BLUECOAT

I grabbed lunch at one of my new favorite spots in the city today — Farmer Brown.

Yummy buffet brunch + live music + great crowd = one happy me. 

We sat at the bar while waiting for a table, and I couldn't stop staring at this one gorgeous sapphire-toned glass bottle, sitting on a shelf that was backlit with the bright Sunday sun. The bartender noticed and brought it down for the shelf so that we could snap a pic. The pattern on the front is etched and though you can't tell from the photo, the logo and type are done in a gold foil.

I have a weakness for gorgeous colored/stained glass, as seen here.

...just some juicy packaging design bits (except for the Liz Taylor one. That's a self-promotional poster) from New York-based design studio, Mogollon.

I love the very graphic touches (b/w stripes, symmetrical shapes) and how they interact with the gold foil and photography.

yumyum.

See more from Mogollon here.

Fruit Brandy Canisters

Fruit Brandy Canister (Front/Back)

Chocolate Glue (Spread)

Vodka flasks

Vodka flask (detail)

Vodka flask (detail)

Multi Noodles Box

Multi Noodles Box (detail)

Honey Tubes

Honey Tube (detail)

Cooking Oil Cans

KOREFE + THE DELI GARAGE

Chocolate sauce in a glue bottle?

Pasta in a screw box?

Truffle oil fit for the Tin Man?

Oh my.

German design agency, Korefe, created these INCREDIBLY LOVABLY CUTE YET MANLY (grrr) designs that I'm simply crazy about. They're for The Deli Garage, so Korefe reflected the company name by housing all of the products in packaging that you might find at your local Aamco.

Unappetizing? Who cares? Pass the honey please!

See more from Korefe here, and The Deli Garage here.

(detail)

HONEY BABY SUGAR CHILD

London-based design firm, Campbell Hay designed these delicious little treats. No, not the cupcakes. The packaging!

Lola's cupcakes get delivered right to your door in this turquoise-lined box with the logo spelled out in what looks like teeny little sprinkles.

Have mercy.

Check more from Campbell Hay, but don't touch that yellow one with the white daisy. It's mine.

A PERFECT NIGHT 

FOR COLTRANE

Tonight, on a whim, I decided to check out a show at the Tribeca Performing Arts Center called Art of the Jazz Soloist. 

Jazz frankly intrigues me – and I think it's because I don't really understand it. Like... At. All. That being said, no other music genre has a way of moving me the way that it does. Its emotional charge is impossible to resist.

The film showed solo performances from the likes of John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker, just to name a few. These performances, mostly taped in Europe from the 50s–70s, were never before made available to an American audience. Until now.

And can you believe that the show was FREE?? I'm all about free these days. Check out part two (also free) of the series on April 13, The Great Jazz Singers. It will feature Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald, among others.

Get more details about the show here.

And so, I leave you with some old Coltrane covers (how fantastic is that Cannonball & Coltrane one??), and one of my favorite songs that he recorded in 1962, featuring Mr. Ellington, here.

You're welcome. :)

WILLIAMSON TEA PACKAGING

Do you love these little guys as much as I do??

I came across these adorable tea packages, and I felt that I had to share. Unfortunately, I don't know who the designer is to give her/him their just due (does anyone out there know?)

The luscious jewel-toned color palette, sweet little gold ornaments, cute elephant toes and floral details make me want to buy the whole collection!

Although the elephants do look a bit peeved, don't they?

HITACHINO BEER

So, here's the thing.

I'm not a beer fan. If I'm handed one, most likely I'm not going to drink 

it (or like it anyway). Can anyone honestly claim that beer actually 

tastes good?

Yeah. I didn't think so.

I am, however, always a fan of cute little owls, and Japanese Hitachino beer packaging has completely stolen my heart with this adorable little guy. I fell for it first time I laid eyes on one of their bottles. I love the sort of crude illustration, the playful color palette and the patterns. 

