Berlin-based architect and rapper Van Bo Le-Mentzel is the founder of the popular Hartz IV Moebel initiative and website, whose rallying cry is "Build more Buy less " Hartz IV Mobel was born when Le-Mentzel registered for a weekend woodwork class. At the end of the class, he had constructed a chair; he posted the design online, dubbed it the "24-Euro Chair" and Hartz IV Mobel was born. Crowd-sourcing further ideas online, Le-Mentzel created a subculture of DIY enthusiasts, who are constructing beautiful modernist furniture at incredibly low cost. Proudly declaring itself a "crowd-sourced book," "Hartz IV Moebel" shows you how to build your own furniture with minimal resources and cost (Hartz IV is the name of Germany's social welfare benefit). Amateurs worldwide have followed these instructions and built a cube sofa, a "Berliner Hocker," a "24-Euro Chair" or a "100-Second Lamp." This inspirational volume offers both a practical guide and manifesto for affordable furniture.

Award-winning carver and fishing enthusiast Rich Rousseau shares his fish-tested designs for creating a variety of fresh and saltwater lures. These are fun and easy projects for anyone who enjoys fishing, carving or collecting. It includes a full-colour gallery of historic and contemporary wooden lures, accompanied by an introduction from top collector Butch Bartz. Making a usable fishing lure from a scrap of wood and some paint is a fun and easy project for anyone who enjoys fishing, carving or collecting. Divided into three main chapters this covers everything from what to know about choosing the right wood, types of lures, extra options to add to a lure, how to dress a hook and full-sized bonus patterns to help develop skills. Along with the wonderful lures that can be made by hand, there is a full-colour gallery of historic and contemporary wooden lures, accompanied by an introduction from top collector Butch Bartz. Rousseau's love of lure making and fishing in general is evident in the Fun Fish Facts and entertaining stories that are littered throughout.

In The Lettering Workshops, you'll learn all about the art and practice of drawing letters using hands-on techniques in 30 lessons across five workshops. Whether you're a beginner or a professional graphic designer, you'll quickly learn how to develop and advance your lettering skills. In this richly illustrated book of lessons and exercises, you'll find: Workshops to learn the art of drawing letters--from an introduction to brush lettering and lettering script to the decoration of letters; from the secrets of good composition to the process of digitization and vectorization of your type Exercises that gradually develop from beginner through intermediate and advanced levels Analyses of lettering samples to understand what makes good lettering Inspirational contributions in featured galleries from international letterers and brands Pages for all skill levels Letters to learn and explore TABLE OF CONTENTS What Is Lettering Why This Book? First Lesson Lettering, Calligraphy, or Typography? Basics and Technical Vocabulary WORKSHOP 1: DISCOVERING BRUSH LETTERING Exercise 1: Finding the Right Position Exercise 2: Setting Up a Grid Exercise 3: Carrying Out the First Motions Exercise 4: Drawing the Letters Exercise 5: Connecting the Letters Exercise 6: Reworking Your Drafts Analysis of Lettering Samples Gallery WORKSHOP 2: INTRODUCTION TO SCRIPT LETTERING Exercise 1: Discovering the Skeleton Technique Exercise 2: Drawing an Alphabet Exercise 3: Drawing a Complete Word Exercise 4: Lettering in a Classic Script Exercise 5: Leaving Your Comfort Zone! Analysis of Lettering Samples Gallery WORKSHOP 3: USING TYPOGRAPHIC CHARACTERS Exercise 1: Embellishing a Letter Exercise 2: Practicing on a Complete Word Exercise 3: Going Further with Vintage Style Exercise 4: Discovering Interlock Exercise 5: Practicing Interlock with Serifs Exercise 6: Producing a Complete Interlock Lettering Project Analysis of Lettering Samples Gallery WORKSHOP 4: THE SECRETS OF GOOD COMPOSITION Exercise 1: Thinking in Terms of the Block Exercise 2: Completing the First Sketches Exercise 3: Choosing the Styles for Each Word Exercise 4: Drawing the Skeleton Exercise 5: Developing and Finalizing Your Path Analysis of Lettering Samples Gallery WORKSHOP 5: DIGITIZATION AND VECTORIZATION Exercise 1: Digitizing and Preparing Your Lettering Exercise 2: First Steps in Vectorization Exercise 3: Testing the Vertex Theory Exercise 4: Vectorizing the Entire Lettering Project Exercise 5: Critiquing Your Vectorized Lettering Project Exercise 6: Preparing Your Lettering Project without Vectorization Exercise 7: Isolating the Lettering Exercise 8: Adding Texture to the Lettering Project Exercise 9: Finalizing the Composition Gallery Artists Represented in this Book Resources

