greenolive

nat geo journals

One of my earliest, and most conscious design memories must be of National Geographic. The monthly magazine, not the cable channel documentaries.

My parents subscribed, and there were piles of yellow spines growing taller each month. I remember the amazing cover images, the photographs inside, and the graphic diagrams and maps. I remember the strange images of people with red discs in their lips, holes in their ear lobes and interesting hairstyles. Of all the subjects covered by each issue, it was the people and cultures of Africa that had the greatest vusual impact on me.

So when I spied piles of yellow spines in local op shops, I knew we had to "rescue" them and return them to their rightful place as a design icon. And, I wanted others to enjoy the images as much as I had.

Et voila, the Nat Geo journal was created. 

Each journal is made from one specific issue. The cover is cropped and laminated and becomes the journal cover.

Then scattered throughout are about 10 or so full-page photographic images – all taken from stories within that issue.

At the back is a small pocket for bits and pieces.

They'll be in the online shop soon, and you'll be able to buy them at Magnolia Square in August too.

 

 

magnet sale

Have you had your eye on our vintage wooden magnets? If so, you'll want to know about our magnet sale in the online shop.

Each magnet set is themed, and made from old wooden puzzle pieces we have collected over the past year. And, they are all reduced to $10 a set! That 50% off in most cases.

If you've seen the magnets at one of the markets you'll know how much fun they are: perfect for the kids to play with and develop their motor skills OR great for adding some colour and vintage style to the fridge.

As well as the Zoom, Zoom set (above) we have:

The Circus is in Town set, and

The I can Count set, and

The Old MacDonald's Farm set, and

for the city slickers, the City Street set.

Grab'em while they last – only one set of each – they would make perfect presents for the little and big kids in your life.

design on a very tiny scale

Postage stamps – they must be the cheapest and most accessible form of graphic design in our daily life.

I've always had a fascination for stamps, it started while I was at art college. I became amazed by the skill of the designer, conveying such detail and clarity on so tiny a scale. Not an easy job I assure you. Especially in the days before computers and modern printing methods. I think every designer worth their salt wanted to design stamps. I certainly did. 

So you can imagine my delight when I found a big box of stamps – thousands I expect – at the second hand emporium up here in the hills. I was especially delighted as I had a postage stamp product in mind and I was having such trouble finding stamps at any of my usual op shops.

I just had to buy the box. My mind filled with the possibilities of the treasures inside. Maybe a rare stamp that I could sell for thousands!

Luckily Drew was just as excited by my discovery, but was happy to let me do the tedious but slightly thrilling task of sifting through the thousands of stamps. Hours later, after many gleeful exclamations and sessions of online research, I found we had some very old stamps.

It seems that pre-Federation, each state had its own set of stamps. So any stamp I discovered that was missing the ubiquitious "Australia" on its face immediately went into my "special" pile. I discovered that we have an 1898 NSW stamp, and several Victorian stamps too. Plus lots of early one-colour Australian animal stamps. And for some reason a bunch of 1961 Christmas stamps.

So while I may trade the "treasures" for cash, most of the stamps will be featuring on new products to be released in the next few months. I'm having hours of fun sorting them by category, subject, country...