Classy Characters.

Elizabeth Graeber's portraits of "classy people" (pictured at top, followed by an apparently less-classy cast) make me laugh. Then again, so do her offbeat zines (here's a recipe for pie for dogs), her two-sided face pillows, her painted rabbit suitcases.

Visit Elizabeth Graeber's website, here, and her Etsy shop, here.

Recommended Reading / 05.

Every Monday, words to start the week.

This week: I've always loved these two lists of beliefs, written by Susan Sontag as a child at 14, and as a young adult at 24. The former addresses themes of life and death, freedom, and government; the latter  extols privacy, culture, and old buildings. (Twenty-four-year-old Susan also lists sleeping, children, and meat as likes.) 

I love how the later list contains far fewer words. In many ways, I feel I take life less seriously now than I did at 14 or 15, and have less of an urge (and less time) to explain myself. I've changed in many others ways since then, too, but I do like to think that regardless of age, I'll always believe in adventure, and play, stories, mermaids. 

(See also: Susan Sontag on love and art and "doing stuff".)

Three more links, just because:
-Hide-and-seek with Momo.
-Mustache protectors and pickle forks: Victorian inventions that never took off.
-"Forget safety."

Photo by Annie Leibovitz. More recommended reading, here.

Getting Dirty.

I used to be what my family affectionately referred to as "a secret slob," meaning that, based on outward appearance, I seemed neat and tidy and like I had my act together — but open the door to my room, and you'd find chaos: mountains of clothes and crafts and assorted childhood treasures, and me sitting happily in the midst of it all.

As an adult, I've cleaned up my act (somewhat), but in my heart of hearts, I still appreciate a good mess. So when Julia Robbs asked if I'd spend an afternoon at her apartment in Bushwick — rubbing my hands in black chalk, playing with shadows, cracking eggs all over her beautiful hardwood floor —I said yes.

A big thank you to Julia for letting me get messy for a day. See more at her website, here, and have a wonderful weekend.

For Joy.

Keeping it short and sweet today with these black-and-white photographs by Tomas Januska. Part of a series called Gravity, the images depict men and women mid-jump. Says Januska, observing his soaring subjects: "It's as though they have returned to their childhood."

See more at Tomas Januska's website, here.

Recreating Rain.

Because I've already featured a handful of posts about Japanese design firm Nendo, gushing over their ingenious chocolate paint, and pencils, and beautiful Winnie-the-Pooh-inspired furniture, I thought twice before writing another. But, impassioned fan (and word lover) that I am, I couldn't resist.

Below, their latest: an installation that visually illustrates twenty of Japan's fifty different words for rain. Included: sleet and unexpected downpours, evening rain and rain commingling with dust. See more at mocoloco, here.

Fittingly, I'm writing this as rain falls in New York City. Stay dry, New Yorkers!

Visit Nendo's website, here. Photos by Hiroshi Iwasaki.