The weekend

A great weekend with friends in Concord and a long walk around the Walden Pond. Ready for a productive week, warm and bright as spring in Massachusetts. The giveaway is still on until the 22nd, so please submit. Happy Monday!

New window and giveaway!

A gloomy day in Brookline this morning, but I received a new, large box of Wrapped Cotton to bright my studio and to keep me inspired. I placed some on the front window and I like to run a giveaway to share a spool of Red and a spool of Black string with you, to try for wrapping or new ideas for packaging. If you like to partecipate, please leave a comment or like this link on FB. There is time until March 22nd, winner to be announced on the 23rd. I will ship anywhere in the world!
I also would like to add a little note on the new window display, I'm very happy about. If you remember the post on Design Sponge about the studio makeover, I had a few people commenting on the curtains on one of the windows, that really made me think to improve it. It was pretty easy, but it took me a few months to find the time to get it done. We moved the curtains a bit away from the window, hang them with metal pins from Ikea, to leave space for the blue table and a shop display, while still keeping my working area private, with lots of light. Come to visit and you will see...

Silvana Amato's studio in Rome

My old time friend and other half of Edizioni Almenodue recently launched her brand, new site! It is really impressive to see many years of design work, well photographed and presented behind the three doors. And for the first time, all our collaborative limited editions and Calendarbooks are organized under one title: Private Press. The photography is by Alessio Macri` and if you follow the fly you will find further information on the people that contributed to the site, as well as the studio's projects. And it was pretty fun to pose for those images, all wearing clothing by the same designer! During the visit in January, I took lots of photos of the studio with Nada` + people working there. The light was great, in Rome always is, and the studio was warm, filled with books and inspiring details. Everything felt incredibly familiar, I was certainly at home! Read Silvana's interview to learn more of her career as a book designer, amply described with technical and personal elements of years of work!

Flying books

Sorry for the lack of posting. It has been a busy week, productive and a bit tiring, but I like to see the pile of work that has been completed. These hand-bound books are one example. I have a great help at the studio now, that makes the all difference in production. You might remember Hillary from this post, that now comes a few hours a week before going to class. We work while listening to BBC News and a lot gets done in a day. Happy, relaxing weekend everyone and see you soon!

Cards in progress

Rainy day, while yesterday it was so beautiful with a bit of snow on the ground. Working hard to fill up orders and organize new projects at the same time. Always a challenge. Here a quick shot of the table this morning, with the Francobolli cards in progress, getting ready for a new shop called Garde.

Wrapped Cotton, spools of 94 yards

I photographed the wrapped cotton in all sort of ways and angles. I find them so contemporary and almost abstract on their own, when laid on a sheet of paper. They are now available in spools of 94 yards, in Red or Black, to find even more ideas and applications on your desk!

Ephemera

I need to organize my studio for boxes of 77 kilos of cotton ribbons arriving from Italy next week and I'm trying to make space in the basement to store the new arrivals. In the pile, I even went through my old collection of paper and stationery and found some vintage farmacy labels that Bari sent me long ago. They are fascinating and Instagram helped to take some fun photos. They are all in French and I believe they all come from Belgium. Now I wonder where my friend Bari found them in first place...

The Research Institute of Paper History & Technology

When I first moved to Boston five years ago, one of the first place I wanted to visit was the Research Institute of Paper History & Technology, founded by Elaine Koretsky, stored in a 100 years old carriage house. And I was not disappointed. In a small and charming space, there is a lot to see and I used to hear about it when working at MCBA, long ago. When papermaker Helen Hiebert came to visit, it was a great opportunity to get to the carriage house again. Even if only for the Museum being on a tiny street in Brookline, the architecture, the interior and garden, are worth the visit. And spend some time with Helen afterwords, brought me back in time when my hands were always wet by making paper...

The beach at winter

A day in Newburyport, and Plum Island. The landscape was all bright blue and dark yellow. So amazing the beach during winter and absolutely no snow.

San Valentino

A little note on the photos. I made only a few of the valentine cards by cutting the Pikku Ribbons and my calligraphy... and the little packages are made with glassine and the Wrapped Cotton. After receiving so much interest, I'm working on having larger quantity of this lovely string available soon. Thank you for inspiring me to find new materials and new sources. Buon San Valentino!

New in the shop

Remember my find of wrapped cord? I made a few 5 yards rolls, mounted on vintage, wood clothspins that make some pretty object on its own. The cotton fiber is beautifully soft and can be used for wrapping, packaging or other new design ideas. I'm using it now as a closure on all of my packages and on price tags, but I also love the way they look together, almost as characters out of a children book... and they remind me so much of the wood figures made by my friend Jill. The wrapped cotton is now available in the shop!

Hillary Deane's Photography

A few weeks ago, within the emails I read early morning, I saw one that really strike me. A photography student from the New England Institute of Art, kindly inquire if she could take photos of the studio for her school assignment. She said, walks by my windows on her way to school and thought to ask if I would be available for her project. Of course I accepted! Though, I had no idea I would receive over two hundred beautiful photos in return! Sometimes happy surprise do happen in life! Here are just a few photos, but more are posted on her fb if you like to see them. There is no styling involved, the studio was left exactly as it is everyday.... and I was working on the Calendarbooks for the mailing that day, trying to be not too intimidated in front of a huge camera. The big tailor scissors on the desk, I must say, are my mother's and I brought them with me from the last visit. I'm sure they will end up on many of my photos. They remind me a lot of her while she was working... I hope you will enjoy the photos. I feel so lucky to have such a precious album. Thank you very much Hillary!

Wrapped cord

Searching for an alternative to the usual baker twine, I found this interesting cotton cord, wrapped with black or red thread. More ideas are coming to mind on how to use it in my studio. I'm sure it can have endless applications. I love the new and modern look and I'm pretty sure I will soon be able to offer it in my shop. For now, it looks pretty amazing as it is on my desk. Happy weekend everyone and more news to come!

24 hours in NYC

The trip to NYC was fast and intensive. But 24 hours in the city and a day spent at the NYIGF it felt as an intere week past by. I'm back to my studio rushing to ship last minute valentine orders and new products. The show is still on until tomorrow and I miss being at our new booth and meeting tuns of people every day. The show was an incredible inspirations to me.... and what a pleasure meeting Yumiko Sekine and Shanna Murray in person, among many other amazing designers! Thank you everybody that took the time to visit us!

Wholesale catalogue 2012

Wholesale Catalogue 2012 ready and updated with new colors ribbon and new products. See you soon at booth #4120 if you are coming to NYC!

Product preview

Something I'm excited about the NYIGF is to launch wholesale the Vintage Glassine Sets this weekend. The idea came with the first glassine I saved over the summer and I slowly developed a simple packaging for a set of 30 assorted envelopes. They are all different, some with old calligraphy, catalogue numbers and some just plane. They are in several sizes and shapes and they varies in shades of cream/white color. As the vintage stamps, they are also from all over the world. I believe, this variation in each set is what makes them unique. and Susy's calligraphy on the labels..... let me know what you think. Also new at the show, Chocolate and Sage cotton ribbons, in 6mm width. Now the collection of large spools of 400 meters, presents 10 colors. I'm pretty excited about this too.