He Knew All The Words

Well well well, look who finally got his face in some society pages (scroll down a bit). The book we published about Romain de Plas was the cause for a lovely celebration at Archivia Books. This is a fantastic independent bookstore on the Upper East Side, a real gem of a place, run by the wonderful Cynthia Conigliaro. She did it up right for us and everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

In related news, I am quoted in this article about de Plas in The Lo-Down, an online magazine about the Lower East Side, where de Plas lived and worked for a good amount of time. He spoke in an interview of not knowing what to make of Downtown, having spent much time abroad and most of his New York time to that point Uptown. Personally, I can’t think of a better place for an artist than Downtown Manhattan. But he had a true artist’s soul, which lived in its own world and by its own rules. I’m glad the show and the book are beginning to get a bit of press. It’s a project I’m very proud to have had a hand in.

I don’t blog about my day-job often, but today we finally updated the portfolio on our website. When I take a look at the body of our recent work all together I have to say I’m pretty proud of what we’ve been up to lately. If you’re curious check out the portfolio here. In the meantime, here are a few highlights:

New design for the information-rich website of Galerie St. Etienne, a prominent 57th Street gallery. My contribution to the project was a completely re-thought editorial structure for the site:

Catalog for MoMA’s fascinating survey of drawing through the 20th century. The cover has an unexpected rhythm, and I wish this picture showed the spine — which just has a simple line right down the middle:

Catalog for The Morgan Library & Museum on the art collection of Kasper — the fashion designer and bon vivant (and personal friend of mine). Michelle made two different jackets to show off the dual nature of the collection — drawing and photography:

Catalog for L&M Arts’ show comparing the work of Calder and Tanguy. Mark’s typography and use of color in this book is about the best our studio has ever produced:

Years ago, when I started this blog, I asked my dad to contribute by writing down some family stories to be posted in his own section of the site. He came through in a major way — writing two dozen stories that told of his growing-up days on the East Side of Youngstown, Ohio and of our family’s development from immigration through today. His blog is called Concettina Died and Other Stories of the East Side because he had always said if he were to write a book, that would be the title.

So this year, after Dad updated the site with two new stories, I started to think it was time to compile them into an actual book, and to flesh them out a bit with illustrative photos that would help bring to life all the wonderful characters in these tales. With the help of friends and family who sent me the images and helped out with various bits of fact-checking, I pulled it together in time for Christmas. Dad was surprised and delighted to see his work take this new form, and my family had a wonderful time over the holiday enjoying the book and reminiscing about the events in the stories.

The book was produced using print-on-demand technology from Blurb.com. It was edited and designed by yours truly. And it’s available for purchase by anyone who wants one. Concettina Died is an 80-page, fully-illustrated 8-by-10-inch volume. It is available in both hardcover and softcover. Here is an online preview of the book.

If you’d like to order one for yourself, you may do so here:
Hardcover edition
Softcover edition

Enjoy!