Asheville :: Biltmore/Tobacco Barn

A few weeks ago some girlfriends and I took an inspiration trip to Asheville. Our first stop was the Biltmore Estate which was completed in 1895 and served as a "mountain escape" for George Washington Vanderbilt II. It is the largest privately-owned home in the United States and its 250 rooms are full of inspiring fabrics, patterns, ornately carved wood and original artworks by the likes of Whistler, Sargent and Durer. Our favorite? the library brimming with antique volumes! If you have not yet seen it for yourself be sure to add it to the list, it's worth it!

To keep with the historic theme we had to swing by my favorite antique shop in Asheville, the Tobacco Barn. This is the place to go for unique and exciting treasures from periods past. Below is a sampling of what you might discover upon visiting this must-stop shop.

I wanted to find a place for this cabinet in my life. How about those typographic drawer pulls?!

Loving the huge graphic simplicity of this vintage type

 

So many vintage chairs to choose from. I liked this one.

Maroc

Last night while digging through a drawer of scrap paper I unearthed this handkerchief given to us by my grandparents. They picked it up during the years they lived in Morocco (1950s). I've put it up at my desk today and am drawing inspiration from the illustrations and colors. It inspires not only my design, but the idea of bringing something memorable back from my world travels. What have you kept from your adventures to reminisce about a place and inspire your work?

Graduate Thesis Exhibition

I've been neglecting this blog a bit lately while preparing for my Graduate Thesis Exhibition. However I am back briefly today to invite you all to the exhibition. The opening will be January 28 from 5:30 until 9 p.m. at Dapper Ink Custom Outfitters in Greenville, SC. Dapper Ink is located at 207 Wade Hampton Boulevard. Hope you can come by and see what I've been up too! (Click image to view larger.)

Upcoming Exhibition

Spent all of today framing. Thanks to AR for helping with (more like single-handedly building) the frames. These are pieces I've posted on this blog before, but I feel the larger frames make them look much more regal. These will be in my exhibition at the end of the month. What's that? Yes, I will be having my graduate thesis exhibition the last week in January! Stay tuned for details about when and where you can see more of my work.

Choose Your Adventure

Have you discovered Notventures yet? I love keeping up with the latest from around the world on this site (a division of Notcot). New adventures, cultures, events, traditions and other magic are added each day. Follow this site/blog and start planning your next world adventure!

A favorite post of mine is the Operation Window Seat series. For those who treasure the view from the sky as I do, check out these inspiring entries.

How gorgeous are these shots? It's enough to make ya wanna break the no-electronics during take-off rule! Next time... next time...
Here is my own take on Operation Window Seat :: CLT-LAX
The Grand Canyon and an anonymous set of snowy peaks

Dimensional Type

Lately I've been sewing up a lot of these typographic pillows. I first was inspired to create these in my typography class this fall, but since the class has finished I've stitched up a bunch more! The goal of the class project was to use typography in a three dimensional way. We get so accustomed to seeing type on a page, but it is a blast to bring those characters into our environment in a three dimensional way!

Wouldn't these be so cute on your bed as an accent or in a designer's office? Use 'em to add a graphic accent to any spot in your life!

Greenville Poinsettia Christmas Parade 2010

Our completed float was debuted on Main Street downtown Greenville, SC at the Greenville Poinsettia Christmas Parade. The parade officials awarded us the Joel Poinsett Best Overall award!

Thanks to my adorable friends for riding along on the float with me. (It was freezing!) Love you guys :)

photo credits :: photo 2 - this flicker stream :: photo 3 and 4 - The Collegian

The Making Of (continued)

A lot of the work on our float was assembled at our office, but in order to start building the final version we trucked everything to a weld shop/warehouse off campus. At this location we attached all the elements to our float bed.

Our float is a trailer with a wooden stage built on top. The pear tree, swans, drum, geese and golden rings were attached to this base using screws, foam sealant and wire. Every empty crack was desperately packed to the brim with hot glue.

 
photo credit :: photo 3 - Philip Eoute

The Making Of

Happy New Year! It has been a while since I've written. There certainly is a lot to recap. This past year (2010) I was able to play a big part in the designing of a float for the Greenville Poinsettia Christmas Parade. The university I work for enters a float in this parade every year, and this year I was able to be a part of the team. The theme of the 2010 Poinsettia parade was The Twelve Days of Christmas.

I drew inspiration from the Scandinavian style of artists such as Sanna Annukka as well as a visit to Disney's It's A Small World in May 2010. I tried to incorporate the graphic simplicity of this geometrical style. The first step was to sketch and vectorize each character/element of the float. (Check out my earlier post for a peak at what these creatures looked like in the early stages.) The vector design was used by my fabulously skillful boss to create a 3-D version in Google Sketch-Up.
Our float mocked up in Google Sketch-Up

The shapes were cut from 4-inch Styrofoam. These pieces were covered with petal paper. We used more hot glue sticks than I want to remember, and everyone involved burned themselves enough to last us til next year. (Wanna see my scars?)
French Hen cut from 4-inch Styrofoam

Swan-a-swimming decked in petal paper. Iridescent and black