It’s my ode to magazines week… and I’m starting with a doozie!

I got my first copy of frankie about two years ago, sort of by accident. A friend of mine had been given a copy by an Australian friend of hers… long story short, everyone agreed that it was totally my kind o’ thing, so I ended up with it… and fell madly in love! What is there not to love about this artsy lifestyle magazine from down under? Beautiful photography, gorgeous layouts, hilarious/smart writing, and fabulous full page features on some of my favourite artists {Aris Moore and Holly Farrell for example!}.  Anyway, I managed to find a little shop in my city that carries it… that way I don’t have to wait around for Australian friends of friends to leave a copy behind on a coffee table. Much more efficient.

{Jealous Curator tidbit: about 5 months after I started The Jealous Curator, frankie did a little write up about it in their “frank bits” section. I was thrilled beyond thrilled… still am actually!}

I wrote about the ridiculously creative, San Francisco based artist Lisa Congdon and her blog, A Collection a Day, way back on day 10 of this 365 day project. Well, here we are with less than 100 days to go, and she’s still finding stuff to photograph every single day! Actually, Lisa has inspired me to start my own little collection… reasons for being jealous of this lovely project:

First of all, the idea is fantastic. Then of course, there’s the fact that she actually owns cupboards full of this weird & wonderful stuff {I especially love those doll hands!}. And finally, the most exciting development… this smart/simple little blog of hers is being turned into a book by Uppercase Gallery. It’s going to be beautiful, and it will definitely be added to another little collection of mine… art books that make me jealous!

I wrote about American artist Lillianna Pereira last spring, but somehow, in all of the excitement of having a new artist crush, I must have missed these little gems! Or perhaps I blocked them out. You see, I tried using embroidery rings as an art surface during my undergrad. It did not go well. Really, really not well… but clearly they didn’t cause any trouble for Lillianna! Hmm, maybe if I had one of these lovely pieces hanging on my wall, I could move on? Yes, I definitely think that would help {hint, hint}.

Wow. Kudos to the magazine editor who hired this cheeky art director. What? You mean, the drawing/lettering isn’t part of the spread? It’s been painstakingly added, using ink and watercolour, to random pages after the fact? Genius. Pure, hand-cramping, tendinitis-causing genius! Ok, so just for the record, my doodles don’t go much further than a few hearts and the odd twirly tornado, so if I was the editor of a fancy fashion publication, I would definitely hire Australian artist/designer Natalie Perkins to doodle all over my layouts… before they hit the stands!

{via Pikaland}

Here’s a little quiz for you on a Tuesday morning. These photographs, titled Totems, by Paris based artist Alain Delorme are:

a. a true documentation of the unbelievable towers of stuff, that are moved around the streets of Shanghai by some very skilled bicyclists,

b. beautifully staged sculptures,

c. unbelievable Photoshop work, or

d. I have absolutely no idea, but I love them anyway!

That’s right… The answer is d. Gold star for you!

{If you happen to be in Paris, I’m very jealous of you… oh, and also, you can see this show on at the Galerie Magda Danysz until Saturday September 25th}

WAFA, aka We Are Fucking Awesome, aren’t joking. They really are. I’ve written about the founder, I’ve written about them as a collective, and I’ve written about several individual members {Jesse, Anthony, Brandi}. Hmm, some might say I’m becoming a bit of a WAFA groupie {I wonder if they have tshirts?!}… anywho, onto today’s fucking awesome collaboration. This project, titled Anthology, is a National Geographic magazine split up by two members of WAFA… one worked on the first half, the other worked on the second half. I want to be this awesome. Dad, do you still have that box of National Geographics in the basement? I may need them.