Disrupting Craft presents the work of Tanya Aguiniga, Sharif Bey, Dustin Farnsworth, and Stephanie Styjuco, four artists who take innovative approaches to their selected mediums. They share a fascination with themes of identity, and the practise of their art as a means of engaging socially with communities in collective activity. The featured artists work in a remarkable variety of media including earthenware pottery, textiles and weaving, sculptural materials and woven plastic fabrics, and wood, metal and mixed media. Their visual sensibilities range from traditional African beaded culture, to digital media, the products of modern-day capitalist economies in the developing world, to post-industrial rust-belt of the American Midwest. Each is actively engaged in an artistic dialogue within their local and wider community, presenting mementos of bygone cultural eras and making sense of it for the present moment. Disrupting Craft is the second publication, and exhibition, devoted to the work of contemporary American craft practitioners and artists since the Renwick Gallery re-opened in fall 2015, following a major restoration and renovation.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Randy Wood was a forerunner in the vintage instrument industry. Known as the instrument repairman to the stars, the list of Wood's clients reads like a Hall of Fame roster: Elvis Presley, Eric Clapton, Johnny Cash, Chet Atkins, Emmylou Harris, Billy Gibbons, Bill Monroe, Keith Richards, Roy Acuff, Ricky Skaggs, and Hank Williams Jr. . . . to name a few. In Randy Wood: The Lore of the Luthier, Daniel Wile traces the life and work of a man who quietly influenced a hidden history of bluegrass and country music. In his twenties, Wood vowed to avoid complacency in his work. What started simply as a quest to find fulfillment turned into a career that has shaped a generation of musicians, professional and amateur alike. Through his incredible gift for lutherie, Wood brought cherished pre-WWII instruments back to life, many of which were considered beyond repair. He crafted his own instruments as well, based on what he learned from vintage instruments, and these instruments found their way into the hands of some of the most renowned musicians, thanks in part to Wood's strategic location in Nashville during the resurgence of country music in the 1970s. Humble, unassuming, and unfazed by the presence of celebrities, Wood has spent his life devoted to building and repairing stringed instruments. Wood also built community. After tiring of big-city Nashville, he retreated to the Georgia coast, where his home shop became a hub of bluegrass activity. He eventually opened a new shop near Savannah, where a new generation of friends and strangers can come in, visit, and pick a little. Randy's stories, complemented with those of his friends and family, create a compelling picture of a modest man with a talent for his craft, a genuine care for people, and the courage to follow his passion.

Before the age of the paper book jacket, publishers issued their books in cloth-covered boards, which were stamped with designs in golf leaf and color. From around 1860, artists of the Arts and Crafts movement supplied many of the best designs. Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Walter Crane led the way, and they were followed in the 1890s by Laurence Housman, Charles Ricketts and Selwyn Image, among others. Prominent Arts and Crafts architects, such as Philip Webb and C.F.A. Voysey, also designed book covers. Malcolm Haslam explores this uncharted territory, investigating not only the designs and designers, but the publishers and binders as well. He introduces some artists, little known today, whose designs filled the bookshops and bookshelves of late Victorian and Edwardian Britain, and he shows how designers in Europe and America were influenced by British book covers decorated in the Arts and Crafts style. Ninety-nine of the best covers are illustrated and described, and details are given of over fifty Arts and Crafts designers who worked in commercial book production, and their marks and monograms are shown."

