Mike Abbink

22 April 2009

The designer and typographer Mike Abbink dropped by Dwell today for a quick chat. Mike’s wife Jeanette Hodge Abbink was the founding Creative Director of Dwell. Mike used to be a familiar sight around the Dwell offices. So, it was a treat to see him today and to catch up briefly.

Recently, Mike kindly flowed me a beta version of his newest font Milo Serif. If you pick up The Arkitip Intel Newspaper Supplement and flip to my spread you can see Milo in use. Check FontShop to see more of Mike’s handy work. Thanks Mike!

Yee-Haw Industries

26 March 2009

A few weeks back, I traveled to Knoxville, TN to speak at The University of Tennessee. This gave me a really good excuse to drop in on my friends at Yee-Haw Industries. Yee-Haw is a letterpress studio run by Kevin Bradley and Julie Belcher that specializes in custom hand printed posters. They pride themselves in cranking all of this work by hand and are not afraid of a little sweat and elbow grease required to create this work. Beautiful stuff! They’ve been really busy since we last crossed paths, I barely recognized the place for all of the new equipment and posters covering the walls.

Here are a few shots of the print shop:

Some big type!

Dwell at CCA

11 February 2009

I will be discussing Dwell tonight at CCA. If you’d like to learn a bit more about some of my past work as well as the ins and outs of design at Dwell drop by Timken Lecture Hall at 7 PM.

Timken Lecture Hall
California College of the Arts
San Francisco campus
1111 Eighth Street, San Francisco, CA 94107

Weekend Update

5 February 2009

I recently returned from a long weekend in NYC and New Haven. While in New York, I took part in the judging of SPD 44 an annual competition which brings together magazines from across the US and abroad. Though the international set do make an appearance the bulk of the entires are primarily US based. Next year, I’d love to see favorites Esquire UK, Apartamento, and Fantastic Man make an appearance. The show also provided a good opportunity to meet up with a lot of industry peeps. Working out of SF at times can feel like an island, so it was nice to be in NYC where so many magazines are published. With that said, there was an unsettled feeling among the crowd due to the economy and the impact that is having throughout the publishing community. Most conversations start with a sobering “How many pages you got next month?”

During down time, I met up with friends from American Craft and Saffron. I also checked out the New Museum on Bowery Street. The New Museum is the Japanese architecture firm Sanaa’s second US commission. If you’re familiar with NYC you’ve certainly seen this building as it resembles a series of offset metallic stacked boxes.

Outside of design and cycling, my other major interest would be coffee. Over the weekend, I really wanted to track down this little cafe on 1st Avenue and 7th Street called Abraco. This cafe was started by a former Blue Bottle barista from SF. Worth the journey: a very good cup to be had here!

After finishing up judging on Sunday, I hopped the Metro North to New Haven to drop in on my friend who is pursuing an MFA in GD from Yale. Here are a few shots to round out the trip. The Beinecke Library on the Yale campus by Gordon Bunshaft was the highlight!

The New Haven Rail logo was designed by Herbert Matter. So solid!

How We Make Dwell

22 January 2009

I recently returned from a Dwell press check in Waseca, Minnesota the home of our printer, Brown. Waseca is located two hours south of Minneapolis where hockey is king and ice fishing is the norm especially this time of year. Here is a selection of shots from the weekend and a sneak peek at our March cover. If you’re in need of a web press I’d definitely recommend these guys.

A Sunday In Hell

8 January 2009

Phillip Wood from Citizen Citizen turned me onto this film a few of days ago. A 1976 documentary by Danish filmmaker Jorgen Leth chronicles the Paris-Roubaix bicycle race which is largely considered one of the most grueling of the “cycling classics.” The “Hell” in the title refers to the terrain…”Much of the latter portion of the race takes place over “pave”: narrow, cobbled tracks that become choked with dust on dry days and treacherously slick and muddy on rainy days. For the riders it’s a challenge simply to keep going without puncturing a tire or crashing on the difficult cobbled roads.” Roger de Vlaeminck won the race four times topping both Eddy Merckx and Francsesco Moser who each have three.

More clips from the film can also be found here.

Pen Pencil Stencil

30 December 2008

I recently received a selection of t-shirts and stickers from my friend Mark Giglio. Mark and I met when we were both working at Apple a few years ago. He is an amazing illustrator — full of ideas and has contributed illustrations to several past issues of Dwell. Recently, Mark opened a studio and online store under the name Pen Pencil Stencil. Here you’ll find a selection of wallpapers, t’s, and quirky triangular calendars (download and fold).

A couple of the t-shirts are also available through 2k by Gingham. If you haven’t been there in a while definitely worth a look as they continue to add new artists and designers to the mix.

Utopia by the Sea

13 December 2008

Check out the NYTimes today, there you’ll find a really nice article about Sea Ranch — one of my all time favorite escapes from San Francisco. The architecture is revered for its relationship to the environment. Truly an amazing place to spend a weekend lounging by the sea and a spectacular drive up Highway 1.

The Mollusk Family Poster Show

5 December 2008

Mollusk surf shop is having a poster show this Saturday aptly titled the “The Mollusk Family Poster Show.” The show will feature a limited run of screen prints with a select group of artist that have been associated with the surf shop/gallery since the beginning. Several of the artist have also appeared regularly on “Intelligence” blog and throughout past issues of Arkitip. Participating artist include: Thomas Campbell, Jeff Canham, Kyle Field, Christopher Gentile, Rachel Kaye, Alex Kopps, John McCambridge, Geoff McFetridge, Serena Mitnik-Miller, Jay Nelson, Nathaniel Russell, Jeff Scharf and Todd St. John. See you there!

Thomas Campbell

Geoff McFetridge

Jeff Canham

Saturday, December 6th, 7-10 pm
Music, the “Bay Gulls”

Mollusk Surf Shop
Irving and 46th, SF CA
Be green, take the N

Simple Pleasures

2 December 2008

Ok. Recently, I’ve really enjoyed browsing this blog so, I thought I’d post it here. It’s pretty simple nothing but images with a wide variety of subject matter. My assumption is that all of the images are pulled from the web over time and culled here for your viewing pleasure. Nice to see these pulls all in one place! Get your scroll on!