If I chance to talk a little wild, forgive me. - William Shakespeare
Archive for March, 2007
Rhodia No. 12 Flickr gallery
March 30th, 2007 08:03:54
I’ve posted selected Rhodia No. 12 project pieces in our Flickr gallery. The travelling exhibit is making stops at Hong Kong, Taipei and Japan.
All images copyright © Rhodia No. 12 Project. All rights reserved.
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Rhodia No. 12 exhibition at Next Magazine
March 29th, 2007 07:03:51
AS SEEN in the Fall issue of Hong Kong’s NEXT magazine:
Click on photo to see entire page
Huckleberry who?
March 26th, 2007 08:03:29
A guide for those who don’t read, but wish they did
It may well be that too many books are published, but by good fortune, not all must be read. In practice, primed by publishers, critics, teachers, authors and word-of-mouth, a form of natural selection limits essential reading to those classics and best sellers that become part of civilized intellectual and social discourse.
Pierre Bayard, a professor, offers
social guidance to the unread.Of course, many people don’t get through these books, either, and too embarrassed to admit it, they worry constantly about being exposed as philistines.
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Read the New York Times review
Lennard J. Davis also wrote a review at The Chronicle
Find your topic
March 20th, 2007 06:03:50
“Ficlets” you ask?
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ficlets are shorter than short stories. Well, no, actually, they are short stories, but they’re really short stories. Really short, as in there’s not a maximum word count … there’s actually a maximum character count (1,024). There is also a minimum character count, and the number of that beast is 64.
If you wish, we’ll provide you with inspiration (photos, themes, suggested beginnings and endings, even other ficlets), but you’re completely free to blaze your own trail. Now, here’s where the real fun comes in: Each and every ficlet is modular in that, though you may have written a stand-alone story with a beginning, middle, and ending, your fellow ficleteers may choose to write a prequel or sequel to your story. In this respect, you can think of ficlets as literary Legos.
A ficlet is a short story that enables you to collaborate with the world.
Once you’ve written and shared your ficlet, any other user can pick up the narrative thread by adding a prequel or sequel. In this manner, you may know where the story begins, but you’ll never guess where (or even if!) it ends.
Confessions of a Bookplate Junkie
March 19th, 2007 09:03:57
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Every once in a while I get a bookplate that makes me wonder about the owner.
Such is the case with the bookplate for James Allan.
My assumption is that James Allan was sent to do the work of God in Africa, before the days of political correctness. He had a friend ,H.T. Church , who designed his bookplate as a gift.
In this instance, Google has not been the shining light I have come to expect and none of my reference books mentions an H .F. Church
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Lew Jaffe has been collecting bookplates for over twenty-five years. The blog is chockful of pages from his personal collection as well as links to resources on bookplate collecting. He even shares his passion, showing you how to remove your a bookplate and sharing his tips for new collectors.
Visit his blog
All images taken from his blog. All rights reserved.
Rhodia at ThisNext
March 14th, 2007 05:03:15
I love graph paper! It makes everything so structured and tiny because there are grids everywhere. Remember the days when you HAD to use graph paper in math class, to draw hyperboles and whatnots? I like to use them when I’m doing my budgeting for the month, and figure out how much money I’ll have after I’ve paid all my bills.
See other Rhodia recommendations at ThisNext
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ThisNext is a shopcasting network where you can discover, recommend and share things you love. /Image copyright © THisNext. All rights reserved.
The man who writes love letters
March 12th, 2007 11:03:33
Letter writer Duong Van Ngo:
“Love usually wanes between the continents.”
A polyglot public letter writer in Ho Chi Minh City bridges different worlds — connecting people across the planet with his fountain pen. His profession may be dying, but in his 60 years on the job, he has created many marriages.
Duong Van Ngo, a wiry 77-year-old man, parks his bicycle in the shadow of the sycamore trees, whose trunks are painted white as if they were wearing gaiters. He greets the post card vendors and shuffles through the archway with the station clock. It’s eight o’clock on a muggy February morning, the start of his workday.
