this year my goal was to cover all three shows- every single row and every last booth. and of course, despite best laid plans it took me way longer to get the stationery show and icff done than i’d hoped. because of that i wasn’t able to do as much of surtex as i would have liked. i was able to walk the entire ground floor (sadly i didn’t find anything i liked down there) and a half of the first room upstairs (and run by the scad booth and julia rothman’s booth the first day) but i sadly had to miss lisa dejohn (i’m so sorry, lisa!) and many others. if anyone visited the show and wants to share their coverage i’m more than happy to share it here but sadly i’ll only be able to post work from a few people today. the good news? julia’s new patterns are stunning. next year i’ll make sure i plan to attend saturday, sunday, monday and tuesday so i can catch the full collection of surtex designers, rather than sat-monday. my apologies to anyone i missed at surtex.

the savannah college of art and design had a booth at surtex this year so i ran by to see if i could catch any of the teachers or students i visited the week before. luckily i was able to catch a few of them and even get some advice on those curtains i loved (and i met the girl who made them!). these embroidered pieces above were made by some very talented scad students- i love their fibers dept- so many talented students.

it goes without saying that i’m always psyched to see julia rothman’s new patterns. her work really inspires me these days and i was stunned to see how many new designs she had. this is only about half of them. she’s one prolific artist- and a seriously talented one at that.

alright- we made it! the last day of icff coverage. it was a fantastic three days covering everything and running from place to place trying to catch it all. though the show wasn’t the best i’ve ever seen, it was great to see everything in one place and meet some of the designers i’ve admired this year. so, without further ado: the last day! [”co-pilot” boat-inspired stools by kandice levero. each one has a working compass so you know which way you’re faceing when you swivel]

i’ve written about this piece by charlotte lancelot before but it was great to see it in person this time. sooo much texture, i love it!

ceramics from paige russel- she was definitely one of the standouts at this year’s show.

these little ceramic cup and saucer sets had a light that changed colors inside. a little novelty but still pretty cute. part of the designboom mart (which kicked major, major butt this year)

amy adams‘ cute new frida lamps. i love the handle for easy transport.

fun little hook/cup/tiles at the designboom mart.

MET chandelier- part of the pure austrian design booth.

more beautiful ceramics from paige russell’s studio.

this wooden bench had just the right amount of detailing. [designer info coming soon]

one of the highlights of design season was meeting denyse schmidt in person- she’s as sweet and lovely as her work. i loved the linens hanging behind her in the photo.

i loved this metallic bicycle-print wallpaper from flavor paper. they’re always right on top of the wallpaper game…

this was the first chair i saw at the show- it wouldn’t exactly match my home’s look but darn was this thing cool. and of course, it was so cool i lost my notes on it. will find asap.

boca grande’s storage unit was one of my early favorites- it’s finished with auto paint, which gave the piece a nice high gloss.

peter loh showed a seriously beautiful glass table made with legs of reclaimed douglas fir.

lisa albin’s cute children’s chairs in a new walnut finish.

door hooks and small side table from viable.

i loved these bright pink flor tiles from interface’s commercial division.

lush, rich new rugs from emma gardner. i love the way emma plays with colors that are both super saturated and wonderfully muted.

cup and saucer with metallic detailing from areaware.

this rug really had to be seen to be appreciated. my camera can’t do it justice. warp and weft’s pink carpet was one of my lust-after items this season.

wiggly, borderline alien-like lighting from vitra. very cool but about two steps away from giving me the creeps.

i covered these at milan but i had to show them again- tom dixon’s stunning metallic lamps.

i loved these glass tiles from brooklyn glassworks. sorry, my camera really crapped out on this shot.

niche modern showed some great new styles at icff- i love the little pointed-bottom lamps.

adorable cuckoo clocks from progetti italy.

more pieces from the amaridian booth at icff. these rockers and chaise were designed by south african designers- i loved all the vivid red they used.

the cut-outs in tony meredith’s slashBackslash chair gave it such a nice, airy feeling.

fun textured lighting from norman copenhagen.

i loved these colorful ceramic tiles from modcraft.

a lovely throwback to days of yore. this lamp was made from an old-school hoover vaccuum cleaner. kitschy, but fun. [artist info coming asap]

icff really was all about babies and kids this year- this convertible crib from industREAL design flips and turns into a chair when your baby is old enough to leave the crib behind.

i loved this simple but sleek seating from ana linares.

lamps and bowls from pure austrian design.

this luxurious wooden table from eros reminded me of golf tees- in a nice way, of course.

all of celery’s furniture came with a bamboo mallet for easy construction and disassembly.

snap together glasses from angela at inv/alt design.

cup and saucer clock from umbra.

it was so nice to meet caitlin of rebound designs…

congrats to brad at show on the launch of their new e-commerce site. lots to see…click here to check it all out.

