I don’t know exactly why, but this video featuring the One Night Stand Sleeper made me laugh. It’s called “Mr. Squirrel Has a One Night Stand,” and it is NOT a dirty movie about tree rodents, just in case you were worried:

Did you mean to make a Blu Dot purchase when you first saw the sale announcement but just haven’t gotten around to it? Time is running out; this sale ends on November 8th. I for one know I have total commitment phobia when it comes to a major purchase like a sofa, and I secretly hope I’ll find one on sale as a floor sample or something (this never happens to me). So what better time to pick up the Couchoid Long Sofa than the present? This uber-contemporary sofa’s silhouette is sculptural and unexpected, resembling a model one might whittle from a block of styrofoam. The whole thing is very modern art museum chic.

Blu Dot Couchoid Long Sofa

Next the big bargains apply to yet another sculptural piece of furniture, the Stilt Floor Lamp. I love this lamp because it kind of reminds me of those things that came up out of the ground in that Spielberg/Tom Cruise sci-fi movie where Dakota Fanning just screams the whole time. The movie was kind of annoying, but the creatures were way cool. If they were to mate with a Scandinavian Mid-Century Modern lamp, their baby would look like this:

Blu Dot Stilt Floor Lamp

Next on my wishlist is the Knicker Counter Stool. It also comes in chair and bar stool heights. I learned that there is a difference between counter and bar height the hard way, after buying a bunch of bar stools for what was, apparently, a counter, so be sure to pay attention to that or you’ll only have a few inches of clearance for your thighs! Anyhoo, the upholstered Knicker in Chalk looks like it’s sporting a cozy knit sweater from J. Crew:

Blu Dot Knicker Counter Stool in Chalk Upholstery

In Dark Roast upholstery, it takes on more of a modern cabin look, like it would go great with an antler chandelier or a bearskin rug:

Blu Dot Counter Stool in Dark Roast Upholstery

In white faux leather, it takes on a sleeker, more contemporary persona, begging for some Carrera marble countertops to nestle under:

Blu Dot Counter Stool in White Faux Leather (also available in Chocolate and Black Faux Leather)

So, don’t procrastinate; time is running out to hop on the Blu Dot sale!

Yesterday Deborah Needleman’s new book, The Perfectly Imperfect Home was released. Needleman was the founding Editor-in-Chief of Domino magazine and now serves as the E.I.C. over at WSJ.Magazine (have you noticed how much fun the “Off Duty” section of The Wall Street Journal is? Needleman is the reason). As someone who has hoarded every issue of Domino and has been getting by re-reading those and her Domino: The Book of Decorating, I had been anxiously awaiting this one. It’s not only full of great advice about making decorating easy and fun, but also charming illustrations by Virginia Johnson. This is a great one to put on your holiday wishlist or to pick up for a loved one who still has those stacks of Domino mags carefully preserved in an honored spot. Needleman understands that decorating is fun in the same way that my favorite designers Dorothy Draper, Elsie de Wolfe and Billy Baldwin did, making reading it a delight.

We met in art school where our first class together was an intro to typography class. We always had a great time together so we made to sure to schedule as many of the same classes together as we could. Many hours were spent sitting in the back of classrooms, sketching and laughing. We didn’t discover our “great partnership” until we were a couple of years out of college.

Modern World Map in Aqua

Your world map reminds me of my Cold War youth – was the RUSSIA area a nostalgic reference?

Our original world maps were heavily inspired by the mid-century modern art of the 50s during the start of the Cold War. We wanted to capture that look but also bring it into this century with some refreshes and more modern labeling (for example, choosing Russia instead of U.S.S.R.)

When did your interest in maps begin? Is there anywhere you’re dying to travel to that you stick a push pin in?

We both have a love for travel. Besides the business, it’s where most of the money we earn goes. We had traveled to a few places before we designed our first map and thought it would be great if we could have some sort of physical pin map to track our travels. We searched for months and couldn’t find anything that matched the specific look we wanted so we decided to create our own. We designed our original world map (the World Map / Aqua) and had it produced in our first run of 50 maps. Fortunately for us, lots of other people liked the look of it too. We ended up selling out of our first run almost instantly and the rest is history.

American Flags Map

How are you reinterpreting and putting your own stamp on them?

A lot of what we work with is a simplification of whatever we’re mapping. Kind of like getting the essence of that area. This means that sometimes areas get cut which has spurned a few armchair cartographers. At the end of the day, there are plenty of great sources for maps with every city, country, mountain range, river, and so on labeled; we’re just offering an alternative to that.

Map of Washington, D.C.

I grew up in Cincinnati and people I went to high school with flocked to Columbus. What do you love about it?  What’s the scene like for creative types?

Omar actually grew up around Cincinnati too. He moved for the same reason many other college-bound teenagers move, to get some distance from his parents Columbus is a great city for starting a business like ours. While it may not be as culturally relevant as a New York or a San Francisco, it also comes with a much, much lower cost of living which has given us the ability to invest most of money right back into the business. Columbus also has a growing creative culture, tons of great restaurants and lots of fledgling design groups along with some large established ones. Simply put, Columbus is a great balance of culture and affordability which makes it a great home base for a creative business like ours.

Please tell us about your neighborhood.

While we live in Columbus proper, we live on the edge of a neighborhood called Grandview Heights (we’re technically right across the street from it). It’s a nice quiet neighborhood with a lot of greenery and we’re only a couple of blocks away from Jeni’s, the best ice cream in Columbus.

Could you please tell us a bit about finding the perfect fonts to correspond with your maps and the places they cover?

Type choice has always been one of the most important steps in our design process. We’ve always been fans of classic fonts that have stood the test of time. We also take into account the time period those fonts came from when matching them with the look of our designs. More recently we’ve become interested in older, hand drawn typography as well.

What do you do when you have a creative block to shake it loose?

The best part of working for yourself is that if there’s a creative block, we’re not forced to stew in front of our computers. On those kinds of days we shake the block loose by getting away for a bit. We bike or walk if the weather is nice, other times we try to see if there’s a cool event going on, and sometimes we just decide to take a nap on the couch with the cats. Going back to the screen with a clear mind almost always does the trick!

World Map in Black

What’s your studio like? Any advice for keeping a good space where one’s creative juices can flow?

We live in a fairly small one bedroom apartment which also doubles as our studio. Things used to be much tougher when we also stored all our inventory and packing supplies but earlier this year we hired a fulfillment company to store and ship our prints which literally gave us back half of our apartment.

We look at our space the same way we look at our designs. Over the past couple of years, we’ve pared down all the non-essential items in our apartment. It’s much less effort keeping a clean and clutter-free area when you only have a few dozen things in your house. Without all the extraneous junk, it’s easier to focus our work and also easier to relax when work is done.

Happy Halloween Everyone! What are you going to be giving out tonight? I’ve loaded up on Kit Kats, which is dangerous, because they are my favorite, and they may all be gone before the first trick-or-treater gets here.