The day was cold and cloudy, but it was a tropical wonderland inside the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The structure is so cool (look at the floor detail!) and the flowers are an explosion of crazy shapes and textures.


The day was cold and cloudy, but it was a tropical wonderland inside the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park. The structure is so cool (look at the floor detail!) and the flowers are an explosion of crazy shapes and textures.
We’ve had so much fun browsing through the NY Train Project website. The interactive catalog is a fantastic display of all of the tile work in every subway stop in New York City, showing the detailed colored mosaics and typography along with historical tidbits.
This was such a great reminder to us that type and letters alone can be beautiful graphic elements.
We’re loving the intensity and passion of the 2014 FIFA World Cup… and, yes, we admit, we’re also loving the uniforms and colors! Here’s A DAY IN MAY’s own FIFA World Cup…
The room I had the most fun decorating in my new home was the attic which we turned into a playroom for my young daughter. With it’s slanted ceilings, small nooks, and playful porthole windows, the room just needed some carpeting and a splash of color to create a warm and inviting space for kids.
We started with trundle daybeds which sleep four. This comes in handy with all our friends and family who love visiting the Bay Area. We added a few bookshelves and tons of bins, boxes and drawers to store all of the toys. And finally, a little coloring station in a nice sunny spot in the corner for all of Sabine’s drawing and craft projects.
I limited the palette to primarily pinks and oranges, which helped give the spacious room a warm and cohesive look and feel, but it was fun to add a few more splashes of color with some hanging paper mobile garlands of birds, butterflies, and flowers.
Daybeds: Sprout San Francisco
Sheets: Serena & Lily
Pillows: Roberta Roller Rabbit
Table: AllModern
Chairs: Twig Creative
Mobiles: Arch Supply
Ottoman: West Elm
Animal Storage Bins: Target
I am passionate about making Americans smarter about the world, especially young people who are hungry to engage with the world around them. I started BYkids with the belief that we can understand the world’s challenges — and how to best meet them — through the personal stories of young people.
BYkids is a global movement that uses storytelling through film to inform, engage and inspire action. BYkids provides kids around the world with the training and the video cameras to make short documentaries about their lives. Renowned filmmakers mentor these young people in the art of filmmaking. Once shot and edited, our films are streamed into half the schools in America and are for sale on Amazon.
As a print journalist at The New York Times, I saw how many stories don’t make it onto the front page. As a documentary filmmaker, I saw the potent ability of film to move people. As a mother, I learned first-hand that kids tell honest stories. Working for George Soros with his After-School Corporation, I saw how you can change a life just by listening. When my husband – who is thankfully fine – was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s and started chemo, it both scared and inspired me into getting on with my life. I started BYkids and it has been a crazy ride of good fortune ever since.
When I was young, I dreamed one day of becoming a trapeze artist in the circus. Then I wanted to be the lion trainers like the couple in Born Free. As a teen, I wanted to be the editor of an international cultural magazine.
I would like BYkids to become an international brand. I also hope to be successful in sparking an educational revolution that helps teachers use moving image in every classroom in America. This is how kids learn and there is currently a dangerous chasm. I call it the textbook divide.
Organized, curious and generous. A lot of hard work helps, too!
Success is the ability to help make the dreams of your loved ones come true and to be a meaningful part of making the world a better place. Personally, it means having enough time every day for quiet reflection and putting things in priority.
Failure is ever saying, “I’m bored.” Failure is being too afraid to try. Failure is not understanding that everyone has a story and you have to ask enough questions to get that story.
Of course! But that is how you learn.
As the Business Section’s graphic editor at The New York Times, we inherited a story late in the day from the Foreign Desk about the Japanese hunting the Minke whale. I had to create a graphic in record time for the front page. The reporter gave me the coordinates of where the whales were being hunted and the art department made a map. A full graphic a photo, the map and details was finished minutes before the paper closed and went out to New Yorkers. I exhaustedly returned to my desk to mentally check everything. 4 coordinates, but with the equator couldn’t that be up OR down? I called the art department and they verified my suspicion. Reporter agreed. We had the hunting going on in the Antarctic and it should have been the Arctic! For the second edition of the paper we were able to fix it, but I was sure I would be fired. The only word ever said, was one of the top editors passed me and softly said, “boy those Minke sure can swim.”