today is my final day of stationery show coverage- i wish i could go on for weeks about this show but i’ll try to let the pictures do the talking. yesterday someone said to me “it must feel like a highschool reunion at that show” and it’s definitely true- i find the stationery designers to be the friendliest group around- they’re always happy to talk to you and show you what’s new. so, a big thanks to everyone i met at the show- hope to see you all next year. [notepads above from snow & graham]

beautiful new wall calendars from snow & graham.

gorgeous metallic designs from manifesto letterpress at the little tree press booth.

i just loved the booth design at tallu-lah. such a pretty little space- i wanted to move right in.

herman yu always shows such wonderfully simple but elegant designs…

delphine was one of my favorite booths at the show- every piece was so elegant and beautifully letterpressed. i loved the tiny squirrel boxes and woodland cards- not to mention the “bonjour” bird.

vintage fabric clocks from pamela barsky.

adorable little salmon colored cards from millimeter/milligram.

without a doubt stacy pancake’s booth is always in my top three. she’s just about the coolest girl around and i always, always love her cards. this year stacy decided to go green and is now printing all of her cards on recycled paper (with 100% biodegradable bags)- she also introduced a fun series with red lentils, black eyed peas and macaroni on them. my personal favs are the ones with the simplest images: the single tea bag, candles and especially the daisies. her word is just plain lovely.

right across from stacy was the beautiful peculiar pair press booth- they showed a lovely series of wrapping papers, insect cards, and intricately detailed and letterpressed greeting cards.

there was a german company called parkhaus berlin that showed beautiful felt pieces. i loved these egg cozies.

more lovely cards from binth- i loved the purples they used this year.

jean at eieio studio released a fun series of cards with variations on the word “love”. simple but sweet.

leigh at jezebel introduced a seriously cute line of baby t-shirts. with everyone i know having babies this year i’m gonna have to stock up on these.

kelly green and yellow at egg press- popular colors this year.

more prints and cards from hammerpress…

amy ruppel (who i got to meet in person!) paperweights from ipop.

yellow floral notebooks from snow & graham.

new animal cards from sesame letterpress.

fun little fortune packs from rosebud design studio. open them up and you’ve got weeks and weeks’ worth of fortune-cookie style fortunes inside. so cute.

adorable children’s wall art from whimsy press.

these gorgeous notebooks are part of paper+cup press’ new office line. you’re going to love the new collection- it’s full of sophisticated products with a fun little girly spin to them.

notebooks (that will have hot pink binding rather than red when they launch) from see jane work’s signature line of office accessories.

beautiful designs for children by mel lim.

flirty hair pins from the lovely kelly at relish.

more cuteness from night owl paper goods.

a festival of yellow at elum.

i love jill bliss‘ stitched wallets…

lisa at good on paper could not be any cuter. and neither could her “little peanut” baby designs…

fun little coasters from the lovely jacinta of allymoon.

missing a name for these, will find asap…loved the bright colors caulfield parcel used in their papers. their website is still under construction but you can view the basic right here.

perfect little ladybug cards from jane at foxy&winston.

today is my second day of icff coverage- i thought i could get it into two days but i’m going to have to do a third day on friday- i don’t want to run everything off the page so stay tuned on friday for surtex and the last day of icff. what follows below are more highlights from the show and well as some additional projects from designers we talked about on monday. i’ll be doing more in-depth coverage of some of these icff artists over the new few weeks so stay tuned for that. hope you enjoy everything- and, as always, if you’d like to skip this and go straight to full-sized photo slideshow just click here to do so. (owl lamp above by designer rick lee)

this beautiful horn chandelier from ochre was the first piece i saw at the show- it would be such a gorgeous addition to a dramatic dining room.

most everyone i talked to at the show fell hard for this little noguchi lamp- it wasn’t a new piece but it had such a sweetness about it.

lace votives at the juju booth.

i loved this piece- you just stick in a piece of toast and the “zuze” machine prints/toasts a pattern on the bread line by line. designed by inseq design.

beautiful new wallpaper from palace papers.

new shelving from areaware…

i loved the way the ercole booth draped these small chandeliers on a mirror. such a nice touch…

draw on your wallpaper with rollout’s custom wallpaper.

colorful botanical lighting from noodle.

additional pieces from risd’s seriously kick-butt exhibition in conjunction with swarovski- “lawn kitsch” lawn chair by alex spain-strombom, a “winged chandelier” by kallie weinkle, crystal-studded arm chair by james lear.

i was beyond thrilled to meet the lovely ladies of loyal loot collective. i’ve been a fan of theirs for a few years now so i couldn’t resist buying some of their log bowls at the desigboom mart. the wooden decorative collars were cool, too. i noticed david keeps of the LA Times eyeing them…

the winners of umbra’s pratt competition…

i’m desp. trying to find info on this booth. for some reason i can’t find my card for it- these wallpaper patterns from soon design are made up of photographs of women, but from afar they just look like geometric patterns. so cool.

more risd work: ann adams’ “amorphous lamps” and alex spain-stromborn’s silk and crystal piece.

