Our dining room doubles as a watercolor studio these days. Botanical art being a big part of the weekend. It’s no wonder that a stop at Bower Studio’s booth at the Renegade Craft was mandatory. Vincent Frano and Isa Wang screen their delicate and intricate designs on patches, pins, bags, scarves and cards. The best part, the paper stock is seeded, therefore plantable. Who doesn’t want a greeting card that turns into a bunch of wildflowers? The above set of wild mushroom prints are unmatted, original ink drawings with digitally collaged watercolor that is printed with Epson archival inks on textured Fabriano watercolor paper. The essence of their craft is humbly articulated in their website description. “…to create functional artwork that encourages environmental stewardship, highlighting the diversity of American flora and fauna with educational products that use environmentally friendly materials.” We kind of LOVE that.
More Design Stuff
Extra Large Pizza Pie T-Shirt
You love 🍕. Your family loves 🍕. Your best friend loves 🍕. Yet none of you have an Extra Large Pizza Pie T-Shirt yet. You’re now wondering, “Why don’t I have one and how do I fix it.” We have an answer in an easily clickable black button below but before we get there, let’s talk design. Many pizza T-shirts are junked up with puns or funny sayings that get old by about the third wearing. You don’t need a shirt that references a 90’s rap star (slice slice baby) or one that states the obvious (I like pizza and maybe like 3 people). Other designs showcase a gooey, dripping slice or round pie. This we can get behind but it’s, as we used to say in the ad biz, too on the nose for an every week wear. Our pizza shirt, yet bold, has a classic, simplistic expression of this beloved and universal delicacy. We personnally love it because it’s the best street food of all time and our home town’s food icon. Regardless of your connection to this treat, and we know you have one, this soft, comfy Tee comes in a myriad of colors so you can dial up or down your boldness in statement. Makes a great gift for the slice junky in your circle and, if that’s you, well treat yourself. Think of it like a couple extra toppings on that next corner shop slice.
Felted Food Friends by Hanna Dovhan
Crafting should be renamed. The term conjures images of grandma’s knitting ornaments and hoarding bottle caps for a new macrame frame idea. Well, thanks to ETSY and Renegade the definition needs to be reworked. In fact, let’s just call these people what they are, artists. Case in point is what Ukrainian artist Hanna Dovhan does with felt. Themed after our own stomach, her Felted Food Friends Series is most possibly the cutest collection of non-edibles we’ve seen this year. They sell out quick so get dibbs while you can.
Pizza Battle T-Shirt
This week we tuned into Marc Maron interviewing Michael Rappaport. The conversation started with city pizza preferences. The topic popped because they both now live in LA but Maron spent years in NYC and Rappaport was born and bread on straight 80’s hip-hop culture. Pizza is a cultural thing as much as it’s a quick food hit. Even though they netted out thinking the war is bunk, since artisanal food culture has made everything really good in most major cities, we still like the idea of drawing a line in the marinara. This Pizza Battle T-Shirt will do just the trick the next time we have to fly to Chicago. Although, you wouldn’t catch me wearing this in Naples. Those guys will take a life for an offense of this magnitude.
Po-Boy Poster
Dirty Coast is one of our favorite New Orleans shops. Dedicated to all things NOLA, the Po-Boy Poster ranks as one of our favorites. We love deconstructions. We flip out over exploded views. We think sandwiches are a food group. I don’t think this needs more explanation but this 12.5 X 14.5, french paper, Po-Boy Poster gives the newbee a crash course in components and construction. If you decide to give this as a gift please be sure to explain what “dressed” means and insist that if ordered “dressed” is mandatory.