Beautifully illustrated with a covetable rose gold foil cover, Modern Calligraphy is a step-by-step workbook for those wanting to learn this super trendy form of lettering. Written by Lucy Edmonds, the founder of Quill London, the book will guide readers through the first steps of pointed pen calligraphy, encouraging you to spend an hour a week developing and practicing the new skill. Designed for complete beginners, the book offers tips, tricks and techniques on the materials required and how to use them properly, how to approach the modern calligraphy letterforms, and most importantly explores ways to develop our own modern calligraphy style. You'll learn about inks and how to make your own, brush calligraphy, and what you can do with your new skill - from envelope addressing and event stationery to beautiful dinner party menus and gift tags.

Aimed at anyone wanting to learn more about the increasingly popular art of calligraphy and lettering, this practical introduction showcases many fine examples in the V&A's collection, and will give readers a new understanding and appreciation of letterforms. Fifteen beautiful step-by-step projects each take their cue from a different technique or tradition. Detailed instructions lead readers through the essentials of classic calligraphy styles such as Gothic and Italic lettering, on to vintage-inspired signwriting and chalkboard design and even into the elegant, image-led worlds of illuminated capitals and zoomorphic calligraphy. Designed by leading calligraphy teachers and practitioners, the projects include a handmade booklet, banner, menu, gift tags, a monogram stamp, greetings cards and more. Each project offers tips on how to take steps towards developing one's own designs. This book is packed with inspiration and practical advice to enable anyone to find new creative direction through the timeless arts of calligraphy and hand-lettering.

Woodturning is as popular as ever -- a constantly growing segement in the woodworking world and one of the most wide-reaching woodcrafts among artists and hands-on crafters. It s appeal is based on the short learning curve, the minimal equipment, and the sheer joy of learning to make something out of wood with one s own hands. But, unlike a lot of crafts that rely on individuality and creative thinking, the initial techniques of woodturning must be mastered. While at first liberating, these same techniques can eventually be confining because in mastering them, one must follow the lead of others. At a certain point, woodturners can feel that mastering the techniques has become the end in itself as they lose sight of their true pursuit: to create one s own original style. In fact, some woodturners, who believe they aren t creative enough, will simply continue to master techniques while imitiating the style of others. Terry Martin, the author of The Creative Woodturner and a woodturning artist, instructor, and photographer for over thirty-years, believes this goes against the fundamental nature of creating and being an artist. There is no right or wrong and the pursuit of originality should be the goal of every woodturner. Best of all, creativity can be learned and the ability to think and see in one s own artistic style can be achieved. The Creative Woodturner is not your usual how-to woodturning book. It won t tell you what a chuck is, how to sharpen a scraper, or how to turn a goblet. Instead, this book is a how-to for unlocking curiosity, how to break the rules, and for following one s own artistic path with confidence. Designed to give readers a wide-persepective on creativity, The Creative Woodturner begins first with insightful commentary, quotes, and examples from the woodturning and art community that will both inspire and inform. In addition, the author shares his Idea Tools: questions to ask during the planning and creative process that are as important to the creation of the woodturning project as any equipment in the shop. Finally, 16 one-of-a-kind projects from boxes and vessles to bowls and one-of-a-kind scultpures are featured that will spark the creative mindset of any woodturner. Each project is documented with instructions and crisp photography highlighting the key steps, techniques, and tasks necessary for completion. In taking the reader through each project, the author pulls back the curtain on his woodturning magic and shares his vision and how the Idea Tools and creative thinking emerges in each project. An inspiring and enjoyable read not only for woodturners, but for any artist, The Creative Woodturner will anyone to think and see differently so time is spent at the lathe or whatever creative pursuit it is -- creating the original ideas instead of imitating someone else."

