fugu fugu news

Unique LA Local Love

2012-01-26T12:09:00.000-08:00

that's a lot of L's. :)

unique la

2012-01-25T18:34:00.000-08:00

oh my freaking goodness.

It has been almost TWO MONTHS since Unique LA holiday event,

but it's been such a crazy couple of months for us, that i went temporarily

insane (ken can attest to this), and just now coming back to real world.

It was an amazing event, so many people came and said hi,

including him. BIG THANKS to all of you!!!

Here are some pics... sorry it's not as fresh now.. aahgh

our booth!

and our always fantastic booth mate, Ribbit Stopit :)

..and their cool new chest prototype!!

Wally with his cool shirt. and Carrie's beautifully designed and printed

cards. Can't wait for your new website!!!

Ms. Emmie fomato herself. didn't get a clear shot of her pretty self. dang

I think the man next to her is checking her out...

The fantastic Lulu Dee. I am such a fan!!!! so good.

Great calligraphy stamps by Paper Pastries.

Fabulous designs by Ash. Oh I remember when he was

just a young kid.. ha!

And of course, cutest thing at the whole event :)

I will do a next blog sooner. I promise.

past couple of weeks

2011-11-26T16:56:00.000-08:00

we must've been so stressed out about our open studio

being possibly rained out, we went into a hibernation mode

after. ok that's not really true. we've been up to

a few things, including:

patchwork

ken and alex working the table

our lovely customers

our friends kris&alan's wedding at ace hotel

in palm springs. it was our first time staying there and

the rumors are true, it's great.

morgan lounging in our room's patio

... and the bed

hello welcome to my establishment

cooper looking casually hip

and then we had a little studio visit at our printshop

with the young people of AIGA USC.

thanks so much for coming out in the rain!!

this has been a super lazy update by shino.

Open Studio!

2011-11-07T21:20:00.000-08:00

Fugu Fugu Press Open Studio 2011!

Dear Rain,

Thank you for not spoiling our Open Studio event. Thank you for stopping promptly at 11:00am and starting back up again right at 4:45pm, just as we were wrapping things up for the day. We know. We owe you a big one.

ken and shino.

Whew... we had a close one this year! Whenever one plans something outside in November, one takes a risk with rain. We so lucked out this time around! Thanks SO MUCH to all our vendors for showing up even though the forecast called for one rainy, gloomy, yucky day. The faith paid off! We ended up with a nice day with mostly just fluffy clouds and enough sun to warm everybody up and lift our spirits...

As in the past, we were glad to have our crafty compadres there showing off their amazing stuff. RibitStopit showed off their fancy wares for the kids...

Alissa with jewelry and wishing rocks...

Marilyn and Catharine...

Connie...

Kimiko's designs...

Wolfum...

And there were lots of snacks, and printing demos, and folks wanderin' about..

And lots of little ones...

And, of course, doggies...

We were really glad to have great music. Our friends Pam and Robert were visiting and treated us to some delightful Brazilian choros and gypsy swing to get things started.

Richard, Clarence, Geoff and Mark picked it up from them and kept us swingin' throughout the afternoon.

Our friend Scott Steen had his trumpet handy and sat in on a coupla' tunes..

And of course, I had to sit in on a couple of tunes too...

And while we wandered about, we were really glad to have our friend Carlie ringing people up and holding down the fort for us..

Thanks to everybody for showed up and helped us have such a great day!

LA Printer's Fair 2011

2011-10-03T23:10:00.001-07:00

So here are more pics from the Printer's Fair.

These colorful signs spelled out with giant printed letters

were everywhere at the fair. So cheerful.

Love seeing our friends, especially just across the isle :)

Hi Brad!

Hi Carrie!

Madeleine looking very cool giving demos.

Sharon has the cutest cards.

my snack. green tea cream filled oreo sticks, and green tea.

yumolicious

Just Vandy. Cool new-to-me line.

Love these super retro inspired cards by Sixpenny Press.

So I just watched Bill Cunningham New York.

There were girls in cute clothes. I had a camera.

the cutest

Here are my loot. Jill K's awesome pop up card.

cute happy bear dude by Anemone Letterpess.

..and the Sixpenny press cards. yay!

It was a super fun day. Thank you SO much everyone who came

to see me!! It was talking to you guys.

See you at the next event!!!

printer's fair

2011-10-01T11:12:00.001-07:00

hanging out at the print museum, in carson. lots of people here... more pics later

-- Post From My iPhone

printer's fair

2011-09-14T23:54:00.000-07:00

We'll be at the Printer's Fair again this year!

Come see us and a bunch of big ol' presses.

Fun activities for kids of all ages.

Lots of other great venders including Anemone Letterpress,

Papermum Press, Joie Studio, Krank Press, Tiselle, and

Maginating Letterpress + Design.

letterpress of pray

2011-09-07T22:55:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned in Twitter (to all two of you who read it),

we have contributed some prints for a charity show in Fukuoka, Japan.

.. and the local news paper featured the event! Big YAY.

Thank you Bluemoon Letterpress and Heartfish Press for

organizing this. Hope the show is a big success!!

packages

2011-09-07T22:26:00.001-07:00

Got two packages in the mail yesterday. Two!! Both via

US Postal Service. Who says people don't send things from

post offices any more?

