The Earl Bishop

When I was back home at Easter I picked up a copy of Stephen Price's book The Earl Bishop. The book is a biography of Bishop Hervey, the man who built the famous Mussenden Temple, one of the worlds most famous follies. As I'm from that neck of the woods it was nice to finally come across a book that told the story of the place and of the man who made it.
As a bit of a design challenge I decide to re-design the cover. I didn't have a design brief but as a rule I used all the elements that were on the existing cover and a turn around time of one day. The original cover looks like this, an uncharacteristic sunny day with a blue sky showing off the famous follie with a pillared wall echoing the monuments classic architecture which acts as a holding area for the books title and the authors name.

I started by researching architectural decoration of the period and mixed this research with the Antiqua series of classic texts. These are a real design treat and totally of their time. They were produced from the early 1900's in France and feature a refined yet restricted colour palette and a tidy visual framing which draws inspiration from classical Greek architecture.

The next step was to incorporate some of the actual architecture from Mussenden and start to work  these into the cover. One of the most famous parts of the site where the Bishop's stately home once stood is the Lion's Gate,(even though the two stone cat sculptures which the gate takes its name from are actually Ocelots). I drew a number of stylised sketches of the sculptures and continued to carry out a pencil sketch taken from a photo of the Temple itself. I inked these out, scanned them in and then played about with them in Illustrator, where I started creating the frame.

Like the Antiqua series I decided to stay with a two colour scheme. I chose blue and green simply because of the geography of the area and the relationship between the land and the sea. In case you have never been the Temple is right on the edge of a cliff looking out over sea, in fact the inscription that circles the temple it's self reads "Suave mari magno, turbantibus aequora ventis, E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem" which translates roughly as "Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore, The rolling ship, and hear the tempest roar." and probably not "Agreeable husband very turbantibus the waters to toss in the air, out of earth large the second specter to sink" which I got the first time I fed the quote through an online Latin translator!
For the text I used Gill sans in caps for the titles and Perpetua Regular for the quotes and book blurb. I liked the balance between these two typefaces, the geometry of Gill sat well with the frame work while Perpetua Regular gave a classic book feel. One of the only deviations I made from my original brief was that I didn't use an actual portrait of the Bishop instead to fit with the graphic nature of the frame I decide to use a silhouette of the Bishop. The silhouette originated in the 18th century, so it felt apt that it could be included. While I was researching this I found out an interesting little fact about where the word silhouette comes from, if your interested click here!
Anyway the final cover back and front turned out like this:

It's by no means a final finished piece of design more a play around with genres, type and applying these to the elements of a pre-existing design. If any thing it has also been a bit of light design relief and fun to boot!

The Wonders of My World

• It is said that many inventions are created by accident. If this is true, I have 'invented' the coffee scented handbag, by accidentally dropping an entire cup of expresso across a table and onto my LV Bellevue handbag. The bag is slightly ruined but it does smell delicious.


• I don't get why some people use sweeteners instead of sugar in their drinks to 'cut calories' - but then have a giant slice of chocolate ganache cake with their tea or coffee. What is the logic behind this?


• My neighbour seems to moonlights as a DJ, blaring Kurt Darren, Katy Perry, Roxette and Tiesto from his professionally loud stereo. He hosts rowdy parties every Monday to Thursday. It must be a Small Town thing - drunken partying on work nights and peaceful, sobered up weekends.


• I don't have a sweet tooth, but after hearing great reviews about the Lindt Chocolate Brownies at Melrose Arch, my BFF and I decided to try it out. We were served three huge pieces of stale dry brownies, smothered in a warm dark chocolate sauce, served with a scoop of not-so-nice vanilla ice-cream. I could only endure one spoonful, it was ridiculously rich to the point of nausea. My chocolate quota for the year is up.


• The creator of The Vampire Diaries, L.J Smith, has written her last book in this popular series, called 'The Return - Midnight'. This is the final installment in The Return trilogy. Expect an extremely interesting twist for Damon and a hellish rescue mission for Elena and Stephan. Buy your copy online from Amazon.


• I really need to learn the art of using chopsticks properly. People are starting to stare (not in a good way) at my misuse of these ancient Chinese utensils.


