Oh it’s a wonderful story, but one I need to post in better detail (but here is a sneak peek of our big boy, Samson!). So I’ll share that with you guys next week. Anyway my Friday posts are not the usual fare. I gots no links to share. I do, however, have some lovely artwork to appease ya…..have a super happy weekend everyone!!

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You know how searching on the web is like one giant scavenger hunt? I love when I accidentally stumble upon something I wasn’t even looking for. So a few years ago I was researching wallpaper (don’t ask) and I stumbled upon the dreamy art of Esen Demirci. Her work borrows heavily from vintage fashion magazines, so you know I’m totally in love. Part collage and part illustration, Esen describes her work as, “A bit of humour and pop music of the 50s.”

I love the retro vibe and muted colors (even though I’m usually a bright girl). Esen is from Istanbul and she says her main influences include Alfred Hitchcock, Jean Luc Godard, and Michel Gondry. I am really into how she uses illustration mixed with vintage fashion photos, old book pages, and even wallpaper patterns to produce digital and traditional collage work.








Browse her little Etsy shop. Read her blog. And aw, look at my big sweet doggy Sam one more time.