who is delphine?

photos: delphine

One of the questions we get asked here at the studio almost every day is, "Who is Delphine?"
Well ...

Delphine is Erika’s mémé (grandmother). She is a source of inspiration and strength, and thus, our company's namesake.

From the occupied South of France during WWII, to the jazz nightclub scene of 1950’s Paris, to starting a new life in America, nursing school and raising two daughters, Delphine has just about seen and done it all—all while looking fabulous.

When she is not tending her rose garden or playing with her great-grandson, Delphine can often be found in the studio reviewing new designs, or in the kitchen, preparing “un petit snack” and café for everyone. In these photos she is whipping up a tarte au pomme (apple tart); I'd give you the recipe, but in typical mémé fashion, when I asked her for it she said "you know, you make the crust, then add the applesauce and the apples, et voila. Simple."

font geek moment: archer

archer font by Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Archer, by Hoefler & Frere-Jones, is an impossibly cool font, right? I love all the different weights, especially the thin italic and light small caps.

cool weirdness: duck mirror

"duck" mirror by David Dear

Imagine checking your makeup in this "duck" mirror by David Dear. Suddenly, the wrinkles (or "cracks in your eyes," as our 4-year-old calls them) wouldn't seem so serious. The mirror is available at risdworks.com, where all products are designed by Rhode Island School of Design grads and all profits are returned to RISD.

adorable for baby

giraffe teether from Land of Nod

While shopping for a baby gift the other day I was distracted by all the crazy colors and tackiness. So refreshing to see this adorable little giraffe teether from Land of Nod. I love the retro feel and the simplicity.

shop we love: dreamy

shopdreamy.com

One of my all time favorite people, Heather, owns one of my all time favorite stores, Dreamy; she is one of my all time favorite clients (I helped design her logo/branding) ... and just yesterday she launched what is sure to be one of my all time favorite online shoppes: www.shopdreamy.com. Way to go, Heather & the Dreamy Teamy!

letterpress: up close

photos: delphine

We just discovered had a macro lens in the closet ... yippee! Stay tuned for more shots of our eco-friendly 2009 letterpress calendar...

yellow table

yellow sol console table from cb2.com

I'm loving this yellow console table from CB2. Would be great with charcoal grey & white accessories.

jewel tones

vintage seltzer bottle: jayson home & garden

While I'm usually not a jewel-tone fan, there is something cool about these vintage seltzer bottles from Jayson Home & Garden.

fall chic

to catch a thief

top left and bottom two images: ralph lauren; brown leather tote: cole haan

Ever since I was a little girl I have always been fascinated by the uber-chic, super-sophisticated socialite. You know, the women you see in head to toe winter-white cashmere, lunching at the department store café with her girlfriends; the women who can eat a croissant in said winter-white outfit and not get a single crumb on themselves. My mom is one of those women (Hermés scarf and all ... though decidedly not a socialite), while, alas, I am more of a jeans & t-shirt kind of girl.

The Cole Haan bag is actually a men's briefcase/bag, but I think it would make a chic tote bag and would be pretty convenient for carting around files & magazines & sketchbooks.

And you must check out the short film "Notorious" on Ralph Lauren website. Stunning.

font love

font: soda script from emigre

Font geek moment: I'm loving this crazy Soda Script font from Emigre.

holiday gift wrap rejects

cardinal and pine cone holiday wrapping paper designs by delphine ©2008

quail holiday wrapping paper designs by delphine ©2008

This year I had two major "wish I could print" goals: a letterpress calendar (done! check it out here) and gift wrap. While delphine won't be releasing any wrap in time for the holidays this year, I DID design some for a client who will be using it in their stores in Denmark. Above are two rejected designs. After it has been printed I will post photos of the final product.

living catalog

portraits & merchandise from anthropologie

I'm a big Anthropologie fan and am lucky to live close to two stores! But I still love visiting their website and am always impressed with the way they are constantly improving the customer experience on the web. Check out their "Masterpiece" accessory e-catalog ... instead of photos it is a series of beautiful, short video portraits. There is no sound, which intensifies the viewing experience in this case, I think.

sierra nevada national park

Bull Buck Tree • Photo: wikipedia

Bull Buck Tree • photo: webshots outdoors

photo: delphine

Today we're hanging out in the Sierras ... a little hiking, a little bird watching, a little sketching. Perfection. Yesterday we picnicked near the Bull Buck Tree, a giant sequoia, in Nelder Grove. Our four-year-old screamed "that tree is ginormous" when he saw it. He's right: it is more than 250 feet tall and about 90 feet in girth at the ground! Click here for info about visiting the trail.

wedding day

photo & letterpress invitations: delphine

It's The Big Day today for Karen and Zac. Best wishes to the darling couple!

