Frankfurt. Fedrigoni. Fabulous.

As you read the most recent posts, you may have asked "Why Frankfurt?" (You HAVE been reading avidly, haven't you?)

Well, Frankfurt was the setting for a presentation at the Fedrigoni Booth during the city's Book Fair. Fedrigoni, an Italian paper company with fabulous papers and 125 years of experience, commissioned 16/2, a compilation of work by 8 international design firms, to illustrate the versatility of 8 of their papers.

Participants were asked to: choose a Fedrigoni stock, create content reflecting the designers' culture/historical background, and inspire a sense of local identity. The book was printed in CMYK; each section could use one special finishing method (die cut, embossing, debossing, varnish) and two spot colors.

Here Design, London, England; Mike Meiré, Cologne, Germany; Studio FM, Milan, Italy; Jérome Saint-Loubert Bié, Paris, France; SYB, The Hague, Netherlands; BTDnyc, NY New York; Threaded Media Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand; Yuan Yin Chang Design Studio, Shanghai, China all contributed fascinating, enlightening, and inspiring sections. Thomas Manss & Company masterminded production. Photos show: cover, contents page (cropped), and a spread from BTD's section (also cropped).

Fedrigoni's papers, available for projects printing in Italy or Asia, are available in the US only for indigo printers. With so many clients working abroad for quality and cost reasons, Fedrigoni is the ticket.

Grazie to elegantissima Louise Fili for the introduction to Fedrigoni's Marketing Director, Chiara Medioli. And thanks to Noom Kittayarak, who enhanced the photos in BTDnyc's section.http://www.fedrigoni.com/

Venice Daily Photo...Gondola Pasta

The blogsite Venice Daily Photo had a great shot of some strange looking pasta...in the shape of gondolas (or correctly pluralized, gondole).

If you don't blog feed this site, I recommend it. A little slice of La Serenissima every day!

The Dark (graphic) Heart of Italy

While we're (or I'm) on Toons, I've been meaning to note a few examples of the goofy graphics Pat and I saw in Italy. Of course, I have many shots of gorgeous typography—the sort of letterforms epitomized by the gifted and gracious Louise Fili and the deleriously-funny graphic genius Matteo Bologna. In contrast, my observations are more, well, "rustica." They're not beautiful, but they make me smile (or laugh— but I hope not in a sniffy-snooty condescending way).


Some fave quirky souvenirs of our trip are the plastic raincoats that sold like hotcakes (insert Italian idiomatic phrase) when the opera was rained out. I think of opera as rarefied; Italians think of it as a way of life. So possibly, the cartoonish raincoats are a seamless combo of high and low.


As for an ersatz academic explantion for the napkin? Beats me.

*The Dark Heart of Italy is the book by Tobias Jones (no, not Tobias Frere-Jones the type designer, but the English writer who emigrated from the UK to Parma, Italy) that Suz gave me for C'mas a while back.

Napkin photo by Pat O'Neill

Dell'Italia

Okay, so it's not the most amazing example of Italian typography, but I just couldn't resist uploading this image as my first post back in the US back in the US back in the U S of A. Here's your name in a very uncharacteristic (and . . . er . . . cheesy) cursable cursive.