Other than that, I always ask lots of questions and am willing to take risks, which would be a big mistake not to do.
My kids. When they say I am a good mom — that is the ultimate compliment.
I would tell her two things:
1) To travel non-stop.
2) Be fearless. I believe that fear is the only thing holding anyone back. Turn off any voices in your head of doubt and replace them with voices of “if not now, when? If not you, who?”
When you are passionate about what you do, it’s not so hard to balance these two parts of your life. Having a loving family, a yoga practice, a bike and a steam also helps keep the balance. Having dinner together every night helps. Finally, I bring my family into many aspects of my work. My daughters are on our national Junior Committee and help with our annual benefit. My husband helps with the business side of BYkids. And, when I am not working, I am off. I am not a phone addict, so my family gets full attention.
The Dot by Peter Reynolds. It is a manifesto to bravely make a creative mark and see where that leads. We all have the creative spirit!
Vashti’s art teacher says, “Just make a mark and see where it takes you.” Vashti sits paralyzed in front of a blank piece of paper thinking she isn’t an artist. To prove her point, Vashti jabs at a blank sheet of paper to make an unremarkable and angry mark. “There!” she says. That one dot is the start of Vashti’s journey of surprise and self-discovery.
One husband, 2 kids, tall mountains to hike or deep blue oceans to swim. I like learning on vacation so anything from climbing Kilimanjaro to a yoga retreat at Esalen.
1) The MET (New York)
2) The Prado and Reina Sophia (Madrid)
3) The Gold Museum (Bogota)
4) The Louvre (Paris)
5) District Six / Robben Island (Capetown)
We love this invitation for a seaside wedding up north in Sea Ranch, CA. On the save the date we printed the wave in a bright blue and on the main invitation it became more subtle through a blind hit pattern behind the text. The recurring wave image was perfect for this wedding overlooking the Pacific Ocean.
Kurt and I popped into the HEATH store in Potrero last Saturday night, pre-dinner. My mouth fell open when I saw this Ottoman by Olli. It’s at the top of my wishlist… I can dream.
www.heathceramics.com
www.ollitt.com
We’re working on some new wedding invitations that elegantly combine soft tones of browns and whites. They are a beautiful celebration of neutrals and remind us that sometimes color can be overrated.
Below are some of our favorite spring looks embracing the browns, the tans, the creams, and the whites.
Working with this client was extra special because the bride was an old college friend of Lesley’s – plus the wedding took place in Italy – double fun! Alison tapped into her Italian roots and planned her summer wedding in the hills of Tuscany. Set in a gorgeous villa surrounded by olive trees and vineyards, we highlighted the flora of the area in all of the printed pieces.
Our new home has very tall ceilings, tons of windows, and is filled with sunlight, but it had one very heavy room with wall to wall dark stained mahogany. It stood out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the bright, airy house.
We didn’t want to remove the wood altogether, and we liked the idea of having a little study, so we decided to just lighten up the color. We sanded and stripped the wood, bleached it, and then stained it taupe gray.
After pics below – pretty amazing how far a little bleach and stain can go! It’s now our favorite room in the house to sit and read a book.
The design world lost an icon earlier this week. The Italian-born, New York City-based Massimo Vignelli past away on Tuesday, leaving behind a legacy of influential work. Below are just a few of our favorite contributions from the late, great modernist graphic designer.
Thank you, Massimo!
photo credit: bloomingdales, knoll, subway map, american airlines, calendar
Our studio is located in the lovely Cow Hollow neighborhood of San Francisco. One of our favorite neighbors is Chronicle Books – a gem of a bookstore. For those of you that don’t know of Chronicle Books, they are an independent publisher in the Bay Area that make beautiful, imaginative, charming books and games. I never met a Chronicle Book that I didn’t love.