Their invitation is our signature "Amelie" design, letterpressed in two ink colors (chocolate and linden) on white 100 percent cotton 300 gram stock. We loved how it looked so much that you'll see this image in our upcoming fall ad campaign in Inside Weddings magazine.

yellow chairs

chairs: Pottery Barn

The yellow ones are my favorite ... and they're the only ones left over at Pottery Barn (nearly 50 percent off, no less!).

bridesmaid dress fun

photos by Colleen Sherman

One of my coolest clients ever, Tiffani, had a lot of fun with the whole bridesmaids dress issue ... she had a "27 Dresses" themed bridal shower. Everyone wore a real live bm dress from their closet (including Tiffani!). Colleen Sherman took photos ... you can see them on her blog here.

bridesmaid dress bliss

photos by Kate Benson Photography

"Bridesmaids dress" ... two of the most dreaded words in every woman's lexicon. Everyone in the same dress = everyone unhappy (SORRY, D, R, J & D!). A great alternative is something like what Katie's bms did: pick a great color palette and a fabric type & let the ladies pick a dress they really love. Aren't these dress colors (and flowers) simply lovely?!?

Being able to wear the dress again is really not the issue ... feeling great about the way you look on your best friend's big day is! Fab photos by Kate Benson. Found on the Southern Weddings super cool blog!

ooooooooh ... Orla!

travel bag by Orla Kiely

I'm about to pack for a trip to Fresno, and then on to the lovely Oakhurst, California ("the Gateway to Yosemite") ... wish I had this PERFECT bag by Orla Kiely to pack my stuff!

botanical illustration

illustrations by Tim Gunther

I met Tim Gunther last weekend at the Rancho Santa Fe, California art show and fell hard for his work. I am in awe.

fall fashion wish list

I'm a sucker for green handbags and I have a few too many already. This one, however, would make the rest of the purses in my closet bow with humility and grace.

Purse by Renaud Pellegrino, available on Vivre.com. The shoes are boho-chic done right (by YSL). And the adorable ring (only $45!) would be a fantastic every-day OR fancy cocktail ring. (Note to Santa ... my giant man hands take size 8).

black & more black

In sad fashion times like this (think electric blue tights, fuchia suede boots, plaid, neck-kerchiefs, and, horrifically, plaid neck-kerchiefs), I fall back on basic, elegant, sexy BLACK classics. Black is the new black? Let's hope.

Black silk ruffly dress: Banana Republic; Black quartz & sterling cocktail necklace: Béatrice Firm for delphine; Sweet tulip vintage handkerchief: Ebay; Stunning black evening bag with slinky gold snake: Cesare Paciotti; Sexy (yet comfy) black undies: Legaby ... and the best for last: knockout black satin "very croise platform slingback" heels by the master himself, Christian Louboutin.

Note to self... save every cent to get these shoes in black and trés chic shell pink.

still loving yellow

shoes: Bruno Frisoni

Yellow "Daisy" letterpress note card by delphine

The September 2008 issue of Vogue magazine did a piece on a hot (and new to me) shoe designer named Bruno Frisoni. The photo in the magazine reminded me of the scene in Marie Antoinette (the movie by Sofia Coppola) when Antoinette and her girlfriends are shoe shopping. Frisoni's shoes are unapologetically sexy, feminine, and girly! Like candy! Yum.

The pair shown above are my favorites... I can see them with a pair of black trousers, a plain white shirt and black cardigan ... the only color being the hints of yellow peeking out when you walk confidently into your meeting.

Our yellow daisy letterpress note cards use the same shade of yellow, I think. We're currently out of stock of these cards (thanks, everyone, for buying them all!) but we are reprinting this month. Just let us know if you'd like to pre-order.

2009 calendar

photo & calendar: delphine

hot off the press

photo & calendar: delphine

The studio is a-buzz: the 2009 calendar is printed! It's oh-so-lovely. Printed in soy-based ink on 100 percent cotton (tree-free!), luxurious, white & pillowy paper. We're waiting for some of the packaging to arrive (we found super cool black easels) then they'll go up on our website and will ship to stores in the next week or so.

new holiday designs

designs © delphine

Coming soon to CardStore.com ... new delphine holiday card designs. On the CardStore website you'll be able to upload your own photo, change the text, and even add a message and photos to the inside of the card.

bold fall color

clip from russell+hazel

Now this is what I have been longing to see in stores ... fun, bold, sophisticated color. Loving the new palette over at the always fab russell+hazel!

holiday

card design: delphine • photo: jessica davis

All summer I've been putting off designing the new holiday collection. Today I am going to make myself some hot cocoa (with marshmallows for energy), dim the lights, turn up the ac, and work on the new holiday collection. I'll post some sneak peeks later this week!

1982

I have to say I am truly disappointed with the new fall fashions. This weekend I did a little shopping ... and came home with nothing because everything looked like 1982. 1982 fashion was ugly in 1982, people! I feel like designers are being slightly lazy and are just checking out old yearbooks to get "new" ideas. What is with the horrible color palette: dark magentas, teals, marigold??!? Even green, my favorite color, is looking icky in the current "emerald" incarnation. Yuck. I'm happy that brown is on its way out (I like brown, but am tired of it), and there was lots of greys, slates, and other neutrals. But for the most part, the mall was a sad, sad place.