The Bordeaux Pattern

Well as I previously mentioned this pattern went through SO many revisions I thought it was going to be impossible! But here she is, and I think she came out quite nicely. Feels very feminine and fun, just like drinking red wine with your lady friends, (or while drinking red wine in your hot apartment while perusing a Lionel Richie special on PBS - which I may or may not be doing at this moment.)
The pattern is available as a print, as part of the 2008 calendar, as a notecard and now as a notebook, (which I just launched this season).
While at MassArt I took a bookbinding class and I just fell in love with it. I know many graphic designers enjoy the methodical craftsmanship involved in making books. My favorite is the coptic binding which leaves little knots running down the exposed spine of your book. Well back to the notebooks. The large ones are stab bound while the small ones are saddle-stitched with color coordinating staples (I found colored staples and I knew that i needed to do something with them). Each book is handmade in my studio and I think they are just perfect for notes and lists (of which i make a lot). Check them out here...

The Colors of Red Wine

My sketchbooks are filled with "mini-collages". Cutouts from Vouge, Elle and other magazines help me formulate the color schemes and textures that I am looking for. In this case Benjamin Moore and Ralph Lauren chipped in with their paint swatches swiped from Home Depot. I could spend hours playing with all those paint chips...

Adventures on the Wine Route

As previously noted I am quite the bookworm and reading is one of the main ways that I research the "Places I Have Never Been" collection. To learn about the Bordeaux region of France I picked up Kermit Lynch's "Adventures on the Wine Route: A Wine Buyer's Tour of France". There is a chapter per region, and though it was a bit over my head because of my lack of wine knowledge, (I know there is red and white and that white is generally chilled - or that is how I like it), I still very much enjoyed the book.
Lynch talks about Bordeaux being "a land of facades", the biggest one of all being the name chateau, because "many chateaux are nothing but dilapidated sheds in which wine is produced, (reminds me of how loosely the term "luxury condo" is thrown around here in Boston).
Lynch writes of "wine factories", the négociant (middle man) system of Bordeaux, and the lack of female wine makers except for the wonderful Madame de Lacaussade. Some of Amazon.com's reviewers panned the Bordeaux section of this book, saying that the rest of the book was much better. Once I get through it I will let you know.

mmmmm... Cannelés!

The text for the Bordeaux print states that I would eat a tower of cannelés if i was to travel there. Well, in full disclosure, I have an amazing bakery just a few blocks from my home, and they make some great cannelés and I could eat a tower of them there, (or maybe I already have...). Canto 6 is on the corner of Washington and Green in Jamaica Plain, MA and they specialize in "Rustic European Pastry". The cookies (the chocolate cherry), biscuits (ham, carmelized onion and blue cheese), scones (the strawberry), tarts (goat cheese and asparagus), quiches (potato and onion), sandwiches (the franklin park) are amazing. Thank god i have to walk up a big hill to get home. (check out their menu here).
Ok back the the cannelés. It is a small French pastry with a soft and tender custard center and a dark, caramelized crust. The pastry looks like a tiny bundt cake and is approximately two inches in height. This Bordeaux specialty is made from egg, milk and flour flavored with rum and vanilla, the custard batter is baked in a mold, giving the cannelé a caramelized crust and marrowy inside. They remind me a bit of French Toast, only a lot better. If you live in the area stop by Canto 6 (3 cannelés for $1, can't beat that), other wise give them a call... maybe they will ship some to you!
That little lady in the top picture is Agnes, my brother's 7 mth Old English Bulldog and we are dog sitting. She is scared of a lot of things around our house (this is her first trip to the big city) but she certainly isn't afraid of those cannelés!

Bordeaux, France

Well the real inspiration for this print was my dear friend Lisa and her never ending love for a little "Cab Sav" after work. She often mentions this in her blog, which is the funniest thing i have EVER read, (seriously everyone go over and read her blog www.yourgirlfriendisugly.com). We've been friends for a good six years, brought together by my former and her current employer "The Spoil", and have partaken in a good amount of red wine tasting together, (not the "this has notes of blackberry tasting", just the "mmmm... good wine!" tasting). Besides being inspired by my muse Lisa, I did a some reading on the Bordeaux region and tasted some local canelés (I actually plan to go get some more after posting this). I wanted to do a pattern that represented the different shades of red that appear when you swirl your glass of wine. Let me tell you, this pattern did not come easy and took months! I think i did close to 10 revisions, I'm sure Sasso got sick of critiquing them too. But in the end it all came together and you can check it out here.