Founded in 1980, Claremont Rug Company specializes in investment-level art rugs—including room-sized Persian carpets and rare 19th century tribal, village, and court area-size rugs. Elixir is delighted to have just completed our first assignment with this new client, a direct mail piece highlighting recent acquisitions.
For those of you considering a flooray into the world of “art for the floor” consider the advice of the Financial Times, which has separately described Claremont Rug as “one of the world’s best sources of antique carpets.” You can read more about Claremont’s business and one-of-a-kind “white glove service” at the New York Times.
Shown here: a handful of Claremont Rug’s newest acquisitions. At the showroom, you can see, touch, and put your best foot forward on museum-quality rugs. {6087 Claremont Avenue, Oakland CA 94618. Hours: Mon – Sat 11.00 am – 6.00 pm}
Hadji Jallili Tabriz – 3rd Quarter, 19th century
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The March/April Communication Arts (CA) celebrates the magazine’s 50th anniversary, and Elixir is honored to be mentioned twice in this retrospective issue. CA, which originally stood for “commercial art,” predates most of us. It has always been there: fresh work beautifully reproduced, plus forward-thinking, history-respecting perspective. But in 1959, the magazine was blazing a trail in the CMYK wilderness and being perfect-bound by hand!
The current issue features two big-picture information graphics: a 20-page 50-year timeline and a Visual Communications Genealogy. The logo Elixir created for New Leaf Paper appears on the timeline {top of page 82}, which starts with, not surprisingly, the cover of the first issue and ends with Mad Men and Barack Obama.
And we are included in a Visual Communications Genealogy, which Editor Patrick Coyne describes as a work-in-progress: “to provide an understanding of the impact of mentorship on design and advertising.” Elixir is in very exalted company in the honeycomb of San Francisco design on page 126.
In addition to reminiscences and reflections, the issue is rich to the last spread with enticing resources: from book reviews to Swiss font furniture; from a photo-sharing site that encouraged us to strew our photos across the floor, to an application that converts digital photos to their Polaroid equivalent. This issue is a mega-maga-matic of our moment in time.
Elixir has recently begun to work with Tea, a globally-inspired children’s clothing company. Dual objectives are to better align the Tea catalog with their brand and to integrate “best practices” to increase profitability. Since its start in San Francisco in 2002 “with three pima cotton sweaters,” Tea has developed two lines that are now sold in over 500 stores around the world (including Bloomingdale’s, Barneys New York, Neiman Marcus, and Takashimaya). Creative consulting will encompass a voice guide, design templates, photography direction, and other recommendations for infusing the catalog with the essence of Tea.
Every November, the Elixir team gathers to assemble and mail a holiday gift to friends and family. This year we met around the fire at the Pelican Inn in Muir Beach. (For you non-locals, yes, this is what the holiday season looks like in Northern California.) We rented out the main dining area, with plenty of room to spread out our assembly line. We hope you enjoyed the warmth, freedom and flexibility of the fingerless gloves. We found ours wonderfully convenient at the keyboard on frosty mornings, tying shoelaces at the Muni stop, chopping garlic, and eating roasted organic peanuts in the shell. More »
Elixir’s model sashayed down the runway in a flowing gown made entirely of coffee filters, with a cloud of white smoke streaming out of her bustle, for Afterlife: Paper, Purgatory and the Great Beyond, a recent AIGA competition whose theme was to create a dress made of used paper. More »
Shot in New Orleans, the Sundance Spring Catalog is now “in home.” Here is a behind-the-scenes look at the shoot, along with resulting final covers. More »
The Rolodex, an essential tool slowly fading away as people adopt electronic alternatives, remains a solid fixture in the Elixir office. More »
After nine years of paper letters, Elixir goes gold. And 3D. Witness Senior Designer, Nate Durrant, letterspace for Van Ness legibility. More »
Elixir treated itself to a new set of conference room chairs this fall. More »