Ngo sits down at the end of a long wooden table underneath a mural of Ho Chi Minh. He produces two dictionaries and a directory of French postal codes from his briefcase. Then he slips a red armband over his left sleeve to make sure he’s recognized immediately. He sets up his sign: “Information and Writing Assistance.”
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Fiona Ehlers’ full story at Spiegel Online
The story of Rhodia
March 6th, 2007 10:03:19
The stationers known as the “Papeteries Verilhac freres” was founded in Lyon in 1932 by two brothers, Henri and Robert Verilhac. They came from a family of paper merchants, with two brothers from the previous generation having set up a family business selling paper mainly to the southern part of France and the French overseas departments in North Africa.
From 1932 onwards, they concentrated on producing and selling stationery, exercise books, and, later on, the Rhodia notebook.
In September 1934, the company, originally located in Lyon, moved to Sechilienne near Grenoble in the Romanche Valley because of size, labor costs and its proximity to the paper factories.
In the 1950s, a production unit was set up in southern Algiers. This unit used paper produced locally, and supplied the substantial North African market.
Loss of the North African market in the 1960s forced the company to continue expansion in Northern France and internationally.
In 1968, catastrophic flooding in the Romanche valley destroyed 50% of the Sechilienne plant. The factory was rebuilt and extended, with premises erected on a new site in Vizille. In 1997, the company was bought by the Clairefontaine Group, production was transferred to Mulhouse (department number 68) and the new group Clairefontaine Rhodia was born.
The RHODIA trademark
The Rhodia trademark dates back to 1932 and points to the group’s Rhodian origins. It predates the other similar trademarks (such as Chimie). Legend has it that the two Rhodia fir trees symbolize the two founding brothers.
The RHODIA notebook
The Rhodia notebook, originally a sideline for Rhodia, was to become its leading light. It was designed to provide a high quality notebook for note taking and immediately overshadowed other notebooks of the period because of its quality materials and original design (its scored folding front cover). Over the course of time, it has come to symbolize a notebook of quality.
The orange cover dates back to the standard colors in use at the time of its creation, and remains unchanged to this day.
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Used with permission from their website.
Text and images copyright (c) Clairefontaine-Rhodia.
All rights reserved.
Francis Ford Coppolla on Rhodia
March 6th, 2007 10:03:00
Francis Ford Coppola at Cannes in 2001. By Rita Molnár.- One of the places we are sure to stop in Paris is a stationery store. They are so great there. Most of all, they have a great selection of Rhodia pads, the best writing pads in the world (in my opinion). I highly recommend them… they’re great for wine notes!”
Francis Ford Coppola has been making movies for more than 30 years, and wines at his Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery (now known as the Rubicon estate) in the Napa Valley for almost 20.
Rhodia notebooks at the Copolla Winery gift store in Northern CaliforniaPaul Smith for Rhodia
March 6th, 2007 05:03:30
Paul Smith, the world-famous British fashion designer, is a Rhodia fanatic. Paul Smith clothes are sold either in his own Paul Smith shops or in selected shops across the world.
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Paul Smith is global - the collection is wholesaled to thirty five countries and has fourteen shops in England. Paul Smith shops are found in London, Nottingham, Paris, Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Kuwait, U.A.E. – and over two hundred throughout Japan. Paul remains fully involved in the Japanese business; designing the clothes, choosing the fabrics, approving the shop locations and overseeing every development within the company. Paul Smith also has impressive and diverse showrooms in London, Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo.
Paul Smith continues to be an integral part of the company; he is both designer and chairman. Paul Smith is continually involved in every aspect of the business and as a result, Paul Smith Limited retains a personal touch often lost in companies of a similar size.
Rhodia has signed an agreement with Paul Smith to create and sell a line of Paul Smith Rhodia pads. It will include 4 different sizes. Prices will be 20 to 25% above traditional Rhodia pads prices. These products will be sold only in some special shops: Paul Smith boutiques and a selection of high standing stationery shops approved by the designer himself.