i’m a sucker for a fabric sandwich. this fun little guy and the beautiful table and stools were from thout design.

new work from timorous beasties.

chair from mike and maaike.

new furniture from autobahn- i loved the little gold basket side table.

beautiful powder-coated aluminum stools from designer jonathan nesci of hale furniture.

one of the best kids’ pieces at the show- a convertible high chair by age design. you can flip the piece around 360 degrees and it becomes either a high chair or a “big kid” seat.

as always, kstudio showed some really lovely work at icff. i loved shelly’s new “people” dolls and the two-sided pillows with images of people and pets. such a nice progression in her work- and of course the stitching and color choices were impeccable.

i love love loved the embroidered detail on this bedding from flou.

let me preface this by saying i think this is a seriously scary couch, but it was too crazy not to post. it just screams “I AM A GIANT ORANGE VELVETY SQUIGGLY SOFA!” (from edra)

lovely button/light installation that was part of the house creatures booth (a project by the faculty of design and art at the free university of bozen in italy).

beautiful woodworking from hida japan.

i loved this twised wooden lighting and the pretty fuschia chair from essenze.

“three” tripod lighting from hans and franz.

crystal drop lighting from refer + staer.

i love a big chunky gem- these resin paperweight/sculptures were from designer john torreano.

i’m a big chrissy angliker fan so i was psyched to see her updated “peace button”. this one requires a bit more dedication though- you’re meant to sew it onto your shirt or bag or use it as a subsitute button for clothing. very cool.

very, very cool hand-painted jewelry from bethan laura wood of wood uk.

“snow tree” netted lighting from suhyun hwang.

lovely new modern birdhouses from jed crystal- always one of my favorites at the show.

i love the play on this baroque style mirror, but updated with a corkboard finish. from designer julian mayor.

my photos of karen’s new work at nama rococo really didn’t do the new pieces justice. however, these photos are perfect and totally spot on color-wise. just wanted to share photos that looked a bit more accurate. darn my camera and it’s stupid color issues.

this year’s stationery show was a blast. despite the fact that each year it feels like the good booths are hidden behind rows of people selling self-help books, halloween masks and crazy hats (those booths drive me nuts), this year’s show did not dissapoint. after about 20 rows of the aforementioned tchotchkes, i stumbled upon a few fantastic companies i hadn’t seen before. today’s highlights will include my favorite “new” companies (you’re going to love joy’s beautiful debut line below) and plenty of great new work from the companies we already know and love. my computer is chock-full of stationery show photos so there will be a part two on thursday with many, many more photos. until then, here’s my first day roundup of stationery show highlights. if you’d like to skip the text and go straight to the full sized photo slide show just click here.

one of the booths that stood out the most to me belonged to molly meng of 8mm. i don’t know where i’ve been living (under a rock perhaps) that i haven’t seen her work before but i’m so glad i’ve seen it now. i loved her beautiful birdhead series and the “carbon” series that looks like lined paper. such beautiful work…

small square design of san francisco was new to the show this year. artists basak notz and rae dunn created the sweetest, most adorable cards for adults and children. the lovely baby cards and recipe journals were my favorite- they had such a nice sense of softness to them. due in no small part to her wonderful way with line and color. be sure to check out her work right here.

this year’s show marked the debut of fellow blogger joy’s beautiful nantaka joy line. i knew it would be great but i didn’t have any idea how great it would be until i saw them in person. these photos can’t do the collection justice- joy’s line is stunning. the way she worked with metallics was just gorgeous- i would have bought those top journals right on the spot- and i think many, many people will once they’re in stores. i can’t wait to see what joy does next- she’s got such a great eye and i’m sure this is just the tip of the iceberg. and it’s a very pretty iceberg already…

sweet bella had a beautiful booth full of accessories like tiles and the sweet white letters above. they also debuted a new line from lisa stickley, shown above.

for some reason my notes are a little scrambled for this row but i’m pretty sure these beautiful cards belong to studio olivine (please feel free to correct me if i’m wrong!). i loved the colors they were using- the soft melon color and the rich ochre yellow were such nice choices.

amy of amh design debuted a great new series of notebooks that have holes in them for embroidery! i love the idea that you could personalize your notebook with a needle and thread rather than labels or something flat. she also showed cute little stitched ipod covers- colorful and perfect for summer.

letterpressed “love” card from deluce design.

it was a pleasure to meet katie muth in person and check out her lovely new calendars- can’t wait for these to hit stores.

colorful coasters and aprons from rock scissor paper.

i love trace- they’re one of my favorite stationery companies around and whenever their website is up and running they’ll surely be regulars on the site. until then, you can browse some of their new products above. i loved the printed linen albums and “hi y’all” cards. they’ve always got something fun, different and colorful to share.

i was nuts about little tree press‘ calendars. so simple but so beautiful.

new cards and a handsome new print from binth in chicago.

egg press is always one of my favorites- their work was fantastic as always.

retro-style cards from elum.