I now stay for some days at my uncle house. This is something which never happen before and we really start our journey of unusual things when we left our home. My uncle love to fly and he brings me in the air with this small plane... Even if I was not toally comfortable, I took some shoots... This is so graphice to see the world like this with all the lines and shapes... We are now in Provence part of France, near Arles... You can see on one of the picture the famous "Beaux de Provence".

Every day brings his set of good and bad news... I get this message from Marek, who is my partner/printer : My machine broke last week, I do not answer any mail cause I am sitting all time in a studio and trying to fix it. We are waiting for a spare parts from Germany but it takes at least 3 weeks, I am trying to repare it here but there are not services for such machines in Poland. The worst is that costers 2/3/4 are ready, it is just the coaster 1 which is printed but there is nothing to cut them!!!

I did these coasters as a bonus for people who pre-order the calendars... as they werre not ready in time, I send the FB one and D&B cards instead... Then, they werre supposed to be ready in the middle of january, so I propose them for calendar order done from January 10th to 18th... I did not plan the broken machine ! So, I won't wait and this week I will send the calendars ordered since january 10th.

If you want these coasters, please email me your order number (for orders done from November 15th to December 25th or january 10th to 18th) and I will send them when they are ready ! If you want them and do not order the calendar at these dates, please contact me too.

The calendar is still available at www.letterpress-calendar.com

While I order my stuffs, I figure out I have several stickers in stock. They are "mistakes" ! People order the size and color they want, and sometime we do them wrong... so we keep them ! These stickers are now available at www.harmonie-interieure.com at a special size, and we offer the post costs ! 1 copy of each is available !

For someone who love home decoration, who sell wall stickers and decorative objects, it is a strange feeling to have no home anymore ;) Last week, we put everything in rentale place, and leave our nice home in the vinyard... It was hard to organize everything... My office looks less beautiful like this ;) One of our cat is ready to go...

It is almost 2:15 am, I am tired, but Marek send me the pictures of the new coasters, so I can't wait to share them with you...it is a 4 coasters set, round this time, no picture of the "1" as it is not ready... Each coasters is printed with a warm grey, from clear to darker...

My first idea was to send them for the pre-orders of the calendar, but as they werre longer to produce, it would have over delay the calendar delivery... Instead I sent the FB coasters & D&B card, BUT, if you order the calendar before december 25th and want them, please send me and email with your order number and delivery adress to get a set.

And, I will also send a set for any order done between today january 11th and next wednesday 18th (but it means you will have to wait a little as I do not have them yet...). Added of the special cuppon reserved to readers (entrer the coupon "graphicexchange" to get a 5€ discount), what are you waitting for ?

Between 2 boxes (why do I buy so much design books and home decoration magazine !!!), I found time to shoot the calendar in details... And as without you this project would not be possible, dear readers, I have an (other) special gift. Entrer the coupon "graphicexchange" to get a 5€ discount... I write it in small, to be sure only readers, not "whatchers" can enjoy it ;)

One of new thing for this year will be bigger images too. I used to have them at 800px, now, when possible, I will present them at 900... I also update my site www.fabienbarral.com with the project and also with the Excelsior latin identity done last year... and I put them on behance... now I can sleep !

Happy new year !

First of all, let my wish you all an amazing 2012 year, very creative of course, but also full of these beautiful small moments that made great stories... As heard in Smith and Burrows "When The Thames Froze" :
The years go by so fast, let's hope the next beats the last.

And also want to thank you for your support, and feedback all over the days, weeks, months... years !

Today, the calendars arrive ! 500 copies is heavy ! It is an unique feelingto finaly see in real what I have in mind... I guess it is what I prefer in my designer life ;) But, with the help of Frédérique (my wife) we have to quickly focus on preparing the packages... Even if they won't be under the christmas tree on saturday, we want to send them as soon as we can...

Yeasterday, I spent the day with a good friend of me, Olivier Girault, and his family. He has a wonderfull home, and is an painter, a true artist... I took pictures of him for a future project... we drink wine, eat good chesse, listen some old Genesis music...

The good news : the calendars are now all printed... and have been posted... they are travelling from Poland to France...
The bad news : they are travelling from Poland to France... and the tracking number of the packages only tell me that... no precise idea if they will arrive today, tomorrow or wenesday... Of course, chances to have them before christmas are decreasing considerably... I will email all the buyers about this situation later today.

Here come june... based and an old sky & stars map...