First one was from Mr. Drunken Master himself.

Yay! Got the new shirts. Beautiful silk screened artwork

on the back. yeah

Now I can pretend to be one of the cool kids.

The other one was from Ayumi, Ai, and Kathryn of

Handmade for Japan. This was so unexpected and SO pretty.

You can get your own on their Etsy site after Sept. 12.

Thank you girls!!

some new stuff

2011-07-25T20:56:00.001-07:00

i've finally updated some stuff on the website, and
uploaded new cards on our etsy store. Woohoo!!
More new stuff to come in the coming months.
While I was doing that, Ken worked in the yard, and Morgan
napped.

a summer day

2011-07-06T22:35:00.000-07:00

I stayed home today to work with our bookkeeper, and

saw outside the window:

Then in the evening, I went over to Carrie & Wally's where they

generously picked for us, along with beautiful blood oranges, giant:

(grapefruits)

Which of course we turned into:

Suuper yum.

Thank you Carrie! Nice meeting you mooki & odie!!

stuff

2011-06-27T10:48:00.000-07:00

Speaking of Dwelly things, we also read and drool all over

sites like Remodelista and The Brick House.

So in our low budget way, we've been slooowly acquiring things

here and there to make our place more dwelly... at least in our minds.

This is very vain and self-indulgent. I know. So I would skip this post

entirely if I were you. We hate that 'things' make us as happy

as they do. but they do. sadly. so here we go.

We found these Dear Deer wall hooks during our last trip

to Japan and couldn't resist. They reminded us of our dog.

We've been wanting to do this "cactus garden in a big shallow pot" thing

forever, but couldn't find the right bowl anywhere, until we asked our

landscape designer friend Gavi - she sent us to Rolling Greens in

Culver City and there it was. Ken modified it a bit with some

concrete or something so it has a smooth rim.

Bullet planter from dwr. I think I got it for Ken as a Valentine's

day gift. The snake plant (Sansevieria) seemed to us like a

good fit. He drilled a drainage hole in the bottom.

Yeah yeah, of course the Nelson bubble lamp. It was a splurge.

Bought during their lighting sale at Room & Board.

Got these big soft pillows in felty material from Unison at Dwell

on Design over the weekend. Been looking for something like

that so I am super happy. Using it right now.

The knock-off Barcelona chair was a payment for a shoot that our

friend did at our place. I guess we take payments in furniture.

Teak dwr table and the knock-off eames chairs are both

craigslist finds. The big crazy ass palms in the backround (known to

some as "Kentia" or "Howea" palms, says Ken) are generous gifts from

some of Ken's students who moved away.

Oh and the edison bulbs.

Ok I'll stop now.

dwell on design '11

2011-06-26T17:15:00.001-07:00

so being a subscriber of dwell and fans of dwelly things,

we had to go and check out dwell on design.

One of the first things that we saw there was Brendan's chicken coop

(Here he is last year). Brendan wasn't there so Ken decided to be in the

picture instead.

Terri Planty terrerium.

Seeing more ping pong related stuff around lately.

A bunch of well dressed people looking into toilets. I could put a

silly caption here, like 'wow, look at the size of that one!', but

I won't, because I'm polite.

Nice wooden cabinet to store more wood.

Cute monkey dude and pillows at Bobby Berk Home booth.

Maybe if we keep blogging about these Caleb Siemon lamps,

they'll give us one.

Art performance/benefit

Fleet ceramics.

ecofabulous house.

We also met a super nice girl at Maude Press table.

It was great talking to you Amanda! Thanks for all the info!!

biz cards

2011-06-26T15:26:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to blog this, especially now that Chandra

has kindly mentioned it here.

I was so impressed with all the amazing business cards we

received from people at the stationery show, and here are just

a few of my favorites:

clock wise from top left:

pie bird press, wildhorse letterpress, heartfish press, erika firm

of delphine and creative socal, knock knock, Brandon's awesome

'professional jerk' card printed by power and light press,

a really pretty silk screened feather image one that i have

since misplaced and have no idea who it came from (aaaah

so sorry!!!), pulp creative paper, anemone letterpress,

metal mermaid, aisle candy, give-away card from wildhorse, and

lettered olive. All are letterpress printed except for

knock knock, the feather one, and pulp creative.

belated update

2011-06-19T22:16:00.000-07:00

after the Stationery Show, we did some touristy things with my

parents who were visiting from Japan. One of which was

this:

Ken's version of this photo.

And after NY, we rode the train out to MA to see

our friends who live in this beautiful giant old house.

Some music playing ensued. Little baby Miya rocked the hardest.

Thank you Ann, Kimi, and Miya for your hospitality!!!

Can't wait to return the favor :)

nss 2011

2011-05-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

ok finally a recap of the Stationery Show. Here are some of

awesome stuff we saw.

Anemone Letterpress

Wildhorse Press

Ilee Papergoods.

Fantastic new line by Carolyn Suzuki.

RedCamper

Spitfire Girl

We had great neighbors again. Not only great with helping our

days go by quicker by goofing around, but also very talented.

Sadly we couldn't find any pics of our next door neighbor

Banquet Atelier & Workshop :( .. but they got great blog coverage here.

