Wednesday, April 22, 2009

oliver and a TGM all in one

For those of you that aren't regular blog readers, TGM stands for "Typical Greg Moment." There are many and they are humorous, so I share them here from time to time.

Back in December of last year, Scarlet brought an inspiration book to the office, entitled The Incredible Book-Eating Boy. If the title isn't intriguing enough, the illustrations definitely are. The author of the book, Oliver Jeffers, combined vintage ledgers, maps, you-name-it into his illustrations to create a book that both children and adults will love.
Once it was at the office for a bit, we decided to use it as inspiration for January's kit, Bibliography:

Which is how Stephen became familiar with the book. Immediately he LOVED the illustrations and the overall design element of the book. Stephen is our graphic designer at Studio Calico, and we gave him the book to use as inspiration for creating the first ever exclusive SC papers.

So, Greg, not shy about contacting anyone and asking them for anything, emailed Oliver and requested information about his prints. In doing so, he found out that he lived in Brooklyn. Later that evening, Greg asked if I had planned the trip to NYC and if we could go at a time Oliver would be there. Of course, I agreed and so we took the N train to Brooklyn, walked a block and ended up at his studio, where he drew these for our friends.

We talked about his creative process, his art, his future projects (he's currently working on a new childrens' book), but most of all, Greg wanted to know if other people have come visited him.

Oliver's reply: my family

11 comments:

Davinie Fiero said...

So is that Oliver Jeffers? And he looks like a young book author. Are he and Greg BFF's now? Or did y'all just freak him out a little? lol

nicole said...

that is amazing. we've been big fan of oliver jeffers for awhile. love how to catch a star too - but all of his books are amazing. what a great story - thanks for sharing it!

Hannah said...

that's wonderful that you were able to meet him! I'm sure he appreciated knowing he has fans!

GretaB said...

That is so cool!! I have the same question as Dav - was he flattered or freaked?

Houston said...

You go Greg, it sounds like Oliver enjoyed having someone visit. Very cool! It sounds like the TGMs really keep life interesting!

lisa truesdell said...

SO awesome.

Michelle Springer said...

I bought this book after seeing it on the SC blog as the inspiration behind Bibliography. Rowan is too young to read it, but I can't wait until he's old enough and we can read it together. Awesome that you had the opportunity to meet himm!

Anonymous said...

very cool story :) and really neat that you guys went to visit him!

Kimber-Leigh said...

so fun! love greg's question, by the way!

JennO said...

WOW. Not only meeting him, but bringing home original drawings...WOW!!

Emily Pitts said...

that's just cool.