Friday, February 27, 2009

Illustrated Alphabet from Paul Thurlby




Follow illustrator Paul Thurlby's progress as he illustrates his own unique alphabet. So far, A through H are done and each is better than the next! I really love the series. I have a particular soft spot in my heart for 'D for dog' because it reminds me of our dog, Derby, and of course it's a D. I'd love to have a print of it.

Check out the whole series here on Flickr and check our Paul's website here.

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Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fresh Fruit Available Now at Hero


Hurry in and get these cuties.
Sad Green is super rare, limited to only 150 pieces, so get em before he's gone.

Limited to:
Happy Red (ripe & juicy): 450 pieces
Happy Green (crisp & delicious) : 200 pieces
Sad Red (tart & tangy) : 200 pieces
Sad Green (sad & sour): 150 pieces

Designer Bird Feeders

Mark and I are huge animal lovers, we feed our neighborhood friendly cat, Jack, who belongs to our neighbors but loves to roam and hang out, the birds, the squirrels and by accident even some deer (we live near some woods and there are a lot of deer, some came to our front yard and destroyed our evergreen tree).

I am the most amazed at how much food the birds eat, we fill our feeder up daily and it's gone by the time we get home from work. I really enjoy seeing all the little bird tracks in the snow at night, and hearing them chirp like crazy when they know we are coming out to refill the feeder. Makes me so happy and it really makes our cats happy to watch them from the windows.

I have been looking around online for some modern looking bird feeders, since I am now also considering putting some in our back yard as well now. Here are some of the best ones I have found so far, please consider commenting and posting links in the to any that you find, too.

Birdfeeder by Amy Adams


Lunchbox Birdfeeder by Amy Adams




The Song Bird from Sehwan Oh


Glas Haus from Sprout Home



Cantina Bird Feeder by flo viererbl



This one is more of a bird house but you could definitely put food in it:
Folding Bird House from Jesper Moller Hansen,
Dorthe Weis, 2007

Boarding Pass Shiraz 2005


Boarding Pass Shiraz is one of my favorite bottles of wine in it's price range, not only is it inexpensive, usually right around $20, but it is also delicious, and VERY fun to look at. I had it for the first time at a restaurant probably two years ago and before I took my first sip, I fell in love. When I saw the bartender lift the bottle, open it and pour my glass, I giggles and of course asked to see the bottle. I try to buy a bottle whenever I am at the liquor store if they have it, and I got a bottle this past weekend while in Pittsburgh, since it was $2 cheaper there.

It's genius and adorable packaging, had I not tried it at a restaurant first, would have screamed for me to pick it up at the wine store based on the bottle alone (this is my usual method for trying new wines, buy based on the labels). I won't even pretend to be able to talk about the notes in the wine or how to pair it, I just know it's a full bodied red, and besides the packaging, I like it's peppery taste and the buttery quality.

OK, enough of me pretending I know what I am talking about, I can however show you how pretty the packaging is though, that I can handle.





[all photos taken from NotCot]

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Orla Kiely for Target.


Yes, I know I am late to posting about this and you've probably already seen these if you are a textile/pattern junkie like myself, but in the event that you haven't yet seen them yet, I give you the Orla Kiely for Target collection! I've been meaning to post about this for sometime now and I kept forgetting, but I have always been a huge fan of Orla Kiely's geometric shapes, bold colors and girly patterns. There is dinner and servingware, storage boxes, closet organization, table and kitchen linens and even an apron, which I am pretty positive I need.

The line is available now at Target (the collection released on February 15) but hurry it will go fast. I am not sure if they are releasing things on different dates, or if it was all released at once and just sold out insanely quick, because it isn't all available online and I could not find any of the linens at Target when I was there over the weekend. Let me know if you know!





Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Light of India - A Conflagration of Indian Matchbox Art



Our good pal Tom Rooney of Pavlov's Togs brought by this wonderful book Light of India, A Conflagration of Indian Matchbox Art, by for me to thumb through and drool over a while back. I am FINALLY taking the time to scan it and post about it (then sadly give it back).

This colorful book is a dazzling collection of more than 300 vintage matchbox labels from India, dating from the turn of the century through the 1950s, each one is even better than the one before. Abounding with pouncing Bengal tigers, regal jungle elephants, and Hindu gods and goddesses, each miniature masterpiece is so skillfully produced, yet some done ever so simply. I could look at this book time and time again and find something new to look at each time.

Here are just a few of my favs:




Monday, February 23, 2009

The Vader Project

While we were in Pittsburgh again this past weekend, we finally made time to get to The Warhol. What a phenomenal museum it is, I could have spent all day there. The permanent collection is alone worth going there for, but their ever changing temporary shows are also top notch. We made sure to get there this time to see The Vader Project which runs February 13 – May 3, 2009, and our friend Val who volunteers there also walked through the collection with us. Our pal Dov Kelemer & Sarah Jo Marks of DKE Toys curated the show and we had only seen photos before, so when we heard it would be at the Warhol while we were in Pittsburgh, we had to make time for it.

The Vader Project is a reimagining of the iconic Darth Vader helmet by some of today’s hottest underground and pop surrealist painters, artists and designers - the collection makes its museum premiere at The Warhol. Featuring work by Shag, Peter Kuper, Attaboy, Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Dalek, Paul Frank, Ron English, Tokidoki, Jeff Soto, Michelle Valigura, Frank Kozik, Wade Lageose, Joe Ledbetter, Alex Pardee, Suckadelic, Cameron Tiede, Mister Cartoon, Marc Ecko, Amanda Visell and so many more.

The Vader Project originally premiered at Star Wars Celebration IV in Los Angeles in May 2007. From there it traveled to Star Wars Celebration Europe in London in June 2007. July 2007 brought 10 new helmets to the Star Wars Pavilion at the famed San Diego Comi-Con International. Then in July 2008, 13 Japanese artists joined forces with the existing Vader Project when their helmets premiered at Star Wars Celebration Japan.

