Arezzo

At a certain point it becomes unsustainable to buy even a fraction of what I'd want to in Italy.  So I have started a Pinterest board called "The things I didn't buy in Italy." A good example of this is what was to be found this weekend at the world-famous antiques market in Arrezzo. What I didn't buy: cameos, chandeliers, a family of lamps with such character, a box of weights, vintage pen nibs, an watercolor and photo album from 1901 with photos of a naval commander's travels (with lots of young women...) to China, and countless other sparklies. What I couldn't resist: a drawing of that same naval officer's son (?), a miniature chair, an old leather wallet with the most terrific patina. Also, a photo album covered in rabbit fur with a gold plate that says "Souveniers de Chasse" (seen over on Instagram). I'm curious: how do you navigate overwhelming antiques markets? Do you have a good way of of deciding what to buy and what to leave? It's so hard!  

COLLABORATION WITH: DONNA & MATT

Very happy to share photos of my latest tattoo collaboration with designer Donna Downey. She writes: 

"Live inspired" is my personal mantra as an artist to see every moment as an opportunity. when searching for a calligrapher i kept coming back to your art...something about it captivates me and i wanted it on my painting arm as i create. i also do weekly videos on my blog and knew it would be seen as i create.

Matt Simmons over at Sinners & Saints in North Carolina translated the work beautifully. Thanks so much, Matt and Donna. Certainly words to live by!

COLLABORATION WITH: PROJECT WEDDING

Just about any time someone proposes calligraphy on fabric I'm game. Which means this shoot featuring poetry for Project Wedding was just up my alley. Verses appeared on the ceremony backdrop, napkins and vows. Check out the entire shoot here. Thanks so much, Project Wedding! 

Photo by Erich McVey; Design + Florals by Petalos; Venue: Historic Deepwood Estate; Dress by Lazaro; Chair and Table Setting Rentals by West Coast Event Production; Model: Nicole from Option Model & Media; Creative Direction by Katelin Gallagher

EMILIA ROMAGNA

I'm terribly behind on posting our adventures around Italy. In September, after Lucca, we drove around the Emilia Romagna region and, not surprisingly, ate. A lot. ER is home to balsamic vinegar, Parma ham and Parmigiano-Reggiano. I'm most familiar with this area from Lynn Rosetto-Kaspar's cookbook The Splendid Table (there's also a two episode podcast on the area that features a riveting story about eels). We started at Osteria Bohemia not far from Modena. Angelo and Zdenka Lancelloti have a sprawling garden and nearly everything we ate came directly from their plot. They specialize in using herbs and flowers in their food: salad with rosepetals, baccala with nasturtiums. These bright colors and flavors were a refreshing change from the norm. It was a gift to eat their food. We stayed up late into the night chatting and telling stories. The next morning, Angelo gave us a tour of his balsamic vinegar operation in the attic. As you enter the property, you see the sign above, supposedly a Sioux proverb:

Only after the last tree has been cut down,
only after the last river has been poisoned,
only after the last fish has been caught,
only then will you find that money cannot be eaten.

The next day we biked along the River Po and made a pilgrimage to the famed Trattoria La Buca in Zibello where cook and owner Miriam reigns like a queen at her wooden desk. My favorite part of our visit there was the wall-sized case of grappa bottles, each with a hand drawn label by artist Romano Levi. The labels and distllery were his life's work. And then came Verona, which deserves its own post.

COLLABORATION WITH: JORDAN, NAOMI & STUART

I've been wanting to share photos of this tattoo since Jordan instagrammed them right after he got inked. The wait is over! As I reflect on the dozens of tattoos I've created, what strikes me is that nearly all of my clients are motivated to mark the most optimistic thing we can hope for in life: there was darkness and then came the light. It's an honor to be called into service in my clients' lives when that light appears. Jordan writes: 

The past year has marked a lot of positive changes in my life. This time last year I was in a job which was making me really unhappy and so I decided to take the plunge and have a complete change of career. Almost 12 months on and am a full time journalist and photographer and loving every moment! I also married the love of my life this summer and wanted something to mark this positive part of my life.

Diriget deus translates from Latin into 'God will direct' and is a nod back to my family's roots in Scotland when this was the clan motto on the Butters coat of arms.

Photographs were taken by my wife, Naomi. The tattoo was done by Stuart Archibald at The Family Business in Exmouth Market, London.

Thanks so much Jordan, Naomi and Stuart! 

