My Designer Wall—$15 Project

Went to my first design conference, HOW, a couple months ago. Not only had I talked to a series of vendors, I’ve also collected quite a few things along the way—from wallets, erasers, to phone cases and stickers. But of all things, my favorite souvenir were these designer post cards:

By Studio Hinrichs, these cards were made as promo items for Hewlett-Packard. The program, entitled SF Views: 15 Designers Give Impressions of the City by the Bay, includes a poster and a series of international designer profile cards. I didn’t get the poster, but I was able to retrieve all 15 cards that were placed across the conference. (FREE)

They’re absolutely beautiful; each printed with different techniques on various paper stocks.
But for months, they sat in the envelope where I’ve kept in my shelf, just collecting dust. I wanted to display them, but no ideas really came to mind. Until few days ago…

Leveraging the concept that each card portrays the designer in its own distinctive style, I sparked the idea of framing them in similar manner.

So I went to my local thrift shop, where I’m certain is the place for all the cool things, for cheap.

About $15 spent. 15 frames, 15 personalities. Pretty awesome.

However, the thing about thrift shop is that you never know what you’ll find. So for this particular project, instead of looking for specific frame that matches the portrait, I just grabbed 15 frames that I find to have most characters and mix-match them after.

Here’s the result:
Kit Hinrichs’ got the fancy gold foil. A gold frame seem fitting.

You like it? I like it.

Then, the hard part:

Instead of lining each one up prior and marks the placement, I just went with the flow. Mainly because all frame’s different and it was very difficult to really pinpoint the spots. I did want I think would work best with a plier holding the nail. Let’s just say I don’t think I’ve cursed this much since I watched Dragon Ball Z, the movie.