Victorian furnishers and decorators Collinson & Lock were a model of the art furniture business of the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This book is the first wide-ranging study of this once highly important company. It will give insights into the workings and productions of a London furnishing business in the period. It also provides information on a wide variety of topics including furniture design developments, interior design styles, business practices, working practices and techniques, and the firm's customers and competitors. Clive Edwards first considers the structure of the London 'art furniture' trade and its development to locate the firm in its community. He then traces the growth of the firm's business, its involvement with important international exhibitions, the designers they worked with, and the furniture and interiors they produced. This important book then outlines and discusses Collinson & Lock's creations ranging from seminal pieces that were designed for an exclusive clientele, to those displayed at national and international exhibitions between 1871 and 1900, through to batch produced objects that still maintained the quality and design that the firm was famous for. The involvement of the firm with both public and private interior decoration commissions is also examined through case studies, including those in the Anglo-Japanese, Queen Anne, Old English, and Renaissance styles used in the later Victorian period. Drawing on the author's extensive knowledge of nineteenth-century furniture and interiors, this book meets a need for a fully researched and illustrated reference work on this famous firm. If you have an interest in the history of furniture and interior design, if you are involved with furniture collections either on a private basis or professionally, or you simply have an interest in the decorative arts and culture of the period, this book should be on your shelves.

Over 150 motifs reflecting the eye-catching intricacies of Celtic design, ideal for use in graphics layouts, needlework designs and other arts and crafts projects. Often incorporating sinuous interlacements of animal, floral and abstract motifs, the designs have been clearly and boldly drawn to provide the clearest possible image for reproduction. The collection includes a variety of interesting shapes and sizes.

Maud Lewis has become one of Canada's favourite folk artists, and her buoyant winter pictures of nature, pets, farm animals, and people at work and play are among her most charming. Her hands were twisted with arthritis, but Maud earned her living by painting Christmas cards and pictures and selling them from her tiny, gaily painted one-room house beside the highway near Digby, Nova Scotia.Originally issued in 1997 and now available in this updated edition, Christmas with Maud Lewis paints a portrait of how this spirited woman celebrated the season in her life and art. Maud's vision of Christmas embraces skaters sliding every which way, passengers leaning over the box of a horse-drawn sleigh, smiling oxen in their best harness, and bluebirds beside their snow-covered house. The paintings in Christmas with Maud Lewis are from the large collection of the Woolaver family.

Performing Englishness examines the growth in popularity and profile of the English folk arts in the first decade of the twenty-first century. In the only study of its kind, the authors explore how the folk resurgence speaks to a broader explosion of interest in the subject of English national and cultural identity. Combining approaches from British cultural studies and ethnomusicology, the book draws on ethnographic fieldwork, interviews with central figures of the resurgence and close analysis of music and dance as well as visual and discursive sources. Its presentation of the English case study calls for a rethinking of concepts such as revival and indigeneity. It will be of interest to students and scholars in cultural studies, ethnomusicology and related disciplines. -- .

The Lacock Cup is a rare object with a unique English history. Made in the 1430s, it is one of a handful of pieces of secular silver from the Middle Ages, which both survived the changing culture of Tudor fashion and the turmoil of the Reformation. Originally created as a drinking cup for feasting in the fifteenth century, the Cup later became a sacred chalice for the community of Lacock in Wiltshire at the parish church of Saint Cyriac. With an unbroken local heritage of over 400 years, this piece was a central feature of religious ceremony until the late twentieth century. The remarkable story of this special cup is brought to life in this short and accessible book. Its history, from drinking vessel to holy chalice, opens a window into the culture of late medieval England and having survived the centuries in near perfect condition, it acts as a witness to these times of great change. Charting the journey of the Cup, from fifteenth century medieval society, through the Reformation and later Civil War to the present day, this book will also explore the Cup's role as a communion vessel in its local setting of Lacock, and its treatment at the British Museum where it has been on loan since 1962. The Cup remained in irregular use by the parish until the 1980s, and this story of over 500 years of outstanding care and use provides a fitting conclusion to one of England's most important silver objects.

Furniture Design is a comprehensive guide and resource for students and furniture designers. As well as discussing pioneering contemporary and historical designs, it also provides substantive answers to designers' questions about function, materials, manufacture and sustainability, integrating guidance on all of these subjects - particularly material and manufacturing properties, in one accessible and structured volume. Many leading contemporary furniture designers from around the world are included, with case studies carefully selected to highlight the importance of both material and manufacture-led design processes. The book is also intended to provide an insight into furniture design for those considering a university education in product and industrial design.