LOVE LETTERS IN THE STREET

So is this a thing in cities all over the world and I've just never been aware of it? That love letters are written randomly on walls and streets? Or is this just the magic of Italy? From top to bottom: "With my heart and soul, an 'I love you forever.' To my only princess", taken on a wall outside of Fiesole; self-explainatory on a wall on Costa San Giorgio; and "Silvia, I love you. I know that these months have been hard but I want to be with you," witten on a small road near Galluzzo. "The two of us forever," wirtten on a path near I Tatti.

COLLABORATION WITH: JOSE, Rosemary & Nicole

When I am approached to contribute to editorial shoots it's the team that makes all of the difference. And who could have dreamed up a better one: photographer and frequent collaborator Jose Villa and designers Rosemary Hattenbach and Nicole Sillapere for this shoot at Manka's Inverness Lodge. In keeping with my goal to play around with "calligraphy on anything" this year, I created iron on names for the place settings and this transparent scrim with the most ever so subtle ring of beige poetry. You can make the iron on transfers at home using these and an inkjet printer (a tip: white/light colors like what we did are printed on an industrial printer. Go for darker hues at home).The muted neutrals and bright explosion of magenta is such a killer color combination. You can find many more photos and learn more about the incredible setting over at Pacific Weddings. Thanks to this talented team and the many other contributers for including me.

{Photos courtesy of Jose Villa}

ADVENTURES WITH MARBLED PAPER

Is marbled paper terrible or wonderful? The question is simple and complicated. On the one hand: it is terrible. How many times have we all received some marbled knick knack and thought "it's so...marbled." On the other hand: it is wonderful. There are colors and patterns that you won't find in any other type of paper. Full stop. In Florence, I see marbled paper daily in the studios of artisans who have been making it for centuries. And I've started warming to it. Or maybe not warming to it but beginning to think about how to use it without it reading as HELLO! I AM MARBLED PAPER! So I present lesson number one: moderation.

For these invites to our movie night I tried using a small scrap of this green, gold and white marbeled paper and then overlaying matte gold ribbon. I expect by the end of my year here I will have taken classes and become a convert. Promise you'll still like me if this happens. Because I can sort of see it happening. I'll keep you updated.

MEETING OF THE CALLIGRAPHIC MINDS: FLORENCE EDITION + BETTY SOLDI

The other day after a visit to the Boboli Gardens, I was wandering around the Palazzo Pitti neighborhood when I happened upon the store &CO. Overflowing with vintage furniture and posters and books, handmade leather goods, ceramics, pillows, and little corners of delight (two above), it was clearly the work of someone with a special, gifted eye. There was beautiful, familiar calligraphy everywhere, on many of the products. It was overwhelming. "Who is responsible for...all of this?!" I asked. And there she was, Betty Soldi: designer, calligrapher and proprietor of &CO with her husband Matteo. And then, inevitably, we started the mile a minute yammering that only comes when you get two calligraphers in a room together. Betty is totally magical, and I can only attribute this, in part, to the fact that she comes from two centuries of Florentine firework makers. (Read all about her amazing life here.)

I am so excited to introduce you to Betty's work. She's penned for the top of the top: Hermès, Mont Blanc, Giorgio Armani. I feel like an overeager teenager, but I can't wait to collaborate with and get to know this kindred spirit. 

COLLABORATION WITH: Jess and Stephanie

Every once in a while a client will commission a tattoo of a word that I've never heard of. I'm embarrassed to say that such was the case with Jess and ubuntu. (Although once I was keyed into the word, it appeared everywhere). I enjoyed falling down the rabbit hole of exploring the word's infinite meanings and watching this TED talk by Chris Abani about the topic. Of the idea he says: "there is no way for us to be human without other people." Jess writes: 

Being in my last semester at university studying Peace and Development, friends and family often ask me how I think I will cope everyday facing the realities of poverty or living in a the middle of a civil war and WHY I want to do it? They are always questions that I don't really know how to express an answer for. So in a way, I guess ubuntu is my 'why'...

Ubuntu is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. You can't exist as a human being in isolation. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are.

It is uplifting for me to think about all of the places Jess will go in her life-- places of unimaginable poverty, suffering, and hope -- and she will transport this idea of ubuntu, on her body, to the world that awaits her. It inspires me to do the same.

Many thanks to Jess and Stephanie at Victims of Ink in Port Melbourne. As a reminder, you can see a portfolio of tattoos over here. 

{Photos by Jess' friend Mitch}