For the full artist list and more information about the show go here or the MySpace page here. For more info on The Warhol go here. And check out this great Flickr Set of the Vader Project at the Star Wars Celebration IV where the show debuted. Definitely get to The Warhol and see this show if you can - so worth it.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Sushi for me, sushi for you.



We had sushi for dinner tonight and in my lurking after dinner, I came across these amazing rings on Design Milk. A fitting and cute end to my evening to find these.

La Boite A Couture creates adorable jewelry that resemble cakes and other sweets. So much cuteness.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Coming soon to Hero from Kidrobot.

Some new goodies coming in the next few weeks from Kidrobot!! Get excited.

Coming soon
:

Let’s Hang Zipper Pulls
Illustrator Aaron Meshon’s Let’s Hang zipper pulls are on their way and all 26 of them are dying to plaaaaay. Look out! Sausages, fresh corn, soft-chew tablets, New York buildings and more are getting chummy in the city! You’ll find them lounging in the park, rolling down 5th Ave. and stopping to chat people up every step of the way. These 1.5-inchers arrive blind-boxed.


March 5


Jaguar Warrior Dunny 8-Inch
Jesse Hernandez’s Jaguar Warrior is fierce and ready to fight. Wearing war paint and a headdress, he is on the lookout for his elusive chase version. You can help him with the hunt starting March 5. Only 1500 made!



BFF Mini Series
Opposites attract in Travis Cain’s BFF mini series. Accessories are removable, but good luck getting them to part — each 3-inch figure in this 9-toy series harbors a dangerous addiction to the very thing that brings it down. Feel the friendship March 5.

Monday, February 16, 2009

French Paper Co. Promotional Art Prints by CSA Design





Here at Hero we are big fans of French Paper and have used it on MANY different occasions. We've even been featured on their French Paper Sample Room website. French, on top of having brilliantly colored and uniquely textured papers to choose from, their paper sample books are always beautiful pieces of art in themselves.

Minneapolis firm CSA Design, who I am personally a big fan of, creates all of the marketing materials for French Paper and the back story on their relationship is truly a fabulous story. I know it looks long, but do yourself a favor and read it, it's worth it.

The collaboration between Charles S. Anderson and French Paper Co. started in the mid '80s when Jerry French was in Minneapolis selling his paper to designers, he was showing swatches to designers at an agency, when a kid practically out of college walks up and says "This stuff looks terrible". French asked if the kid had ever used the paper and the kid got up and walked away.

The kid came back with a sample of something he had produced on French Paper and it blew French away. "His work was just incredible," French says. "He loved our stock and wanted more of it, but he thought the way we'd designed the sales materials was awful. Then he said , ' Why dont we do a job together?'

Long story short, that designer was Charles Anderson, and he and Jerry French worked out a deal that day: Anderson's then agency needed a promotional brochure and French needed a well-designed promotional tool, so French suppied the paper and Anderson designed the brochure. From that point on, Jerry French was a firm believer in design and Chuck Anderson was his guy. That was the beginning of a nearly quarter-century long relationship.
(some of the details of that story were taken from 'Til Death Do They Part by Tom Zeit, How Magazine December 2007 Issue)


The whole point of this post is that CSA Design recently created these beautiful new art prints as part of a new 2-color series, to promote the French Paper Co. These are 19″ x 24″ offsets, and mostly will be given away free at upcoming paper and design shows. Some will supposedly be offered online for sale down the line as well. How beautiful are these?




Esquire Cover Gallery






Esquire Magazine has, since the 1930's, produced some of the best looking magazine covers in existence (the 50's, 60's and 70's being my favorites). I was actually lucky enough to see the exhibit at the MoMa, George Lois: The Esquire Covers, featuring ninety-two covers created by Lois between 1962 and 1972.

Esquire has a Cover Gallery online of all of the covers in the magazine's history and you can browse by year or right from the beginning.

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Friday, February 13, 2009

In Remembrance of the Victims of Flight 3407



Last evening February 12, 2009, Continental flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, on its way to Buffalo, NY, from Newark, NJ went down in Clarence, NY (a suburb of Buffalo, approx 15 miles from Hero). 50 lives were lost: 44 passengers, four crew members, one off-duty pilot, and a resident of the home the plane crashed into. Visit here for more information.

Believe it or not, we heard the first bit of news about the crash just before 11pm on Twitter. We watched the details on the local news and on Twitter with our local peers who were on the scene at the command center, long before it hit the national news. With feelings of shock and nausea, as the details emerged and we learned of the devastation we waited and watched, it was a long sad evening in Buffalo.

As we all struggle, nationally and locally, to come to grips with the severity of this tragedy, please keep the victims, their families and loved ones in your thoughts and prayers. As well, please think of all the emergency crews, volunteers, The City of Buffalo and the Town of Clarence working hard to deal with this horrible event.

Buffalo is a small city. As the victims' names are released, there is a chance that nearly everyone here will know a victim, a family member, or someone close to one of the 50 that perished. Please remember how short life is and always remember to tell your loved ones, just how much you love them!

Thursday, February 12, 2009

Skittles Infused Vodka


Skittles Vodka Tutorial. Um WHAT? Seriously? Wow I cannot wait to try this little science experiment out! Simply white trash and totally brilliant!



The "I Can Read Movies" Series





The "I Can Read Movies" Series by Spacesick
A growing collection of film-based book covers. Sadly these don't actually exist, but they are really amazing!! So simple and iconic. I love them all.

Click the above link to see the entire brilliant collection, which apparently is getting new additions all the time.
Check out the blog entry from Spacesick on these here.