groovebot*

greetings from london!

off to europe!

i’ve been a little lax the last couple weeks, preparing for our big trip to london & paris! so i will be pretty quiet the next two weeks as well, but when we get back, hopefully i will have tons of cool info for you!

this just in: happy owl glassworks

i’ve always been a huge fan of happy owl glassworks. while having heavy influence from the natural world, something about their minimal forms is just really urban! i love that they’ve expanded into the housewares realm with great glass coasters and nightlights, but their pendants and earrings are continual classics. check out their blog for all their latest news!

this just in: joseph joseph

from british housewares designers joseph joseph comes this super coolio spaghetti measure! it has an easy to use adjustable serving size up to four portions. awesome!

sunday stationery: shinzi katoh

shinzi katoh is an AMAZING designer from japan. extremely prolific, katoh has a 50’s children’s book sensibility and a clean, modern feel. although he has an incredible array of products (i have water bottles and a soap dispenser, just to name a few), i’ll focus this week on his stationery (especially since the national stationery show is impending!) i have NO clue what anything says, but i also love looking through his blog!

sunday stationery: l2 design collective

orlando, florida holds more than a certain mouse! l2 design collective is a mishmash of vintage type, graffiti art, and clever collage. they letterpress a great variety of occasion cards, postcards, interesting journals, and even funky recipe cards. check out their design blog blabbermouth for all of their latest!

malcolm venville

okay, so there are certain things that i have an unhealthy obsession with. fannie may trinidads, for one. another would be luchadores. i can’t quite explain it; i just think they are visually appealing (lots of color), and way cooler than the u.s. versions of professional wrestlers. so when i spied several of british photographer malcolm venville’s portraits in a recent magazine spread, i had to investigate. in his incredible book, Lucha Loco, he collects more than 120 photos that he took in mexico city and presents them with interviews of these wacky wrestlers. fantastic! also, check out more of venville’s amazing portrait work!

helen noakes

earrings with nuns. i think that about says it all. british jewelry designer helen noakes infuses a sense of whimsy in her resin pieces with her miniture models. i couldn’t find many webstores that carry her pieces, but a few can be found at the crafts study centre.

kuehn keramik

normally i’m not very big on pastels, but the incredible ceramic makers kuehn keramik of germany have made me love it! their dishes, saucers, and teapots have a very hand-made, rough hewn feel while still being highly finished and elegant. the pastel colors definitely give their work a feminine look, but the images screened onto the ceramic play with the vintage tradition for a timeless quality. i REALLY want their deck of porcelain playing cards!!!

sunday stationery: studio on fire

darn, another day late with the sunday stationery! well, hopefully it’s worth the wait for this one! from minneapolis comes the intriguing studio on fire, a graphic design studio that provides design services as well as fantastic letterpress cards! they feature a variety of artists and letterpress the images on 100% cotton paper reclaimed from the garment industry. ultra modern with gorgeous paper and prints!