Thursday 20 September 2012

Justus Magazine


"YOU'VE MADE QUITE AN IMPRESSION ON ME"

And on me too, Justus. I've had a few magazine crushes over the years, but none have struck me as hard as Justus. Though to be fair, even though it's called a magazine, it probably shouldn't be. 
It is so much more. 

Justus is a celebration of the print design industry; featuring a range of printing techniques, a variety of specialty paper stocks, and is filled with an array of delightful fonts, the latest inks and sumptuous embellishments. Whilst devoted to honouring and protecting the art and craftsmanship of age-old printing techniques, Justus is also about building a platform for the design community to share knowledge, ideas, and showcase their talent and innovation.

Each issue specialises on a particular technique; with Issue 1 titled "The Ode To Foiling" (helloooo - WALL of SOUND!), the second and current issue is themed "To Letterpress With Love". Founded by art director Lindsay Smith, and saturated with enchanting words, tactile pages and inspiring work from other design professionals, you can really feel the love and passion with which these publications are created, not to mention the sense of community they have managed to establish.

Justus is only available via subscription (which you can apply for on their website). If you are in the design/paper/print industry and haven't yet come across Justus, then I thoroughly recommend that you get your hands on a hot little copy—you won't be disappointed.

And if you look really, really closely at the last of the images I've shown - you might just see my 
All Stops To Prahran screen-print in the background of The Arcade Print Club feature.... 
what a nice surprise!

MJx




WALL of SOUND ~ Gold Record

WALL of SOUND - Gold Record | by Marika Järv

Across the world, the music industry awards certification based on the number of albums and singles sold - the most recognised being gold or platinum records. The amount of units needing to be sold differs from country to country based on population. In Australia, the ARIA awards a Gold Record to those albums which have shipped 35,000 copies, whereas in the UK this figure is 100,000 and in the US it's 500,000.

The WALL of SOUND - Gold Record, as a dear friend of mine recently described it, is quite simply...... GOLD! (Actually he used another adjective in front of gold - but that's not for repeating  here *snicker*). Debossed and foil stamped with a light reflecting, metallic foil, when the sunlight catches this deluxe print it glistens and gleams and makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over.

Oh, and it was also recently shortlisted* in the 2012 Create Design Awards for the Print Creative category - and yes I am just a little bit chuffed!

MJx

*(UPDATE: It actually won a HIGHLY COMMENDED!!!)




Friday 7 September 2012

Desktop Magazine


WALL of SOUND - Gold Record makes a little editorial debut in this month's Desktop magazine.
Desktop is a design culture mag aimed at the graphics/advertising community, but well worth a look for anyone interested in a variety of creative fields—and it's printed on that gorgeous uncoated matte paper stock which I do so love in a magazine!




Wednesday 5 September 2012

Cliff Face House

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Over the last year or so, I've been helping out talented landscape architect Phoebe Pape with some of her beautifully considered landscaping work. One of the projects we worked on together is the 
Cliff Face House at Palm Beach, designed in collaboration by my lovely friends and ex-colleagues Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

The Cliff Face House recently won the Wilkinson Award—which is the top architectural prize presented by the Australian Institute of Architects (NSW Chapter) for excellence in residential buildings. This award is a big deal - so well done fellas!

The last two photos shown below give you an idea on why the Cliff Face House is named as such—
and if you want to know more, pick up the magazine: Houses - Issue 87, or click here.

MJx

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture

Cliff Face House | Palm Beach | by Fergus Scott Architects and Peter Stutchbury Architecture


Tuesday 4 September 2012

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv
WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | by Marika Järv

I love music. I especially love music festivals.
Easy-listening classic rock of the 70's. Grunge from the 90's.
I will even admit I have a soft spot for bad 80's music, and know all the words to all those tragic tunes. 
(but hey what 30-40-something-year-old gal doesn't?—it was what we grew up listening to!)

