News from the Field: Is it a bird? A plane? A paper plane...?

Image Courtesy of PaulVivian

Just quickly (and quirky) this morning is a piece of news about the humble Paper Plane. Apparently, it's a bit more serious than most of us think.

After perhaps not paying a proper homage to the paper plane in this post last week, Matt dropped us an email to have a look at this video of the 2009 Paper Plane World Championships!

Image courtesy of Uberreview

Held in Austria, 253 paper plane 'pilots' from a staggering 83 countries came together to fold, fly and flaunt their best paper-aerodynamics.

Image Courtesy of Instructables

There were all sorts of categories, which you can read about at sponsor Red Bull's recap, but of particular importance we think, is news that Australia's own Dylan Parker (from Canberra) came third in the longest distance category - a not-quite transatlantic (but still impressive!) 40.78 metres.

Image Courtesy of 2dayblog

The most amazing part is that Dylan learned his craft whilst recovering in hospital from a brain tumour, making this story really quite inspirational.

And if you think you can out-do Dylan, try this how-to guide for folding the design of the winning plane - the Nakamura Lock!

Safe flying!

Trends in the Field: Sticky Tape!!

Image courtesy of NoteMaker

After a big history lesson yesterday about the under-appreciated yet rich life and times of the stapler, we thought that it's only fair to put up some pretty pictures and let their thousands of words come to life!

Just as we saw that there's more to the stapler than meets the eye, there's plenty more to sticky tape than some would ever think. It's creative (just ask Carrie Chau), it's designer, it's art and it's beautiful. And if you like to do anything crafty at all, you need it. It's like the icing on the cake!

Image courtesy of I Love Sticky Tape

Image courtesy of Inside Out Blog

Image courtesy of I Love Sticky Tape

Image courtesy of Our Children's Gorilla

Image courtesy of Our Children's Gorilla

Image courtesy of I Love Sticky Tape

Image courtesy of I Love Sticky Tape

Image courtesy of I Love Sticky Tape

Image courtesy of NoteMaker

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Image courtesy of Apartment Therapy

Many thanks and much respect to our fellow lovers of sticky tape! For more, check out the following:
Apartment Therapy for their love of the tape
NoteMaker's O-Check Sticky Tape
Our Children's Gorilla for facetape, chaintape, ropetape...oh my!
I Love Sticky Tape for just why Sticky Tape rocks!

Field Notes Icons: Staplers...?

I know what you may be thinking. A stapler? An icon? But let's face it, we use these things everyday. They are ubiquitous. It's time we paid some respect!

Image Courtesy of Office Museum

King Louis XV, in the 18th century France, had what is believed to be the world's first stapler handmade. In true King Louis style, he had each staple - repeat, staple - inscribed with the insignia of the Royal Court. So, from not so humble beginnings the stapler has grown!

Image Courtesy of Office Museum

Or shrunk. As you can see, the original models made sewing machines look portable and it wasn't until the late 19th century that an American refined the stapler to more accessible specifications. Even so, is still weighed over two and a half pounds (1 kg!) and was able to load only a single wire staple at a time.

Image Courtesy of Office Museum

And while today, most staplers are well, about a kilogram lighter and slightly more efficient, they still fail on us, staples get jammed and they've regrettably lost some of their once regal lustre.

Image Courtesy of Boss Bahamas

Most staplers. We saw this new range called Punch & Staple at NoteMaker and we love it. They're chrome plated, have a never-fail warranty and make rows of staples fall into line!

Image courtesy of NoteMaker

So, if you care about ridding yourself of the everyday stress of staple failure, or just think it's about time you got to live like King Louis XV (did we mention they look fantastic!?) then check em out!

Trends in the Field: Loving Origami!

We've been making eyes at Moleskine Art for the past week at Field Notes and have basically just been in awe of some pretty amazing art and artists. And as special as the fruits of pen and paper are, paper on its own can be pretty amazing too!

Images Courtesy of Flickr

Origami (from oru meaning "folding", and kami meaning "paper") is a Japanese art form in which the challenge is to create a representation of an object using geometric folds and crease patterns, preferably without the use of gluing or cutting and using only one piece of paper.

Image courtesy of Orgiami.com

It can be incredibly intricate and technical at its highest form. But, it can also be super fun for beginners who just want to make something crafty.

Image courtesy of Goldengami

And as with all art forms, somebody is out there to democratise it - to make it accessible for those of us who a) aren't that great at it and b) just wanna have some fun!

Image courtesy of ehow.com

Suck UK make Origami Sticky Notes which are great for office relations. Instead of tossing that old note at a co worker or making an eye-gouging (and so passe) paper plane, turn your sticky note into a friendly pig or adorable squirrel. Look at how easy it is!

Further, a note written on a piece of origami is a really touching form of communication and makes a nice surprise, compared to a standard greeting card. If you really don't have the fingers of an origami sensei, check out these 3-d cards!

Image courtesy of NoteMaker.

If you are up to the challenge, try Origami.com for an endless reference of origami diagrams.

So have some fun and make some art!

Trends in the Field: More Moleskine Art!

Image courtesy of Rob Carey via Skine Art.

