Storytelling: Buildings and Vampires

I love stories of all kinds. Storytelling is such a natural form of entertainment and teaching; people have used stories for hundreds of years to pass on myths and truths. With Halloween coming up, people will be creating and absorbing stories through comics, video, books, music and word-of-mouth.

When babysitting the other day I thought to get in the Halloween mood we should carve pumpkins. Unlike my little brother who did his best to do an angry pumpkin so he wouldn't be afraid of it, my youngest sister put all her effort into making a scary pumpkin. When she was finished she stared at it and then piped up worriedly: "Evie told me pumpkins come alive at night. Will my scary pumpkin do that?"

My brother's angry pumpkin and sister's scary one

There is something wonderfully naive about children and their stories. I think that's why Where the Wild Things Are is so successful and why it has inspired so many people since. I particularly like the Buildings and Vampires story and how the tribute video by Sebastian Baptista & Nico Casavecchia then went on to inspire the likes of Manuela dos Santos to be more experimental. Creativity breeding creativity is a wonderful thing and I love the childlike style of both the video and the chalkboard cards.

Buildings & Vampires from Nico Casavecchia on Vimeo.

Manuela dos Santos' chalkboard cards.

Temporary Secretary

Over the past year I've put together quite a few fashion spreads for Fused and Area including a selection of purse friendly suggestions for the annual student guide and more recently (but not yet published) a colourful autumn spread. Fused and Area are independent magazines and as such I like to include a mixture of well known brands and lesser known gems. One such gem that I have used in several recent spreads is Temporary Secretary.

Sarah Wong founded the brand in 2008 and it's gone from strength to strength with fabulous designs and a great blog. In fact, she recently won the A/W 11 Look Magazine's Blog Competition - congratulations! In all honesty though, I think she shines when she gives the reader an insight into her life...particularly her adorable posts with the lovely cat Oscar.

Brand wise she is always a pleasure to work with, ready to help and with lovely pictures of her quirky and kitsch handmade jewellery. I can't wait to get my hands on some of her latest pieces... particularly her laser cut wood range and typewriter rings. I love the bright red tab key, I think I'll have to get that and a letter. Thankfully, it'll be Christmas before we know it. This year I am definitely making a list.

Images from the Temporary Secretary blog and website.