{I’m not sure which two artists actually worked on this piece. If you know, let me know… I need it for my fan scrapbook research purposes. Thank you.}

I first happened upon Sydney based interior designer Dana Hughes through a guest post that she did on sfgirlbybay. I was guest blogging that week too, and was quite happy with my contribution… until I read Dana’s. It was good. Really good. I immediately linked through to her lovely blog, and was hooked. If you’re looking for inspirational interiors, beautiful installations or stunning architecture then you owe yourself a visit to yellowtrace. But before you go, take a gander below this little dotted line to get a taste of the kind of amazing work that makes her jealous…

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I am jealous of Tokujin Yoshioka.

I am jealous of Tokujin Yoshioka. Why? First of all, he has a really cool name. And don’t even get me started on his incredible talent and his amazing mind. Tokujin’s work can’t easily be classified into any discipline – more of an artist than a designer, he is true magician of form, materiality and innovation.

His studio, Tokujin Yoshioka Design, was established in 2000 and since then he has done countless projects with Issey Miyake, Hermes, Toyota, BMW, KDDI, Swarowski, Cartier, Camper… ah the list is endless. Some of his most important works are displayed in permanent collections in the world’s best known museums such as Museum of Modern Art in New York, Centre National d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and Vitra Design Museum.

I am in complete awe of Tokujin’s mind and the way he talks about his pieces. He creates interiors, installations and architecture where people can feel the light with all their senses. He explores beauty born out of coincidence and beyond human imagination; his work echoes the beauty of nature with its ever-changing expression, giving the idea “that the design doesn’t even exist”.

Oh Mr Yoshioka, how I worship you and envy your talent all the same time.

x dana

{Image Credits: 1. Sensing Nature / Snow / Exhibition
Mori Art Museum / Japan 2010 / www.mori.art.museum;  2. Design Miami / Designer of the Year / Exhibition
USA 2007 / www.designmiami.com; 3. Museum Beyond Museum / Rainbow Church / Exhibition
Korea 2006-2010 / www.beyondmuseum.com;  4. WATERFALL / Museum Beyond Museum / Table
Korea 2010 /www.beyondmuseum.com;  5. Moroso / Tokujin x Moroso / Installation
Italy 2007 / www.moroso.it;  6. MOROSO / MEMORY / Chair
Italy 2010 / www.moroso.it}

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Sigh. So beautiful. Ok, now go to yellowtrace… a tonne of inspirational interiors await!

Thanks so much Dana! xx

So, you know how every wedding anniversary has a designated type of gift… first anniversary is paper, fifth anniversary is wood, etc, etc. Well, this weekend I’m celebrating my seventh, so naturally I checked the chart… Wool and or copper. Hmm. Well, I’m deathly allergic to wool, and I definitely don’t want a pot, so I made an executive decision. Seven years has officially become custom-designed, upcycled license plate belt buckles. Ah, yes. Much better! I found these little gems on Etsy {of course!}, and with one quick email to Amanda Holt of Vintage in Retrospect we were off to the races. She basically let us design exactly what we wanted… dark blue, a big 7, a star, and not one little bit of wool or copper in sight. Yep, we love each other, and our incredibly cool lucky 7 belt buckles, very much! Thanks Amanda!

{happy anniversary to the sweetest guy in town  xo}

Oh my. I never knew that circles could make me so happy… and so jealous. I can cut circles. Quite well actually. So why, oh why, didn’t I make these gorgeous collages? It looks simple enough, right? Sadly, through far too much trial and error, I’ve discovered that simple work is actually incredibly difficult to do well. Although, clearly, Korean artist Eva Han hasn’t had any trouble in this department… she just breezed in with her beautiful found imagery, a pair of scissors, and made the whole process appear effortless! Sigh.

{via Design For Mankind}

A tower of pastries, a pile of deer, a stack of birds, and a mountain of… well, a whole bunch of stuff. Oh, and of course we can’t forget the huge heap of jealousy that I’ve managed to stockpile since finding the work of American artist Justin Richel. It may not look as pretty as his paintings, but still, it’s quite impressive.

{If you’d like to know more about Justin, other than the fact that he likes stacking things, there’s a great interview with him on Little Paper Planes… which is where I first saw his work.}