There's just too much to get excited about Moleskine lately that we spent the weekend ogling over some more Moleskine art. Now that the red and blue cahiers are available in Australia and the NoteMaker design competition only has a couple of weeks to go, it's high time to get sketching!

Image courtesy of Rob Carey via Skine Art.

There is some really inspriring stuff at a great website we found recently called Skine Art. The self-proclaimed place for Moleskine lovers to celebrate their art is a great community for anybody who loves design, sketching and the italian Icon of the notebook world.

Image courtesy of lolita via Skine Art.

There are sooo many awesome pieces to see at Skine Art, but i can't help but find this little creature strangely adorable.

Image courtesy of artsyalex via Skine Art.

Also, we heard about a super talented French artist - and Moleskine-ophile - Alexandra de Lapierre, who's incredible Moleskine artwork can be seen at her blog, J'ai flane pour vous. Her nature gallery is really beautiful too.

Image courtesy of Alexandra de Lapierre.

Simply beatuiful.

News from the Field: All New Moleskine Cahiers & an awesome Rhodia competition!

Moleskine junkies have been having a great fortnight here in Australia. First, the 2009 2010 18 Month Diaries were made available, then NoteMaker launched a design competition to make your own and now, there are all new colours available.


The Moleskine Cahiers - with cardboard cover, gorgeous stiching on the spine and 16 detachable sheets, for total versatility - are now available in Australia in Red & Blue. So finally, there's some much needed variety for all of us who can't stop going through them.

Speaking of needs, the Rhodia Essentials Box is up for grabs in an easy-peasey competition at the ThreeThousand! Designers love the Rhodia Pads, we love 'em and so does anybody who is interested in taking notes.


So sign up to the ThreeThousand, rack your brain for 5 seconds and win a seriously cool prize.

News from the Field: Sydney Writer's Festival Book Binding!

Image Courtesy of MIT Library

As we mentioned in our last post, there's nothing more appealing to us than a personalised notebook. We got excited about the MSK Design Wizard and enlivened by the NoteMaker Design Competition but when we heard about this Book Binding Workshop at the Sydney Writer's Festival, we were practically intoxicated!

Image Courtesy of CJs Woodland Shed

Master bookbinder Rosemarie Jeffers-Palmer is running a traditional hands on workshop incorporating tools of the craft including a traditional book press, in order to master different styles of cutting, folding and stitching paper pages.

Image Courtesy of DK

Those lucky enough to be in Sydney (not us, unfortunately) can design, create and bind their very own book with this enviously awesome event. So if you're nearby, go along and get in touch with an under-used, artisanal craft.

For the rest of us, we can only do our best to come close. NoteMaker has these Penguin Notebooks for sale, with classics like Orwell and Austen to compare ourselves with and the Emerging Writer's Festival is still running in Melbourne.

Image Courtesy of NoteMaker

And there are book binding videos on youtube too...but oh, to be in Sydney...

Field Notes Classics: Custom Moleskine Notebook

Image courtesy of The Corsarius

Moleskine notebooks are one of our favourite places to hold the written word, and with the 2009 Emerging Writer's Festival just around the corner in Melbourne, we're feeling very wordy here at Field Notes!

Image courtesy of the great team at Moleskinerie

So many icons of literature and art have used Moleskine to contain their machinations - from Hemingway to Picasso and Chatwin - and undoubtedly held each of their notebooks to be truly their own.

We love the idea of the personalised notebook - to take what once merely contained your creativity to being a true expression of it - and so can't get over and visit the Moleskine Design Wizard application.

Image courtesy of Moleskine

It's an online tool to create customised pages which fit neatly and perfectly into your Moleskine! It's great for images, calendars and address book changes and is just fun to play around with.

And as nice as customised pages are, nothing beats a customised cover. Engrave Your Book, based in the US, offer a nice service. But why not design your own and see it on sale if you win NoteMaker's Moleskine Design Competition.... not to mention the great prize pack for the winner, including an iPod Nano!

Image courtesy of Moleskinerie

For Moleskine junkies like us (and Oh Joy!, and Meg Hunt...), this is the chance of a lifetime...

Image courtesy of the amazing Meg Hunt

So move over Hemingway, and tell Picasso the news!

Field Notes Icons: Our Mums

With Mother's day approaching this weekend, we at Field Notes would like to dedicate a post to our Mums. They've spoiled us for so long and deserve a nice break and some big time love.

So we've been going through some of our favourite sites and blogs looking for great ideas to spoil our Mums with.

Image courtesy of NoteMaker

There are plenty of great gifts around. NoteMaker has some lovely gift ideas for Mum and we always find inspiration from Kate Spade too. 

Image courtesy of Paper Tastebuds

And as much as gifts are an essential part of spoiling your Mum, it really is the thought that counts. Taking inspiration from Paper Tastebuds DIY Invitations, we realised that making it yourself is the best way to make Mums day. 

Image courtesy of Ian Potter Centre

But if you're not super DIY-literate, you can always take Mum out for a day. In our native Melbourne, the Ian Potter Centre is showing the Cicely & Colin Rigg Contemporary Design Award.

And don't forget to get some flowers too - and a nice big kiss!