Super cute and talented sisters of Fawnsberg next door on the other side.

Their letter sheet sets are amazing, and the hand-carved sign is just

awesome.

Bright and friendly Nicole of nic studio across the way.

Kimberly also across the way makes colorful and playful Miximals cards.

... and of course, there were lots of familiar faces we loved seeing.

wish we could hang out with all these people more.

see you guys again next year (or sooner)!

ICFF

2011-05-18T21:12:00.001-07:00

we got a chance to walk around in ICFF before the stationery show.

Here are some pics from it.

Qlocktwo clocks. The iPhone app looks pretty cool too.

We don't have it though.

Plumen lights.

Crazy big metal booth. Can't remember the company but

they make metal stuff. duh

Concrete ping pong table. Why? I don't know.

Modern chicken coop. Uh.. no, Ken.

Oh yes Mr. Nakashima. Only if we could..

So pretty. Why aren't all of them hanging in our dining room?

Oh yeah we can't afford them.

(caleb siemon banded orb pendants)

Jonathan Adler throws.

Felt wall covering and sign in vitra booth. There is no such

thing as too much felt.

No such thing! (elastic co.)

...aand it's over

2011-05-18T11:32:00.001-07:00

break-down time. ken took a nap while waiting for our crate. nss recap coming soon!

-- Post From My iPhone

unique la spring '11

2011-05-09T23:33:00.001-07:00

we had a great time at Unique LA this past weekend.

BIG THANKS to everyone who came to our booth!!!

Once again we shared a booth with Alex and her husband John.

Love their new walnut animals. Scored the doggie. yeah

And here are some highlights of other venders.

Wolfum, aka Annabel and Brendan. - these pillows are just a tiny little

part of the big amazing collection they create.

Two Hand Design. She makes all these on her table top

press. Nice meeting you Victoria!!

Amazing screen printed pillows and cards by Erin.

Small Adventure. I love her drawings and animal paintings. So good.

Both of these girls (Erin and Keiko) are so freaking inspiring.

Pretty purses and wallets by Yellow Wallpaper Handmade.

Handmade by one talented person.

It was fun seeing the familiar faces of our friends and catching up

as usual ( Tissell, Dee&Lala, Papermum, Panorama Press, DeMilo

Design...). See you guys at the next show!!

nss here we come

2011-05-04T22:24:00.000-07:00

so the crate has been packed and shipped. we still have tons

of stuff to do, like participating in Unique LA this weekend, but

at least the crate part is done. Thank you John YET AGAIN for

making awesome booth and crate for us!!!!

unique la

2011-04-24T18:15:00.000-07:00

we're going to be at up-coming Unique LA!

I've put up posters on our printshop windows and people have been

totally stopping to look. Please come say hello - we will

once again be sharing a booth with ribbit stopit!

handmade for japan

2011-04-22T23:48:00.000-07:00

printed these a couple of weeks ago for Handmade for Japan.

and the result

2011-04-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

... coming to the stores near you this holiday season!

well if not then at least to our online shop.

design process

2011-04-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

I have been asked a couple of times before about my design
process, so here is an example.
This is a case where I scan the actual drawing, as opposed to
doing the whole thing in Illustrator.

I draw the idea on a paper.

Then scan it into Photoshop. Using the magic wand, I select the
lines, convert selection into points, then export to Illustrator.
There's probably a better way to do this but I only know this way.

In Illustrator, I manipulate the image.

The final design. Sorry about the fuzzy image. I don't know why I took a photo of the desktop, when I could just saved the desktop image using the image capture thing.
Anyway, from this, I will send the files to be made into
polymer plates. We'll be printing the actual card soon...

thank you!!

2011-03-31T21:06:00.001-07:00

we've concluded our Etsy store relief efforts sale, and have donated all of

the proceeds to Red Cross. We sincerely thank all of you who have supported

our efforts, and we will continue to donate part of our proceeds.

Morgan is helping in her dream.

etsy shop

2011-03-13T14:13:00.000-07:00

we are donating all of our proceeds from our etsy shop
to Japan Earthquake fund for the rest of March. Everyone who purchases
during this time will get a FREE CARD!!!! Just mention which card you'd like
when you make the purchase in the 'message to seller' section.
If there's no message then it'll be our pick!

earthquake

2011-03-11T23:42:00.000-08:00

spent a good part of the day getting a hold of my family and relatives

in Japan (all safe), and watching and listening to the news.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone in Japan and

everyone who have family & friends there.

Thank you to all those who emailed, called, texted, etc...

At times like this, it really helps to have our friends reach out to us..

..and to have a dog next to you to keep from freaking out.

tangerine

2011-03-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

so the previous owner of our house had planted a variety of citrus trees.

now that it's spring time, i finally picked all the tangerines that were

still left on our tree...

they are ok but not as meaty as it could be and full of seeds. I want to make

something out of them but not motivated enough to do anything fancy...

so I decided to juicit!!

took me about 10 min to juice 60 tangerines.

While I was doing this, Ken was reading about the amazingly fertile soil of Altadena. (note the goat in the front left hamming it up for the camera)

cheers.

saturday hike

2011-03-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

Morgan takes me out for a hike. I'm trying out a slightly bigger size photos...

