Sweetness and Light

The beauty of a casual gesture.


(photo via Rachel Follett on pinterest)

Buffet

This week's links. Enjoy.

The Shoemaker's Art
A lovely, contemplative short video about Ryusaku Hiruma, a Japanese shoemaker who studied cobbling at Cordwainers before relocating to Florence, Italy. Via herman miller.

Mad Men Reading List
The New York Public Library has drawn up a list of the books featured in Mad Men, which, as they astutely point out, is ".... a great way to gain insight into the episodes and the social and cultural times in which the series is set." Clever idea.

Rescuing a Century of Tango Music
Ignacio Varchausky is in a race against time to preserve and publicise almost a century of tango music — working to save, by digital transfer, some 100,000 recordings made by at least 1,700 artists between 1902 and 1995, when the analog era ended in Argentina.

Human Landscapes in SW Florida
Extraordinary aerial photographs of the landscape in southwest Florida, radically changed by decades of urban development. A study of human pattern imposed on wilderness (and rather haunting, too — many of these have been abandoned due to bankruptcy).

Hunter S. Thompson Job Application Letter
In 1958, Hunter S. Thompson sent a staggeringly honest letter of application to Jack Scott, the new editor of the Vancouver Sun, after reading an article in Time magazine praising the Sun's new editorial direction under Scott. Vintage Thompson. Via kottke.

Conversations With Mr. Lois
From Brain Pickings: "Legendary art director George Lois, an original Mad Man, came of age in the 1960′s, when his Esquire magazine covers revolutionized graphic design and shaped the aesthetic direction of magazine publishing for decades to come." These four short clips of Mr. Lois talking offer (at times rather profane) insight into how he thought and worked.

Build-A-Zombie Papercraft 2011 Calendar
Build one zombie per month and have a horde of undead at the end of the year! Each month features a different zombie design, so you'll have a nice variety to roam mindlessly over your desk. Available from ThinkGeek. Via laughing squid.

English Gingerbread Cake
Here in Canada it's Thanksgiving weekend, which I've always thought was timed perfectly — the autumn leaves are in full colour, and the weather is still mild, with a little bit of crispness. This year I'm thinking of something a little different than the usual pumpkin pie — this English Gingerbread Cake from Saveur offers a warm spiced flavour but is a bit lighter (and is lovely with tea later, too).


(photo via the brick house — sorry, can't find a credit as yet)

Bookshelf

Just added this to my book list! Born Modern: The Life and Design of Alvin Lustig, by Steven Heller and Elaine Lustig Cohen, is the first book covering all of Lustig's elegant and colourful work — his book and magazine covers, interior design, theories on design education and more. Available from Chronicle Books.