Inspiration of the Week

I have to apologize for my Facebook friends for the redundancy of this post, but I've decided that while Facebook is great for sharing fun inspiration with friends, it's not great for archiving those links.

So here are a few things that I found to be really amazing creative work recently:



Luxirare

As I was chatting with someone recently, things that are hand-crafted seem especially precious in today's digital age of mass-production. It even seems a little rebellious, which is why I find this artist/designer/crafts-woman so amazing. I don't even know her real name; she's chosen to be anonymous but has branded her work as "Luxirare." She sometimes models her own fashion wares but keeps her face obscured. But what I really love about her site is that she carefully documents her process, which is always the part I wish were more revealed somewhere when I look at creative work that I like.



I first discovered her set of hand-crafted crayons, composed totally of food items. Do you draw with or eat them?? Also as someone who is generally a little sloppy and poor at physical cutting and pasting things together, I find it all a little insane and impressive.



Some of you may remember my foray into baking where I made cakeball pops? Well those seem terribly amateurish when you check out Luxirare's PIE lollipops. She even crafts some amazing and edgy fashion, such as her crazy-tall platform boots.



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Mouk, by Marc Boutavant



I discovered this children's book at the MoMA gift shop. The pages are abundant with little animal characters, introducing you to little cultural tidbits of daily life in different countries. PLUS it includes a few pages of STICKERS!!!

I'll have to check out his other children's books as well; it's like a new European version of Richard Scarry (which I adored as a child). You could just stare at these pages over and over just to peruse the details, and I love his retro style. P.S. Drawn! is one of my favorite blogs.

It's artists like this that inspired me to recently buy a set of gouache paints to play with.

But I'm having difficulty focusing on a skill to master; aside from the gouache paints, I've got a Flash animation book on my desk, crochet patterns to invent, tap shoes waiting for their first lesson, and don't forget my DS Chinese lessons! Ohh and right now I need to work out and take a nap. And to draw more stickers that I owe my current freelance client. Damn my ADD.

Speaking of which, don't you miss Ace of Base? Don't judge me. This song got me over my first breakup.