May 15, 2008
an antique book
Floating around the office of late has been an extraordinary old book filled with
even older postcards and snippets, some dating as far back as the 1870's.
The lucky owner of this beautiful book is our Senior Knits Designer, Gianna.
The book had been passed from friend to friend for many years, with each of its
possessors adding to its pages while keeping with the general theme, until it
reached Gianna's uncle. After a time, he gifted the book, now full, to her, seeing
her inclination to art, drawing and the like. At this point, Gianna has had the book
for ten years, and has no plans to give it up! (Who can blame her?) I wanted to
share this wonderful book with you, since we have all enjoyed it so much,
and even gotten some scrapbooking inspiration from its pages!
January 9, 2008
love stories
Camille from Kissing Knees Craft wants to invite all you creative fp girls to participate in a project she's putting together. Share you love stories. Ya gotta love something! check out her blog for the info...
September 7, 2007
september catalog... dark fairy
Here's a little intro to our new September catalog dropping on Monday!
The two trend concepts for the collection were Dark Fairy and Sport. I'll tell you a little more about each trend next week. We were really inspired by this photography book called "A Fairy's Child" by Ann Dahlgren and Douglas Foulke. We loved the book so much, we contacted Douglas and asked if he would be interested in shooting our catalog! He agreed and he and his wife shot our catalog at their home in Connecticut. (The photos above are from his portfolio on his website...)
As far as art direction, the creative team was really into old books, bindings, bookplates... One of our creative assistants did the fairy painting above on the pages of an old book, and then painted lines over the text too. Below are just some other old books we looked at for ideas.
August 27, 2007
craft inc.
Thought I'd pass along this recommendation to all of our crafty readers. I spotted this book on Lena Corwin's blog and it definitely sounds like a must read for all of you small business crafty girls. Check out the website and Lena's review!
April 10, 2007
journey is the destination
I promised to share a couple of books that were really inspiring to the creative team while working on April's catalog. The first is called "Zara's Tales" , a memoir about Peter Beard's adventures in Africa and dedicated to his daughter, Zara. Beard's beautiful photography and drawings are scattered throughout.
The second is called "The Jouney is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon". Dan was an accomplished photo journalist by the age of 22 and was also a fantastic artist, combining collage techniques with his amazing photographs. This book was compiled from several scrap books he kept and his family assembled after his tragic death at 22, when Dan Eldon was working in extremely dangerous conditions in Mogadishu. A truly inspiring man of passion and talent. I recommend you check out this website "An Electronic Revolution" inspired by his life and work.
April 3, 2007
fictional travels
Coolhunting did this great post about how touching it can be to read a story set in a place that you personally know. Penguin UK has organized a series of stories based on travels called Great Journeys. Stay tuned... when our next catalog drops I'll share a couple of books about "journeys" that really inspired our creative team.
So the Coolhunting post reminded me of something I wanted to share about Penguin. They produced a series of classics with blank covers that you can design yourself, and then they display them in a flickr gallery (like the two pictured above). All in all I'm totally fascinated with Penguin. They have a cute blog, are responsible about their environmental effects, and have a number of other interesting programs for the community of readers.
March 27, 2007
guide to style
First read about the Cheap Date Guide to Style on stylebubble, and quickly decided Susie was probably right. If you're attracted to this book, you probably already have a pretty good idea about your personal style and they are just preaching to the choir. Susie felt it was more of a "style affirmation". Then I saw the above article in March's Dazed & Confused, and now I'm thinking twice. It looks more interesting the way they highlighted the funny tips and inspirations. So I think I might just pick it up! Let me know if anyone has it already, and what you think.....
March 5, 2007
career advice
Are you looking for some career advice? Whether you want to live off your art, enter a new industry or find enough time to rock climb everyday, I recommend this book, The Anti 9 to 5 Guide: Practical Career Advice for Women Who Think Outside the Cube written by Michelle Goodman. It's not really anti 9 to 5. It's more about figuring out what you really want to do with your life, and how to get it. Full of useful references, it is totally current and definitely funny. I feel like the crew at FP is really lucky to have found a place that pays them for being crafty and creative, and everyone should be so lucky as to find a job that makes them happy. Check out Michelle's website...
October 31, 2006
i like you, amy
This is possibly the best book ever. Amy Sedaris, funny lady, has just published this amazing tribute to the art of entertaining, among other things, titled "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence". Like if Martha Stewart was hip, wore vintage and had a sick sense of humor.
Amy shows us what not to wear while cooking on an open flame (wizard sleeves).
Amy shares instructions to make her favorite crafts (paper aprons).
She suggests alternatives to store bought rolling pins (wine bottles or an old mop handle).
And she gives advice on gift giving. Just in time for the holiday. (My advice on the subject is to purchase this book)
