Seb Lester’s awesome calligraphy and lettering

Via this blog post I joined Instagram today because I found Seb Lester so worthy of my following. Mr Lester is a British calligrapher, typographer, illustrator and graphic designer with a sense of humour right up my alley, and hopefully he won’t post pictures of breakfasts anytime soon. Not saying that I won’t, mind you, since I actually eat exactly the same thing every morning someone might find that fascinating. Meanwhile, please enjoy the brilliance of Seb Lesters hand and pen.

All pictures belong to Seb Lester.

Molly Jacques’ amazing letters

Via this Design*Sponge Sneak Peak post I found the very talented American artist Molly Jacques today. She is a classically trained illustrator, but it is as a calligrapher and handletterer she impresses me greatly. And as much as I do love my job as head of productions and designs in book publishing, this would be my second dream job: calligrapher and handletterer (if that is even a word?). Since changing my carrier isn’t something I was planning to do this particular summer, I am however feeling very inspired to getting some new pens (any excuse to get new pens is a good excuse!) and doing some good old lettering again. Or maybe even getting a chalkboard during our next planned IKEA trip!

All pictures belong to Molly Jacques.

Kota Kammoto is brilliant

Kota Kammoto of KGS Design Studio is an extremely talented Japanese graphic designer. I am in awe of these beautiful calligraphic logos. Found via Design is Mine.

Luca Barcellona: I take a bow

Okay, so I know I rather frequently use the term genius and brilliant about stuff that I really like. But this time, when I say that Luca Barcellona is a genius, I have never meant it more. The art of calligraphy is not practiced by that many nowadays, and to find this brilliant, brilliant man is sort of a revelation for me, to be honest. It is incredibly inspiring, and it almost makes me want to take a leave of absence from work and just dive into it myself. Preferably with Mr Barcellonas guidance. This is just a small selection of the work from his magical pens and brushes, I can’t stop looking at them, it is just too beautiful for words. See lots more and the man himself in action here.























So there you go, I take a bow, in utter awe of this amazing artist. Thank you Luca Barcellona, I am your devoted fan from here on after.

All pictures belong to Luca Barcellona.

Dana Tanamachi’s chalk calligraphy

I’m in complete awe over these chalk calligraphy designs made by New York based graphic designer Dana Tanamachi. I think they’re pure perfection, and I wish I would have come up with this idea. And had this skill. And lived in Brooklyn and worked as a calligrapher and graphic designer. Hey, it’s international women’s day, I can dream what I want!









I wonder if Wes Anderson the director has anything to do with this? I wouldn’t mind having a chalked wall at home, where I could play around with designs like these. Maybe I could start off with just a little one I can keep in my lap? I still remember how much I loved my birthday in school, in the first grades, because our teacher had such a beautiful handwriting and would always draw a wreath of flowers with your name inside for your birthday. She was a big inspiration for my early interest in handwriting actually, even though she was concerned that I held my pen ‘wrong’. I forgave her for that.

dreamy dresses

I'm in love. Seriously. Just look at this amazing piece of clothing! I love love love it! It's a Bettie Page Clothing dress and I truly believe it was made for me. The colours, the cut, the collar, the buttons. Thank you very much. The only downside is that they didn't just give it to me, and I don't pay this much for a single piece, as a principle. Maybe it's a silly principle, I don't know, cos it's not that I couldn't afford it if I really wanted to. I just don't like paying a lot for anything, I like bargains and getting many things rather than just the one item. I've always been like that, and can't just change. In case you're wondering what I won't pay for the perfect dress, it's $137.



While on the subject of lovely new dresses, I also found this dreamy thing at Sivletto. It's from Fever and costs £74.99. I do love the cut and the colour and the pattern a lot, but mostly I love that it's called Calligraphy dress, even though I don't know why. As far as I can see it's got a rose pattern, and roses are not calligraphic. But I find that intruiging, has it by any chance got a calligraphic lining that doesn't show in the picture? Will my calligraphic skills improve when I wear it? Did a calligrapher design it? Either way I love roses almost as much as calligraphy, but this is also above my principle price so I guess I'll just keep dreaming of finding it in a vintage store eventually, when some crazy girl with my size has gotten bored with it. It could happen you know!

particularly pretty penguins pt. 1

Ever since I can remember starting to appreciate book covers Penguin has been one of my absolute favorites. Their amazing sense of style is simply immaculate, and I cannot get enough of it. It could in fact be that they're partly responsible for me wanting to work in publishing in the first place, cos I so wanted to be a part of creating something desirable from the outside in. Today I discovered this great batch of special edition classics they've published in association with (RED), where 50% of the profits will go towards helping eliminate AIDS in Africa. A very good thing indeed, and I'm tempted to ordering the lot to be honest, and hang them on the wall cos they are so incredibly beautiful! Seriously, breathtaking! Being a big fan of red and black and white is of course one of the reasons I like them so much, but add the calligraphy and unusual fonts and handwriting and letter illustration to that, and I'm one happy girl just looking at them, again and again and again. Of course the titles are not too bad either, but I've already got most of them in other editions, so if I was to get any of these I guess I'd donate the old ones for charity first. Or keep them in case I want to re-read them one day, and I've nailed the new ones to the wall as art!

































Last year I got three Penguin book cover design books, and I love just flickering through them for inspiration, there's so much to choose from. There's the odd not so great cover in there too, which is almost a relief, cos pure perfection is hard to handle in my book. No pun intended. I also think that the Penguin logo is probably the best logo in the world. In the future, if I should move somewhere else and not work for Leopard anymore, and I'm not moving to San Fransisco to work at McSweeney's, getting a job at Penguin would rate pretty high for sure. Oh, the dreams, the dreams. Where would we be without them? Well, if I had followed the advice of the students counsler in my high school, I'd be working in the steel factory in Oxelösund right now. Do I have to add I'm happy I don't?