Happy Mama’s Day!

Nina Wood, Age 8 Mother's Day

We love to decorate the house for special occasions, holidays and birthdays. Sometimes we craft the decorations by hand and other times we buy the basics at the party store.

The banner pictured is both—half party store purchase and half hand-crafted masterpiece. It’s one of my favorite decorations.

The idea was brilliant, replace 5 letters with 5 others (“mama’s”) and viola, a custom banner—one that can’t be found in any store. Add the proud look on Nina’s face and the banner is more than one of a kind, it’s priceless.

Nina’s keys to a good hand-crafted decoration:
• bright, bold color
• repurpose and reinvent
• classic typography
• love

Make something special for your mom today and please don’t forget to tell your mom you love her.

Happy Mother’s Day, I love you mom!

Mom, if you reading this know I am thinking of you and celebrating you. You are the most kind, thoughtful and loving mom a girl could ever wish for. xoxoxo

Book as Object.

Image from the book The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti

How-to from the The Repurposed Library by Lisa Occhipinti

I have always loved the way a book feels in my hands. I have admired their various bindings, designs, paper and textures since my childhood. 

As printed books are becoming  “endangered species” I have become increasingly interested in ideas that repurpose them.

Recently as I was browsing books on amazon.com I was introduced to Lisa Occhipinti and her book The Repurposed Library.

In The Repurposed Library Lisa features step by step instructions to create 33 household objects from orphaned/forgotten books. This is fun book. There are a lot of good ideas. I think I’ll begin by making a stitched lamp shade similar to the one in the photo displayed above. What will you create?

Be Brave. Stay Curious.

Erik Kessels, TYPO San Francisco (photo courtesy typotalks blog)

I spent the last 2 days attending the TYPO International Design Talks in San Francisco. 33 innovative designers, typographers, professors, and editors from around the world coordinated presentations for the conference theme “contrast.” Attendees and presenters were asked to reflect upon what “contrast” meant to them. Some meanings were stark—high contrast black & white design vs. full color, and low budget vs. high budget projects and others were more subjective—design to create a sense of wonder and surprise or as Erik Kessles said “strong ideas allow you to blur.” Each presentation was impactful, rich in content, inspirational and filled with sage advice.

As I attended the various talks I noticed several themes other than the theme of contrast repeating. Curious, I began to take notes making sure to currate them for myself since I found the “sub-themes” honest, vulernable, impactful and liberating. Below is a summary:
• Trust each other
• Work in small fluid groups
• Iterate
• Take things apart
• Learn by making
• Take note of your intuitive decisions
• Be yourself
• Everything is unfinished
• Failure is part of the process
• Ask questions
• Don’t work for people but with people
• Be brave
• Stay curious

Thank you TYPO for hosting yet another spectacular conference. I feel rejuvenated and validated. Your design talks are just what the design community needs. I’m already planning to attend again next year.

Hidden Treasure

I dropped off a car load of household junk at the dump yesterday. When I looked across the vast warehouse I saw 2 long rows of beauty school mannequins looking back at me. Aren’t they interesting? 

The Bay Lights.

The Bay Lights San Francisco Bay Bridge light installation by Leo Villareal

The Bay Lights photos by Nina Wood via iphone

Cities developed beside water are magical. Many of them are considered the most romantic cities in the world—Paris, Budapest, Florence,Venice, San Francisco. Along with the natural beauty of their geography these cities also showcase unique architecture, stunning views, historical details and some of the worlds most beautiful bridges.

Tonight in San Francisco, one of those bridges, the San Francisco Bay Bridge, became even more beautiful as artist Leo Villareal’s light installation The Bay Lights was unveiled at 9:00 p.m.

Taking inspiration from patterns in nature, Villareal has created a light sculpture that creates a sense of wonder and stretches the viewer’s imagination. In the half hour that Nina and I watched, our imaginations envisioned schools of fish swimming, a whales tail flapping and waterfalls cascading.

Part engineer, part artist, part innovator and sheer genius, Villareal has created a magical installation 5 miles of cable long using 25,000 LED lights in a display so clever the unique patterns never repeat because of the software algorithm developed to display it.

For the best vantage point, head over to the north-facing side of the bridge (Cupid’s Arrow on the Embarcadero is the perfect vista.) The installation is scheduled to display on the western span for the next 2 years from dusk until midnight everyday.

As I like to say. . .only in San Francisco.

Sending My Love.

Love Letter Inspiration.

Need an idea for Valentines Day? Consider something mysterious—send an anonymous love letter to that special someone you admire. This is a fantistic way to brighten someone’s day and set your own heart a flutter with excitement. 

Tips to remember when crafting your anonymous love letter:

• Create a sense wonder

• Define a detail both universally and personally

• List the attributes you admire most

• Maintain mystery—could the note be from you or could it be from someone else?

As inspiration, Nina (my daughter) and I co-wrote the love letter posted above. If you could surprise someone you admire, what would you write?