I think it looks better.

misprints

2011-03-03T14:57:00.001-08:00

i kind of like these...

-- Post From My iPhone

showering

2011-02-24T00:19:00.000-08:00

meant to blog this pic on sunday. a couple of our good friends are having a baby next month. congrats tang & noelle!!

-- Post From My iPhone

vday press

2011-02-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

we were featured on Standard magazine's blog, Photojournal, and also

on Paper Crave. Thank you Andrea and Kristen!

some new cards

2011-02-06T11:13:00.001-08:00

that day is approaching again this year.
do you have any plans?

tiny prints

2011-01-02T19:26:00.001-08:00

we now have a few designs on tiny prints!

japan trip '10

2010-12-30T10:26:00.000-08:00

I've been meaning to post the photos from our Japan trip over the
Thanksgiving.. it's been a crazy busy month! Unfortunately, many of photos were
lost due to computer issues, but here are some that survived.

we had to go and check out the only place that sells our cards in
Japan.. no not Bulgari..

No interior shots, but we spent quite a long time there
looking at all the cool stuff.

we flew to Oita-ken, where my dad is from. The place is
famous for its Shochu. mmm... we grabbed a couple of bottles.

the town of Yufuin.

one of the reasons of our visit - to pay respect to our ancestors.

Usa Jingu - one of the oldest shrines in Japan.

gotta have the sweet hot sake outside the shrine.

at the inn. happy ken.

aaand of course the food was amazing where ever we went.

it was a crazy trip, we took four plane rides within Japan to go to
Sapporo, Oita, then back to Tokyo, but we had an amazing time.
Thank you otosan and okasan!!!!

open studio '10

2010-11-17T22:45:00.001-08:00

so this past Sunday was our 2nd annual open studio.

Like last year, it was a beautiful, clear day, and a lot of folks came out
to spend the afternoon with us.

Thank you so much to everyone who came out to see us.
We had so much fun, and can't wait to do it all over again
next year!!

getting ready

2010-11-13T14:43:00.001-08:00

... for the open studio tomorrow! Stop by and say hi if you're in Pasadena area!!

-- Post From My iPhone

open studio '10

2010-11-05T11:05:00.001-07:00

We're having the open studio again this year! Please stop by
next Sunday the 14th to check out our print shop and
have a fun day out!!

eco fabulous

2010-11-05T10:57:00.000-07:00

we've been featured again in eco fabulous!

ninth ward

2010-10-26T23:40:00.001-07:00

last week I got a package in the mail with a sweet thank you note.

It was from the art director of the book for which I had illustrated
the cover. The whole jacket and the inside design came out so
nicely. Thank you Alison for all your amazing work.
The story is about a young girl who lives in ninth ward of
New Orleans when the hurricane Katrina hits. It's a powerful
and moving story beautifully written by Jewell Parker Rhodes.
So excited to get a signed copy! yay!

little book of letterpress

2010-10-13T12:58:00.001-07:00

We got a copy of the Little Book of Letterpress! Yay!
It looks so pretty with the bright colors and debossed design on the cover.

There are many cool photos inside of letterpresses, studios, wood types..

Here's us!

Over 100 letterpress studios are featured. Very inspiring just
flipping through the pages. Here's Dee & Lala's page.

and Linda and Harriet.

We are so excited to be a part of this book! So many great companies
are in it - Egg press, Studio on Fire, Hello! Lucky,
Sycamore Street Press, Pancake and Franks, just to name a few.
Thank you Charlotte for including us and doing such an amazing job!!

abbot kinney festival

2010-10-04T13:55:00.000-07:00

so the next day after the printer's fair was abbot kinney festival
in venice, ca. we shared a booth with our friends ribbit stopit.
Here are the wives making some money:

... and here are the husbands getting along real well.

It was unusually hot day for the little beach town, but people
showed up in droves. Here's one of many cute doggies we saw, along
with one of many shirtless humans we saw.

dancers doing their thing.

We went to visit Mable & Christen at Dee & Lala booth, and saw that
they had shared a booth with Lulu Dee. Her cards and prints are
super retro and totally beautiful. The display was just
perfect as well.

It was hot but fun day. We got to see some cool stuff and eat some good foods from
the many food stands/trucks that were there! Thank you so much to everyone who
came to our booth. And thank you Connie and Chris for coming to say hi!!

+++

dreaming of sushi and beer.

LA printer's fair

2010-09-30T22:15:00.000-07:00

last weekend was pretty eventful for us uneventful

(and we like it that way) folks.
First, on Saturday was L.A. Printer's Fair
at the International Print Museum in Carson.
It was our first time visiting there, so we were super
excited.

an impressive display of presses by Jim Salazar.

Linotype demonstration. They had many more demos
using just a few of their huge collection of presses.
A youtube video of some of them here.

It was nice to see the familiar faces,
even though we didn't really have the time to catch up
with everyone...
Tiselle's Tianyi on the left and her crew.

Mable of Dee & Lala

Tina of Joie Studio.
And then we also saw some super cool new-to-us stuff.
I love the super fun & bright hand printed cards by Jill K.

And the table across from us were these gorgeous,
hand-bound journals.....and beautiful stitched & drawn
art work by Michelle Moode.

