Book designer based in York, UK. See more here: danielgray.com
Birmingham Design Festival – This week sees the return of the excellent BDF, liberally scattering wonderfulness across the second city for three days. There’s lots to choose from, but I’m rather excited about Friday’s talks on design for film and television, featuring Erica Dorn discussing her work on
Wilder and Eames – Did you know that Charles and Ray Eames gave their first ever iconic lounge chair and ottoman to their friend Billy Wilder? They later designed the Soft Pad Chaise especially for his afternoon naps. Just one of many things learnt from reading Theo Inglis’ excellent new book,
You don’t have to set foot on a plane.
Is it mine if I add some yellow? – collagist B.D. Graft questions the inherently infinite nature of the creative act. Extra merit for using that very particular shade of very-almost-orange yellow. Sometimes something just looks great – longtime collaborators Matt Willey and Dan Crowe (of Zembla, Port and general awesomeness
Stan Stan – Always worth a visit, Coudal’s ongoing pile of links about Stanley Kubrick. There goes the rest of your day. Same Same – Can’t wait to get my mitts on the first novel by pianist/designer/author Peter Mendelsund. According to the New York Times, It’s a
OBEY – Rough Trade have been storming this whole publishing lark of late. Craig Oldham’s new celebration of John Carpernter’s They Live is particularly stunning introduction to their new Epiphany Editions series, featuring fictional books from films made for real. The era of statement wallpaper and fatty text – an
Meaning, history, value, mechanics and future.
Making its way onto my bookshelf and into my brain this week, Kenneth Lacovara’s Why Dinosaurs Matter, expanded from his 2016 TED talk. Every page is littered with paleontological anecdotes (paleontodotes?) and mind-blowing facts, a long-overdue correction to the wildly incorrect dinosaur books of my childhood. Did you know
He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.
Abandoned military checkpoints and beautiful margins.
What is it about Mike Mignola’s black? It seems blacker than other blacks. Deeper, darker, inkier. It drags you into a version of the world in which shadow is the natural state of things; light is merely something that happens in the in-between. His black seeps into everything, and
Joyful self-destructions, an Australian bar-brawl and a missile called Blue Steel.