NYC Day 3


Me in Hell's Kitchen
Lourdes Sanchez's agent Len at his Insytes Design Group booth
 
 Jenna Russelle + Halla Koudsi (Such beauties - no?!) of PRNT studio at the Exhibitor's Happy Hour party.

A close up of Halla's groovy pants.
Anita + Jon of Rollout Custom Wallpaper.
Important note: After this photo was taken Jon very kindly gave me the addresses to all the ICFF parties taking place that evening. (see below!)
Thanks Jon - I owe you. :-)
 A good time was had by all.
Coming home in the cab.
I love that NYC taxi's have GPS maps in back seat. Very grounding - especially after several glasses of champagne. he he.

NYC Day 2:

SURTEX Day 1

I attended all 3 days of Surtex with my rep Shelley Brown of i2iart.  As I wrote on the uppercase blog - being at the show can be an exercise in extreme image overload. By the end of the first day I had a strong desire to be put into a sensory deprivation tank with a very large glass of Pinot Grigio. :-) Here were some highlights of Day 1.

1. Magnet Reps




Founder/Director of Magnet Reps Chrystal Falcioni. 

Los Angeles-based Magnet Reps has been in the illustration biz for over 12 years and reps a very strong stable of illustrators including 3 of my all time faves: Emiliano Ponzi (wonderous!!) , Graham Roumieu (such a smarty pants) + Nate Williams (The founder of Illustration Mundo and a very sweet + helpful guy)

The founder Chrystal Falcioni was early to recognize that surface design was poised to become a very important market for illustrators and has been pursuing licensing work for over 8 years. Her booth contained some of the strongest + most unique work in the show.


 
Crystal shows me a beautiful pattern by Eleanor Grosch (inspired by the traditional patterns of the Otomi people) which went on to become a gorgeous bedding set for Land of Nod. (see below!)
wow.

Shelley conducted a quick fire interview with Chrystal of Magnet Reps. You can read it here.

 2. Frank Sturges

 Like Magnet, Frank Sturges is another well established illustration agency which reps a stable of very strong artists.  His booth contained gorgeous banners displaying the work of The Heads of State, Jessica Hische + Gina Triplett.
 A close up of The Heads of State banner.

3. Sorry You're Happy
Kyle Reed + Jen Hsieh of Sorry You're Happy

Sorry You're Happy is a Toronto based studio made up of husband + wife illustrators Kyle Reed + Jen Hsieh. Their corner booth was very fresh looking and beautifully put together.  It was exciting to see that in addition to their own unique work - Kyle + Jen were exhibiting work from two other Toronto based illustrators Katy Dockrill + Aaron Leighton.

More on Sorry You're Happy on the uppercase blog here.

New York Day 1

Ok! Finally getting around to posting some photos from my very fun business trip to NYC last week.

Saturday evening I met up with Illustrator/ Surface Designer Helen Dardik in SOHO.


Within an hour of meeting up Helen + I had our first celebrity citing: Photographer Terry Richardson. Ooooh ahh.


One of Helen's Patterns.
I really like the density of her work + her unusual colour combos.
 

Helen stops to take some shots while strolling through the West Village.

Side Note!: Check out Helen's fabulous Orla Kiely bag which I think could be renamed 
"the official purse of successful artsy woman everywhere."


Over dinner - as expected - Helen had lots of interesting things to say. Wildest discovery = the fact that she's an extreme night owl with regular work hours between 10 pm + 4am. Whoa!
After reading Helen's blog + hearing about her for many years through friends it was great to finally meet her.
You can read my full interview with Helen over on the uppercase blog.

New York

I'm in New York - staying with a friend on the Upper West Side.
For the next 3 days I'll be attending SURTEX: The National Surface Design show on behalf of uppercase magazine. While at The Javits Centre I hope to also pop into The National Stationary show and The ICFF (International Contemporary Furniture Fair) which are running simultaneously with SURTEX.  Am off right now to meet Helen Dardik for an interview. Stay tuned!

Toronto Star Mother's Day Gift guide


My Hudson's Bay Tea towel appeared in last Saturday's issue of the Toronto Star in the Mother's Day gift guide. Sandra Rojas-Chinni from La Merceria is featured in the piece with her list of suggested gifts for the hard to please mom.  In case you haven't been...La Merceria is a very sweet shop/cafe tucked away at 506 Adelaide St. West. It's full of carefully selected home accessories. Definitely worth a visit.