'Sheila S. Blair is a seasoned author with an excellent track record in publishing both specialised and general books on Islamic art. Indeed she is an undisputed star in her field.' - Professor Robert Hillenbrand, University of Edinburgh

'I can think of no one more qualified to produce such a volume She is a recognised and highly-regarded expert in the field..' - Professor W. M. Thackston, Harvard University

This stunning book is an important contribution to a key area of non-western art, being the first reference work on art of beautiful writing in Arabic script.

The extensive use of writing is a hallmark of Islamic civilization. Calligraphy, the art of beautiful writing, became one of the main methods of artistic expression from the seventh century to the present in almost all regions from the far Maghrib, or Islamic West, to India and beyond. Arabic script was adopted for other languages from Persian and Turkish to Kanembu and Malay. Sheila Blair's groundbreaking book explains this art form to modern readers and shows them how to identify, understand and appreciate its varied styles and modes. The book is designed to offer a standardized terminology for identifying and describing various styles of Islamic calligraphy, and to help Westerners appreciate why calligraphy has long been so important in Islamic civilization.

The argument is enhanced by the inclusion of more than 150 colour illustrations, as well as over 100 black-and-white details that highlight the salient features of the individual scripts and hands. Examples are chosen from dated or datable examples with secure provenance, for the problem of forgeries and copies (both medieval and modern) is rampant. Theillustrations are accompanied by detailed analyses telling the reader what to look for in determining both style and quality of script.

This beautiful book is an ideal reference for anyone with an interest in Islamic art.

Winner of the British-Kuwait Friendship Society Prize 2007.

Wunderkammern are showing up everywhere these days. Design webshops, expos, interior design stores: they all try to bring back the memory of the century-old tradition of Wunderkammer, or 'the Cabinet of Curiosities'. This book is a Wunderkammer in itself, showcasing the most beautiful exotica, which explorers and adventurous merchants brought back from all over the world for rich collectors. Be amazed by beautiful seashells, stuffed animals, sculptured ostrich eggs, botanical drawings, 'dragons' preserved in formaldehyde, and bewildering Indiana Jones-like stories. A fascinating New World presented itself to them, and in this book, you'll see it through their eyes.

Create exquisite paper jewelry with the look of copper, silver, and gold! Discover how the centuries old technique of quilling paper can give you modern, sophisticated jewelry without a high price tag. Author and quilling enthusiast Ann Martin shows you how to turn metallic-edged papers into stunning--and sturdy--earrings and pendants in The Art of Quilling Paper Jewelry. Whether you're an experienced jewelry maker looking for new techniques or a quiller who wants to turn your creations into one-of-a-kind jewelry, this guide to gilded paper jewelry has what you need. Pairing step-by-step illustrations with detailed tutorials on rolling coils, scrolls, and other unique quilled shapes, The Art of Quilling Paper Jewelry shows you how to create twenty eye-catching designs. With Ann's expert guidance and a few minimal tools and supplies, you can create your own wearable paper art and more!

Comprehensive compilation of elegant, imaginative two-letter monograms-ideal for enhancing scrolls, certificates, awards and other graphic projects in need of calligraphic excitement. Easily reproduced, copyright-free letters are also perfect for use in art, needlework, crafts and other decorative projects.

Alongside artistically experimental aspects of education, the ThinkingJewellery 'trademark' stands as a contextual leitmotif throughout the gemstones and jewellery study programme at Trier University/Idar-Oberstein campus. The aims of ThinkingJewellery comprise scientifically oriented research as well as discourse on the historical and societal interconnection of jewellery. Highlights are the ThinkingJewellery symposia, which are now accompanied by a series of periodicals. The new series discusses contributions to a contemporary theory of jewellery beyond disciplinary boundaries or typical categories. The texts envisioned for ThinkingJewellery 2 include 'On the Cultural History of the Gemstone', 'Goethe on Colour' and 'Cold Shine - Empty Glamour, on Jeff Koons's Celebration Series', which are based on lectures from the 2017 symposium.