What's In Your Stocking?
by Paul Berkbigler, (4 comments)
Building a bit off of Adrian’s 2005 review of “designy” Christmas gifts, I wanted to toss out favorable reviews of a couple great gifts I received this year and poll the BA audience to find out what other swell knick-knacks and “toys” we found under our trees this year.
In the Berkbigler stocking this time around I was really thrilled to find:
Words Fail Me by Teresa Monachino - For a language / word and design junkie, this was a treat with double sprinkles on it. Monachino began noting the many ironies and idiosyncrasies of English when her Italian mother would ask her questions about proper use of the language. Monachino’s verbal and typographic wit are both on rich display in the book, making it a fave for me as I plan my typography course next semester - I look forward to sharing several examples from the book with my students.
The Art of Maurice Sendak by Selma G. Lanes - While visions of wild things and night kitchens danced in my head even before digging into this amazing trove of Sendak’s work, further tours into this book over the last week have rewarded me repeatedly with an awe of Sendak’s visual wit, his gift for composition and image construction, and the vividness of his imagination. It’s really instructive and humbling to see how many of his illustrative gifts were already developed in his high school and grade school work.
“Thorough” would be a pretty ample word to describe the amount of information and material Lanes’ presents in this book. It’s proving to be a great gift for both the little art-geek kid and the adult-geek designer in me - a major recommend for any illustrators in our midst that don’t already have it.
So, what’d you find waiting for you on Christmas morning?
Comments (4)
Liam Dunaway said:
and I too, indulged in “Words Fail Me”. Happy new year to all!
Posted on January 1, 2007
Styron said:
Umbra Slam Dominos - Designed by David Quan. A beautiful set of dark walnut dominos inlayed with a lighter wood.
Merkur Vision Double Edged Razor - I’m diving into wet shaving. This is probably the most aesthetically beautiful grooming tools I’ve every used, and it’s mechanism is just as pleasing.
I didn’t get much inspiring literature, but I did receive some very inspiring products.
Posted on January 2, 2007
Styron said:
Umbra Slam Dominos - Designed by David Quan. A beautiful set of dark walnut dominos inlayed with a lighter wood.
Merkur Vision Double Edged Razor - I’m diving into wet shaving. This is probably the most aesthetically beautiful grooming tools I’ve every used, and it’s mechanism is just as pleasing.
I didn’t get much inspiring literature, but I did receive some very inspiring products.
Posted on January 2, 2007
minxlj said:
I got the Nintendo Wii! It’s beautiful, sleek white with a slot-in CD drive that glows blue when it detects a disk. Clearly designed interface, lots of white space, and v.easy to use. The controller is product design GENIUS and very sleek to hold, with its built-in speaker and glowing blue lights. As a designer I appreciated all the little things about it while my fiance was busy throwing himself around the room playing with it. Then I joined in, of course. (Constant boxing = v.sore shoulders!)
I’m going to have to get that ‘Words Fail Me’ book now, it looks and soudns great :-)
Posted on January 9, 2007