Uppercase

Do you know what's going on over at Uppercase? The Canadian gallery, shop and publisher headed by Janine Vangool is a very fine collection of handmade and collected objects inspired by found lettering, elegant letterforms, vintage ephemera and typewriters. And now, the second issue of her self-published magazine is available, covering fashion, design, and the always lovely Angelica Huston. Janine has created a beautiful design space and her amazing aesthetic translates into everything she does.

Tyler Bender

I've featured Bender's work here before but this year, it's officially going on my wish list. Tyler Bender is a self-taught visual artist and fabricator of blank books and other functional art objects. He buys vintage books, and rebinds the cover with an assortment of different papers for the interiors. Inside, assorted hand-cut pages include plain, lined, color and sometimes printed paper. Pre-cycled and recycled materials used whenever available. I love the idea but it's his craftsmanship that really makes these pieces special. Buy one now! Buy one for me too!

five and a half

Five and a Half is a Brooklyn-based design studio created by the wife-and-husband team, Judy Lee and Shawn Liu. Their signature collection of artist journals, each adorned with cover photography and filled with sugarcane paper are beautiful tools for all your thoughts and plans, if you can persuade yourself to actually write in them!

Your Secret Admiral

I love when old book covers are repurposed into new handmade journals, notebooks, etc. These from Your Secret Admiral have a mix of new and previously-printed sheets for the interior pages. Nice looking and a great summer guest gift.

IN STUDIO: La Familia Green

This week, IN STUDIO focuses on the dymanic duo of Mollie Green and Andrew Miners, the creative force behind La Familia Green. Since 2005, the company has produced a whimsical line of cards and journals that are each uniquely handmade. Mollie uses templates and scissors to create their cut-paper designs. And, being a night owl, she has tremendous patience in constructing each card, a single layer at a time. Not only do you get great design, but the handmade quality of each card makes them each a valuable little art piece. Mollie explained, “Cards are intimate. There’s something interesting about my making a card and someone else buying it, adding their own thoughts to it, and sending it to a third person, who responds both to my work and to the message of their friend.” It’s a card as performance piece.
Andrew scoures flea markets, eBay, and thrift stores for VHS tape boxes, used postcards, and album covers. From these, the pair make a line of journals. “The authenticity of the material is really important,” says Andrew. With these very appealing journals, Andrew has taken a discarded object and reinvented it as a boutique item.

The studio, as you can guess, is an exceptionally creative space, bright, interesting, and filled with objects that inspire. And all of their production tools fit nicely onto a tall set of shelves! Seeing this, you really understand the individual effort that's required for each of their cards. There are no big die-cutting machines or screen print presses here. Just small hand tools and an exceptionally talented team. What’s Next? Mollie explained that they are open to exploring collaboration with others. Secondly, they are always working to tighten the production process and improve efficiency. Finally, they’re interested in the growing community of etsy and offering original cut paper artwork or prints there. In the immediate future, you can catch La Familia Green at Paper Doll in Chicago on October 27 and at Greer Chicago in December. See their website right here.

Postalco

This business began in Brooklyn, but is now based in Tokyo. Knowing what you know about my penchant for bookcloth, you can understand my reaction to these cloth-covered notebooks. Perfectly designed and with a logo that features a carrier pigeon. Inside pages are graph paper or plain. Wow. Postalco Online.

BOOKBINDERS Design

If you’re like me, you’ll buy anything covered in bookcloth. I’m happy to see the resurgence of this material in design. Bookcloth is versatile, wears well, and looks great, but is expensive.
So if you're in Sweden, as I was not long ago, you must go straight to the Bookbinders Design store. They specialize in unique stationery and home products, many covered in bookcloth, and created with superior craftsmanship. They even had a hand-embossing machine in the store so you could foil stamp your albums on site. I really had to resist buying too much. Like KOLO in the US (albums top left), but broader, with a great range of colors and products. This is a wonderful material for handmaking books, bindings, or covering boxes, etc. Boothcloth boxes top right by CB2.

Tyler Bender, part 2

I've featured these handmade books before, but this weekend I was reminded of how good Tyler Bender's work is. It's his execution and craftsmanship that really make these special pieces. Tyler's shop. (Photos courtesy of Bender's myspace page.)

Tyler Bender

Sometimes etsy really pays off.
Tyler Bender is a self-taught visual artist and fabricator of blank books and other functional art objects. He buys vintage books, and rebinds the cover with an assortment of different papers for the interiors. Inside, every page is different and all are ready for you to record your thoughts. I love the idea but it's his craftsmanship that really sells these pieces. Buy one now! Buy one for me too! at etsy