My house mates and I are thinking of throwing a themed dinner soirée soon, so I guess I’ve got a bit of the party-planning buzz. But I miss the pre-Facebook Event days when you could get excited about designing, writing, and mailing your own invitations. This was one of the best parts about planning a party, right? (No? Just me?)
Thankfully there are still some people who might agree! These talented illustrators are creating fresh and unique invitations, proving that invitation design is an art. So behold, here are my favorites…
[Illustration by: Hennie Haworth]
It’s Monday and, if you’re anything like me, you need a little motivation to get you going; to face the week cheery-eyed and bushy-tailed. So here’s a round-up of things to look forward to this week. Go on, get out there and do things!
When looking for a gift for a friend on Regent Street yesterday, I stumbled upon a little surprise. Well, two, actually. One was the madness going on around Oxford Circus (think twice before going on a Saturday in the middle of London’s Fashion Week). The other was a pop-up exhibit forming part of the London Design Festival.
It’s wonderful when you stumble upon something great. Especially when it’s something that’s usually hard to find even when you’re actually looking. So when my veggie-hungry stomach came across this vegan cafe in a quiet part of East London, it was very happy.
Smoking
“I wonder how much lung cancer I’ve accumulated in the two days I’ve been here.” This is what my best friend who was visiting asked randomly while we were going on one of my out-of-the-way kind of walks through Paris. At first I was confused… “You know, from all the second-hand smoke,” she clarified. This friend happens to be extremely well traveled, has lived in big cities, and can make cross-cultural comparisons better than anyone I know. So when she observes that the French smoke a lot, it is because they really do smoke, a lot. And it’s true. While most cities have discouraged smoking in every way possible, Paris almost welcomes it. Why do you think all the terraces have those exterior lamp heaters? It is not to make it more comfortable for the tourists.
In honor of Valentine’s Day, I’ve decided to start with part one of what will hopefully be a series of posts about ‘Things Parisians Adore’. I was originally considering the title ‘Things Parisians Love’ but I couldn’t bring myself to add to the already saturated over-use of the word love. It is used so much, and for everything, that it no longer carries the same connotations it once did. We have no problem saying how much we love this movie, or love that restaurant, but when it comes down to saying it to a person, love suddenly becomes such a strong word. Adore on the other hand is a word that has become slightly neglected. You rarely hear it said aloud, and so it can be a refreshing linguistic change. And because this is one way of saying love in French, it seemed an appropriate fit. So here’s a few things Parisians adore…
Dali was crazy. Crazy brilliant. I wish I could say that I can look at Dali’s work and know what he was thinking when painting it. And yet, even after seeing almost 200 pieces of his work, I am still just as confused and regrettably normal.
Everyone needs a quiet place to escape. A place where you can be with your own thoughts and just sit quietly for a moment. This is hard to find in Paris. There are people everywhere. The sidewalks are so narrow, there is barely enough room for you to walk, let alone the cyclists, hoards of tourists, baby carriages, and speed-walkers. One could lose a limb while navigating these sidewalks. Stressed already?
An empty stare. A thoughtful pose. Packed suitcases. A letter just read… ‘Hotel Room’ (shown above) represents the woman that Edward Hopper saw and conveyed in much of his work. Loneliness was his greatest ally.
While I’m sad to say that this is not about the physical Scott Schuman being in Madrid, it is about the next best thing. Since the 14th of June, the photographer, blogger, and (possibly?) anthropologist has been exhibiting 40 of his best photographs in the Loewe store of Madrid’s Gran Via. The street-style blog par excellence, The Sartorialist, is home to anonymous individuals from all over the world, united by a single camera lens and a certain blue-eyed man’s vision.