Cover Pattern

A couple of interesting geometric patterns, both of which are designs from vintage book covers.

Flickr/joekral
Flickr/fiddledydee

Purple Glaze

Purple Haze Glaze, all in my mind. For some reason I am currently drawn to purple tinted colors combined with neutrals-just take a look at the color scheme of this website. Glancing through the ceramic section of Hi and Lo Modern -these two purply neutrally pieces caught my eye.

Stoked

I'm currently working on a group of designs based on the eighties skateboard scene. I watched the movie Stoked a while ago- a documentary about Mark "Gator" Rogowski which was a fascinating glimpse into this era when skateboarding enjoyed a renaissance.


Stoked:Rise and Fall of Gator
Vintage Gator Skateboard

Bold Angle

The bold geometric sweaters featured in Prada's Fall 07 collection, recently seen at the Milan shows remind me of these vintage camp/cabin blankets. A modern look with familiar, nostalgic roots.

Left Blanket
Right Blanket

Hipster Mullahs

In a recent New York Times article about trend that focusses largely on the "startling apperance" of beards on young hipsters referencing in particular the musician Devendra Banhart the author Guy Trebay, after initially declaring that 'trends emerge, apparently from nowhere' goes on to suggest that this 'bearded hipster-mullah-hippie' look was probably borrowed from ' gay bears, a small minority of hyper-masculine men who affect potbellies, clodhoppers and lavish chin whiskers' or copped the look from "Peter Orlovsky, the poet lover for three decades of Allen Ginsberg".

Talk about a stab in the dark. Wouldn't an experimental folksy musician like Devendra be more inclined to channel musicians like Graham Nash or perhaps the members of the The Band ?

Funky Fresh

With the rise in popularity of dance as entertainment and an increasing interest in athletic apparel for inspiration on the catwalk it seems timely to look at images from the emerging days of BBoy/breakdance in particular work from Jamel Shabazz. His photographs in the book "Back in the Day" and also looking at video from that era suggest interesting ideas for combining sportswear and athleticwear. The narrower proportion of the clothes also seem more right for now.

Photo Credits: Artnet;Newsday

About

I am a Graphic Arist creating original textile and t shirt graphic artwork for the apparel industry. I find a lot of material in the world of vintage things - their colors, textures, and themes, suggesting palettes and concepts. I also love the color values and textures of things that have aged.

This site tracks my thought process as I scour thrift stores and flea markets and the ever increasing wealth of vintage resources online to find inspiration with a focus here on vintage and timeless American Design. Currently I am increasing my design ouput directly into my online stores as the quality of print and choice of product continues to improve at Zazzle and Spreadshirt.

Chelsea Flea Market

No better way to get this blog rolling than with an establishing shot of a regular hunting ground-Chelsea Flea Market. The pic on the left is of the basement garage on 25th St, the pic on the right is a scan from the first find of the new year - a textile book "Design on Fabrics" by Meda Parker Johnston and Glen Kaufman. I was particularly interested in the batik and tie dye images that I'm researching for SS08.

Coming Soon !