• Whoever said that women are the best multi-taskers has not met me yet. I can't type and talk at the same time. I can barely even walk and talk at the same, in fear of striding straight into a lamppost. 


• If your mascara dries out, the last thing you should do is try to melt it in the microwave. (I know, I should have known better, but I did it anyway). It will explode and you will have to buy a new tube of Maybelline and a new microwave.


• Your true friends will gladly spend 75 cents to send you an sms and won't pressurize you to buy a Blackberry just so that they can chat to you for free. Yup, I am still on my Anti-BB Campaign.


• If you live in KZN, you can read my interview in the April issue of Get It magazine. This is a great community based publication featuring best fashion and beauty buys, décor and recipe ideas, interesting personalities and exciting places to visit. I would like to thank the magazine editor, Rachel Thomas for taking the time to drive up and meet with me and Danica for taking the photographs.

Jan Pienkowski

I have been creating a new papercut for an event happening in June called Fairy tales and Monsters. I will be posting some images of it's progression later this week, but in the meantime I just wanted to highlight one of it's inspirations, Jan Pienkowski.

Jan Pienkowski is one of those illustrators that people may not know by name but show some one one of his drawings and you will have everybody exclaiming "Oh him!!". If you are of a certain age then you will instantly recognise his most famous creations Meg and Mog who I am rediscovering at the moment through my two year old daughter who has insisted that they are her bedtime read for the past two months!

He was born in Warsaw in 1936, made his first book when he was 8, as a present for his father (on the subject of road rage - but featuring a horse and cart). When WWII arrived he moved through Europe,from Poland to Austria, Germany, Italy and then finally to England in 1946. There he read Classics and English and started creating  posters for theatre, but it was with his pop up books and Meg and Mog that he became best known.

It was his book of fairy tales that caught my eye when thinking about creating my paper cut. he used delicately drawn silhouettes to tell four classic European fairy tales and although I could not capture his detailing through cutting paper it was a joy to look at and to let my imagination run riot. I have  a few images from Joan Aiken's Kingdom of the Sea which he illustrated in 1972 and won the Kate Greenaway Medal. I also came across this enchanting audio slideshow on him talking about his work, I recommend taking the time to watch it.

This snakey fellow from the cover of "The Kingdom Under the Sea"
reminded me of the monster in the title sequence of Pixars' Monsters Inc.
I wonder if a few seeds of inspiration were planted?

Happy Reading

The Happiness Project

by Gretchen Rubin

Is there anything that you could do to become happier? Gretchen Rubin answers that question in her New York Times Bestseller, The Happiness Project.





She chronicles the year she spent pursuing happiness in different areas of her life; including work, marriage, parenting, well-being and self-fulfillment. She relates her personal experiences and describes the steps and methods she used to achieve her goal.





About the Book:

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.



In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.



Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her—and what didn't.



Her conclusions are sometimes surprising—she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference—and they range from the practical to the profound.

Funny, perceptive, warm and engaging, this book is part self-help, part memoir. It may just inspire you to start your own happiness project.

Visit the author's website and buy this book on www.happiness-project.com

A Savvy Lifestyle Guide

Savvy Chic - The Art of More For Less

by Anna Johnson

"Savvy Chic" is a lifestyle guide that proves luxury living can be achieved on a recessionista's budget. Anna Johnson will teach you how to entertain, decorate, travel, and dress for less. Sharing her secrets of survivalist chic, Anna provides many ideas on living the posh life practically. She offers advice on:

Decorating - create exquisite decor with great flea market finds, beautiful basics

& your own artwork.

Style -  Lay the foundations of a fabulous wardrobe by buying classic pieces and mastering the art of thrift-shop vintage.

Food - Impressive meals without the expense.

Travel - how to make an economy class vacation a first class experience.

Leisure - from creating a luxurious home spa experience to affordable entertainment with all the frills.

This beautifully illustrated handbook is perfect for any woman looking to save money without skimping on style. "Savvy Chic" shows you that all it takes to live well is impeccable taste, great style & imagination. Fun, fulfilling & frugally fabulous, this is your guide to five-star elegance on a one-star budget.