the mehallo blog. beta.

Mitchell Hooks was one of the pioneers of the ‘literal’ illustration style employed on pulp paperback covers.

Overview here. Flickr collection here.

And
UK Vintage has a whole photostream of paperback covers in the same genre here. Even more here. And gads, here.

Found via Drawn!

Tags: art, cool finds, design, illustration, publication design by steve
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Gargantuan satellites from the early 1960s. Details.

Plus: Wiki.

Tags: cool finds, design history, education by steve
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Roxy, c.1930

I finally made it over to the Depero 50 exhibit at the Italian Cultural Institute in San Francisco. Discovered many of Fortunato Depero’s originals were an interesting mix of ink washes. Above is his view of NYC from 1930. When he finally visited the overgrown metropolis, it wasn’t the Futurist utopia he’d imagined. Also below, the number composition is a sketch for a series of Futurist pillows.

A great exhibition catalog can be had for only 20 bucks – and thanks to the docents for all their help. Show details.

Exhibition ends December 4, 2009.

Composizioni Numeriche, 1927

Campari, 1933

Italia – Guerra, 1916

Plus
Here’s more Depero over at designboom.

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, education, exhibitions by steve
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Found via Leslie Cabarga

Tags: cool finds, design, design history by steve
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Giacomo Balla (1871-1958) was one of the original Futurists. Above is his 1916 design for a Futurist handbag. And in 1986, Italian accessories manufacturer Borbonese actually interpreted/built the purse out of seude and bakelite (below).

Both will be on display as part of the exhibition Futurismi Futuristi, which opens December 15th, 2009 in Turin, Italy. Details (translated) here.

Found via ItalianFuturism.org; purse images via sfilate.it

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, fashion by steve
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Classical Roman poet Ovid, bauhaus tinkerer Albers, provocative Futurist Marinetti  . . . .

Right now I’m enjoying the electronic music of UK-based Jack Marchment.

Having studied literary classics, Marchment has rechanneled his academic intensity into sound. ‘The whole idea of creating a music super-rich in intertexts is really a product of that approach.’

Consequently, Albers and Marinetti tracks appear on his latest release, the multi-dimensional Who’s Afraid Of Iannis Xenakis.

Aside from ear, the album’s cover (above) caught my eye. Designed by Joanna Lowndes, Marchment admits, ‘I had given her a fairly oppressive brief (with Marinetti at its core), but she delivered a sumptuous result.’

For more, here’s a great album review. One can also snag Marchment’s albums here.

Plus,
MySpace page here. His new label is on MySpace here. Video from his previous album, Corydon and Manjrekar, is below:

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, music by steve
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Out of Weimar, the first home to the bauhaus, is marcel & wassily: the bauhaus label.

The original bauhaus’ manifesto advocated the union of fine, applied and performing arts. This included architecture, civil engineering, design and media. Today, the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar has incorporated the next logical step, the dimension of sound.

Music, radio plays, sound art, experimental radio, electroacoustic constructs. First step: this past summer, a collection of music was distributed at the school on a concrete-cast USB stick via gumball machines. Very bauhaus in its thinking.

The label doesn’t stop with student work. And like the original school, is working with outside resources, bands and artists.

Check out the label’s cool site. Click around, see what pops up.

And here’s some of the USB hosted bands (with links to their MySpace spaces):

New Telepathics

The Awesome Soundsystem

Joe B. Hard & The What?

More artists listed here

Tags: cool finds, design, design history, music by steve
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‘I imagine people go into for making sex’ -posted comment by dario

Once designs are actually built, humans tend to come up with new uses.

Sleepbox by Arch Group. Sleep on the run. Details (and comments) here.

A few years back, my wife – a business traveler – came up with an idea almost exactly like this for a design class she was taking. It involved a lot of plug ins for laptops, connectivity.

I like how these shots have careful incorporation of shrubbery.

Tags: design by steve
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Women in red. Photo by Fischer, 2004

One evening this past June, I went a bit crazy and tweeted a bunch of Bauhaus links. In honor of the design school’s 90th anniversary (founded 1919). History, photosets, auctions, bicycles, fonts, coffee, the Mexican bauhaus, anything interesting I could find online.

Jamie DeVriend collected and conveniently reposted these on her blog.

Happy exploring!

Herbert Bayer circles, 1923. Photo by Ralf Herrmann

Bauhaus greyscales faces tee

Josef Albers, Schablonenschrift. Photo by Ralf Herrmann

Bauhaus Dessau. Photo by Ralf Herrmann

Tags: cool finds, design history by steve
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”It’s a Haushold word, the Bauhaus, but a misunderstood one. Its influence is all around us, from Ikea furniture to glass skyscrapers, but it is credited – and blamed – for much more than it should be.’ -Candace Jackson, Wall Street Journal

The bauhaus was about advanced thinking in design, and it has its successes and failures. It was a great experiment and it changed the world. Its influence can be seen in everything today.

Workshops for Modernity: Bauhaus 1919-1933 just opened in NYC. And the exhibition is about going beyond the basics, show how far reaching the school actually was.

WSJ article here. Exhibition info here. Catalog here. TIME magazine video here. Show runs thru January 25, 2010.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe armchair, 1927-30

Tags: art, cool finds, design, design history, education, exhibitions, typography by steve
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This year is the 90th anniversary of the bauhaus (1919-33). And workshops – titled ‘get on site’ – were held this past summer in Dessau. Here’s a photo gallery.

And here’s info on  . . .  the bauhaus bed and breakfast. Really.

Tags: design, design history, education, events by steve
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