totmama

Being a graphic designer in my past life, I have a love for typography that most people would say borders insanity. There is just something about typesetting… the sound of a printer’s press, the smell of the inks, and the hours that get eaten up as you painstakingly sort the 9 pt. Helvetica from the 10 pt. Helvetica. There was a well worn, earthy feel to the wonderful wooden block type we used at RISD. Once while traveling (long after college), I remember coming across a huge box of old assorted wood and lead type. I begged on knees and pleaded, trying to convince my husband to agree and let me haul the 35 lbs. of type to our house. It worked, and I took my prize of a dying era home. Sadly, I am not sure where it is now… somewhere in the mountainous piles of boxes in our storage unit or in the garage, but I actually miss it. Weird, I know. A huge heap of (most likely poisonous) soft lead and wooden type that is covered with ink residue that leaves your hands black for days, and I actually miss it. Why am I talking about this, you ask? Well, I was yet again going thru my piles of mail order catalogues, and found the Alpha Coffee Table at Crate and Barrel. When I saw it, I immediately thought “I sooooo get it!”. It’s warm, worn in, old world, yet modern too. Just beautiful. Now I can have the look, and fulfill my wood type jones, without the risk of “Painter’s Colic”.