My fave is the Celebration Ale with the Japanese-style rising sun and mountain in the background. It almost makes me want to drink one. 

Almost.

IRON & WINE / 

THE SEA & THE RHYTHM

....

...SO pretty.

Iron & Wine is singer-songwriter Samuel Beam, and I have completely fallen for the cover design of this 2003 release.

It's so beautifully sensual, I just want to touch it. In a world of too-flashy and overly obvious album covers that are all trying to sell music in an industry that's slowly fading, the quietness and intimacy of this cover seems to speak the loudest.

By the way, those water stains are part of the design.

It was designed by Jesse LeDoux, who also does some VERY cool illustration that happens to be drastically different from the feeling that this cover exudes. 

Lastly, here's another favorite Iron & Wine cover.

TOKYO MILK

I'm a sucker for beautiful packaging. 

Chances are, if a product is packaged in a way that makes my heart skip a beat while I'm walking down the aisle in Duane Reade, I'm taking it home. No questions asked. 

On Friday, before ducking into Kif to meet a friend for dinner, I stopped at a small boutique next door. Inside, I met the most heart-wrenchingly stunning packaging for a perfume/soap line called Tokyo Milk (don't you love that name?). 

I mean, take a look for yourself! I adore that the gorgeous illustrations are printed on the backside of the label, so that it's visible once you turn the bottle around. The type is exquisitely set, the colors are elegant and girly, and I love that it still retains some edge (i.e. skull and bones, bees, etc). It's romantic and soft, but with a bit of a snarl.

The art was created by Denver-based Margot Elena Wells, a self-taught illustrator.

Sidenote: The holidays are coming up....(ahem...)

GUTS, we miss you...

Grace Jones' album packaging (various)

Frankly, her music scares the bejeezus out of me, but LOOK AT HER IMAGING. Raw. Uncut. Uncensored.

My faves are: 

My Jamaican Guy (center column, bottom row) and

Living My Life (top, center)

Nope! Doesn't get better!

Take a look at her 2008 video, Corporate Cannibal:

THE MATCHBOX PROJECT

Born in 2007 in Australia, The Matchbook Project has taken flight over the past couple of years, gaining momentum and buzz along the way. 

Its initiator is a 24-year-old part-time journalist. Her mother collected matchboxes from her travels for 40 years. Seeing the collection inspired her to begin this project. She began decorating matchboxes and inserted unexpected miniature surprises. She anonymously sent them to 20 friends, and then decided to keep the project going my leaving them in public places for other people to discover. 

Since then, her matchboxes have popped up everywhere from Melbourne to Dubai to Los Angeles. You can track the matchbox findings here.

I LOVE THIS IDEA. What an interesting and playful way to tap into a stranger's sense of curiosity...

Here are some of my favorites:

1 Metallic stars

2 Fake mustache

3 Bowling pins

4 Messages in a bottle

Check out more on her blog.

CIGAR ART

Fun Fact #1: Before cigar boxes, cigars used to be sold in bundles covered with pigs' bladders. Smoke on that!

Fun Fact #2: Cigar bands were invented by the Dutch in 1850, to eliminate the problem of getting one's gloves dirty while smoking at the opera.

I've never been a smoker, but all it takes is a faint whiff of cigar smoke and I'm weak in the knees. It's not just the smell...it's everything that's associated with it. A dark and smoky club on a hot Habana night. A black rusty fan buzzes above. A man, tall dark and handsome (of course), enters the room. His hat is pulled over his eyes, and a thick trail of smoke is released from underneath the rim.

OK! So, maybe I've been watching too much Casablanca.

Even more intriguing, perhaps, is the cigar box and label art that accompanies this world. Is there anything more beautiful than these miniature works of art? Gold leaf, heavy embossing, brilliant colors, stunningly detailed patterns, intricate typography....AHHH! And that border on the upper right-hand corner one...

...speechless.