August 06, 2024
Happy Birthday Andy Warhol!
Born on 6 August, 1928 in Pittsburgh, USA, Andy Warhol's wonderfully whimsical illustrations of the 1950s and 60s are a huge influence on my work, and designs for Scribble & Daub.
Many of the inks we use to hand-paint your cards in the studio are the exact ones he used back then in his drawings. Read on for some unusual facts about this diminutive giant of contemporary culture.
And in honour of the Prince of Pop, we will be popping a FREE Disco Ball card into any orders made today, 6 August - just type POP into the message box at checkout (and as I'm a little late in the day, why don't we extend that to Wednesday orders too!)
Did you know...
* Warhol is said to have eaten Campbell's tomato soup every day for lunch for 20 years.
* His mother was a huge part of his life, she lived with him in New York for 18 years, and it is her distinctive curling calligraphy that he employed in his iconic illustrations.
* He carried a tape recorder around with him everywhere. He called this constant companion his “wife.”
He may be most famous for his paintings, but his words come a close second. Here are five of my favourite Warhol quotes:
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art."
"Always leave them wanting less."
"I think having land and not ruining it is the most beautiful art that anybody could ever want."
"I like to be the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place. Being the right thing in the wrong place and the wrong thing in the right place is worth it because something interesting always happens."
"The idea is not to live forever, it is to create something that will."
My studio bookshelves are heavy with well-thumbed tomes on Warhol's early work, and the following are a few suggestions to add to your library:
Andy Warhol's Diaries is the perfect bedside book to dip in and out of, a vast chronicle of his extraordinary life told through often fascinatingly mundane detail with a side of scurrilous celebrity gossip.
My children all loved Andy Warhol ABCs, which is a sweet introduction to his idiosyncratic visual world.
One of my most treasured volumes is Wild Raspberries, a hilariously impractical recipe book which includes such imaginary meals as Roast Iguana Andalusia, Chocolate Balls à la Chambord (“to be served to very thin people”), and the Gateau of Marzipan which opens this email.
You can occasionally find it second-hand, but it is also included in this bumper edition of not one, but seven books on Warhol's illustrations, published by Taschen.
Andy Warhol's Diaries is the perfect bedside book to dip in and out of, a vast chronicle of his extraordinary life told through often fascinatingly mundane detail with a side of scurrilous celebrity gossip.
My children all loved Andy Warhol ABCs, which is a sweet introduction to his idiosyncratic visual world.
One of my most treasured volumes is Wild Raspberries, a hilariously impractical recipe book which includes such imaginary meals as Roast Iguana Andalusia, Chocolate Balls à la Chambord (“to be served to very thin people”), and the Gateau of Marzipan which opens this email.
You can occasionally find it second-hand, but it is also included in this bumper edition of not one, but seven books on Warhol's illustrations, published by Taschen.
If someone you love has a birthday coming up (and you'd like to redeem your free Disco Ball bonus) you'll find our collection of beautiful cards hand-painted with Andy's favourite inks here, plus colourful hand-sewn party streamers & garlands that would do Studio 54 proud...
It's been a truly shocking week in the UK, so we sign off with one last quote from 1962 (two years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 in America) when Warhol said that “everybody should like everybody.” Whilst this may be a little optimistic, basic respect for all should not be. There is absolutely nothing fabulous about racism and Islamophobia, and it's appalling that we still face these challenges in 2024. We are proud to create products that foster love and connection, and we abhor hatred and prejudice of any kind.