The Theme is Zebra

With three travel days left on our Railpass, Ross & I decided to make the most of the weekend and jaunt off to France and Belgium. We definitely wanted to go to France, but didn't want to spend too much time traveling, so on the recommendation of three different French people, we decided to venture to Lille, the capital of Northern France.

We couldn't find much information about it, and weren't really sure what to expect, but once we arrived we realised it was exactly what we were looking for. It is, after all, France.

There were plenty of cafés, boulangeries, and delicious wine aplenty. C'est magnifique!


Here's an action shot of Ross distributing a delicious house red.


There was also art. Unfortunatly one of the drawbacks of traveling to a city where tourism isn't one of it's major industries (especially out of season) is that a lot of things weren't available. Many galleries seemed to have incredible shows opening in the coming weeks, and were currently closed. We went to the Palais du Beaux-Arts which had many of it's biggest works on loan or being restored. Regardless, the building was incredible, and we had the place to ourselves.


Lille is known for having one of the best nightlifes in Northern France, and it was obvious that the city came to life at night. In lieu of street lamps, all the building had dramatic lighting that was frequently changing colour and intensity. It was so beautiful that we took a million photos.




We found the stereotype that the French are rude to tourists to be completely incorrect in Lille. In fact, we received the warmest reception to date. So many people were curious about us and where we came from and why we came to the city. It was obvious that Lille does not see an abundance of North American tourists. The petit Français I can parle was warmly and patiently received, and people spoke very slowly to us with a smile of their face.

Although there wasn't a lot of "touristy" things to do and see in Lille, there was lots of the lifestyle we adore. That lifestyle includes:

baguettes!

coffee! (Alongé s.v.p.)


and public markets, and zebras! Yes, zebras. We crossed a pedestrian bridge over a river and saw five or six zebras on the other side. We didn't know Lille had a zoo, so it was kind of a surprise.

From Lille we went to the much larger and much more tourist capital of the EU, Brussels. The weather while we were here was like summer.


The official languages of Brussels are both French and Flemish. Flemish is the same language as Dutch (or a close relative of), spoken in Belgium. Everything was printed in French and Flemish, and sometimes with English and German. Ross always forgot this and referred to places on the map in both their French and Flemish names, such as "Parc Park" and "Bourse Beurs". ie: "Let's take the Metro to Bourse Beurs and walk to Parc Park."

Aside from chocolate and mussels, Brussels (and the rest of Belggium) is known for these things:

Waffles! (These ones were sold out of a Westfalia)


Comic strip art!


Fries!


Beer!


Art Nouveau! We went on a walking tour of many Victor Horta houses. It was a really long tour, which we were thankful for after indulging in many of Belgium's other treats.


We saw this little fella. There was a huge crowd around him, and everyone was laughing. Afterwards we went to a pub that was decorated with costumes for him, all with a perfectly placed hole.


Brussels is thought to be one of Europe's food capitals. Instead of indulging in one of Belgium's specialties, Ross & I opted for Pho, our favourite Vietnamese dish that we haven't seen since we left Vancouver. It was so comforting!


Other highlights include Magritte and Ensor paintings, and sitting on a patio at a place that despite being named Zebra, featured furniture every colour of the rainbow.

Great weekend.

School so far

I'm not really sure if I can top Grace's post (read below, it's pretty cool), but I thought it was about time that I give an update as to my last month or so at school, so here goes.

Things have been rather busy, with almost all of my day being devoted to school work. That being said, we have managed to get in a few breaks here and there. As a class, we seem to have found comfort in a bar called De Paas, which, as it turns out, has also been a hangout for past students. De Paas is a bar specializing in Belgian Beer and has over 250 types of beer on the menu. Yes, 250! Rather fittingly, the bar is located on a street called Dunne Bierkade. I don't know the exact translation, but I think it means "the beer street". (If I'm wrong, don't correct me).

Anyway, the reason we're both here: school.

