Design Dish: Robyn Tracy

What do you do?
I am Manager of Marketing and New Product Development for Kay Dee Designs, a 50+ year old manufacturer and importer of kitchen textiles. A hand weaver by education, I have spent my entire adult life working in textiles first as design director for Stevens Linen Associates and now for Kay Dee. Who would of thought there was a living to be made designing kitchen towels! Certainly not my intended career choice when I learned how to spin yarn, weave art pieces and throw pots at Florida State.

I direct a department of three in-house designers as well as coordinate all product development with outside vendors that produce our goods overseas in primarily India and China. Outside of our in-house design developments I source images from license-ed artists as well as New York and International design studios.
Our current best selling item is a novelty themed apron titled "Domestic Diva" which has just been placed at Bed Bath & Beyond as well as a heat sublimation pattern titled "Ripe from the Vine" — currently on sale at both Bed Bath & Beyond and Linens 'n Things.

In addition to inspiring and directing my staff I am also responsible for all printed catalogs. This years catalog of over 2000 SKU's was a record breaking 176 pages. The first catalog I produced for Kay Dee some 12 years ago I believe was a whooping 24 pages. As you can see the product line has expanded a little bit over time!

And if all of this is not enough I act as product manager assuring that all vendors and in-house departments have all the proper setup information for putting a new item into production. This is the yuck part of the good but I fortunately have good anal attention to detail skills!

Plus I get to read buyers minds! I work very closely with buyers from companies such as Bed, Bath & Beyond, Fred Meyers, Pfaltzgraff & Cracker Barrel reading through the lines to make sure we are designing the custom products they are requesting. Increasingly stores are demanding private label products and it is my role to make it happen!

Who and What inspires me?
My least favorite question to be asked is where do my ideas come from! I think as any creative person understands sometimes they are just there in your head....a compilation of all that you have seen and done along the way of every day. "Domestic Diva" was inspired by a cousins dress at my nieces wedding in combination with an episode of "The Today Show". And so it goes…

My artist uncle, Clayton James, was the person who inspired me as a child. He remains one of my greatest role models even if I am in trouble with him for pursuing a commercial artistic path!

Music?
There are those moments when only Josh Groban and Andrea Bocelli will do… And I am a lifelong lover of Beethoven… and there are those summer days when only Willie Nelson will do.

Reading?
"Pattern" by Tricia Guild. Have you seen it? The cover is actually flocked!
"The Birth of Venus" by Sarah Dunant
"The Pact" by Jodi Picoult.
"Live Your Best Life" in Oprah Magazine.

Have you been to any recent Shows?
Upcoming tradeshow - Surtex in New York in May.

How do you unplug?
I hate to admit it but most unplugging is done in front of the TV at home! My favorites right now are Wheel of Fortune, Designed to Sell and American Idol! Spring is around the corner and I will then become an obsessive compulsive gardener. I like to think I am painting with flowers! in one great big lawn elimination project. Summer will bring the opening of the pool and finally some swimming exercise! And then there are the Ya! Yas! - Friday nights with my Ya! Ya! sisters… a group of ladies who met because of same age children and over the years have bonded way more then the children have. Five of us have kids graduating from high school this year. Four of us will be empty nesters next year as a result. More time to Ya! Ya!

Björk

Björk is this month's beauty icon on Style.com. Her avant-garde looks have kept everyone at Vogue on their toes. Funny how things come full circle eh?
The photographs for her new album Volta are shaman-chic!

Fred Flare = Fun

NYC based boutique Fred Flare.com is a great resource for fun gifts and trendy accessories. Owners Chris Bick and Keith Carollo say they've,"always believed that great design should be as fun and entertaining as an old musical or a modern music video". If nothing else, Fred Flare = Fun.

I have my eye on:
Russian Dolls Coin Purse
2 cute
Snoopy Sno-Cone Machine
An 80's classic
Fred Cell Phone Receiver
For a good laugh
Gold Doorknocker Hoops
Cuz everyone needs a little bling
Britney Wig
For your next big karaoke performance

Make the Logo Bigger

Soon to be topping the charts: Make the Logo Bigger
Thanks Em!

She's a Brick Haas

"I haven't been this excited about a movie premier since Star Wars."
-Melissa
We attended the Boston screening of Helvetica at Mass Art last Wednesday. For the couple of months leading up to it we wondered if it would be any good... If we were high-brow enough to sit through an hour-long discussion of ascenders, descenders, kerning and the like.
Well, Helvetica lived up to and exceeded our expectations. Half of the interviews were with the designers we look up to. They're our rock stars. We sat there nudging each other like a bunch of giddy thirteen year-olds. Up on the screen, the same sort of enthusiasm was displayed as our icons chuckled and chatted about their experiences and the back stories to their work. (We loved Spiekermann's description of fonts as his friends.) Michael Bierut's musings were laugh-out-loud hilarious.
Helvetica made us truly appreciate the luxury of technology. The most important lesson there was that having a computer doesn't make you a better designer, it simply speeds up the process.
Many of the die-hard modernists discussed limiting your library to a maximum of four or five fonts. We find ourselves in situations where we ask,"Hmm.. I've already got like two fonts working in this piece, I don't want to go crazy here." So we definitely have a lot of self imposed restraint in our work. I agree with the film's assertion that typography's primary function is to be legible and organized: it isn't the message-the words are. At the same time, our generation of designers have developed as artists at a time when Scher and Sagmeister have illustrated that type can be expressive and legible. I think we walk a line between the two schools of thought. Experimental Jetset calls it the New Modernism.
Someone in the audience asked when we can expect a sequel. He suggested a top notch working title: Helvetica: Episode 2 Revenge of the Serif.

post helvetica

Pinkergreen attended a screening of Helvetica this week. (that's my ticket up there) We're pretty busy at present time, but I'll write something soon.
Here's a preview: We loved it.

