Catalina Estrada

Yesterday I came across this beautifully illustrated book by Paulo Coelho, called Love. Perhaps I'm the millionth blogger to post about this book or about this artist but I still want to share my 'find'. Check out her website or her Flickr

Alphabet game

Another great game I found at the thriftshop for about a euro. Unfortunately this shop doesn't have a lot of respect for vintage stuff. They stick a price tag on it which I could hardly remove without damaging the box and to make it even worse, they close the box with a lot of tape.
But then again, who am I to talk... I tear up old encyclopedia's for the illustrations...

Encyclopedic drawings

About 10 years ago I bought an old set of encyclopedia. I was especially interested in the illustrations, so (I'm almost afraid to admit it) one night my friend Yvette and tore up all the books and took out the drawings... What's left of the books is a large stack of drawings such as this one. I'll probably post more of these drawings now and then. They are pretty amazing. Unfortunaltely the size doesn't fit under my scanner so I had to scan the drawing twice and stitch the two parts together in Photoshop.
It's terrible, but I can't remember the brand, nor the publishing date of the encyclopedia. I feel like such a barbarian now!!

Meanwhile, at band camp

Nursery rhymes

I bought this lovely book about a month ago at Marktplaats via Pien. This book took my breath away, the illustrations are so sweet and adorable! Pien gave me a tip about a series of books with the same style of illustation. I'll post those another time. They are really lovely as well.

Carla the Poodle

Cute children's book about a poodle named Carla. In the illustrations a vibrant blue is used.

Mix and match

Don't you just love the mix and match books? This is a simple version for babies, but I think the target group can be a little broader. They can include me as well... This book was published by Hema, a department store in The Netherlands. Hema brings (Dutch) design closer to every day people.

Paper for Soho

At the office I'm responsible for talking to the sales representatives the paper manufacturers send to us. This usually means listening to a sales pitch about the quality of the paperbrands they represent. Paper mills make the most beautiful books with samples and this is a great example. Soho means Small Office Home Office. The book is presented by Gilbert Paper, the concept and design is by The Valentine Group and the illustrations are by Jessie Hartland.
I will definately blog about her another time!

This book is quite old, the paper brand probably is no longer in production and Gilbert Paper is now Neenah Paper.

Sing with me

These tiny psalm books are quite beautiful. One of them belonged to my grandfather, it used to fit right in the pocket of his Sunday jacket.

Doodle, doodle, do

I did this one by hand, it's just one dotted line. (Click to enlarge).

Ever lost a slipper?

I love vintage Disney stuff. These books are quite collectible, especially when the book is undamaged and complete: the cards in the book are trading cards which were handed out by Albert Heijn (a large Dutch chain of supermarkets). This book is from 1950.

Willem Sandberg

One of my most favorite Dutch graphic designers (pre computer age) is Willem Sandberg (1897-1984). He was a typographer and museum curator. From 1937 -1941 he was the curator of modern art at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. After the Second World War, he became the director of the Stedelijk Museum until his retirement in 1962. During his tenure he expanded the museum and developed new exhibition techniques, for which he gained international renown. He applied his graphic design and typography skills to over 300 catalogues.

Dear oh deer

I bought this dearhead about 5 years ago at Sissy Boy Homeland. I was in love with it straight away. There were two sizes and unfortunately I was only able to buy the small one. Wish I had more of these. I think it is such a lovely item.

Kapitza!

One in a while I get a spam e-mail by Kapitza, trying to sell me their stuff. Usually I delete those e-mails but the Kapitza e-mail is always welcome.
Kapitza is an design company run by Nicole & Petra Kapitza who share a passion for everyday life, minimalism, patterns & colour. They have been developing an extensive series of unique picture fonts and illustrations that lie somewhere between image resource and art project. Take a look at the book, don't you just love it?!
Of course, creating your own patterns and textures is always more fun, but if you run out of time, this is a very good option.

Colourful teaching aid