Apart from the regular calligraphy and programming excercises that I've been practicing on a daily basis, the main projects we are working on are a monogram based on our two initials, and more recently a bunch of sketching excercises using a little program called the "type cooker". The Type Cooker is something Erik of Letterror put together to output random values from a given list of options related to letterforms. For instance, it could specify the stroke thickness, the serif type, the width, the contrast type, special applications, etc. The idea is to get us to think about and draw letterforms that we would not otherwise think to draw.

I've uploaded a little sketch from one of these excercises below.

They are rather quick sketches, but you can already see a few of the parameters output by the type cooker. The letters had to be very thin in stroke, medium contrast, slab serif and wide.

The other project we've been working on (the main project of the semester) is to make a digital revival of an existing metal typeface used before 1940. The typeface I have to digitize is Plantin, made by the Monotype Corporation in 1913. It was modelled after a late 16th century typeface cut by a man named Robert Granjon. Since part of the project includes a research paper investigating the design context and history of the typeface, I thought it would be interesting to explore the earlier model and compare the two. As seen below, the two typefaces are very different.

The Monotype Plantin typeface is on the right while the earlier 16th century specimen (scanned of course) is on the left. I thought it would be interesting in reviving the Plantin type to reincorporate some of the details of the Granjon type from the 16th century. It's still very much a work in progress, but I've included a snapshot of some very primitive drawings of my Plantin revival here:



You can see the difference in the a where I'm starting to introduce some aspects of the older type back in. The project runs through to mid-January, so there is a lot of work left to do.

Excuses, excuses

The reason I've been kind of slacking off in my posts is because I'm now a working woman. This is a good thing! I just finished my second week at my new job (although I only go on Dinsdag, Woendsday en Donderdag).

The studio I work at is small, and is just myself and the owner. She is very nice, and I am quite happy. These past two weeks I've been working on a website for a photographer, and an identity for an industrial design firm that specializes in bio-plastics.

I posted before about the building this studio is housed in. It's an old cigarette factory that has been refurbished to house 50 creative studios. Phase II is opening next year with another 50. It's a pretty amazing idea.

I'll give you a tour. This is the front entrance of Cabrello Fabriek, aka: CabFab, the name of the space. It has that industrial/design look that is so familiar to any alum of ECI.


This in the front door to the studio I work in. The doors to every studio are the same sliding glass. The insides are a free for all, and many are adorned with all sorts of creative furnishings. The studio I work in is very sophisticated.

My desk is on the left. If you look closely you can see I'm designing on a brand-new imac. It's one week old, and it's incredible. There's 250 GB of space on that thing! It's so luxurious that it's making me seriously consider owning a desktop computer when the time comes to replace my dear old Powerbook (but I don't ever want that to happen :)

Outside the window is a big canal that I watch barges float past all day long. Supposedly this canal goes to Rotterdam. It's amazing to watch these huge boats corner in such a tight space. On the other side of the canal is a crane that picks up huge piles of dirt all day. I really like the scenery.


Also in the studio is a little table for meetings with clients. This is where I had my interview. It is also the cake cutting table, if it is your birthday (it was Claudia's birthday yesterday.)


There is also this other little sitting area, but I'm not sure what for. It's kind of like a waiting room, but the concept of a waiting room only works if there's more than one room. It's just plain rude to make someone wait if they can see you checking your email on the other side of the room. Regardless, it looks handsome.


In the factory, there are boardrooms that a studio can rent to have meetings in. Each one is different, and they are all very cool.

The highlight of CabFab is the cafeteria where I eat lunch every day. Yes, those are real swings.


Every day as I eat lunch and everyone around me is speaking Dutch, I stare at the mural of factory workers, and eavesdrop really hard. So far, not so good. Every now and then I'll recognize one word, like a number, or mooi (which means beautiful), and I'll be really happy. But when someone is speaking for five minutes straight and you only know they said something was beautiful and there was eight of it, it isn't exactly comprehension.


I think CabFab is mooi.

Another Day, Another Interview

I just got back from my fourth interview. It was at this place. You would think that I should be getting the hang of interviewing by now, but I am still just as bumbling as ever.

