Here are a few random images that I've been inspired by lately.
clockwise: Karo male body painting; wax print fabric; Archived photo; Gold Coast Fanti woman; MonoMono LP cover design; Graphic Africa styling.
D/City Newspaper
In my world print is not dead. I will still hunt down, subscribe to, or buy a beautifully designed magazine or newsletter. My affection for the D/City newspaper is an example of my undying love for print. This printed piece created by Louis at 14th and designed by the world-renowned DC based creative firm Design Army is simply beautiful. The content focuses on the happenings on one of DC's popular 14th and U street corridors; all the style, eats, and fun going on at the fly intersection. Because I love the layout, the beautiful photography, and wonderfully designed info-graphics I'm always excited to grab one for my collection of ephemera. I even love the design of the D/City newspaper box (is that what they're called?).
Want to check it out for yourself? You can download the full paper here (scroll down to the bottom of the page).
I can see Baltimore having a cool newspaper like this. What about your city, do you have a go to print publication that keeps you in the know? Or something that is so beautifully designed that you just have to have one?
Pump Me Up: D.C. Subculture of the 1980s
Exhibition poster for Pump Me Up, reminiscent of the go-go promo posters
printed by Globe Poster Printing Corporation.
Yesterday I finally had the opportunity to check out the Pump Me Up exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art honoring the D.C subcultures of the 1980s, including the punk rock scene and go-go music. The exhibition is a beautiful collection of artifacts, ephemera, and video from both scenes, with supplemental talks and lectures about the content on display. Which is why I visited yesterday, to check out the lecture on the history and evolution of go-go.
Seeing all the posters and photos, and hearing the music all took me back. This is music my friends and I danced to listening to the Jukebox TV station, and partied to when we got older. So it was a pleasure to see this genre of music getting some well-deserved recognition.
If you live in the area will you be going to check it out? Is the recognition overdue?
Paper Bit Collage Kit
I have always created patterns just for fun, and they have sitting on my computer collecting digital dust for years. Also, being a paper hoarder I've collected tons of paper bits leftover from design projects and the like over the years. Instead of throwing them away, I decided to use the paper and my patterns to create the Paper Bit Collage Kit.
The kits come in two different color collections: Bright and then Black & White. Each kit varies with different patterns printed on various papers, and both are perfect for creating gift tags, creating collages, adding to scrap-booking projects, making dinner place-cards, and mood-boards (among many other creative pursuits).
Check out the collections here, and visit later this week for a DIY project on how these collections can be used.
Inka Books
Fabulously patterned notebooks from stationery brand Inky Co.
Arminho Notebooks
I've been a bit obsessed with cute little notebooks lately. I have quite of few I've collected because of their cool designs, nice papers, and colors. These lovely southwestern inspired notebooks from Arminho would make a nice addition to the growing collection.
Feliz Carnaval!
Vintage Carnaval photos from National Geographic Magazine circa 1978
It's that time of year in Brazil when the country is bursting at the seams with feathers, confetti, dancing and hypnotic music. Yes it is Carnaval and around this time I am always wishing I was there celebrating with family. Instead, I watch from afar catching the coverage on Globo in awe at all the gloriously elaborate costumes, the music, and all the energy vibrating on screen. I love it and so look forward to participating one day soon.
Have you ever been to carnival in Brazil? Or another country? Tell me about your experience.
Vintage Fly: Judy Pace
I just discovered actress and beauty icon, Judy Pace, while watching a documentary about her late husband and baseball legend Curt Flood. I was intrigued and took to the net to do a search and found this awesome photo of Ms. Pace and had to share.
Ebony Circa 1962
I'm so in love with Ebony's Tumblr page, especially the old Fashion Fair ads — I really want to see more of those. This pastel color palette in this cover featuring a 1962 photograph of Dorothy Dandridge is superb.
Some Creative Inspiration
Right now I'm inspired by:
New African Fashion by Helen Jennings - a great book introducing readers to contemporary African designers in fashion. The photographs are wonderful and I'm loving the features.
"Underneath the Harlem Moon" music sheet cover - I'm really into vintage illustrations especially those featuring women of color (which is so hard to find).
Diana Ross on the cover of this February 1970 Ebony Magazine issue. I'm loving Ebony's Tumblr for all the vintage ephemera. Great inspiration!
"Uterine Catarrh" by Wangechi Mutu. I'm inspired by her mixed media works, something I would like to incorporate a bit more into my own illustrations and designs.
I am Fly Zine Giveaway
What is a zine? A zine is simply a self-published magazine, and lately I have been obsessed with them. Some are Xerox copies of illustratons and writings, others can be full-on glossies with editorial content.
At a book fair last summer I came across a stand of artists zines; beautiful small publications that had been made by hand with screen-printed imagery, hand-drawn type and intricate designs. That's where my obsession began and how I was inspired to create my own.
My dream was to have Fly zines to give away at the Fly Five party, but it just didn't happen. Everything was designed but I couldn't print them and put them together in time for the event. Instead I decided to print a few and give them away right here on Fly.
This experimental 6-page zine (inspired by the phrase "I am Fly," which was a message I used on buttons I gave away at the party) is handmade with hand-drawn illustrations and type, with a mix of fun collages.