Marek send me these amazing images, I am so pleased with the result... Letterpress printing really sublimate graphic design creation... I am so please to feel the same after several projects done with this process...

The 3 differents covers are now printed... I hope to be able to show you THE bonus of this edition soon, but have to wait a little myself to be sure it is possible ;)

I am also running a special offer for people who suscribe to the MrCup mailing list, a special coupon to get a reduction on the calendar... It will runs only for this week, it means it will be close on sunday 11th at midnight.

Here come may... The Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps have been published all over the design blogosphere, and as most people, I was amazed by these typographic composition... I want to use them for one of the number of this year calendar...

I am please to get all this positive feedback for the calendar...

It was nicely highlighted on lovely promenade, Inspirarea, nicework blog, the amazing Eight hour day blog, it took part of the designworklife gifts guide and last but not least, it was published on the etapes blog... Being on Etapes is special to me, it is the most important french design magazine, and I never (for what I know) get published or even quote on this publication...

As I talk about publication, I am also please to see my latest buisness cards presented on FPO.

Here comes the latest picture of the 3td cover while printing... Will show you soon the final covers printed with both colors ;)

2 weeks ago, I spend some hours in Paris between 2 meetings and took these pictures... For all who asked, I use 2 apps to do the effect on my iphone images. I firstly use TiltShiftGen to do color balances and focus, and then I put them in CrossProcess...

Ok, I may lose my mind a little ! But I am so please to see this calendar coming to life... well to print...

Marek, who print the calendar, send me the first pictures of the photopolymer plates.

For whose we need more info on this, these polymers are the modern version of letterpress printing. Instead of using metal or wood blocks, water-wash photopolymer plates produce a relief printing surface, just as the ones use for stamps, and you can do anything done digitally as long as it is vectorized file.

I am pleased to see so many relief and details on these polymer which announces some great impressions ...

Here come april... These old commercials facinate me... I love to watch wall covered with them in old phots... I do a creation based on this idea... I also use them for wall stickers, as a tribute for the ones painted on walls (we still can found a lot in French towns, have to present pictures on that too ;)

The ones used on the april page are based from commercials found a french magazine called "L'illustration", which was published every weeks from 1843 to 1944... which makes 1 century and 5294 issues !

Here come march... I love hand writtings... I am always looking for old papers with personal messages from 20's. Postcards are the best, as there is always a very limited space... and at this time, they send postcards just to say "eveything is fine"...

Here come february... For this one, I use the same illustration as on the "Designers meant to be loved" poster (which is sold out now), because I always want to see how this will go with letterpress printing...

Here come january... I start with this page, my idea was to design nice numbers, as I have done for the sentenses posters, but I need to adapt this idea for letterpress...

As a lot of people are curious about the Mr Cup project, I put online a page to let you suscribe to the mailing list and get updates on the project, as well as all my other projects...

Here it comes ! The presale of the letterpress calendar are now open, you can order your calendar. As last year, we will do our best to have it ready for christmas, but will depend on how the sell goes as the production for this year is even bigger than last year.

Of course, you will get special items if you order it now. Another thing is that we are also thinking of doing different covers... will let you know as soon as we deceide if this is possible...

You may also notice on the cover that the project is presented by Mr Cup ;) Too soon to let you know what it is, a new project I work on for weeks now...

I haven't post a lot this week because I am outside most of the time... I am shooting VSB windpower projects around Bretagne, near Rennes. I really like taking the train and being far from usual working day... I never suscribe to magazine, because I want to decide when I will read them... Train is always the best place for that, I feel like time is traped, you have hours to be sit and do something... I took picture of the latest Marie Claire Maison magazine to let you share this feeling of discovering a magazine... Tomorrow I will be in Paris for the day, and then I will be back home.

More "teasing" images on dribble... please leave comments (do not ask for invit, I do not have one)...

More "teasing" images on dribble... please leave comments (do not ask for invit, I do not have one)...

The presell of the letterpress calendar should start early november... I am working hard on it, it was difficult to start as this one to be better that the first one... I put some "teasing" images on dribble... please leave comments (do not ask for invit, I do not have one)...

When I talk about "rebooting" myself the other day, it goes also wth a new way to work... I work from home for the last 2 years, and even if I have a great office, I need to go out... A friend of a friend call me to ask if I want to share an office with him in the wonderfull city of Uzès... and it happen at the right moment... I am there today, just with the minimal stuffs needed to work...