Fresh Ink

Bridge & Burn: Chipboard Hangtags

By Laura Whipple | Published: May 23, 2011

Naturally. A Perfect Fit.

Quality Garments are the specialty of Portland, Oregon based clothing line Bridge & Burn. Founded in 2009, and inspired by its Pacific Northwest environs, their outwear and shirting designs are simply gorgeous. Well-tailored, and functionally stylish, the line offers men’s and women’s options that work well for work, play, and heading out. Pinball had the pleasure to print the hangtags for Bridge & Burn earlier this year, and I for one, love the pairing of chipboard, nicely-set type and this handsome plaid in their product shot. The back of the tag has space for the specifics about the clothing item, and a helpful directive to “Never Look Back.”

Item: Hangtag
Printing: 1-color offset
Printing by: Pinball Publishing
Dimensions: 2″ x 3″
Paper: 20pt. Chipboard
Available: Online & select stores, with the purchase of a shirt or jacket.

Collaborating is a Portland Mantra, and true to its origins, Bridge & Burn has partnered this year with photographer Randall Garcia on his 52 Weeks Project. Each week he uses his grandfather’s camera (a 1962 Mamiya C3) to capture portraits of really lovely-looking people wearing really lovely Bridge & Burn jackets. The rules are one photographer, one designer, one camera, 52 models, and 52 weeks. The results are beautiful.

 

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Print Matters

Plazm Magazine, Issue #30, Kickstart it!

By Laura Whipple | Published: May 19, 2011

Support the 20th Anniversary Issue

Plazm Magazine is celebrating 20 years of existence. Wow! That is two decades of award-winning coverage of design, art, music, literature, and culture. You can help take the 30th issue to print by supporting their Kickstarter campaign. I really wish I had $1000 to give, because that pledge level would be super helpful for the campaign and get my name in Jon Raymond’s next book or screenplay. Of course, there are many other donation levels and all help support Plazm Magazine’s awesome legacy of Print Culture.

Watch the video below to learn more.

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Print Matters

The Vulnerable Power of the Public Library

By Laura Whipple | Published: May 18, 2011

From the exhibit Public Library: An American Commons, by Robert Dawson

“I don’t know of anything more disheartening than the sight of a shut down library.” writes the poet Charles Simic today in his essay, “A Country Without Libraries.”

I’m inclined to agree.

Posted this morning in response to news of closing libraries across the US, Simic speaks of the larger losses that come with shuttering our libraries, primarily our free access to information. He also reminds us of the magical qualities found in these public spaces; books in large quantities on every imaginable subject, and a welcoming zone for adults and young people alike. A rare combination, and one that he argues is part of the foundation of our democracy and also part of the creation of well-rounded people.

Simic says, “It’s not that I started out life being interested in everything; it was spending time in my local, extraordinarily well-stacked public library that made me so.”

Image courtesy of Robert Dawson.

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Print Matters

Open Engagement: This is what you’re doing.

By Laura Whipple | Published: May 10, 2011

This is what you're thinking.

Portland State University is hosting a free conference this weekend (May 13-15). It’s called Open Engagement and it’s an ambitious initiative of the Art and Social Practice MFA program. This year’s plethora of activities explore five major themes: Peoples and Publics, Social Economies, In Between Places, Tracking and Tracing, and Sentiment and Strategies. Artists Julie Ault, Fritz Haeg, and Pablo Helguera will be present, and the Bruce High Quality Foundation University will be staging an exhibit called Bureau for Open Culture.

Activities and presentations span the city.

As part of the event, MFA student, artist and general awesome person, Jason Sturgill designed a duet Scout Book + custom pencil (pictured here). I for one would always like to be doing and thinking more and I am very grateful that Open Engagement will assist in that process.

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Book Report

Jillian Tamaki + Penguin Threads

By Laura Whipple | Published: May 4, 2011

Literary Embroidery

Brooklyn based illustrator Jillian Tamaki recently created three amazing book covers for Penguin USA. Crafted over the course of two months, the illustrations and lettering were all painstakingly embroidered for the literary classics Black Beauty, Emma, and The Secret Garden.

The results are stunning, and I am very eager to see how the incredible texture, and handmade qualities translate into print. Available for sale in October of 2011, the book covers will be embossed and include full wraparound images with french flaps. Looking forward to updating my library with these amazing editions.

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Print Crush

Carson Ellis, Illustrator Extraordinaire

By Laura Whipple | Published: April 22, 2011

"Don't think too hard. It's only drawing."

