New biz cards!

After 7 years of not working on my own business identity, I finally got around to making myself some new cards. Now time to work on re-designing my website to match. I feel like I opened up a can of worms!

Carolyn & David at the De Young

Lush and sophisticated museum wedding designed by Gloria Wong and photographed by Lisa Lefkowitz on Style Me Pretty this week! Lots of eye-candy...

Paper goods by yours truly--and I even got the chance to design some awesome large-scale installation panels (see below) as well as the graphics on the custom pillows. Gloria orchestrated the whole thing along with Jubilee Lau Events. Props to everyone involved!

For more pics and vendor info, click here.

Inspiration: Portland Livin'

Just got back from visiting my sister in Portland for Thanksgiving last week and didn't need to go very far for some design inspiration. Actually didn't even need to step foot outside! Besides the freezing temps we experienced, her house was just way too cozy and warm that I ended up spending most of the time indoors.

Thought it would be a great post to share some pics of how she decorated her home. I feel like it could easily fit into a cool design/shelter magazine--clean lines, pops of bold color, and just the right amount of knick-nacks to personalize a space.

Charmaine & Jack Website

Over the summer I posted about an Italy wedding that I'll be working on for the next few months. I already made the Save the Dates which were sent out this month--the wedding is in July of next year. My client Charmaine loved the save the dates and asked if I can design their wedding website and give it the same look.



























Here's a little look into the process...

Inspiration: The Dub C on design

This architecture-related post is brought to you by my hometown of Walnut Creek! I know most people think I live in Berkeley since I spend most of my time there. But everyday, I go home to this amazing place just east of Berkeley, through a tunnel and down one of the most beautiful stretches of freeway scenery in the Bay Area. The majestic view of Mt. Diablo serves as my compass where home sits, nestled in the foothills--sunshine always beaming. Sounds fantastic, right? Yep, that's why I live there.

Walnut Creek isn't really known for cutting edge design, although I don't fault it for that. I typically go downtown for a relaxing stroll, stop off for a gelato somewhere not really expecting to see the latest trends. Although one day, I did! On my way to our neighborhood bar, I saw this sleek wood-paneled building (where an old piano store used to be) and was quietly surprised and impressed. I've since checked out Vesu and enjoyed the interior and some of the artwork that was displayed (although not so into the $12 cocktails).

When I was perusing through my daily design blog reads today, again, I was pleasantly surprised to see this same exact restaurant featured on one of my favorite architecture websites! Very surreal to see Walnut Creek on the design map, but there it is.

For more photos, check out The Contemporist.

My bottle arrived today!

Last fall a posted about my design for waterbottle company, Waterbox and today I got my sample in the mail! Yay! Thanks guys :) Love it!

A labor of love

This is the thesis project of Stephanie Laursen, a graphic design student from CCA who will be interning at my shop next semester :) Stephanie spent two months at my shop last summer when she was interning for my shopmate, Anjel, at that time. I've gotten to know her over the last few months and have felt somewhat invested in her education, mainly due to her dedication to the idea of keeping the handmade process as part of her continuing evolution as a designer.

Final Reviews at CCA

This week I was invited to be a guest by my friend, Michael Yap, who teaches the Graphic Design Tools class for level one students. The class focuses on learning how to use digital programs which I thought was so ironic since they'll probably know more about Photoshop and InDesign than me! But I guess my purpose was that he wanted them to make connections to the "old-school" processes that has informed a lot of where graphic design is now, so I guess having a letterpress printer there wasn't so far off :) It's always good to learn how to "go back to the basics" in any industry, might as well start making a habit of it while they're just starting their careers...

Olive-Route for Waterbox!

My friends at Cabbage Design (who have currently left for a year sabbatical) commissioned a bunch of artists to create some designs for their client, Waterbox--a stainless steel water bottle company. They did an awesome identity for this startup before they left and now the bottles have launched and can be bought through various retailers. The first one being R.E.I.!

I designed this one for them called "April" and it can be purchased here. Check it out and a bunch more designs are also available.
























Here's the super cool logo of a water buffalo that Anjel rendered at my shop! Wish I still had the original drawing I would love to scan and show you the process...

Inspiration: Amazing house for two, please?

I haven't had an architecture-related post in a while, and it's about that time to do a little daydreaming...After the week I've been having, how I would love to come home to something like this! All the day's hard work, gone in about 10 seconds of stepping foot into this Sebastopol home surrounded by Redwoods...Designed by SF-based firm, Turnbull Griffin Haesloop Architects for two graphic designers who seem to really know how to get their "zen" on :)

Make an outfit out of your room...

Back in May I was super excited to take part in Design*Sponge's sneak peek column where they would have regular posts on designer's homes. It's a great place to gather ideas on interior decorating, diy projects, new trends... among many other design-related topics. I'm a regular reader of that blog (along with a gazillion other folks) so I was happy to share, you can see the post here.
























I just came across this cute article that came out earlier this month on D*S called Turn this Room into an Outfit and it was a fun surprise to see that my living room wall (pictured above) was one of the rooms they picked!

Lumadessa Collection, Birds Edition

Delightful giclée art prints by illustrator Josh Brill--this Flora & Fauna collection is a field guide of discovery, beginning with birds. I love how simple and boiled down these drawings are, and can pretty much function like individual logos. Exquisite!

In a galaxy far, far away.

In between clothes and space, there is this amazing piece of architecture by Japanese architects Keiichiro Sako and Takeshi Ishizaka of SAKO Architects. It's a retail space for a women's clothing store called Romanticism based in China that looks anything but.

Happy 60th to the Eames House

“Their house has become a beacon for the American way of poetic pragmatism,” said Ms. Antonelli. “Chez Eames, art is not intimidating, great design really is for everybody, and high taste means being able to enjoy the occasional tchotchke in a modernist masterpiece.” That’s why we love it.
For the rest of the article, check out NY Times here.

Korean Envy

I was hanging out at the shop a while back with two close friends of mine (Anjel and Jane) who happen to be Korean, and they were reminiscing about how their moms would make them wear and parade around in their traditional dress, called Hanbok, when they were kids--how adorable! I'm sure they didn't think this was so cute back then, but even though I'm not Korean, if I had a little girl, I would probably dress her up in a hanbok anyway :) LOL.


How could you not love these?? The colors, fabrics, the pants underneath? Too cute! Gorgeous pictures taken from Vogue Korea via Set Design Thinking.