a new start in the new year

It's hard to believe that this first month of the new year is already over! While we've been hard at work on new designs and new projects it feels like time is just flying by!

We've been spending a lot of time lately thinking about where we are and where we want to be, pretty usual for this time of year. The last three years have been so full! We're so excited for everything that 2016 has in store, starting with another big move! After nearly three years in DTLA, we've been priced out of the area and are looking forward to new digs in a new part of town. For the moment, we're running around looking at spaces while we're printing our hearts out and getting ready to be up to our eyeballs in boxes again.

In the meantime, take a look at what we've been up to on Instagram! We've been having a lot of fun with new cards and old favorites! As well as sharing fun things we come across as we look at listings.

We hope this new year is treating you well!

Best,
Rosemary+Robin

save the date for Ink+Smog Editions at Artisanal LA!

We're very happy to say that we'll be participating in the Fall Artisanal LA show in DTLA again this year. We hope to see you there!

Artisanal LA: October 11-12 (11am-6pm), LA Mart/The Reef 1933 S. Broadway, LA, CA 90007

We'll be at booth #726, come say hi!

Take a look at some of the other great makers that will be there too!

Looking forward to catching up!

Best,
Rosemary+Robin

thank you!

Thank you to everyone who came by to say hi at Renegade this weekend! We really appreciate all of your support, especially considering how hot and humid it was. We had a great time catching up with old friends and meeting lots of new ones! 

L-R: Our new booth display, Renegade set up in Grand Park under the watchful eye of City Hall, some of the lovely customers we had this weekend.

We were so happy to be able to share the relaunch of our older designs with so many familiar faces. We are really pleased with the way that everything is coming along on the new press, not only is the production easier, but the prints are clearer and more even.

L-R: Our newest batch of prints and a new letterpress heart card, our Golden State cards printed on the new press, proofing and packing our Greetings from Los Angeles cards.

We were also really excited to debut our new show display. Our concrete and plywood half-wall got so many compliments and requests for instructions, you can take a look at this project on our Pinterest board to see how it's done.

L-R: Robin manning the booth on Sunday, our new concrete and plywood display, some customers perusing our paper goods.

All in all, it was  a great weekend! The new venue was gorgeous and it was really fun to spend the weekend under the gaze of city hall and the LA Times building. Grand Park is such a wonderful addition to this city, and we really hope to attend more events there in the future!

L-R: Rosemary with Christine from Abacus Row, strategizing for Unique over coffee the morning after Renegade.

In the meantime, we are back in the studio working on a number of different projects in preparation for Unique LA on August 9-10. We're adapting our neighborhood postcards to the new press and working on a few new projects as well. Keep an eye on our Instagram account for a few sneak peeks over the next few weeks!

We hope you're having a great summer so far, it's hard to believe that it's nearly over!

Best,
Rosemary+Robin

new stockist: The Library Store at the Central Library in DTLA

Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library

We're so happy to announce another Los Angeles stockist! The Library Store at Central Library is now carrying a selection of Ink+Smog Editions urban paper goods along with a well-curated assortment of books, writings supplies and curios. If you've never been to the Los Angeles Public Library's Central Library, it is certainly worth a trip! Although we became members almost as soon as we moved to LA a few years ago, we've become library regulars since we moved our studio to downtown.

The Library Store at Central Library

The Central Library is such an amazing resource and is so incredibly welcoming to all. We've had a great time exploring their vast collection and really enjoy borrowing books as well as pouring over their reference section. One of our favorite things to do on a warm LA day, is to spend the afternoon wandering through their various art installations and enjoying the stupendous art and architecture of the building itself.

The Lodwrick M. Cook Rotunda on the second floor was completed in 1932. Their color values were purposely restrained to harmonize with the many-colored mosaic-like dome decorations by Julian E. Garnsey.

On our last two visits, we really enjoyed their exhibits Songs in the Key of L.A., an exploration of their collection of Southern California sheet music, and No Further West: The Story of Los Angeles Union Station that marks the station's 75th anniversary. Both shows are really well done.

L-R: Robin looking at the sheet music from Songs in the Key of L.A., posing in front of a floor to ceiling vinyl panel, one of our favorite sheet music booklets in the exhibit.

