Last year I bought a wonderful t-shirt by Maison Kitsuné. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It's from Kitsuné's K.I.M collection and has a marvellous fox/woman illustration on the front by the Korean artist Moonassi (Daehyun Kim). However, Santa brought me a fabulous gift this year, three limited edition prints from the Kitsuné collection by Moonassi. Can't wait to get these framed!
Firstly, this will offend a lot of people out there, especially those that are sensitive to items with more colourful language. If you regularly use the phrase 'potty mouth' I suggest you leave this page immediately.
I've backed a few Kickstarter books, and this has to be my favourite so far. Mostly because I can't imagine a publisher ever have the balls to put this out. The most surprising thing about this fabulous book full of Mr Bingo's spectacularly foul mouthed (yet somehow poignant) postcards is the production quality. It's gorgeous!! From the cloth bound with a foil embossed cover of an octopus giving you the V sign, through to the card bookmark, dedication and 'Hall of Twats' section for the backers. Also had best postage label, pretty sure it set off a few flags coming through international post to the US. On top of that it's a hefty tome, a good inch and half thick - best postcard book ever. Added bonus for the Kickstarter campaign was the 'dedication' and this print:
Some of the 'crap postcards' and Mr Bingo vitriol are sublime and some of the insults are truly horrifying (see Fat Jimmy Saville below). Why does this exist? Why did people pay for these insults? I'm not sure, but I'm so pleased they did. But as for Mr Bingo's rationale here's how he introduces the project:
I love post and I'm worried that people don't get enough 'fun' post these days.
Especially postcards.
So I had an idea. It's very simple.
You send me fifty quid (plus postage) and I'll send you a vintage postcard with a
drawing and an offensive message on it. (that's why it's called 'Hate mail').
So you get an original signed drawing, the postman get's a laugh and the world
get's a little bit happier.
I was in a quandary about posting images from the book as the individuals who 'requested' or at least received a piece of Mr Bingo's hate mail have their names and addresses shown on all the postcards. Of course any postcard publicly displays the name and address of the recipient and I think they knew what they were getting in to.
In the images below I've chosen to blur/edit/crop out as much of the personal information as possible, so at least I'm not publishing their names and addresses on the web.
Hate Mail: The Definitive Collection by Mr Bingo is brilliant. It's foul mouth, irreverent and puerile, and a fantastic addition to my library. It will sit proudly on my bookshelf next to A Decade in the Shit House by Modern Toss.
Grab a copy from Mr Bingo: http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/
Picked up a copy of the beautifully illustrated Beastly Verse by JooHee Yoon. It's a lovely collection of rhymes and poems about animals by various authors. Each has one of Yoon's wonderful, layered and rich illustrations supporting it. Incredibly rich and sumptuous colour.
A great treat arrived today. It's an in depth look at the work of FHK Henrion, one of the most influential graphic designers in British design history. It's from Unit Editions and it's absolutely gorgeous. Not only is does it have a beautiful cloth bound, black slip case and a stunning cloth cover it's also incredibly detailed. It covers so much of Henrion's work, from wartime through to many of the brands and identities that became part of the visual identity of the UK in the '70s and '80s.
I first became aware of FHK Henrion as a design student through the Icograda organisation. It was the first time I'd seen people discussing graphic design from an ethical and moralistic stance. That's when I became aware of the deep history of designers taking a stance for humanity and how they could do that along side commercial work.
It's a great book, truly worthy of a great man. Fantastic job done by all involved and yet another beautiful object from Spin.
Find out more and get a copy here: https://uniteditions.com/shop/fhk-henrion
I first discovered Ian Phillips via his Instagram account and I totally fell in love with his style, and his wonderful sensitivity for print and colour. When I checked out his Etsy shop and couldn't resist these little gems. The Fireflies print is extra special as it's printed with glow in the dark ink. The post cards are wonderful too and are a great set of illustrations reflecting my recently adopted home town of San Francisco.
Ian's web site: http://www.ianphillipsillustration.com/
His Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/pasdechance
