of paper and things

lovely selection of custom correspondence sets from cotton idea studio .

recycled paper storage basket .

i love baking and i love the art of presentation. these cupcake wrappers by paper orchid are quite fancy, and there are many designs to choose from. (via oh joy! )

graypants is an uber cool architecture/design firm based in seattle, with an empasis on sustainability. i really love the scrap lights , made from twice-recycled corrugated cardboard, and i'd love to have them just as pictured, in a cluster. so pretty.

yes, that's right, a chair. designed by nendo , the cabbage chair "responds gently to fabrication and distribution costs and environmental concerns, the kinds of issues that face our 21st century selves. thus, the cabbage chair fits active, optimistic and forward-moving '21st century people', the kind of people who...'don't just wear clothes, but shed their skin'." it is made of the pleated paper by-product normally discarded in the production of pleated fabric.

for his most recent exhibition at the yvon lambert gallery in new york, carlos amorales cut 25,000 black paper moths to create a virtual invasion of the gallery, "an unreal atmosphere with neo-gothic nuances." the moths of black cloud "swarmed" in and around the gallery...on walls, beams, into offices and restrooms, and seemingly atttempting to escape via ducts and windows. to see more photos of the installation, go here .

my friends love to laugh at me about this, but in my humble opinion, it just isn't a party without tissue paper pom-poms! i discovered this tutorial years ago and it has become a standard decorating option for me since. simple and versatile and festive and cute.

adorable personalized stationary with silhouette designs by silhouetteblue .

adorable paper wish boats by jurianne matter.

sweet and delicate mobiles and garlands made of vintage french magazines, vintage children's illustrations and record jackets - by royalbuffet .

crafted of recycled paper by jordy fu .

soft seating the soft product line by molo design was conceived of the desire to dynamically shape and redefine open space into more intimate and ephemeral surroundings, in a flexible and temporal way. utilizing flexible honeycomb structures that can expand, contract, and flex to form a sculptural space or seating topography, soft is an evolutionary, materials research driven exploration of possibilities. soft wall soft lighting soft blocks

swiss ceramist frank baumgartner fuses paper and porcelain together to form these beautiful vessels, which are available for purchase here .

an organic chemist-turned-artist and designer, francesca vitali ("fru") creates amazingly intricate pieces by folding and weaving layers of paper. you can read an interview with her here (by gigi of roadside scholar ), where she describes how she came into her art and the process whereby she creates her jewelry. to purchase some of her designs, visit her etsy shop, frucci jewelry design . and, to see more images of her work, go here .

download, print, and design your very own hermes bag. it's paper, yes, but hermes still! how original!

Art Direction: Petra Storrs Starring: Singer and Actress Paloma Faith found via trespluscool

at this moment i am listening to poi dog pondering, and specifically postcard from a dream . and i'm thinking (though the song really gives no mention of postcards at all, it does make me happy and puts me in a springy-newness-do-something-different-kinda-mood) how nice it would be to send/receive a handwritten note. and so i've decided i'll start with my friends out of state - surprise them not with an email or a message via some community messaging tool, but rather with a handwritten note. so, i realized i needed some beautiful new cards, and would you believe i found some on etsy ? i know - imagine that! i adore charmfoundry - one of my absolute favorites! here are images of the waxy postcard sampler :

this week in paris is the 3rd annual " detour: the moleskine city notebook experience ," an exhibition of the personal moleskines of international artists, designers, architects, illustrators, and writers. all proceeds support the nonprofit foundation lettera27 , whose mission is "to support the right to literacy, to education, and the access to knowledge and information." for practical purposes, i am in need of a limited edition red diary and an extra small black volant notebook. for aesthetic reasons, i'd like to have any of these past submissions to the project: scott henderson is an american designer who heads his own new york design studio and is a co-founder of mint kazuko nomoco studied graphic design, printmaking, and illustration. she is currently an illustrator in the uk. steven guarnaccia is the director of the illustration department at parsons: the new school for design and former art director for the op-ed page of the new york times.

i love paper. i love paper arts, and i especially love the intricate art of papercutting. chris natrop is one of my favorite modern paper artists. here's an excerpt from his statement: as the days stack up and i cannot push back any longer, i recall a memory that may not have been noticed before. as it unfolds in my mind, i break away, stumbling headlong downhill. i land on a spot and begin to work, meandering towards the invisible line. at 10x8x8 feet, fern space burst nearly fills the site for which it was designed -  headlands center for the arts . the play of shadows is just incredible and i can only imagine how cool it must be to be surrounded by this beautiful piece. chris has a show entitled and further the dew drop falls coming up in just a week at moca jacksonville - road trip?! maybe! here's a sneak peek...