Things #5: Featuring loads of lovely books and a giant stuffed blobfish!

This week’s Things feature is, as ever, full to the brim with some of the super-cool stuff that’s been sent to us in the studio over the past week or two. Including a publication of drawings, a German design magazine, an exhibition catalogue from an upcoming typography exhibition and a beautiful children’s book about the world’s most impressive buildings. Oh yeah, and a giant pink fluffy stuffed blob-fish. We’ve heard it’s been called the world’s ugliest animal so we decided it was time for the humble psychrolutes marcidus to make its slippery way into a article all of its own.

Form Magazine: Issue #252

Established in 1957, Form is a German art and design magazine (with articles translated into English too!) which focuses on trend forecasting for architecture, interior design, product design and sustainability in the Nordic countries. It’s lovely, and it features an illustration commission by our very own Graduate of 2013, Edward Carvalho-Monaghan! We’d recognise those funny little duck faces anywhere.
www.formmag.net

A Form For History: Exhibition Catalogue

Exhibiting typographic material from the forgotten archive of the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, new exhibition A Form For History brings to light an admirable collection of typography from across the 20th Century. For those of us who can’t get over to see the show firsthand, loads of the works are included in this lovely publication. From schoolbooks to industrial handbooks, each example is allowed ample room to breathe, and handy English translations are included, too. This takes a close second place to getting over there to see it with our very own eyes.
www.enformforhistorie.com

Le Petit Néant: Issue #2

This one’s a real beauty! Imagine taking a whole stack of lovely lovely drawings and putting them together in one big publication, and you’ll be somewhere near what Miguel Angel Valdivia does as curator and editor of Le Petit Néant. The drawings range from skeletons gazing at the moon to spooky vacant faces and brilliantly vivid woodcut prints. This is one of those books you could flick through day after day for weeks and still find something new every time.
www.lepetitneant.com

The Story of Buildings: Written by Patrick Dillon, illustrated by Stephen Biesty

Now I can imagine that on first glance, The Story of Buildings might not sound like a tome that you’ll be tripping over your feet to get hold of, but I can assure you that just a couple of minutes flicking through its pages are enough to have you dismissing your first impressions with an impatient flick of the hand. Focusing on some of the most magnificent buildings ever to have been built, and the wondrously talented and diverse people who build them, this book leaves no detail ignored. Stephen Biesty’s illustrations come complete with tiny little people and fold-out pages and diagrams, while Patrick Dillon’s explanations are in-depth but yet simple to grasp. I’m not sure if it’s intended for adults or for children but I desperately want to take it home with me.
www.amazon.com

Hashtag Collectibles: Stuffed Blobfish

Word on the street is that if you Google the word “ugly” a picture of the blobfish comes up. It’s a cruel but apt summary of this miserable deep sea fish, and the kind people of Hashtag Collectibles finally decided that enough was enough and decided to make a giant pink fluffy cuddly toy in its image. It’s sitting next to my computer gazing grumpily at me as I write this post and frankly, I can’t resist its charm for long enough to claim that it’s anything other than weird and hilarious and actually really cuddly.
www.hashtagcollectibles.com