It is important to have heroes. It is also helpful when they are real people. I have my share of individuals who continually inspire me with their amazing quality of work, thoughtfulness, and uncanny ability to make it all come together (many of them have been highlighted here on Bangback). Artist Carson Ellis ranks right up there at the top of my list.

Carson is a full-time illustrator who creates beautiful work for children’s books. She is also the artist-in-residence for The Decemberists. She is prolific and kind and we had the extreme pleasure to work with her when Pinball was producing the paper goods line Tenth & Grant. She was born in Vancouver, BC and raised in suburban New York. She studied painting at the University of Montana in Missoula, where she received her BFA in 1998. Currently residing in Portland, with her husband Colin Meloy, son Hank, and two cats, she has been working at a feverish pace to illustrate The Decemberists’ latest album and also finish up the eighty-five (!) illustrations for the book Wildwood. Luckily, we grabbed a few minutes with her this Spring to hear about her latest efforts and inspirations.

P.S. She is going to be speaking at the Portland State University MFA lecture series this coming Monday. Don’t miss it. It’s free and starts at 7:30.

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Fresh Ink

In Radiolab We Trust: Gocco prints benefit curiosity

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 18, 2011

A beautiful whale print to benefit WNYC's Radiolab, by Always with Honor.

A team of five designers, illustrators and artists have created a set of limited edition artwork to benefit WNYC’s Radiolab. Curated by Jez Burrows, In Radio Lab We Trust is a set of five Gocco printed pieces available in an edition of 100. Seemingly intangible audio content comes alive and becomes physical in these beautiful two-color prints. All proceeds, after production costs, will benefit Radiolab, the radio show that fosters curiosity and operates at the intersection of science, psychology and the human experience.

Participating artists include Always With Honor, Richard Perez, Jim Datz, Lab Partners and Jessica Hische, each of whom created an image inspired by a specific episode of Radiolab. Each print is a B5 print (roughly 7″x10″) and the set of five comes packaged in a special spot-printed packing paper. They’re available online, but hurry! The edition is limited to 100 pieces.

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Print Matters

Welcome back, Photo-Lettering.

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 12, 2011

Photo-Lettering becomes more than just a dated catalog of typographic treasures.

Design world, meet Photo-Lettering, Inc.

House Industries, in collaboration with Erik van Blokland and Christian Schwartz, has just re-released the expansive library of display type from the seminal type house Photo-Lettering. The unveiling of Photo-Lettering’s web platform brings long-unavailable typography straight to the desktops of the world’s designers: a series of simple steps allows users to set their headline and then purchase an affordable vector version of the setting with liberal licensing restrictions.

How exactly did House Industries come to release a collection of dated decorative typography? The original Photo-Lettering type house closed its doors in 1985 after 57 years of operation, and eighteen years later in 2003 House Industries purchased the remaining assets and got to work making the typographical treasures available on a mass digital scale.

The website’s extensive history section reveals the passion and energy of the PLINC team; these folks are serious about the resurrection of the type library and have done endess research to power the project. The History, Ideas and Films sections contain enough rich content to keep you busy for hours, and that’s not even considering the time you could spend typesetting headlines in the extensive lettering catalog.

Go forth. Resurrect historical typography. Make beautiful headlines.

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Print Matters

The Making of Tree of Codes by Jonathan Safran Foer

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 6, 2011

When we first set our eyes on this sculptural volume released by Visual Editions back in November 2010, our immediate reaction was, “How did they make that?!”

Here is an answer. This video, made by the publisher, documents the three months of production at Belgian printshop Die Keure. Printing, die-manufacturing, die cutting, trimming, binding: this book took countless hours of people power to manufacture. And that’s not counting the research it required! Visual Editions notes they were turned down by nearly every printer they approached, the stock line being “The book you want to make just cannot be made.”

This video proves that wrong. Watch it below.

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Fresh Ink
Forest_ Joel Speasmaker_The Small Book series

Forest does The Small Book series

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: April 5, 2011

Forest_ Joel Speasmaker_The Small Book series

Joel Speasmaker is Forest, a Brooklyn-based studio with a varied portfolio of design work. His series of small books (aptly titled The Small Book series) recently caught my eye.

The set of simple booklets each approaches a different topic with a different visual approach, but remain united through their use of materials and format. Titles include Spirit Figures, On Symbolism, Abstractions, and Collections, each printed on French Poptone paper that evokes archetypal pastel photocopy paper from the cornerstore copy shop.

Sets one and two of the Small Books series is unfortunately sold out, though we can hope a new title is on its way. In the meantime, drool over these out-of-stock titles and peruse Joel’s stellar design portfolio. See below for more images.

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