February 18, 2012

J’s working on a couple of pieces, here’s a snapshot of one of them (detail)

February 18, 2012

Early last year the paper-cut illustrator Gémeo Luís wrote us to ask to if Johanna was interested in exchanging an illustration for one of his. He said he was collecting artwork from several illustrators from around the world, so we sent him one of her sketches. A few weeks ago we were delighted to get this through the mail:

A book! So wonderful.

Some of the pages with work from Anita Kunz , Olaf Hajek, Ofra Amit, and many other awesome artists.

November 16, 2011

This year little Summer Deutsch came along and the studio (which is also part of our home) wasn’t quite baby-friendly. We thought it was a good reason to tidy up and fix our place a bit.

This used to be our work area and in its place we put together the baby’s room. A friend of ours gifted us with an awesome wooden crib.

Teddies are good because they’re furry and friendly.

Meanwhile, we moved our workstations into the other half of our place. This is like command centre right here.

Jo designed this drawing counter with a lot of drawers (like the old library card cabinets). The carpenter and the furniture painter had a bit of a squabble while they were putting this together.  The drawers couldn’t be interchanged because they would fit only in the holes where they were cut off from so the carpenter numbered each drawer in order. The painter had not known this and sprayed over all the drawers, thus erasing the numbers. They spent about two hours figuring out which drawer fit into where. There were heated words exchanged and I told them it didn’t matter if they didn’t fit perfectly. But apparently carpenters and furniture painters go crazy over gaping drawers. In the end, after we had all figured out which went into where, we went out and bought hot pandesal and soda. Hot pandesal and soda for the win.

Those are a lot of drawers and each one is filled with all the small things.

Vintage Penguin book covers mounted on the wall.

A lot of the shelves are still bare. We have plans for them but haven’t had the time yet.

Some of the things here we found in flea markets, from travels and our basement.

Ninjas guard the trophy shelf.

We found these cages in the bird market of Hong Kong. Jo painted them bronze.

We’ve accumulated so many books and toys over the years and it’s quite a nice feeling to see them all stacked up.

A lot of decisions have been made using the Magic 8 ball.

Not a very good chess player but I like playing the game.

Yeah, that’s the King out before everyone else. Told you.

When we first started we had no money to rent out an office. Jo’s dad offered to let us use the garage to start things off and do what we most wanted to do. In the last four years we’ve had our share of working all-nighters, easy days of hanging out with books and music and heading out with our backpacks to see the world. Some of our greatest adventures began right here.

 

November 6, 2011

We got these postcards from Basheer in Singapore. A set of book cover illustrations from Penguin books. It would be a dream come true to work for Penguin someday. *Hello Universe*








We glued several of them on wood and mounted them on the wall in our mini-library.

November 5, 2011

Was in the basement. I wonder what else is down there.

October 31, 2011

I get bonus points for hitting the ceiling!

The studio’s put together. Four walls and a roof. Now for the grueling task of organizing everything, including all the books we’ve accumulated over the past few years.

October 31, 2011

We brought a daughter into this crazy/beautiful world. Summer Leila Deutsch was born on October 22, 2011 and has been keeping us company in the studio day and night. We put a giant basket beside our work tables and it’s been her sweet spot in her first week with us

October 6, 2011

September 29, 2011

We’re renovating the studio to add a little more workspace. Making furniture is actually quite fun. You make stupid noob mistakes like having tables with legs that are too skinny but it’s all good.

July 31, 2011

One of the nicest things about getting lost in a foreign city is finding quirky stores hidden in little corners or on second floors of buildings in a spot you would have missed had you not looked up at the exact right time. This seems especially true in Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated cities and also home to thousands of stores. During a recent visit, we came across a few that made us smile. They’re small shops with a lot of character:

Kubrick: Kowloon, Hong Kong

Kubrick was a store we had heard of through a travel blog and had searched for while walking the streets of Kowloon. It took us a bit of time to find the spot and I think we had come across it just when we were about to give up.

Kubrick is mostly a bookstore but they also have an interesting film club and library.

Some cool looking people hanging around

Homeless – Central, Hong Kong

We were in the middle of all the familiar brand name stores, the big Italian ones that had cemented their place in one of the busiest streets in Asia and by chance I had glanced up and there it was. Homeless, I thought, what a strange name for a store.

The shop is in a narrow building with an old staircase that goes up against walls textured by planks, pipes, posters and graffiti.

Robots and mugs go well together

Headless kings!

Homeless- Wun Ying Gallery

At the topmost floor is Wun Ying Gallery and is home to some art by Carrie Chau. We’re now big fans of her work!

Goods of Desire, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

G.O.D. or Goods of Desire is a lifestyle store with furniture, prints, appliances and some cool little things. They also have good coffee in the cafe.

July 26, 2011

Going to watch this. Seriously.

July 24, 2011

Cebu has been named ASEAN City of Culture for it’s outstanding Creative Industries. Last week, we were invited to be in an advert with some the great folks representing some of the many sectors of the creative community.

* * *

In the briefing room, Remton Siega-Zuasola (2010 Gawad Urian best director) starts asking everyone for their free schedules.

One of the Fashion brands representative replies, “We can do 8 PM.” And Remton’s assistant starts jotting this down.

Then Kenneth Cobonpue’s guy goes, “Kenneth can do 5 pm, Tuesday.” And Remton’s assistant starts jotting this down too.

Then Remton looks at us and he says,”How about you guys, when are you free?” And we say: “ANYTIME!!!”

Ha ha.

* * *

First time to meet Remton. He’s super nice!

Johanna on set. Six months pregnant. The baby got an early on-screen start :-p

Painter Manuel Pañares

Kenneth Cobonpue was in the set next to ours! I didn’t get a chance to meet him, was too awestruck.

Ivan Zaldarriaga + team did some amazing things on set (think OK GO video). He’s making his zombie movie this year!

Graphic artist DanDan dropped by and said hello.

I hope I get to see Damgo ni Eleuteria

Architect Buck Sia

Sculptor Raymund Fernandez

Mighty Mar Go, Happy Garaje’s web dev go-to-guy

If I was a filmmaker I’d hop on that and take it round and round