And at night, Ken had a music gig with his band at
the Food and Wine festival. I was so exhausted by the time
I got there, but still managed to enjoy some fancy food
and beverages. Definitely could stay there all night if
I didn't have another fair the next morning...

heath bazaar

2010-09-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

we checked out the bazaar at Heath Ceramics today..
well ok we've been waiting for days to go
because we want any excuse to be there
around all their beautiful stuff.

we also got to say hi to elinor of krank press.
she'll be at the printer's fair next week too! yay!

our usual partners in crime

the loot of the day. one for biz cards and
the other for.. hmm we don't know yet.

catching up

2010-09-17T00:20:00.000-07:00

my talented friends and i got together this
afternoon to catch up and also to talk a little
about this year's open studio...

some of us hadn't seen each other in ages, so
it was super nice to catch up. we can't wait to
see all your new creations in this year's open studio!

pink martini at hollywood bowl

2010-09-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

pink martini + rufus wainwright + fireworks + friends
+ lots of wine.. :)
(we did not shoot this video)

style lounge

2010-09-07T21:00:00.000-07:00

a couple of weeks ago, we had an opportunity
to participate in a gifting event organized by FMPR.
We designed and printed the invitation for
the event as well.

we had no idea what to expect, but we ended up
meeting many nice people. Big huge thank you to
Alex for helping me out all day, and Liz for
answering my questions!! Also thanks Alicia
for your sweet note :)

grilled cheese truck

2010-08-31T19:34:00.000-07:00

in line to get some grilled cheese and mac&cheese...

-- Post From My iPhone

joie vandy

2010-08-10T23:51:00.001-07:00

we spent the day today printing on tina's vandercook at joie studio. thank you so much for helping us out tina!!! and thanks romeo for playing with me :)

-- Post From My iPhone

thanks renegade

2010-07-27T21:14:00.000-07:00

it was quite warm both days, but we had so much
fun!! Many many thanks to those who came
to our booth. We hope to see you again at the
next event..

renegade today & tomorrow

2010-07-24T14:29:00.001-07:00

come and see us if you're in la!

-- Post From My iPhone

a couple of things coming up

2010-07-10T22:14:00.001-07:00

we will be participating in Renegade Craft Fair again this year!
woohoo! Our booth will be right next to the friendly folks
of RibbitStopit. Please come down and say hello! It's
free to enter!!

Another thing we'll be participating in this summer
is LA Printer's Fair at the International Printing Museum in
Carson, CA.

This is the first time we'll be there, and we've heard
lots of great things about it, so we're super excited!!
Our friends from Dee & Lala, Tiselle, and Joie Studio
will be there as well, so come and visit us all!!

dwell on design

2010-06-29T13:24:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Dwell on Design this weekend. Lots of
cool furniture and designs were there - one of which
was 100xbtr (reads: one hundred times better).Brenden and Will of 100xbtr, showing off their chair.
We know Brenden from a single tree.

we couldn't afford the real chair, but we got the mini chair!
thank you brenden!!

new york stationery show pt.4

2010-05-29T11:05:00.001-07:00

Last but not least, I have to tell you that we got to
meet Quiara Hudes and her family while we were there.
She is the author of a children's book, "Welcome to My
Neighborhood", which I did the illustration for.
It's coming out this summer from Scholastic.

She, her husband Ray and their little girl Cecilia
had us over for dinner and we had such a wonderful
time!! Thank you so much you guys!!!

Oh and Quiara is also the writer for the Tony award winning
musical, 'In the Heights', for which she got us
tickets the next night. It was amazing. I would try to
tell you how great it was, but you should
probably find tickets here.

new york stationery show pt.3

2010-05-25T23:02:00.001-07:00

After the stationery show, we stayed in town for a few days

and got to see our friends Jen & Joaquin, their adorable son Omar,

and our favorite chihuahua Alfie.

We also got to visit the gallery owned by Lee & Greg,

our booth neighbors at the stationery show.

Inside the gallery - Lee's drawings, paintings, and sculptures.

The cards are displayed so neatly. Greg and

Ken behind the counter.

Lee's jewelry.

Yes he can do it all.

Their sweet shiba Wasabi.

We went out to lunch with Lowry, another booth neighbor

who sells Shrinky Dinks. We kept each other from being bored

during the slow times at the show, and became secret BFF's

(as Greg likes to refer to us) by the end of the show.

It was so much fun hanging out with you guys!!! The time seemed

to go by so fast. We'll see you again soon!!

new york stationery show '10 pt.2

2010-05-23T10:20:00.000-07:00

One of the things we love about the stationery show is

the fact that it's in NY! This time around, got to stay

with the wonderful Steens. Ken and Scott go way back...

back when they both had hair.

Scott is an amazing trumpet player, and he is currently

performing in the Cirque du Soleil show "Banana Shpeel".

.. and we got to go to the premier of the show!! woohoo!!

Thank you Scott for scoring us the tickets!!!

... and after the show, which was incredible and funny as heck,

we got to go to the party. woooohooooo!!

dudes in make up handing out mac&cheese from

inside the cage.

me stuffing my face with sushi which the fisherman guy

'fished' for me.

more buff dudes handing out food.

.. and sometimes you end up in a cage. we had a little too much

fun that evening, I was definitely paying for it the next day.