I'm so excited for you to get your hands on one so definitely enter for a chance to win:
You can enter the giveaway simply by leaving a comment below. Leave your comment before 10 pm (EST) on Friday, Dec. 23rd. Five winners will be randomly selected, emailed and announced on Wednesday, Dec. 28th.
**Please note, this is for everyone (international readers, please enter).
**Please enter once.
**Contest ends Friday, Dec. 23rd 10 pm (EST)
**Five lucky winners will be chosen randomly and notified Wednesday, Dec. 28th.
Good luck!
Stamps from Brazil
A collection of Brazilian stamps from the mid 70's and early 80's.
Over the weekend my mother and I were going through some old boxes and came across a little brown paper bag of stamps. A few were from the U.S. but most were collected from letters she had received from family and friends in Brazil.
"Should I throw them away?" my mother asked.
When I poured the contents into the palm of my hand I shot her a look that said, "are you kidding me?"
I just kept saying O-M-G as I delicately moved the stamps around my palm with an index finger. I was trying to get a good look at each one.
The above image only shows about half of the stamps from the collection (some were duplicates and others were just not as interesting). They highlight architecture, design, agricultural life, the Native Americans, and the history of colonization of Brazil. They also represent the very first years of my mother's life in this country. They are remnants of a time when this hard-working, non-English speaking twenty-three year old woman would spend evenings writing letters home and re-reading the ones she had received. Aside from memories, some clothes and a cookbook, those messages, stories and stamps were her only connection to home.
"What's the big deal — they're just stamps. What can we do with them?" she rolled her eyes nonchalantly — slightly disconnected from their story.
"Keep them, mom! First of all this is a treasure to a graphic designer — you know I love collecting cool ephemera. But most importantly this is a part of your history!"
That interaction sparked an entire evening of tea and conversation about our family — mainly about my grandmother whom we know so very little.
I listened to stories I've heard a dozen times over, but digested them as if it was the very first time they were shared. Laughter and tears formed when I pulled out my iPad to look at photos of our Brazilian family members on Facebook (thank goodness for Facebook). From there we were connected to other family-folk we didn't even realize were on the social media site.
It was a sweet moment to have with my mother. But also a little sad.
During this time of year families are coming together to celebrate the holidays, laugh and get on each others' nerves. Because my mother's side of the family lives on a different continent our stamp-inspired reminiscing session became a brief reminder that we don't have the luxury to do the same.
Even with that, though, we still feel so very blessed to have each other.
Happily I've saved those stamps from a trash-heap doom. They are now safely tucked away in a drawer, also preserved with the use of technology and now have become a very special memory shared between mother and daughter.
What about you? Do you have family overseas or across the country you can't always get to during the holidays or for specials events? Are you like me, kind of use to it? Or is it still difficult? How do you stay connected? Any fun traditions spawn from the distance?
Do share your story.
Deadweight Designs
Wonderful prints and stationery from Deadweight.
Artist: e Bond + Giveaway
Throughout the month of June Fly will be highlighting amazing ladies doing fly things in media, fashion, art and design.
Who: e Bond, creator of roughdrAftbooks.
Why you'll want to own a roughdrAftbook to hold your thoughts and ideas:
Each book from roughdrAftbooks is a one-of-a-kind treasure constructed by hand in e's Philadelphia studio. Her collection of journals, sketchbooks and notepads are made with special materials and accented with lovely illustrations and written messages. These beautiful handmade books are perfect for documenting the beauty in life.
A question for e.
Do you have a favorite collection of books you've created?
My favorite collection right now and probably always is the endless line series, which is a grouping of abstract books with spray-painted covers. These books are the ones I always come back to no matter what else I am making. They are like my free space to create and spray and see what happens. I never put any stipulations or requirements on these books and they never disappoint. I have been making these small paintings for years just on boards and always always they remain about the same thing. I think its the space my brain goes to to reboot. They are almost like exercises, what I would suspect the equivalent might be when musicians play scales? I love them though, they always make me happy and I am always surprised by them. my dream project would be to get commissioned to do a huge series of these paintings as all sorts of objects, not just book forms.
Link to a fly lady e feels we should know.
This was tough because there are so many! I wanted to pick an up-and-comer but I've been a little remiss on my keeping up with who's up-and-coming, so I thought I would pick a woman artist whose work inspires me: Ellen Gallagher.
roughdrAftbooks Giveaway!
Here's the second giveaway of Fly's anniversary month. e Bond of roughdrAftbooks is giving away one of her beautiful journals to one lucky winner. Here's how to enter for a chance to win:
You can enter the giveaway simply by leaving a comment below. Tell us why you would love to have a book from roughdrAftbooks. Leave your comment before 5pm (EST) on Monday June 20th. One winner will be randomly selected, emailed and announced on Wednesday, June 22nd. The winner will have the opportunity to choose from one of the four prints above.
**Please note, this is for US residents only (sorry, to my international readers).
**Please enter once.
**Contest ends Monday, June 20th 5pm EST
**One lucky winner will be chosen randomly and notified Wednesday, June 22th.
Good luck!
Jasmine Rose Giveaway Update: A big congrats to Heather H. (#28) for winning a Jasmine Rose print.
- Fly is a resource for everyone to enjoy, but please notify me before using images and other information from this blog. Just shoot me an email and be sure to add a credit line if you plan to use anything you see on Fly. Thank you. ©FLYGIRLS.TYPEPAD.COM
