Swedishness is a site featuring the awesomeness that is Swedish Design. The best part: You can own some of it. Go. Visit. Smile. Buy. Rejoice.

Man, I love Scandinavia.

Ferocious is a curated, quarterly publication that collects illustrators, graphic artists, short fiction authors and written text.

I came across Ferocious this morning and it looks to be a beautifully curated, designed, and printed quarterly. It will certainly be at the top of my list of pubs to buy. Excellent work!

Ferocious Quarterly is published by Nate Utesch.

Via Grain Edit.

It’s funny how sometimes you have what appears to be an original thought or a new take on a subject, only to find out that someone else shares the same thoughts as you. Yesterday I ran across this clip of Talib Kweli on Def Poetry and felt like this was something straight out of my mind, of course written and performed with much more skill than I have. But it was striking to me how similar our thoughts were on the subject of religion. Finding this was a real treasure for me.

Cool portfolio site by photographer Fraser Page. Great work.

Just ran across this new graphic design / printmaking book released by Gestalten.

“Today’s graphic designers, illustrators, and typographers are rediscovering old printing techniques and handcrafts. They are inspired by passion for the unique; the feel of different papers, press cuts, and embossing; the brilliance of printing inks; and the originality of book binding techniques. The book Impressive presents the results of this passion.”

“Today’s fascination with old-fashioned printing presses and techniques started with individual designers and smaller collectives that created one-of-a-kind printed material by hand for special occasions, such as weddings or birthdays. Impressive features these artists and their personal work as well as a broad range of business cards, invitations, stationery, and publications that are designed and produced in a way that is both nostalgic and contemporary. Historical styles – from the Victorian grandeur of floral elements and adornments to the aesthetics of classical modernism – are used and referenced as well as combined and reinterpreted in unusual ways. Traditional and more exotic techniques such as silk-screen printing, stamping, woodcut, or linocut are used. What counts is doing it yourself.”

A perfect gift for my friends. Lei Xue, have you been reading my diary?

Beautiful carved brick project by Pei-ze Chen & Rock Wang. According to Yii Design,

“Brick is one of the symbols of Taiwanese culture and was influenced by the Dutch during their 17th-century colonization of the country. The organic form of the tray is created by carving out of a block of this industrial building material by hand. The vases, plates and bowls are also made of brick but by using an industrial technique.” Magnificent!

Via designboom. Images by Yii Design.

The great folks over at Unit have released number 2 in “a series of ‘newspapers’ devoted to the overlooked and unexpected corners of graphic design and visual culture.” This time it is “Looking at Form, a quarterly magazine of the arts (1966—1969).” These great papers are available for £7.50 including postage. Buy it here.

A timeless classic by the immensely talented Mike Jittlov.
Check out his glow-in-the-dark web page, too.

My good friend Ulana is taking over the airwaves right now over at WMSC. Stream it right now!