Thank you so much again Scott!!

new york stationery show '10 pt.1

2010-05-23T09:59:00.000-07:00

So here we are again. It always starts with a crate and an

empty booth.

me behind the booth, clamping together the super cool modular

walls that John built for us.

Almost done...

ta-dah!

We had a great show again. Thank you so much to all of you

who came to our booth!!! It's always fun to see the familiar

faces and catch up, and also to meet new people.

We'll see you again next year!!

show's over!

2010-05-19T20:35:00.001-07:00

we had a great time yet again at the stationery show! now time to play a lilttle before heading back home. more on this photo later...

-- Post From My iPhone

we're here..

2010-05-13T21:37:00.001-07:00

after the mad scramble to get ready, we made it back here to ny for the show. great to see our old friends scott&holly!!

-- Post From My iPhone

these days

2010-04-29T18:02:00.000-07:00

we've been printing a bunch of new designs in preparation
for the up-coming stationery show..

.. and still hiking everyday with our dog Morgan.
Not very exciting, but hey, we like it that way!!

taco station

2010-04-15T10:07:00.001-07:00

Finally something is opening up in the little hut next to our printshop. So excited!! They opened for one day a couple of weeks ago just for a trial, and it seemed to have gone really well. The grand opening is this Friday. I will be there for sure...

-- Post From My iPhone

miehle

2010-03-18T13:28:00.001-07:00

we went to Alpha Dies in east L.A. today and saw underneath
a mountain of empty cartons, the biggest Miehle press we've ever
seen. It would've been so impressive if it was working.
I would need a ladder just to feed papers!!

mday fday

2010-03-15T11:55:00.001-07:00

Here's a little preview of our new Mother and Father's day
cards. We'll upload them in our Etsy store with
the rest of our mom & dad cards soon!

kinkan (kumquat)

2010-02-03T12:23:00.000-08:00

we've been shipping a lot of valentine's day cards..

but yesterday i decided to attack our kumquat tree.
we've been watching the fruits ripen more and more,
and i've been thinking that i have to do something about it.

so i made kanro-ni (compote type of thing i think).
super pain in the neck to take out the seeds, but
the result is pretty to look at and hard to not
eat too many of them.

raining!

2010-01-18T13:15:00.000-08:00

we're getting the much needed rain- even inside!

-- Post From My iPhone

gallery nucleus

2009-12-28T09:45:00.001-08:00

i've been meaning to do a post about the craft show
at Nucleus gallery for ever!! So here it finally is.
We had a great time hanging out with other venders,
eating tacos and listening to music. Thank you
Stella for including us!!

Food and people outside the gallery.

Peopls checking out the goods inside.

Super cool jewelry by Plastique.

Foliage earrings by Hi Tree!

And the nicest surprise was Cindy, our beloved Davy's
daughter, who came by our table to say hello.
It was SO great to meet you!!!

unique los angeles holiday 09

2009-12-08T11:25:00.001-08:00

we had a great time doing the Unique Los Angeles show
this past weekend. Thank you so much to everyone who
came to our booth!! And big thanks to John & Alex,
our booth mates. We couldn't have done it without
your help!!
Here's a little re-cap:

John has once again created for us this amazing
reindeer bear display, along with our sign. We were
freaking out at how cool it looks!!
Here we are in our shared booth. John and his wife Alex's
brand new company had debuted at this show with
much success! Yay!!

it was so great to see my old co-worker, Madelein, with
her cool cards and jewelry line. She's a great printer
who teaches how to letterpress here.

Beautiful felt birds by Aguiniga Design.

Gorgeous, one of a kind ceramics by Lori.

Kimiko was there too with her pillows!!

Carrie of Anemone Letterpress with her husband
Wally.

There were so many more cool stuff and people we wanted to
take pics of and show you but we simply didn't have enough
time!!! There were 300+ venders, and over 6,000 shoppers
came to the show just on the first day.
Huge thanks and kudos to Sonia Rasula and Unique LA team.
You did an amazing job putting this event together!!!

custom

2009-11-21T14:08:00.001-08:00

we've been meaning to post some of the custom

stuff we've done this year, and here they finally are!

Wedding invite set for Kimi and Ann.
Designed by shino.

Wedding invite set for Jason and Mai.
Designed by Jason.

Wedding invite set for Keith and Kim.
Designed by Keith.

Baby shower invite for Louis and Kimiko.
Designed by shino.

Business card for Alicia, designed by ken.

Business card for Annabel, designed by Annabel.

we'll have more custom stuff to show you, coming up soon...

holiday press

2009-11-20T11:56:00.000-08:00

we were included in a couple of holiday card round ups!
first was in a blog Style Lush.

next was apartment therapy.

Past Life

2009-11-12T00:17:00.000-08:00

This pic showed up in the comments section of our blog after our last post. It was left by a mysterious anonymous visitor! It's our printshop... in it's previous life!

holiday open studio sale 09

2009-11-10T21:35:00.000-08:00

we had a GREAT time this past Sunday at our Holiday Sale!!
BIG THANKS to all of you who came (some of you had a
long drive!!). And super big thanks to alex&john,
alissa, catharine, and kimiko&louis for helping making
this happen. You guys are awesome!!
AAND super duper big thanks to Mike Bolger,
Maria, Josh, and Randall for providing the music.
Honestly, we couldn't ask for a better combination of
people/weather/music. We'll do this again
next year for sure!!

bruno hanging out next to kimiko's pillows

(and between two cool chairs!)

zach and charysse with their beautiful twin babies..
wish we could talk to you more!!!

doug and rhonda chilling

oh mama!!! maria never fails to entertain the crowd,
even with a baby strapped to her!!!

