hg everyday | Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Inside HG: Vintage Corner

On one corner of the studio we keep an assortment of old vintage and vintage-looking things: suitcases, books, toys and musical instruments. They look nice together and I think we get some ideas for our design projects from these things.

We had some difficult times when I was younger and my mother supported our family by making and selling lamps among other things. J was really smitten by this tea canister lamp that we found in a small shop while we were shopping for gifts (for other people :p)

This is an old saxophone that we found in the basement of J’s house. A musician had left it with J’s father a long time ago. He never came to get it back.

An antique key pendant, one of the many trinkets from our little steampunk and whimsy gift shop.

Many years ago I wished I could write like Kafka.

“I wish I could fly away”, that’s what the pendant is called.

“First Printing in America, August, 1927.”  Meanwhile by H.G. Wells.

A pocket watch from the shop.

Oh these ones aren’t all old, there are some new books there from this month’s book shopping trip.  There is a little bookstore along Hernan Cortes called La Belle Aurore where you can find a few rare books.

So yeah, that’s our little old school corner and I think we’re going to keep on collecting some nice things and just keep stacking it up.

posted by: Mark Deutsch| 1 comment|

hg everyday | Monday, December 28th, 2009

Holiday Goodie Bags

Surprise presents for our clients near and far, including an assortment of pocket watches, lockets and necklaces from our steampunk/whimsy store Vintage Love!

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|

design | Sunday, December 13th, 2009

Greeting cards aren’t dead

J illustrated and designed these Christmas cards for Cebu Holdings Inc. and Ayala Land. My friend Barry says that the best way to receive a Christmas card is the old fashioned way, through snail mail and I agree. The unsealing and opening of a printed, written and delivered message is an experience that everyone should have, at least once a year.

An alternate design:

posted by: Mark Deutsch| comment on this post|Tags: design, Hand Painted Christmas Cards, illustration, Illustration by Johanna Velasco

illustration | Wednesday, December 9th, 2009

Star Catcher

Christmas is just around the corner. Merry, merry everyone!

posted by: Mark Deutsch| comment on this post|Tags: Childrens Book Illustration, illustration, Illustration by Mark Joseph Deutsch

hg everyday | Sunday, December 6th, 2009

Visual Fusion

We dropped by SM Art Center and took a few photos of the opening of Visual Fusion, a group exhibit from various Cebuano artists.

That’s Fr. Dy (left), I dig his work.

Nida and Bong Madrid with J

That’s Celso Pepito, we like his work too!

Good mix of young and old folks

One of my faves, “Stairway to Heaven” (Fr. Dy)

posted by: Mark Deutsch| 1 comment|Tags: Community, Visual Art

hg everyday | Saturday, December 5th, 2009

December Book Hunt

We’re planning a two-week trip early next year and the first thing Johanna thought of buying was this book:

Because, truly, how will you survive if the Zombies come?

We also just added a Lonely planet manual in the event we get lost, the second worst thing that can happen to you, next to Zombie attacks.

This one is an early Christmas present to J

And of course, some pocket reading (which I am guessing will be done long before we depart for Vietnam)

J has a very specific “have to read book list” and these two have been in there for some time now. The book by Ray Bradbury is “… set in a near future (or maybe the present) in which books are outlawed and condemned to burn along with the houses that contain them. A group of rebels have taken it upon themselves to preserve these books—by becoming them. Each of them memorizes a book in the hope that someday, the books can be consigned to paper and read once again.” (from Jessica Zafra)

If you were to memorize one book, which one would it be?

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|

design | Saturday, December 5th, 2009

RGB

This was a poster I did for Tokyo Designers’ Week

posted by: Mark Deutsch| comment on this post|Tags: Graphic Design

motion and animation | Friday, December 4th, 2009

140, a collaborative film project

A few months ago we signed up to join a fun film project that was masterminded by Irish Filmmaker Frank W. Kelly called 140. Largely inspired by Twitter, a social media platform that lets you put out messages 140 characters at a time, the idea was to have 140 different filmmakers, each shooting 140 seconds of film that answered the question “What connects you to home?”.

The project is still in production now and Frank recently released an interview and posted it on Youtube (see below)

The journals shown at 3:42 are sketchbooks and journals that Johanna gave to me over Christmas. The closing scene of the interview which shows a swan dancing around a music box is something from Johanna’s childhood. Also seen are some lockets and letters we used to send to each other many years ago.

You can also read the paste magazine writeup about 140 here.

posted by: Happy Garaje| comment on this post|Tags: Film

photography | Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Portraits of Fred and Marivel Galan

We are starting a series of portraits of artists from around our community, from the old masters to the younger artists. They are painters, sculptors, photographers, writers, designers and musicians. Among them are our role models, teachers, friends, peers, and acquaintances – passionate people who have in one way or another pursued a life of art.

Fred and Marivel Galan, Painters

posted by: Mark Deutsch| comment on this post|Tags: Artist Portraits Series, Community