at the end of the day, few things beat a good love letter. the time and feeling that goes into a good love letter is something to be cherished for years to come (i still have all the notes ac and i exchanged over 6 years ago). so i was happy to hear from lauren gallagher at the booksmith, an indie bookstore in san francisco, about a window display she recently finished.
inspired by love letters, lauren dyed a huge collection of papers and envelopes with instant coffee and two different powder tie-dyes to create the valentine’s day windows for the booksmith. after stamping the airmail envelopes with cavallini’s par avion stamps, lauren dried her collection a clothesline hanging from her fire escape and installed the finished look next to love-letter themed books from the shop. if you’re in the SF area you can stop by the shop to see the window in person, or check out more images of this lovely installation right here on lauren’s flickr page. *happy almost-valentine’s day!*
23 Comments
I love all hand-written letters… and especially a love letter!!
so, so dreamy. these photos made my morning, thanks grace!
Oh my, this is too pretty.
wonderful. thanks so much
This is so beautiful. And the idea can be transferred to many decorative applications. And I love those Cavallini stamps. Why, I have a box of them in my drawer! One of my favorite posts, Stan
How sweet…
What a creative and lovely idea!
Ooooh – good idea… I have talked the other half into making the dinner on Sunday… when he is in the kitchen I am going to decorate the dining area – this has given me another idea! thanks amy
What a great idea. It looks so cool!
—absolutely beautiful
I am crazy about love letters. I’ve been married 14 years and although letters come scarcley now, I have held on to the ones rec’d in the early years. His daily kindness is more than I could ever ask for so I don’t mind not having letters these days :)
I would like a stack of airmail love letters, please. Time to exile He-Mouse to somewhere from which he will need to woo me by airmail. Perhaps Antarctica?
Just kidding.
so beautiful. letters have always been precious to me but even more so, now. i see more and more art about communicating on paper. with all the world so digital, we still love to hold paper. i have boxes of correspondence from strangers i’ve picked up at yard sales. thanks d for the peek in a lovely sf window.
Such cool pics…Love!
I love this. I too have a hatbox full of love letters/notes from my man of 20 years married. Like Liz, his everyday kindness is now his loveletters.
Oh this is great! It makes me happy to see scruffy torn paper – this looks fantastic. Great post!
Absolutely brilliant. I am a huge fan of snail mail – love letters or whatever. To this day my dad still writes to all of his kids – even though he calls us too. I have boxes of handwritten cards and letter.
This exhibit warms my heart – I wish I could see it in person. Great stuff!
saer
There is no doubt in my mind that the display like that would make me stop and enter the store. Beautifully executed too. I was always wondering what lengths do the window display artists go to arrive at a new, creative composition and what happens to the great art after the display undergoes the change. I would suck at such a job, it would cry big tears when they would decide to take this beauty down. Thank you, Grace, for showing this.
i have an obssession with airmail envelopes/vintage envelopes. since i live in sf, i am definitely going to check out the booksmith’s window next time i’m on haight st.
I stumbled by this last weekend and I had to take a double take. The wall of envelopes caught my eyes, but the bundles wrapped in string in piles are magnificently delicate in the afternoon SF sun.
I love your blog…I live in Brasil. Kisses
Lauren’s my friend…good job girl! :-D
Lauren is my bff. I am so proud of her and her work. She’s awesome, too!
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