The Union Station exhibit in particular was fascinating. It was amazing to see what that part of the city looked like around the time that the station was constructed. We spent a great deal of time looking at the many photos and detailed architectural drawings. But by far, our favorite part, was the Southern Pacific Industry map of Los Angeles that showed the many train routes that criss-crossed downtown. We were able to find our studio building on the map, and to see what sorts of businesses populated our neighborhood. The show will be up in the Getty Gallery at the Central Library until August 10th.

L-R: Los Angeles Conservancy Kid's Guide to Union Station with the guide, our studio neighborhood located on the Southern Pacific map, re-issued Union Station postcards from the show.

Stay tuned, we'll be announcing a few other new stockists very soon! As well as some news regarding our Kickstarter rewards and our launch party!

Best,

Rosemary+Robin

new stockist: Urban Radish

We're very excited to announce that Urban Radish in the Arts District in downtown Los Angeles is now carrying a small selection of Ink+Smog Editions  cards and gift tags. We had a great quickie dinner there last week, they have a lovely cheese and wine selection as well! We treated ourselves to some lovely Kusmi tea and Health-Ade some of our favorite locally made kombucha. Next time you're in the area, go take a look!

Our Valentine to DTLA

We fell in love with downtown virtually as soon as we arrived in Los Angeles a few years ago. We’re fascinated by both how quickly and how slowly it seems to change amid the layers of history, neglect and steps toward gentrification. We love visiting the flower market and the garment district, riding Angel’s Flight, spending time at the Central Library, and eagerly await the return of Clifton’s Cafeteria. Eventually, we’d love to move our studio somewhere downtown, but haven’t found the right place yet. One of our favorite things, is simply to walk around, enjoying the architecture, signage, and overall built environment under the shadow of snow-capped mountains and high rise beaux art and moderne buildings.

Rosslyn Hotel neon roof signs today.

When we first started talking about what we might want to make as a valentine card, we kept coming back to the idea of working with the two neon roof signs of the Rosslyn Hotel located on buildings that sit across from each other at the intersection of 5th and Main Street. We thought that they’d be perfect, since both signs include giant neon hearts as well as well as being some of our favorite neon signs in the city. They appear overhead just down the street from one of our very favorite breakfast treats, the Nickel Diner and our favorite art supply store Raw Materials. Every time we head downtown for brunch, we can’t help stopping by for art supplies and then walking over to take a look at these signs.

Rosslyn Hotels luggage tags and postcard.

Built by brothers George and Dwight Hart in 1913 at the cost of one million dollars, the Rosslyn Hotel was designed by John Parkinson, who also designed Union Station, City Hall and the Bullocks Wilshire department store among other notable buildings. The annex building across the street was built in 1923, with a marble subway connecting the two buildings underground. In those days, downtown Los Angeles was a grand destination, and the Rosslyn along with the Alexandria, the Cecil, the Huntington and the Hayward as well as other luxury hotels, accommodated film stars, businessmen and tourists from all over.

Rosslyn Hotels postcards and a still from Harold Lloyd's Safety Last filmed in Downtown L.A. in 1923

When Los Angeles began to decentralize in earnest after the second world war, the city lost a great deal of its vast public transportation system, and slowly the downtown core lost much of its early luster. Amidst the general decline of downtown, the Rosslyn Hotel hit hard times with the main building closing in 1959. The two buildings were acquired by separate owners during the 1970s and eventually joined many of downtown’s other grandes dames as little more than flop houses and residential hotels. In the intervening years, downtown Los Angeles has seen many attempts at gentrification. For the most part, these seem to appear and disappear in fits and starts. The Rosslyn Hotels have appeared in many films, music videos and television shows. Since 2009, the main Rosslyn Hotel building has been renovated and reinvented as Rosslyn Lofts and offers a mixture of market rate and affordable income micro-lofts.

DTLA Valentine Cards, Rosslyn Hotel.

We really see our magenta and red and black valentine linoleum cut cards of the Rosslyn Hotel as our valentine to downtown Los Angeles. They’re our tribute to the history behind and the future that lies ahead of the beautiful and interesting buildings that make up the heart of the downtown core.