When I discovered Site Inspire I immediately saved it with every bookmark method I knew. If you too are obsessed with this blog, you may find a surprise today! We are in fact featured on the latest showcase. Have a look at it here.

What’s your favorite sneaker collaboration of the last decade?

Don’t miss out on your chance to bid on one of the limited-edition De’Longhi Artistas. The Artista series, a line of laser-etched Perfecta espresso machines, features the designs of ten internationally recognized artists and designers including fashion designer Nicole Miller, jewelry designer John Hardy, interior designer Kelly Hoppen and illustrator Mike Perry.

The collection of espresso machines are now available to the public through ebay giving works. Proceeds benefit Oxfam America, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the fight against poverty and social injustice.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Photographer, blogger and music enthusiast Ted Barron has posted an mp3 on his blog of Henri Cartier-Bresson speaking about photography from a 1958 record called “Famous Photographers Tell How”.

In ten minutes, HCB explains and answers everything you need to know about photography. It’s well worth a listen.

Check out his post and get the mp3 here: Boogie Woogie Flu (The mp3 of HCB is towards the bottom of the page after an interview by Weegee and his approach to news photography)

So recently, I made an intense, strenuous voyage from Savannah, GA (where I went to school at SCAD) to endure the blistering cold of Philly (well, blistering to a southern girl like me.) After about 3 hours of driving, I was compelled to take a break, stopping at South of the Border in Dillon, SC. Keep in mind, I’m the type of person who will not pull over during a road trip unless the car needs fuel, nature has gone past the point of calling and has started screaming, or a catastrophic emergency takes place. This being said, why would such a determined, young voyager like myself interrupt my expedition (for at least an hour I might add) to stop at an almost abandoned tourist trap?

Could  it have been the clever lines promising that I have “never sausage a place?” Was it the fact that Sandra Bullock and Ben Affleck stopped there in their film Forces of Nature? Was it my curiosity after hearing so many stories of the wonders that are S.O.B. that directed my pitstop? Well, maybe a little. But, the main reason for the detour is in fact due to the gazillion billboards that line I-95 starting as early as 2 hours prior to reaching the world renowned attraction. Now these outdoor boards aren’t exactly what you or I would call Award-winning creative. But, they got my attention. And in turn, I even forked out a little bit of my money, only a dollar, but still.

Oh, but wait, there’s more, the effects of their media placement has caused quite a bit of word-of-mouth advertising…gasp…by me. I have posted a selection of the nearly 100 photos I took during my tour of S.O.B. on Facebook, as well as on Flickr- which will accompany about 18,000 other photos that can be found posted by fellow Flickroonies. Not to mention the fact I’m writing a blog post about my experience with the brand. So my question is one that has often been debated, is any reaction, even if it is one of mockery, a good reaction? After all, it’s hard to forget the repetitive Head-On commercials. It sticks in your mind even if it does annoy the crap out of you. So, while I (the eager, young creative that I am) like all other designers, have made it a primary goal to make beautiful, intelligent advertising, am forced to come to terms with the fact that the sometimes cheesy, sometimes uncreative stuff becomes ingrained in our minds. It just doesn’t seem fair. That’s all I’m sayin. Either way, here’s some lovely S.O.B. memorabilia for y’all (sorry, just had to throw a y’all in there somewhere, after all, what kind of Southerner would I be if I didn’t.) Enjoy!

Example of the billboards that line I-95.

Ohhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooo. Turn around.

So clever.

By far, one of my fav billboards.

The world famous South of the Border skyline.

Real World. South of the Border.

Some of the animals you can get your photo taken with.

Dino.

This was a happening spot. Everyone wanted a picture underneath the giant Pedro.

Yumm.

I purchased two dozen postcards for my friends from home. This is one of them.

About a month ago Adam Garcia turned me on to the book Antique Packaging. I picked up a copy at The Strand, and it’s been getting me all excited for summer to get here so I can begin hording other people’s graphic junk from flea markets. In anticipation of the warm weather (who knew it would be snowing today) I took a trip up to Lancaster to explore some of the Pennsylvania Dutch country and their antique shops. I saw a lot of great stuff, and just thought I’d share some of my iPhone photos of the antique packaging I admired on this short trip. See it after the jump.

The first place I stopped was Dutch Haven, so I could enjoy some of their famous Shoofly Pie. In the back of Dutch Haven is Jakey’s Amish Barbeque, outside they were playing Men At Work’s “The Land Down Under.”

Here’s some of the packaging I found:

There was a wooden box for holding neckties with some awesome metal type on the lid.

Behind the necktie box was an old Singer sewing machine with some great illustration covering the entire machine.

This is a photo album.

An old check from Coca-Cola. I really like the die-cut/punched type. It reminds me a lot of this font Stag that I’ve been using.

PA Dutch country has some towns with very unique names, such as Intercourse, PA, this bag was for the bank of Paradise, PA.

Lots of great color illustration on packaging and books. My favorite by far was Oh-Kay Candy.

