Happy browsing!
Mary Quant Interview
Hilary Alexander of the Telegraph interviews Mary Quant about what it's like having the Royal Mail choose her Mini dress for one of its 'ten icons of British design' stamps. Mary is in her 70s now and looks fantastic — a wonderful example of how to grow older gracefully and with style. Via The Thoughtful Dresser.
Book Designs of the Year, 2008
The Penguin Blog asked the Penguin Art Department to choose their favourite book designs of 2008 — both inhouse and by other publishers. Lots of great design.
Bugs: The Secret History
David Bordwell takes a look at the history of bugs — film bugs, which he describes as "...those little channel logos and watermarks that hop onto your screen." An annoyance for most TV viewers today, there's actually a fascinating history of their usage in early silent film as an anti-piracy device, with the film company encorporating their logo into the actual background of the film sets. Lots of great film stills to illustrate this, too. Via Andrew (thanks!)
Up Close and Personal at the Prado
Google and the Prado recently unveiled the first use of Google Earth (Google's mapping programme) as a means for art lovers to view main masterworks in the museum in precise detail — even the brush strokes are visible. Fourteen of the Prado's masterpieces — including works by Francisco de Goya, Diego Velázquez and Hieronymus Bosch — can be seen online in almost microscopic detail. The link above takes you to the Guardian article about it — here's the link to the Prado Museum where you can see the art.
Top Hats and Tales
David Barringer examines 230 years of the top hat as object, symbol and icon, and unearths an at times surprising social history of a sartorial accessory.
Happy Quotations
A page devoted to quotes about happiness that I came across while searching for something else. An intriguing collection of different ideas about what constitutes happiness — hopeful, cynical, baffled, wise, funny and everything in between.
Sweden Bookshop
A bookshop devoted to all things Swedish. Their literature selection in translation is quite good — you'll find classics and new releases here. They're located in Stockholm, but they'll ship outside of Europe, which is good to know if there's a book there that you just have to own! Via Nichole (thanks!)
Chocolate & Zucchini Desktop Calendar
I'm a little late on this, but each month throughout 2009 Clotilde of the lovely Chocolate & Zucchini blog will be posting a C&Z desktop calendar wallpaper, so you can enjoy a seasonal food picture and have a handy calendar of the current month, too. January features a delicious photo of chouquettes — plus a link to a recipe for them, of course!
The photo is from my inspiration folder, so I'm afraid I can't tell you much except that I found it on emmas designblogg.