thursday's boy: celebrating the day before friday with frank tjepkema

droog design darling, frank tjepkema is amsterdam's finest. designer, that is. with several of his designs already scooped up and placed in the illustrious droog design collection, tjepkema is at the top of his game. sadly, i only jumped on the tjepkema truck in 2003 after i saw his "signature thing", but i've been a loyal fan ever since.

based in lovely amsterdam (where i once managed to run into someone from my little southern hometown..talk about small world) tjepkema attended both the technical university of delft and the design academy at eindhoven, and THEN graduated with an MA from the sandberg institute in amsterdam. when he's not busy racking up design diplomas (and now heading up the design dept at the rietveld academy in amsterdam), frank is busy working on some of the most interesting and beautiful designs i've ever seen.

famous for his preoccupation with branding and identity, tjepkema has a veritable obsession with logos and their use in the corporate world. i first saw this in his now-infamous bling bling collection, available at moss, and have continued to love it in his work for the wedding of princess maxima and willem-alexander. comprised of layers of corporate logos, the bling bling pendant is a great big chunk of branding genius. i don't think i'd ever actually wear it, but it's still amazing. for the wedding of maxima and willem-alexander, tjepkema designed the most elegant and delicate tiara made of layers of the words "i love you" written in as many languages as it can be said. tjepkema's ability to combine conceptual innovative ideas with functional intelligence and visual elegance is truly unparalleled.

taking his branding compulsion to a more practical place, tjepkema designed the imaging and logo for the francois vatel cooking school- designs so cool that they make me want to go there. well, not really, but you get the point. speaking of cooking, has anyone been to per se in nyc? i'm nursing a pretty huge thomas keller crush and would love to know how it is...

frank tjepkema continues to produce some of the most amazing products in contemporary design. his pieces are bright and innovative enough to perk up any lackluster thursday afternoon so, go check him out!

*this is a much abbreviated version of my original article, as evil blogger chose to eat my saved draft...jerks.

ICH LIEBE DICH? [princess tiara*frank tjempkema] i can't get enough of this picture. i looove it.

SHINY SHINY [tiara close-up*frank tjepkema] girls like pretty things from frank...

HOLLA HOLLA [bling bling medallion*frankie t] what what?

SIGN IT ["signature thing" vase*f tjepkema] have your own signature hold your flowers!

WHAT A GIRL DREAMS OF [decorations for dutch royal wedding*frank tjepkema] a sky full of hearts and arrows, what more could you ask for?

WEDDING PARADE [more wedding decs*f tjepkema] for wedding day decorations...

EAT THIS [edible logos for francois vatel*frank tjepkema] mmmm....good enough to eat!

COME ON IN [entrance to fv school*frank tjepkema] school's cool again...