Things We Like

Our weekly round-up of things we like here on the Design Week newsdesk.

Just My Type

The paperback edition of Simon Garfield’s typography masterpiece Just My Type is published next month. If you haven’t yet read Garfield’s hugely entertaining romp through the history of fonts, then now’s the time to do so. Emily Pacey reviewed the book here (https://www.designweek.co.uk/home/blog/just-my-type/3016787.article) when it was released in hardback. Just My Type: A Book About Fonts, is published by Profile Books on 29 September, priced at £9.99.

Illustration for Wooden Waves skatepark

The Wooden Waves skatepark in Newquay, Cornwall, is a pilot intitiative from Newquay Town Council and social enterprise XtraVert to find an effective and sustainable way of running the park. The project has drafted in Sutsu surf and skate clothing brand to create a mural for the park, and illustrator Jake Blanchard has lent a hand to create some beautiful designs for the ramps, inspired by the environment, music and mythology.

Andy Warhol’s New York City

An alternative city guide for visitors to New York, Andy Warhol’s New York City: Four Walks Uptown to Downtown, takes readers through his Factories and residences as well as the parks, galleries, cinemas, cafes and shops which touched his life.

Some of the buildings, like Warhol’s last Factory, (1984-1994) – an art deco electrical substation –  have been raised to the ground, but are still traced and explained.

Our favourite discovery is Andy Mat (1977),  a proposed restaurant at 933 Madison Avenue, which was to be the first branch of Warhol’s fast food chain.

Architectural drawings were worked-up and an alliance formed with British Entrepreneur Geoffrey Leeds but although investors had already spent $40,000 on rent and secured $1m in capital, the deal fell apart, allegedly over location concerns.

Interior designs by Ellen Lehman had already been worked-up to include  red mohair and velvet banquettes. 

Warhol said of the project, ‘I really like to eat alone. I want to start a chain of restaurants for other people who are like me, called “Andy-Mats – The Restaurant for the Lonely Person.” You get your food and then take your tray into a booth and watch television.’ Funny chap wasn’t he. 

The orders were to be placed by a system of pneumatic tubes allowing offsite pre-prepared food to be delivered to the kitchen and re-heated. There would be no in-house chef.

Pocket sized, detailed, candid and indexed, this book should serve armchair tourists and  holidaymakers alike.

Why stop here though. Possibilities for a series could potentially include Morrisey’s Manchester: The Essential Smith’s Tour – oh no, someone’s already done that. Erm, Delia Smith’s Guide to Norwich: a Banquet of Food and Football.

Andy Warhol’s New York City: Four Walks Uptown to Downtown by Thomas Kiedrowski with illustrations by Vito Giallo, published on 6 September by The Little Bookroom.