Several years ago I was searching online for some cool new mashups, and I came across an ingeniously titled track: "BoyGeorgeMichaelJacksonBrowne". I thought that was pretty clever—and for some amusement started to conjure up more and more interlinking names (coincidently about 6 months later my favourite radio station Triple J started playing a similar game "Band Sausage" on their breakfast show). Then one day I came to the realisation that put down in words, my silly little distraction could make a pretty interesting print for all us music fanatics—and so was born
 WALL of SOUND

For those of you who don't know, the "Wall of Sound" is a music production technique developed by record producer Phil Spector in the early 1960's (those big, dense, layered sounds you hear pumping through your stereo at times, are probably owed to him). 

WALL of SOUND, as in by me however, is a series of limited edition prints (only 100 available!) dreamt up in homage to musical artists from around the world. Over the course of 5 years, I spent weeks upon weeks, if not months upon months, interlinking more than 500 names together, which were then eventually put down on paper and formed into a spiral to mimic the continuous groove of an old vinyl record. Printed on a gorgeous, heavy-weight (550gsm), fine-art paper imported from Italy, and using the traditional techniques of debossing and foil stamping, the first piece in the series is the aptly named 'Black Vinyl' (in obvious reference to the classic old vinyl record). 

Ahhhh vinyl records—before the digital age of iTunes; before MP3's; before mini-discs;
before CD's; heck even before my childhood staple, the good old audio cassette tape!
(oh long-lost cassettes.... don't they bring back mixtape memories?)

MJx
WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv

WALL of SOUND - Black Vinyl | Limited Edition Print by Marika Järv
photos by Matt Russell & Marika Järv

Monday 3 September 2012

New York. New York.

The iconic Empire State Building | Midtown NYC | photo - Marika Järv
The iconic Empire State Building | Midtown NYC | photo - Marika Järv
So I've spent this last year quietly working away on a number of different projects—
culminating with the launch of my website which goes live this week (BIG yaaaay!),
—and it got me thinking..... what was I doing a year ago?

Well, this day last year I was actually lucky enough to be sitting on a big-jet-plane, whizzing
across the Pacific, on my way to hang out with two of my bestest buddies Jac and Rach 
(and not forgetting a fun-filled night with Nick!) in New York City.

NYC is a total BUZZ. 

Exploring. Eating. Drinking. Dancing. Shopping. People-watching. Building-gazing.
Alas! There are just not enough hours in the day to do it all!
But I did give it a darn good try.

And whilst most holiday snaps are usually of people, mine tend to be of buildings!

MJx

The Flatiron Building | Flatiron District | photo - Marika Jarv
The Flatiron Building | Flatiron District | photo - Marika Jarv
The High-Line | Chelsea - The Meatpacking District | photo - Marika Järv
The High-Line - a public park built upon an historic freight rail line elevated above the streets
 Chelsea - The Meatpacking District | photo - Marika Järv
Coloured windows along the High-Line walk | The Meatpacking District | photo Marika Järv
Coloured windows along the High-Line walk | The Meatpacking District | photo Marika Järv
Fire-escape stairs | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Fire-escape stairs | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Vesuvio Bakery storefront | Soho | photo Marika Järv
Vesuvio Bakery storefront | Soho | photo Marika Järv
Storefront under construction | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Storefront under construction | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Lunch at the Parisian style brasserie Balthazar | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Lunch at the Parisian style brasserie Balthazar | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Dinner at La Esquina | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Dinner at La Esquina - yum Mexican - cool fitout - a (not so) 'secret' entrance | Soho | photo - Marika Järv
Cafe Charbon Cremerie | Lower East Side | photo - Marika Järv
Cafe Charbon Cremerie | Lower East Side | photo - Marika Järv
Bicycles parked on the street | West Village | photo Marika Järv
Bicycles parked on the street | West Village | photo Marika Järv
Brooklyn Bridge | East River | photo - Marika Järv
Brooklyn Bridge | East River | photo - Marika Järv
The Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright | Upper East Side | photo - Marika Järv
The Guggenheim Museum by Frank Lloyd Wright | Upper East Side | photo - Marika Järv
'Standard Deviations' Typography Exhibition MoMa | Midtown | photo - Marika Järv
'Standard Deviations' Typography Exhibition MoMa | Midtown | photo - Marika Järv