With this inaugural shift into the second column of digits, here is the tenth issue—a whole five-sixths-of-the-way to a dozen!
A hefty six items lie ahead. Enjoy!
1/ The Sandwich Issue
(published this month by The Oregon Voice, “University of Oregon's arts and culture magazine since 1989.”)
This is the brilliant Oregon Voice’s brilliant latest. The theme and focal point is one of the pillars of American culture, the miracle that happens when you fill the void between two pieces of bread. That’s right, the sandwich. The issue is filled with sandwich inspired art by a selection of UO’s finest.
I’m not sure how many physical copies are still floating around Eugene… DM @instaoregonvoice for answers.
2/ This tiny car: the 1975 Zagato Elca Electric 2000
(made in Milan, Italy between 1974-1976 in the colors Orange-red, Brown, Dark blue, Pastel blue, White, Green, and metal flake Blue)
I followed the cult-followed car auction site Bring a Trailer on Instagram a few months back. This is my favorite thing I’ve seen since. This is the third iteration, the 2000, of the Zagato Zele, marketed in the U.S. as the Elcar. About 500 of these pint-sized Italian electric cars were made in the mid ‘70s. This one sold last Friday for $11,500. I hope it doesn’t miss its friends:
3/ “The Collectors Offering Thousands For a Piece of Pyrex: Raiding grandma’s cupboards is no longer enough.”
(written by Angela Serratore, published by Curbed (a branch of New York Magazine), on April 28)
Quite a subtitle!
This piece covers recent developments in Pyrex collecting. Perhaps most importantly, it tells you which Pyrex pieces to perpetually keep an eye out for. The article mentions generations-spanning Facebook Groups, Oregon-based Pyrex fanatic Dawn Thompson, a succinct history of Pyrex, and the details of recent record-setting Pyrex auctions.
4/ ISHITANI FURNITURE on YouTube
(“The days of a made-to-order furniture maker.” The channel is based in Japan, and started in 2016.)
Japanese woodworking is the stuff of legend, and this YouTube channel showcases the medium stunningly. The videos show cabinetmaker Natsuki Ishitani in his workshop (often accompanied by his dog Shiro) making absurdly precise pieces of furniture. They are straightforward process videos, melodically accentuated by only the noises of the materials and machines.
“Making a Walnut Trestle Table” was the one that initially drew me in, quickly followed by the marvelously intricate “Making a Medicine Chest with lots of drawers”. Ishitani also keeps a corresponding blog, In The Workshop, with photos and descriptions.
5/ Willem Verbeeck’s photographs of Van Neistat
(posted by @willemverb on Instagram last week)
Willem Verbeeck’s work is a source of constant inspiration for me (as noted in MROO8). When he posted these portraits of another person by whom I am constantly motivated, it was a double-whammy-no-brainer to include them in this tenth issue. They’re beautiful images of filmmaker Van Neistat at home in his studio in Topanga, AND Willem made a video about his process making the portraits. Check out Van’s YouTube channel too, of course. His gift guide is one of the best.
6/ So Much Pileup
(The site was updated from 2008 to 2020.)
This is an old blog of “Graphic design artifacts and inspiration from the 1960s - 1980s” that has loads of great…artifacts and inspiration. Plain and simple! I’m not sure if it is quite 100% postage stamps, but it is definitely mostly postage stamps.
A medium that used to be so much cooler.