red, white, blue

In the madness of last week, I had no chance to celebrate one of my all-time favorite color schemes. So here's three cheers for the red, white, and blue! Polka, bingo, and round playing cards?! These patriotic bits look like the start of a fantastic evening...

animals!

I've had the great pleasure to work on a few projects with the oh-so-gracious and spirited author/illustrator Bob Barner over this past year, and here is a sneak peek at our forthcoming release! An ANIMALS! Matching Game, to be released by Chronicle Books in Fall 2011.

happy hues

For those days at work when my brain feels like a Sloppy Joe, when I feel jaded and overwhelmed by the influx of information on a screen, when few things seem inspirational or motivational, I often partake in a computer break, go sit in a quiet place, and pull out the Pantone swatch books. Call me crazy, but there are few things more soothing than the simple act of playing and pairing together those dainty little chips.


Last Fall, with that in mind, I came up with a concept for Pantone Swatch blocks, a set of square blocks featuring an array of happy hues that could be stacked and sorted in an endless amount of ways by both children and adults alike; a simultaneous exercise in the theories behind and healing powers of color. 


After pitching it to Chronicle Books during my design fellowship here, my idea was sadly not immediately picked up, though the general idea was well-received. At the very least I have planted a seed, and perhaps it is simply waiting to sprout...And with that, I will leave you with this: A colorful classic by Mr. Glass.

sweet sentiments

I recently acquired this precious trio of miniature letterpress quotation books, brought to the world by OrangeArt. I love their intimacy and simplicity–perfect pocket-sized antidotes to soothe a bout of homesickness, heartache, or negatvitiy.


"Love the moment and the energy of that moment will spread beyond all boundaries."

–Sister Corita Kent

possibilities

Two months in to this new(ish) year, and I continue to find hope in hard work, and a barreling forward into the unknown. Thank you, Katie & Nate, for this impeccable letterpress gift! Come back to San Francisco soon! We like you here.

clangour

Last Thursday I had the privilege of seeing Sin Fang Bous and Múm perform at the Walker Art Center. The McGuire Theater, packed with spellbound spectators, was transformed into an enchanted forest within moments of these Icelandic spirits taking the stage. I was captivated, moved, possessed.

Perhaps my admiration is partly due to the geographical context in which these artists are situated––the pristine land of Scandinavia; a land at once rooted in stark, atmospheric melancholy, while paradoxically enamored with a childish whimsy and the fairy tale traditions of old. I cannot help but be continuously inspired by this aesthetic, this Nordic cultural voice. It is these images and sounds and bits of beauty that resonate so deeply within me––a clangour of inspirations and emotions.

Images (in order of appearance): Sin Fang Bous album art (signed by Sindri!), Pattern design by Sanna Annuka for Marimekko, illustrations by Hanna Werning.

And when I'm swimming in through a tunnel, I shut my eyes...

make your own

The perfect snack for a chilly Sunday afternoon? A buttery slice of egg-in-a-hole, otherwise known as Sunny Yolk! Sunny Yolk is a recipe from the Fitwits program, "a multidisciplinary collaboration among doctors, teachers, social workers, and design students at Carnegie Mellon University" working to educate children on the benefits of healthy eating and physical fitness. Learn more about the program here and here...

"Every child should be taught to cook in school, not just talk about nutrition all day. Good food can be made in 15 minutes. This could be the first generation where the kids teach the parents."

--Jamie Oliver, The Minister of Food

rhythms & weaves

The days disentangle in kaleidoscopic rays of light and dark. Brilliance collides with blackness as I attempt to weave together the circadian cycles of my newly illuminated habitats. I've long been absent from this space, but sometimes we need silence before sound––a chance to gain clarity, arranging the pieces just so in the hopes to achieve a higher harmony...

Images (in order of appearance): A sampling of endpapers from my new/old set of The Golden Home and High School Encyclopedia, circa 1960; Vertical Change by Bjorn Copeland; Golden encyclopedia exteriors; and, Red and Blue Layers by the legendary Anni Albers.

a matchless matchbook game

Pick-Up-Stix, a complete matchless matchbook game! Such lovely packaging for such a simple game...

"Design is Everything. Everything!" --Paul Rand

tiny atmospheres

I had the pleasure, recently, of collaborating with Jacey Braband and Alex Roche on a series of posters to be hung around MCAD this summer. In the vast caverns of the grey photo studio, I spent a day amongst piles of cut paper, fashioning tiny atmospheres of floating summer fun. Check out more work & fun things from me and my fellow busy bees at the brand new MCAD DesignWorks blog.

colors & cupcakes

Miss Ella drew me a "picsha," as a thank-you exchange for my honey-banana cupcakes. Her colors remind me that print does matter, and of Printed Matter, a book that will forever inspire. 

white and black

Splurged last eve and bought the new Fever Ray album, haunting and beautiful and best listened to with eyes wide open, in the dark of the night. Plus, check out this most pristine publication, a beauty I've been eyeing recently...wish I could get my hands on a copy.

when i grow up \ i want to be a forester \ run through the moss on high heels \ that's what i'll do

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play all day

Though it came belated, this book was a rather suitable graduation gift for myself: Play All Day, brought to you by the ever-impeccable gestalten.
Featuring a fetching little game by Miller Goodman...
Lovely programmes and posters by JUNO GmbH & Co (website?)...
...And the amazing Fuji Kindergarten design by Kashiwa Sato. Learn more here (thanks, JZK).

Today I grapple with the guilt of material production, situated in a society of consumers. I question my own place within this sphere of printed matter. That is to say, do books matter?

let's play

Dear Grown-up, Way back in the mid-19th century, a man named Friedrich Froebel invented Kindergarten when he founded the Play Activity Institute in 1837. He was a pioneer in early childhood education, and a strong advocate for the importance of free play in children. His Kindergarten classes were structured around a series of "gifts," designed to be given to a child in order to inspire innovation and self-directed activity. These concepts spread around the world, and as a result, the young students attending the first Kindergartens grew up to be some of the most innovative and creative thinkers of the 20th century. From the founders of the Bauhaus and modernist art movements, to American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, many young minds blossomed and thrived simply because they were given the gift of play.

Let's Play––the Make-it, Build-it, Paste-it, Do-it Super Fantastic Fun Kit!––was inspired by the ideals that Friedrich Froebel put forth so many years ago, along with recent scientific research working to promote the importance of play in the lives of both children and adults. In our fast-paced, high-tech modern society, we are losing sight of how beneficial unstructured, free, creative play can be to our physical, emotional, and cognitive well-being. 

Let's Play was designed to bring the gift of play to those who need it most. Working with Olmsted County Social Services, I created this kit to be used as a tool to engage young children in at-risk home environments, and help parents and caregivers learn to bond with the child while realizing the benefits of free, creative play in their own lives.

It is my hope that the simple materials inside of these kits can bring the gift of play into a child's life––inspiring a lifelong love of curiosity and ingenuity, and serving as a creative outlet wherein dreams are born, inventions are made, and imaginations are allowed to run wild...

Happy Playing!  Aimee Gauthier, May 2009

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(what precedes is a glimpse into my senior thesis project, a semester-long labour of love that is still in its final stages of production. click on an image for a closer view...)

serendipitous scraps

These got me through this most hectic of weeks: A lovely petite book, and some lovelier scraps I happened upon in the studios one morn, turned into a 30-second collage impromptu. And, lovelier still, is...collage club! plus the rest of Jordi Ferreiro's Flickr site. Check out more of his work here.