Feeling Downright Neighborly

During the month of July, Plazm pulled up its roots once again and moved offices from the Ford Building on Division and SE 11th to the City Signs Building on SE 3rd street between Pine and Oak. Since then we have been joined by several other creative types occupying other rooms and floors of City Signs. Here's a few of our current neighbors.

Glass Candy - Ida No (vocals) and Johnny Jewel (producers) make music. Here's the pitchfork review for their latest album B/E/A/T/B/O/X released under the Italians Do It Better Record Label.

Ben Stagl - an artist, seasoned metals artisan and patineur, aspiring to make subliminal dreamscapes combining sculpture and new media. His mediums of choice include cast iron, coal, fabric, baloons, performance, video, and installation.

Pow Wow Printing - a collective printing studio specializing in vintage printing techniques. They cut lo-fi vinyl records, draw, paint, design, silkscreen, letterpress, make little plastic sculptures and allow a small child access to a snare drum.

---

Share

Post-Graffiti Collage

Poster Boy cuts and pastes ads in the NYC subways. Recently nabbed by the NYPD, Henry Matyjewicz claims to be just one of the individuals involved in the Poster Boy movement. You too can be a Poster Boy. Mix it up. Nice interview at Gothamist.

---

Share

Destination DIY

Julie Sabatier is a very cool and busy person. She creates the interesting podcast "Destination DIY", an exploration of all things (you guessed it) DIY in Portland. Past topics include zines, art, gardening, death, food, and many, many more. If you are in search of a new podcast to listen to in the car, at work, or while folding laundry check it out here. Julie also works as a producer at OPB, and has a few stories airing there soon, so keep your ears out.

---

Share

House Industries Girard Collection

House Industries just released a new collection of typefaces and designed objects inspired by the work of mid-century designer Alexander Girard.

As a textile designer for Herman Miller from 1952 to 1973, Alexander Girard collaborated with Charles and Ray Eames and George Nelson to form what is widely known as the "Camelot" of design. In the mid-century era of Modernist sterility, Girard's folk art sensibilities softened the hard edges of the prevailing style. His love for typography and use of illustrative lettering was evident in his personal work as well as high-profile pieces such as the renowned International Love Heart.

In creating its own interpretation of the Girard aesthetic, House Industries undertook an extensive research project, exploring four decades of the designer's work archived at Vitra in Germany and Herman Miller in Zeeland, Michigan. A pilgrimage to New Mexico unearthed more reference materials, including Girard's famous Unitarian Church mural in Albuquerque, his collections at the Folk Art Museum in Santa Fe, and more treasures at the home of the Girard family.

For the Alexander Girard fonts, House Industries designers took inspiration from a variety of source materials and the variety shows, as does their obvious love for Girard's work. Definitely worth a look!

---

Share

Lux RIP

Lux Interior passed away sometime on February 4, 2009. An amazing performer with a singular vision. Survived by his wife and band mate, Poison Ivy. Back in 1995 Lux and Poison Ivy allowed us to reproduce their McDonald's applications in Plazm #10. You can see both of them here. The influence of The Cramps on modern music history can't be underestimated. Stay sick.

---

Share

For The Birds

Larytta - Souvenir de Chine - Video directed by Körner Union

---

Share

My Art up at Stumptown Downtown in PDX

Come check out my art up all the month of February at Stumptown Downtown. I made almost 70 paintings in 20 months on a variety of different themes, such as: passing, prop 8, the moon, yoko, the tarot etc etc etc.

---

Share

Skate Uganda

Following up on the Afghanistan skate story, here are some folks—the Uganda Skateboard Union—championing the societal benefits of skateboarding. There's a video of the making of their skate park as well.

---

Share

Attn: E-Thugs

You all know it's true.

And what better a way to step up your e-cred than showing off your digitally diamond-encrusted anything? For all you internet gangsters out there with your USB flash-drives dangling from your gold chains, I recently stumbled upon an online photoshop tutorial on how to ice out anything you please. Go on. Pimp your ride. You know you want to.

---

Share

Neon Sign Graveyard

As I am more of a typography nerd than a gambler, these pictures of The Las Vegas Neon Sign Graveyard are almost enough to make me book a ticket to Sin City.

---

Share

Sarah Beetson

In August-September '08, I was lucky enough, along with my illustration partner Olivia Edith Fuente, to have a show with the Melbourne-based Sarah Beetson. Her work is amazing fresh and as delicious as 2-D as possible. Here is a link to more of her work.

---

Share

Moji Salvage

Check out Néojaponisme's collection of "fanshee" ("fancy") Japanese lettering in their Moji Salvage collection.

This style of lettering is mainly found on signage for cafés, “snack bars”, cake shops, and assorted 1950s-1990s service-oriented businesses across Japan. It is intended to be sophisticated, but just as often comes across as tawdry in the contemporary context.

Similar in tone to the "moderne" lettering that Ed Fella rendered in Detroit in the 1960s and 1970s, ファンシ lettering/characters are an exciting and little-explored branch of the global family of lettering.

---

Share

Idea Magazine lecture: Emil Ruder

Idea Magazine is hosting a lecture on the work of Swiss typographer and design educator Emil Ruder on Valentine's Day in Tokyo. More.

Entrance is limited to 120 folks. ¥700 admission. Aoyama Books Omotesando flagship store.

---

Share

Obsessive Consumption

I recently discovered the work of Kate Bingaman-Burt, and was surprised (but not too surprised) to find out she lives in Portland, OR, and teaches graphic design at PSU. She draws her daily purchases and they provide a different take on consuming altogether.

Visit Kate's website here.

---

Share