Double Trouble: Richard Doubleday

We ran into former professor, Richard Doubleday with his wife Elizabeth last night at the Boston premiere of Helvetica: The Movie (which was amazing, but I'll let Melissa discuss the movie…). More than just a professor, Richard is a forward-thinking, passionate & methodical graphic designer with an impressive portfolio of posters under his belt, and incredible knowledge of design history.
To me, Rick is a risk-taker with a strict set of rules. His work is dynamic and fresh and an enormous inspiration to Pinkergreen. Richard has embedded those rules in our minds and has been one of our best mentors throughout our educational and professional careers. He's most definitely responsible for shaping our aesthetic and design ideology.
Did I happen to mention, he's an amazing designer??

Siloette

I'm really into the energetic line quality and color palettes of Siloette's work. This is definitely a community of artists that has always fascinated me...
Some of her work feels like stained glass-which is some feat considering she is uses a concrete wall for a canvas. If you're interested in learning a little more, she was recently interviewed for Format Magazine's Spraycan Stories.

Apprentice Design

NBC's The Apprentice is a great example of the value or lack thereof placed on graphic design in media.
I understand that on the show, graphic designers are there to facilitate the teams' creative vision for their particular tasks. I understand that design by committee with someone standing over your shoulder is not going to produce the strongest work.
What I don't understand is how The Apprentice reduces design to an afterthought. Rather than tapping into a resource, the graphic designers are used as computer operating extensions of the team's misguided hand.
I'm unclear as to how they arrived at the team branding, but Arrow and Kinetic's logos are not up to the gold standard that "The Donald" is trying to portray.
Why is this part of the equation missing? The competitors are always impeccably dressed. They travel in luxury. Half of them get to stay in a mansion.
The Apprentice corporate branding contradicts all of this. In my mind, as a graphic designer, the participants might as well be walking into the boardroom in t-shirts and flip flops.

"The Apprentice" can be seen on NBC Sundays 10/9c.
photo: © NBC Universal, Inc.

Awakenings

Today's Times features a beautifully written review by Holland Cotter of Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan. The exhibit features art from Japan and China(where Zen originated). Cotter says this collection extends beyond the iconic rock gardens that most of us associate with Zen.

But why do sleepers appear in an art about being awake? In part to remind us that we are all dozing our lives away. But also to point out that sleep produces dreams, and dreams, to medieval Buddhists, were sources of a self-knowledge that can rouse us, sometimes rudely, from slumber.

The Japan Society show, with its dim alcoves and apparitional saints and clowns, has a dream-state feel itself. Every turn of a corner brings a surprise. Each image holds your attention, centers you right where you are. Even after you’ve left and your eyes have adjusted to the everyday light, you really feel you’ve been somewhere out of the ordinary. And you have.

Awakenings is on view at the Japan Society in New York until June 17.

"Fish-Basket Kannon," a 15th-century scroll by Bokkei Saiyo photo: Kaz Tsuruta/Japan Society

Dave Laro

I really admire Vermont artist Dave Laro. His art puts a Pop spin on furniture and home decor. In his work, Dave takes everyday items and blows them out of proportion. The shift in scale allows us to see them in a new way. Oldenburg's influence can be seen throughout his collection. Some of my favorites are: Pistols coffee table, Big Yellow Dart floor lamp, Books dresser, and the Phone Dial coffee table.

We're Crazy for Cotting.

Recently we were asked to speak at Career Day at the Cotting School,
America's First Day School for children with a Broad Spectrum of Learning and Communication Disabilities, Physical Challenges and Complex Medical Conditions, in neighboring Lexington, MA. While the FBI Agent and Firefighter were by far way cooler professions, we definitely had a big group of students interested in learning about design. We talked about what it is like to be a designer, and each student came prepared with a question to ask.
Some students were concerned about whether we prefer to charge hourly or per project, while others were more concerned about whether we got a paycheck and a lunch break— definitely two of my biggest concerns. Julie wanted to know if we you had to be a good drawer, but the toughest question to answer…"How do you see things?"

Today we received an envelope full of beautifully-written, thoughtful thank you notes.

"Something I enjoyed was how the two of you went crazy over the smart board." —Brian
"Ms. Wade thank-you again for the poster I hung it in room!" —Julie
"I thought they worked wonderfully together." —Evelyn

And Brian, your drawings (shown above) definitely inspired us.
Thank you, Cotting.

Design Dish: Meghan Berckes

What do you do/ Where do you work?
I'm a designer on the Brand Team at Converse. Posters, packaging and the occasional shoe, they let me do all kinds of fun things.

Who or What inspires you?
That's hard to narrow down! Painting, sculpture, textiles, type...anything art nouveau, handmade, Italian or vintage...the list could go on!

Do you listen to music when you work? If so, what are you listening to
these days?
I will listen to absolutely anything. Lately I've been running a mix of Amy Winehouse, TV on the Radio, The Who, Sufjan Stevens and a local band called Mittens.

What are you reading?
VOGUE. I wish I could say more, but...at the moment, it's all I have time for!

Been to any good web sites lately?
Facehunter and Japanesestreets.com
...I love to see what people are wearing!
Also designobserver.com, elsewares.com, and beautifuldecay.com

What shows have you been to lately?
I recently went to the Boston Printmakers Biennial...it was really impressive. Definitely made me want to get back into printmaking, hopefully someday soon.
Also I am pretty excited for the Edward Hopper exhibit that is coming up soon at the MFA!

How do you unplug?
I love to cook! Real Simple has THE best recipes. But usually on the weekends I just catch up on sleep...though I am looking forward to weekends at the beach when the weather gets nicer!