Semi-Retired

Painting from an earlier exhibition title Recess

James Jean is a hard working, dedicated illustrator come artist extraordinaire! He spoke recently at the Semi Permanent design conference with intelligence, confidence and wit

Semi-permanent brings to Auckland an array of extremely talented creatives and James Jean is no exception.

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September 8th, 2009 | Reta | Art, Commentate, Illustration, Inspiration | 1 Comment |

Mmmelbourne

City of Melbourne logo

If I had to pick one thing that I absolutely love to do in my job, hands down it would be branding. Branding matters the most – it’s the smiling face, the moving lips and even the winking eye of a company that wants to communicate with its customers. In a world of so much choice and competition, brands are the most effective way of cutting through the noisy clutter to reach people’s hearts and minds.

So in a time with so much talk of recession this and recession that… it’s refreshing to see a supermodel strut through the crowd, stop and give you a wink.

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September 7th, 2009 | Aaron | Commentate, Inspiration, Marketing | 3 Comments » |

Feel the love

aroha2

I gave Dad a 6 pack of combs for Fathers Day once, as you can imagine, Dad was stoked. Might I redeem myself 20 years later with this cool and solid statement? There’s no beating around the bush, it’s to the point. And it helps that the point is cut out of wood, which is perfectly manly…

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August 31st, 2009 | Stacey | Commentate, Kiwiana, Where’d that $ go? | No Comments |

Simple wins!

watch1

So, I found this really sexy watch by Issey Miyake, but for some reason I can’t purchase in NZ. So this little number will have to do instead.

toolate2

And the more I look at it, the more I can’t wait for it too arrive. It’s so simple. Comes in a million shades of ‘look-at-me’ including a highlighter/fluorescent range. Yummo. Yup, the more simple it is, the more successful. It’s also waterproof, perfect for my swimming challenge.

toolate1

As for NZ watch importers, why can’t we see Issey in the shops here?

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August 23rd, 2009 | Stacey | Commentate, Where’d that $ go? | No Comments |

ABC

12342

When I was a little tacker, I’d get so amped about gift giving, that come MY birthday, I would buy presents for everyone else. I’d slave over the wrapping, trying to do flashy things with dried macaroni and milk bottle tops, what a weirdo. Anyhoo, I’m still kinda holding onto that a little. And so, with 14 friends having had babies in the past year, I’ve decided to continue with mass gift giving and designed an ABC123 poster. Being a designing Mum, I’ve developed a fetish for ABC’s. Guess that’s natural. Or not. But anyway. Here it is.

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August 23rd, 2009 | Stacey | Colour, Commentate, Make, Print, Typography | No Comments |

You should get a Perm!

perm1

Or maybe just a Semi-perm? I did on the weekend and it was awesome!

But, I’m not talking about that fad 80’s hair do! I’m talking about Semi-Permanent. The super cool, two day design conference held up north in the big smoke of Auckland city. A momentous event in the design calendar, that is looked forward to every year!

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August 17th, 2009 | Reta | Art, Commentate, Designers, Inspiration, Photography | 1 Comment |

Art with a Heart

ebb_tide1

Every now and then something will not only catch my eye, but perhaps even bring a tear to it. There are some amazing people out there doing phenomenal things, you only need to flick through a copy of dumbo feather (one of our favs!) and you will be filled with inspiration from people making art with meaning. I stumbled across artist Ray Ceaser on the weekend. At first glance his work seems dark, moody and surreal with a eerie frankenstein quality. It was the meaning behind his work however that got me. You may look his art and be puzzled as to where the heart is, but it is a perfect example of never judging a book by its cover….

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August 10th, 2009 | Vicky | Art, Commentate, Illustration, Inspiration | No Comments |

Colourful Surprises

homesweethome

Again I fell down the rabbit burrow that is the internet and found myself in a wonderland of colours and colour combinations. They came together in amazing photography, some illustrations and even in logos. Some of these combinations were so yummy you just wanted to pick them off the screen and gobble them up.

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August 10th, 2009 | Aaron | Colour, Commentate, Inspiration | No Comments |

Warm Afro Fuzzies

bill01

Sesame Street and The Electric Company give me warm fuzzies… I tracked down a clip and turned it into a poster for my alphabet loving 2yr old. I am quite taken with Bill Cosby’s vest. Vest? It’s a man-pinafore really. Mani-fore…

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August 6th, 2009 | Stacey | Commentate, Inspiration, Make | No Comments |

Nostalgia

Miffy hearts everythink

Have you ever noticed how people love talking about there favourite books from when they were a kid, or telling you how upset they got when Atreyus’s horse died in the swamp of sorrows in the Neverending Story or how good they were at Commander Keen on their Commodore 64, or in my case Leisure suit Larry once you cracked the code to prove you were over 18. Nostalgia is something that can make everyone smile…

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July 30th, 2009 | Vicky | Commentate | 2 Comments » |