definatalie.com » vintage design

Friday Fance: Butterflies & absinthe

Natalie — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 23:33:16 +0000

This photograph of Edwardian actress Phyllis Monkman is breathtakingly beautiful. I wish I had a costume like that to muck around in!

I’m not a huge ice cream fan, but I adore how this has been displayed. The flavours include: black sesame, lanvender, melon, sweet adzuki bean, green tea and miso. Photo by M Harrison.

I love posters from the turn of the century, and this one in particular is gorgeous. You can check out more at Le Musee Virtuel de l’Absinthe.

I’m always so excited when businesses go with amazing typography, design and techniques for their branding. Brooklyn bar Franklin Park has its signage stenciled on a wall in “the yard”. I love it.

Similarly, new wedding ideas also make me happy! My sister is getting married later this year so I’ve got an eye out for great ideas for simple table decoration. Photo by Oh Happy Day.

Fanciful Friday

Natalie — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:08:46 +0000

• I’m not sure how I came across The Chintz of Darkness but they post some incredible photographs and illustrations, and have a very funny blog name. If you like ye olde home decor and curious knick knacks and whatsits, you’ll love this blog.

• I really like the hair styling on Zac Posen‘s fall collection. It’d be quite easy to DIY too!

• When I was younger I read my mother’s Vogues and pretended I knew what was going on. In one of them they did a huge profile on Anna Piaggi, and I thought she was just the most amazing looking person I’d ever come across. She is one of my fancy lady icons!

• I love shoulder ruffles like this one, made by OutsaPop Trashion. The OutsaPop blog is amazing for inspiration and ideas!

• Jeremy Clarkson ~~be still my beating heart~~ fancies up a Mercedes S Class and calls it “Anne Hathaway’s Cottage”. I think he is totes secretly fancy, to the point that he’d completely stuff up an awesome car in the name of fanciness.

Post links to your fancy things!!! (Or blog about them and link in the comments, if you like!)

The Future Was Awesome!

Natalie — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 20:59:23 +0000

I just stumbled across these gorgeous illustrations of the year 2000 as drawn in 1910, by way of Paleo-Future. The National Library of France credits these to Villemard, and though they seem laughable at first, when you think about it they’re not far off the mark if you replace the clothing, architecture and technologies with more recent ones.

At School

I was going to be a teacher until I actually started teaching. I saw schools cramming information into kids’ heads and I saw those kids struggling with that. Why can’t we teach them what they want to know, of things they have an actual aptitude for?!

Correspondence Cinema

This one is easy. Web cams?! Video phones?! The future is here… unfortunately ;)

Hearing The Newspaper

We not only have screen readers for visually impaired computer users but pod casts as well!

Phonographic Message

My very own personal bane – voice messages and telephones… ugh!

A Curiosity

I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a horse in its natural environment. They’re trotted out (ha!) for entertainment these days rather than utilised as transportation or simply left to their own free will.

A Rescue

In Australia we have the Royal Flying Doctor Service for rural areas, as well as the CareFlight Group – a helicopter based service for coastal and sea search and rescue missions.

A Chemical Dinner

Of all the illustrations, this rung true the most. We live in an age wherein most of us have no idea where our food is sourced from. Most of it is bog full of chemicals, colouring, preservatives and flavour enhancers. It’s kind of ridiculous if you reflect on it for too long, and makes you more than a little paranoid about what you put in your mouth!

Ye Olde Magazine Covers, or Design before Paris Hilton Ruled Earth

Natalie — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:29:00 +0000

This is still beautiful.
I’d love to be a part of a design and illustration magazine with really old influences like the examples in this post.

If you’re interested in design and typography, check these out… Some of the lettering even looks hand crafted! It’s also interesting to note that there are typefaces used in these that are still used today. I’m always amazed to see very old typefaces in new contexts. Cooper Black is a very strong example of this, however ugly I may think it is. (Actually if you live anywhere near Moorooka in Brisbane, there’s a tyre shop called “Cooper’s Tyres” and the logotype is COOPER BLACK! A designer with a sense of humour obviously!)