Something bad happened on the way to the studio; my bike chain fell off. I knew I wasn't to far so I quickly weighed my options:

1) Put the chain back on and get my hands all greasy. Deny the initial handshake when introducing myself and instead ask to use their washroom to clean my filthy hands, or,
2) Run.

I chose option two and ran. It wasn't far, but it was a good 10-15 minute run. It was made more complicated by the fact I wasn't wearing appropriate shoes, and had to juggle my portfolio and work. At least is wasn't raining, and the scenery was nice. I was running along a canal, and I got to run right by the palace. The guards said "Hallo" as I zoomed past. I was enjoying the autumn colours along the canal so much I ran right by the studio, and had to turn back.

I was worried about being late, so I made the mistake of not waiting to cool down for a minute before ringing the bell. When the man who interviewed me answered the door I was catching my breath, very hot, and I'm sure, red-faced. My hair that I so carefully coiffed before leaving the house was starting to frizz and curl in less than desirable places. How awkward!

As I started talking I was still in running mood, and I just started racing through my work. The man actually told me to slow down. I wasn't expecting much from the interview since I assumed I'd already blown it, but it went surprisingly well. He said they don't have any positions open, but he would be sure to recommend my to any another studio if he knew they were hiring, or would call me if something came up. Not bad, eh? In fact, I'd say it was my best interview to date.

You just never know, eh?

Happy Turkey Day

I know you guys are feeling sorry for us because we don't have an oven, meaning we can't cook a turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie and all that yummyness, but there's no need for pity: we managed to score an invite to a true-blue Canadian Thanksgiving dinner, hosted by our neighbors downstairs. We said yes faster than you can say tryptophan.

Our neighbor is Canadian (from Montreal), her husband American (Albany, NY), and they have a four year old daughter, and 5 month old twin babies (a boy and a girl). Also invited for dinner was another Canadian friend (from PEI) and her Dutch husband, so it was quite a smattering of people, all brought together by the love of gravy.

Obviously, it was great. As was the apple and pumpkin pie with ice cream. It was such a treat, and for that we are very thankful.

De Haagse Markt

The weather these past few days has been very nice, as the rain has stayed away. Today was probably the sunniest day we've seen in The Hague, and the temperature in the afternoon was nearly 20°.

Seeing as how it was so lovely, Ross & I and everyone else in The Hague decided to check out de Haagse Markt, an open air market held every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday. The website is here, and I encourage you to all visit it and enjoy it's ambiance. Supposedly every Dutch city has a market, and they're known for their bargains.

The markt covers an area about the size of two city blocks, and it is filled with tents adorned with all kinds of treasure. It was packed! Most of the time, we were standing shoulder to shoulder in a mass of people.

There was much more stuff at de Haagse Markt than either of us expected. You could find nearly everything you can imagine: clothes, shoes, boots, jewelry, meat, electronics, boots, furniture, cheese, health and beauty supplies, boots, bike accessories, fruits and veggies, flowers, bottle openers, bathing suits, boots, cameras, candy, fabric--and above all--more boots. Most of this stuff was very cheap and junky. The stuff that wasn't cheap and junky appeared to be stolen. It was kind of like one gigantic dollar store!

Some booths were set up like stores that you went inside, but most were displayed like carnival games with the seller on one side, and you had to point to what you wanted. I enjoyed watching a woman indicating to a seller what size of underwear she wears.

Some of the tents were like a garage sale, and had people selling their old crap at them. These tents didn't smell so good. I took note of the shortsighted spacial planning of a tent that sold dvds: the "adult" section was directly beside the children's.

The abundance of items for sale was quite astonishing. Here is just one of the multiple fish sellers. I have never seen so much vis (fish) in my life. You can't tell from this photo, but the smell of this section was awful, and there were flies aplenty.


And of course, there wasn't any shortage of greasy food stands. The Dutch do love their patats (French Fries), eaten with your choice of mayo, curry sauce, or peanut sauce. I'd like to shake the hand of the man who thought of eating peanut butter with French Fries.


We bought some kaas, zonnebloemen (sunflowers), some spinach and some soap. Nothing too exciting, but now we have an idea of the available inventory at de Haagse Markt.

Happy International Animal Day!