And last but not least, thank you so much to Charissa
for sending us the great photos used in this blog!
You can check out her fun blog about gift wrapping here.

unique l.a. holiday 2009

2009-11-03T00:12:00.000-08:00

we will be participating in Unique Los Angeles next month,
and they used us as one of their initial promo venders!
The event is going to be on Dec. 5 - 6, and it'll be loads
of fun. We'll be sharing a booth with our very talented
friends John & Alex with their super cute puzzles and
coasters. Hope to see you there!!!!!

happy go farm

2009-10-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

during our quick trip up north, we got to visit our friends
in Petaluma. They are super talented people who
among other things do organic farming.

Hiroshi feeding Melvin and Brutus

They have tons of veggies and fruits growing

on the way home we took a detour and went to
Muir dog beach in Marin.

... and this is just some of the veggies and home made preserves
they sent us home with. Thank you H&K!! We will see you
in LA soon.

store spotlight : little otsu

2009-10-28T22:24:00.000-07:00

One of the very first stores that picked up our line is a great
little shop in the Mission district of San Francisco, called
Little Otsu.

their cool window display:

They carry tons of paper products by
artists and small companies like us, along with their
own line of products. We could spend hours there
just looking at all the cool stuff...It was a super quick trip to SF for us but so happy
that we got to stop in! Thank you always, Yvonne & Jeremy!
And it was nice meeting you Amara!!

oh so beautiful paper

2009-10-20T19:36:00.000-07:00

check out a mention about us in Oh So Beautiful Paper blog!

CoLab @ Nucleus gallery

2009-10-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

We'll be participating in the bazaar event at Nucleus gallery
in Alhambra. There's going to be so many other cool
venders/artists, and it's free to get in!!
Sun. December 13th, 1p - 8p
210 E. Main St., Alhambra, CA

say yes! to hoboken

2009-10-13T12:26:00.000-07:00

We were written up on a blog, Say Yes! to Hoboken.
The site features lots of cool photos, products, etc., along
with super cute vintage baby clothing.
Thank you Liz!!!

open market

2009-10-04T14:02:00.001-07:00

sitting in the one colorado courtyard today, selling some cards. it's actually cool today, which makes being outside all day really nice. morgan came to visit me!

-- Post From My iPhone

wild summer

2009-09-16T13:36:00.001-07:00

It's been a relatively calm summer, me busy working on
a children's book, ken trying to teach our dog morgan how to
swim with little success, until...

..the station fire. We watched the fire move closer & closer
to our house (the photo above was the view from
our kitchen window), and finally had to evacuate. Thank you again
for all those who helped and expressed concerns.
We're all fine and so is our house! yay

we did get to have a little party for ken's 40th
before the fire madness.

No one is happier than morgan that we're back home
safe and sound.

Thank you fire fighters!!!!!!

Renegade LA

2009-07-13T23:23:00.001-07:00

We had so much fun this weekend at the
Renegade Craft Fair! Here is a quick re-cap.

Our booth. It had a back wall but no walls between
the booths to keep the open-air feel.

We saw some friends there! Here's Christen at the Dee&Lala
booth, taking picture of Ken taking picture of her.
We also got to see the friendly folks of Poketo,
Sycamore Street Press, Fomato, and Krank Press.

We did a good deal of handing out & collecting
business cards. Here is Shino's favorite.

And of course, we had to shop. Shino scored a beautiful
pair of earrings and a necklace by Beth of Ssekkal.

And Ken got a cool T-shirt from Campfire. Apparently,
Portland is the city of stumps. As in tree stumps.

We also bought beautiful prints by My Associate Cornelius,
a print guide from Pop + Shorty, and the cutest stickers from
I made you a beard.

Thank you to everyone who came to our booth!!
And big thanks to Frantic Meerkat, who helped
Ken when our booth stuff fell off the dolly in the
parking garage!!!

come see us at the Renegade Craft Fair!

2009-07-10T10:14:00.001-07:00

we are going to be at the booth #229 at renegade craft fair
this weekend (7/11-12) at the california mart in downtown
l.a.! we'll have lots of new designs and special deals.
come say hello!!

annie & kimi's wedding

2009-06-09T22:24:00.001-07:00

We just came back from a trip to Newburyport, MA to
go to our good friends Ann & Kimi's wedding.
It's a small coastal town just south of New Hampshire.
It was a bit chilly in the morning of the wedding but
then it cleared up to be the perfect day.

Cows grazing right near the ceremony location

the beautiful bride!!!!

