We keep a small rattan box under the coffee table filled with ephemera—all kinds of little well-designed things that don't really go anywhere but that we can't bear to trash.
We're not really precious people: we have some nice things we treasure and use the hell out of and otherwise don't hold on to much. But this box is filled with absolute tat: tat with grace, tat with flavor, tat with -usian, tat that's drunk at karaoke. The point of opening this box is to get a quick hit of little scraps of favor that, for reasons that are hard (really easy??) to explain, make you go "WOW!!!!!!"
I want to share some wow with you tonight :) Here are some selections from the box, not organized or even scanned well... just a lick, a tease, a taste, an aroma. Next time you're over, ask, and I'll get the box out.
The disco is still open, though apparently no longer very gay and a tourist trap. Here's a wonderful, probably spurious excerpt about it:
"The club is in an ancient crypt of Santa Cecilia, where Dante and Beatrice are said to have met. The crypt was destroyed when the Guelphs and Ghibellines fought and in its place a building was erected where Tabasco is now."
that gauzy border, UGH!!!!
old nengajo (Japanese new year's card)
weird evangelical pamphlet from the NYC subway
"A Nip on the Sly" — stereograph card designed to be viewed with primitive 3D glasses
bag from the coolest building in Paris
fell out of an old book I bought once, no idea what it is
gorgeous foldout map of a Mexico City craft bazaar from the 60s
great place to buy fabric in LA
went through a phase of loving old photos colorized with paint
can you imagine advertising "visitation of the sick" on your business card?
piece of a Thai gummy bear bag from Thai Town holy site Bhan Kanom)
pamphlet transcribed from a 1964 radio broadcast by an LA woo woo legend
controversial, but almost any practiced graphic designer can make negative space and sparsity work on the page — few can do density as well as whoever did this brochure. every hypebeast brand in the world is snorting uncut Zizmorcore to get this look, but none will surpass the breezy ATTMANSPHERE and accessibility of this superb document. "Join Us for Lunch"? yes pls!
Papier Labo, which I stumbled on while wandering around Tokyo in 2014ish, makes these great calendars folded out of a single sheet of paper every year.
my partner brought the bicycle matchbook home from India; no recollection of the first.
an excerpt of a pagan Gaelic blessing that is (according to this organ grinder from the streets of Leeds) apparently a pile of "[t]ransphobic druidic mumbojumbo".
great typography
sexy felt letters from the incredible feminist socialist glossy Lux Magazine, for which my partner does the creative direction (everyone else that works on it rules, too!). and a tea label many brown folks will recognize (also saved by my partner)
...........
That's it, y'all — more soon. Readers are starting to write in, so I'll be sharing some of their thoughts with you next time. Until then :)
love, Alex
........................
ʕ ·ᴥ·ʔ
SOON… computing was almost really different (or: software for stoners) …… three transcendent music documentaries you can watch free online …… how to eat well at home with ease …… an obscure publication by Japanese streetwear nerds, found …… FINALLY, a great way to eat a pomegranate!