Last week, as we walked to our studio, their Union Street store caught our eye with a very colorful and cheery Spring window display. The bright orange and yellow tissue flowers remind us of one of the very first designs from our Signature Invitation Collection. With a burst of sunshine and sunflowers, the Sunshine line remains one of the most popular designs to this day.
https://www.chroniclebooks.com/
There are few things I love more than a dinner party. We celebrated my husband’s birthday this year with a Bourbon tasting for 20. I don’t know who had more fun: Kurt tasting his bourbon or me designing the graphics!
At Lonny Magazine, they believe in making design choices that lead to personal happiness. And we couldn’t agree more.
We’ve always loved the monthly online magazine for it’s inspiring features on lifestyle and accessible home decor, but we love it even more now with their big design relaunch (especially with Cindy Crawford as this month’s cover story). The large, beautiful photos, the bold print, the easy navigation – it’s seamless and fun and easy to devour.
From their market finds to travel style to the personalized home tours, we are truly inspired on a regular basis by Lonny’s beautiful visuals, creative writing, and colorful, personalized stories. You can see that they really value individual style and independent thinking. In fact, Lesley referenced the website a ton over the last few months for her recently remodeled home, and you can see in her latest renovation posts HERE and HERE, how fantastic that turned out.
So if you’re looking to be inspired, look no further.
If your garden is anything like mine, you’ve realized that spring has officially sprung. The flowering vines are taking over the walls, the ferns are reaching for the sky, and the maple trees have never been more vibrant. I do believe this is cause for celebration. Check out this party invitation celebrating the arrival of Spring from a few years back.
Remember those ugly sconces from my Staircase Renovation post? Well, we found a perfect replacement: The Altamont Wall by The Urban Electric Company.
If you recall, the original sconces had ornate brass patina fixtures and avorio glass shades that created an unfortunate faux antique look (to match that terrible wrought iron staircase). They were the first thing that caught your eye when you walked in, and it also cast a horrible orange glow on everything.
The new, understated sconces, with their simple, cylindrical shape and black finish give off the perfect warm light – day or night. Oh, and we also removed the matching chandelier – good riddance!
As always, less is more.
The extremely talented Lisa Abdalla, of Lisa Abdalla Interiors, helped us select the Urban Electric sconces. Thank you again, Lisa!
We’ve long been supporters of the Tipping Point for it’s unwavering efforts to fight poverty in the Bay Area. Their mission is undeniable, but they also happen to have a great logo, informative and inspiring infographics, a well-designed website, and, most importantly, a very powerful impact.
Last week, they stepped it up another notch with their annual fundraising gala. With the help of the ever-talented event planner Stanlee Gatti, the Tipping Point hosted 1,200 supporters at a dinner auction at Pier 48, at which they raised an unprecedented $12 million.
The theme was Bay Area Under Construction – only Stanlee could make a construction site look compelling and elegant. The hall was filled with orange glowing lights, the tables and chairs were draped in caution tape-trimmed custom fabric, and the signage was a fun combination of street signs and stencilled spray paint. It was a great reminder to everyone that, as a community, we were there to help build a better Bay Area.
Thanks to the entire Tipping Point community for inspiring us not only in design, but, more importantly, in giving.
Event Planner: Stanlee R. Gatti Designs
Caterer: Paula LeDuc
Photographer: Drew Altizer Photography
The gowns on the red carpet from the Met Gala last week were a sensational display of color. They reminded us of some invitation designs from past years…
photo credit: Karolina Kurkova, Sarah Jessica Parker, Liu Wen, Emma Stone, Arizona Muse
Last month, we hit Florida for a family spring break. My heart is firmly in California, but those East coast beaches have us beat. The white sand looked like sugar, the water felt like a warm bath, and the shells! Oh the shells. The shoreline was covered with millions of beautiful seashells in shades ranging the entire spectrum. Every morning was like a treasure hunt and we literally spent hours sorting through our “jewels”.
I am most proud of how my daughters have grown into the women they are today – as mothers they are loving, conscientious, devoted and fun. This is the most rewarding thing for me to see because I believe, being a mother is truly the most serious and important work you can do – far more than any other job out there. How many other jobs affect 2 generations down the line? But, before our girls became wives and mothers, both my husband and I were very proud of the independent, productive, well-balanced individuals they had become.