We had so much fun before the wedding,
at the wedding, and after the wedding!!!!! It was wonderful
to see some old faces and meet new ones.
Congratulation Annie & Kimi, you guys are the best!!!

sneak peek

2009-06-09T21:42:00.000-07:00

our house was featured in design*sponge's sneak peek!
although it is kind of nerve-racking to have people
peek into our home, it was a good chance for us to
organize our world a bit, finally get some art work framed,
and get them hung. Thank you Anne and Grace!!

bowne & co., stationers

2009-05-27T22:31:00.000-07:00

One of our oldest and bestest retailers is Bowne & Co.,

Stationers of the South Street Seaport Museum in lower Manhattan.

Robert and Fela run the shop.

Robert showing us how to print on a beautiful old press.

Here he is, rolling the ink onto the form.

Ken pushing the platen into position to print.

The back of the shop is a treasure trove of vintage printing items,

where Robert does his beautiful letterpress work.

Fela is always gracious and charming! She showed us around

the seaport area, and even recommended a great noodle place

near our hotel. Thank you Fela!!!

One of the places in South Seaport that Fela recommended was

Jack's Coffee. A great coffee shop that sounds and smells like a

coffee shop should, when you walk in the door.

There's a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the site

of the old Fulton fish market, which is just around the

corner from Bowne & Co. and Jack's.

No NY trip is complete without going to FAO Schwartz.

Here's Ken's 'big' moment!

stationery show 2

2009-05-26T22:54:00.001-07:00

One of the fun things about the stationery show is getting

to make new friends, and catching up with the old ones...

Our show neighbors Greg and Maria of Fusion Designs.

Thanks for making us laugh. Hi to Lee!

The across the isle neighbor, Lowry of Joobli.

Thanks for letting us shrink our Dinks!! We loved it.

The Dutch Door Press girls had a really great booth with

many beautifully designed & printed cards.

Ken scored their give-away tea towel!!

It was great talking shop with the Copper Willow

girls, Leora and Jill!

We had fun chatting a bit with Anna of Sub Studio.

We love their new large format prints!! Also it was a treat to

peek through their wedding book and see their cool designs.

We connected with Mable and Christen of Dee & Lala.

They are fellow Angelenos. Mable is a walking rolladex of

information and contacts for letterpress stuff.

Also of L.A., Tianyi of Tiselle. It was great catching up!

It seems that we only see each other in NY, even though we

both are in LA...

It's always a good time hanging out with Brad and crew

of Maginating. Brad does some of the nicest, tight register

letterpress work we've ever seen. And his designs are fresh

and super cute too!

It's always a delight to catch up with Olga of

Offensive + Delightful. If you've never seen her

stuff, you really should check out her website.

She pulls no punches, and says it like it is.

Believe it or not, we went through many shots to reach

the magic found in this one. Hal and Carrie of Red Cap Cards

are always a blast to hang out with.

Alan and Jennifer are the resourceful & creative duo

of Night Owl Paper Goods. We always love checking in

with them, and seeing their beautiful stuff!

And last but definitely not least, Brandon of Blue Barn House.

He writes some of the funniest, most memorable lines for

his cards - and now they're making t-shirts too!

(Thanks beer fairy!!)

stationery show 1

2009-05-22T09:37:00.003-07:00

The stationery show is over and we had a blast!!

Here is a quick re-cap of our trip.

Just like last year, we showed up to find the three blank white walls

and a crate.

Luckily, John did an amazing job packing everything.

First step, put down the floor...

... assemble, assemble...

... and then the finishing touches.

We really have to thank John at a single tree

for designing and building us the beautiful and practical

shelves and furniture. Not seen in these pictures is

a hide-away storage compartment under the tabletop,

where we could store all of our goodies. What a

genius idea!!! It worked out great!

we're here!

2009-05-14T15:23:00.001-07:00

where's liz lemon?

-- Post From My iPhone

unique l.a.

2009-05-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went to the Unique Los Angeles craft show
in downtown l.a. There were so many people there
and lots to see! Here are some pics:

Fellow letterperssers Michelle from Blue Note Press and Tina from
Joie Studio. It was nice meeting you Michelle!
Thank you again Tina for putting me on the list!

Also a fellow letterpresser, Carrie and her husband Wally
from Anemone Letterpress. Her cards and the wedding invitation
designs are sooo beautiful. We had heard about them from our
friend Sage, with whom Wally is in a band, but had never
actually met them/seen their stuff.
It was nice to finally meet you two!

We've expressed our love for things made with felt here
before.. and here are some more!! Graf & Lantz
makes beautiful handcrafted handbags, baskets,
pillows... all out of thick, colorful felt. I wanted them all.

This is what I could afford.

And they are great!!
It was nice to meet you Daniel-san, and can't wait
to see your booth at the furniture show!

catalog cover

2009-04-30T21:01:00.001-07:00

Printing lots of catalog covers in preparation for the stationery show.. it's coming up so fast!!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

lavish

2009-04-20T11:38:00.000-07:00

We've been a fan of this great shop for a long time,
and now they carry our cards! We visited them when
we were in SF - no pics of the store interior unfortunately,
but we hope you can tell how cute it is just from the
shop front!

zero is a number

2009-03-31T23:24:00.000-07:00

When I'm not doing Fugu Fugu stuff, I do illustrations.

The other day I received in a package the first copies of latest
children's book that I illustrated.
The book's text is really simple, almost like a poem,
and it is about the concept of 'zero'. If interested,
please order here.