In the last post I posed the question “Why do we collect things?” I proposed that one of the major reasons maybe to inspire recollection. This seems to be the case with artist and illustrator Matt Lee.

Originally from London and now working at Srishti School of Art, Design & Technology in Bangalore, Matt’s matchboxes are tangible items that serve to remind him of his experiences in the subcontinent.

Matt was kind enough to share his insights on the collection.

Matt, how did the collection start? I moved from London to Bangalore, South India in January 2007 to lecture graphic arts at a school of art & design here. Since then I have collected over 160 matchboxes from my various travels around India.

Due to their economical and disposable nature, matchboxes are extremely popular here, far more so than cigarette lighters, and can be found at any roadside food/tea stall or cigarette kiosk. It was never really a conscious decision to start collecting them. I think the first matchbox I found was a design that featured an illustration of a killer whale with a title that read ‘dolphin’, I found this ‘mistake’ quite humorous. My first connection with these matchboxes was that aside from being great designs, they seemed quite random and they made me smile.

As the collection grew I began to enjoy their diversity more, it became a great thrill to find new designs. I also began to find the juxtapositions between the Indian matchboxes interesting. The diversity of the visuals, placed side by side on a shelf create interesting and often humorous juxtapositions. For example a swastik design resides next to a birthday cake, a tube light design next to an Indian elephant, or sometimes even narrative, such as a lion matchbox watching the cyclist matchbox…

For me, as an outsider, these matchboxes really encapsulate the visual (overload) culture of a modern Indian city like Bangalore. The mix of visual juxtapositions that range from historical and religious iconography to contemporary Indian and appropriated western (often copyrighted) imagery sum up quite perfectly what it is like to live in Bangalore.

What is some of the historical iconography that can be seen? There are examples of historical figures, for example: ‘Shivaji’ (A portrait of Shivaji Bhosale. 1623-1680. Who founded the Maratha Empire and was responsible for the re-establishment of Hindu rule throughout the mainlands of present day India after being ruled by various Muslim dynasties). Or in contemporary pop culture: ‘Porter’ (A reference to a Bollywood film from 1983 called Coolie, starring icon Amitabh Bachchan as a railway porter).

Did you have to go to any extreme or extraordinary measures to acquire any of the boxes? Yes actually, I was with a colleague of mine on a 48 hour train journey from Bangalore to Varanasi. We decided we would try and collect matchboxes from the major train stops along the way. Five hours into the journey we arrived at Chennai, with a 20 minute stop before departure. We decided that this would be enough time to leave the station in search of cigarette kiosks where we could buy matchboxes. Well, we did not realize how long the station platform was or how long it would take to get out of the hustle and bustle of the station, or that when we returned we would not be let back in through the same entrance…without tickets. Anyhow, we managed to get back on the train in the end, puffing and sweating, just as the train signaled its departure. Although we got some nice matchboxes, we decided we would not be doing that again!

You’ve mentioned that the boxes represent memories of travel and experiences through India. Do you have a favorite experience and how does the associated matchbox relate to it? I have collected these designs from many places over many months, collectively they have become more of a personal map that represents my time and journey through India. These tangible objects are visual signifiers of memories that are less anecdotal and more about feelings for a place, an event, a person or an experience. It is not just the visual contained on the matchbox which signifies the memory but their physical condition and the ‘scars’ of their use. I cannot attach a memory to all of them but certainly my attachment for them goes beyond that of their design.

What sort of value do you prescribe to your collection? These matchboxes have come to represent my time here in India. Their value is not quantifiable.

Graphically speaking which is your favorite matchbox? My favorite design would be the ‘502’ (The flaming match with the blue background). I love the graphic simplified form, the horizontal composition and limited use of bold flat colour. It reminds me of the famous ‘Priester’ poster by Lucian Bernhard.

Are there other collections that you admire or envy? Not collections as such but I admire the work of Pop artists such as Peter Blake and Andy Warhol as well as Joseph Cornell’s surreal boxed assemblages of found objects. In a way this collection has a lot to do with that tradition. As Wikipedia says…’Pop art challenged tradition by asserting that an artist’s use of the mass-produced visual commodities of popular culture is contiguous with the perspective of Fine Art since Pop removes the material from its context and isolates the object, or combines it with other objects, for contemplation. The concept of pop art refers not as much to the art itself as to the attitudes that led to it.’

Are you still collecting? Are there other items you collect? Yes, still collecting. I will be traveling through North India soon so am looking forward to chancing upon lots of new designs then. I used to collect used postcards as a child, though I think they got thrown away a long, long time ago. I do not really collect anything else, though the idea of collection runs through many of my personal art projects where I like to work thematically, exploring ideas through series of drawings (often quite small) to be displayed collectively side by side. For example, recent projects include a series of 50 praying character drawing, a series of 100 drawings of strange ways to die, or exploring landscapes through a limited set of iconography. There is something interesting about working thematically through a series of ideas at a small scale, and how they display a collective identity when exhibited together.

View the collection in its entirety here.