I know and value the role we play in the family and in the wider world as well. We are the nurturers, the peacemakers and peacekeepers. We know how to multi-task all day, no matter what we are doing. I think women have an amazing capacity to accomplish so much. We are strong and fierce but tender and loving as well.
Your 20’s are hugely significant because, for the first time, you really have your freedom…. no more school schedules, teachers or parents hovering over you. Now you can decide things for yourself. It’s scary but exhilarating. I loved being on my own. My 20 something self was a bit reckless and very anxious to try new things and take on the world. I loved my independence. I learned that actions have consequences – not all of my decisions were good–but, that’s the point… it’s where the real learning begins.
I made a lot of mistakes – that’s the time to do it, no one is depending on you and mistakes are important because you learn from them – but I made a lot of good choices, too. Whatever happened, I wanted to stand on my own and not ask for help. I learned a lot from my job, too. I was lucky enough to work for two different women – in an office full of women – who were smart, sensitive, successful role models. One of the most important lessons of all that I learned at that first job was to set my priorities – see those clearly and then organize my time around them. That lesson has stayed with me for my whole life.
When I turned 40 I thought – what else was there – what a ridiculous notion. In fact, I remember going for a walk with a neighbor and very dear friend around the time of my birthday. She was very cool in many ways and about 15-20 years older than me. When I shared with her how I felt about turning 40 she literally laughed at me and pointed out how much of my life was yet to be lived. She was a fabulous role model too – very chic, well-traveled, raised 6 children and had a fun loving husband. She just died about five years ago in her late 80’s – what a great life she had. I once read a quote that I thought was so wonderful and you get it the longer you live: “growing older is a privilege, not a curse”.
I have a lot of them – seems like I spent a lot of time being proud and truly enjoying the company of my girls. Our girls were not too challenging or difficult as they were growing up, and I was always grateful for that. But, this is not about what didn’t happen, it’s about the fact that our daughters were accomplished, loving and respectful to us as parents and fun to be around and grew up to be such nice people… among many other things. I consider myself an extremely lucky mom because of how close and supportive we are to each other… in the good times and bad.
What’s not to love–this is the best time ever!! Just when parts of your body don’t work as well as they used to and all the rest of the stuff that goes with aging – along come these fabulous little creatures that literally are there for you to love as much as you possibly can and the best part is, they love you right back. Grandchildren are the definition of pure joy and love. It is the reward for all those years of the relentless hard work of parenting and housework.
Our goal as a couple is to be healthy – after that anything is possible. Because now, like in our 20’s, we have our freedom back – decisions are made not because we have to but, because we want to do something. I want to continue to enjoy and be grateful for the life I have for as long as I have it. I spent most of my adult life serving others as a community volunteer and I hope to continue to do that… it is so rewarding.
The breadth and depth of my children’s accomplishments. I am awestruck at the way they manage the complexity of their lives as spouses, parents, friends, daughters and sons, and how they have grown into some of the most decent and interesting people that I am so proud to have in my life. They truly are an inspiration.
Resisting cultural and family pressures to conform to a very narrow definition of what a woman should be in the 1950’s in Belgium. I held onto my dreams to explore the world and to continue developing my own interests. I accomplished that with my Dad’s support and a loving husband who shared that view.
Don’t settle down too quickly, explore, experience, be a bit on the wild side. Some things are meant to be done when you are twenty and settling down is not one of them.
This may be the time to reinvent oneself and reevaluate where the next twenty years will lead to. What new things can one explore or what old dreams as yet unfulfilled can one dig up and revisit and make happen?
The happiest memories always have to do with being together as a family, whether around the dining room table or on a vacation or special holiday. Nothing trumps togetherness and the sharing of experiences — it is binding.
Very much the same as a mom. It is being together with them and watching each grandchild developing their own personality, growing up from little babies to little persons and now that they are older there is the added pleasure of watching them interact when they are together. Can’t wait for those get together times, they are the best.
To stay fully engaged in life. To achieve this goal I have started to mentor students and I just started my first online course to become certified as a navigator for the ACA (Affordable HealthCare Act). But my most important goal and wish is to continue being a part of my children and grandchildren’s life.