In need of fresh inspiration? Co.Design‘s writers and editors have selected their favorite design-themed Instagram accounts, capturing everything from the heady nostalgia of the Eames era to the endearingly esoteric (and moderately NSFW) neon illustrations of Laura Callaghan. Consider it a guide to your next mood board.
Shameless plug: Co.Design is also on Instagram. Follow us for special features, events coverage, and lots (and lots) of pretty pictures.
ARCHIVE OF AFFINITIES
This. Andrew Kovacs pulls together a wonderful, unusual collection of architectural drawings, photographs, and plans (plans, on Instagram! It works!) from a remarkable range of sources. 1960s radomes. 1970s beach futurism. Little-known and long-demolished Mies buildings. As he put it in this interview, “Effectively, I am looking for projects that exist on the sidelines of the discipline of architecture.” Follow it. You won’t regret it.—Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan, deputy editor
THE ART OF PLATING
Just want beautiful dishes on white plates? The Art of Plating is the way to go.—Mark Wilson, senior writer
AMY AUSCHERMAN
Herman Miller’s Amy Auscherman has the keys to arguably the greatest design archive in the United States. Deep cuts often make their appearance here.—Diana Budds, staff writer
COLT BOWDEN
Hand lettering and gold leaf; gaze back over to digital typography and despair. Also, #icycaps.—Danny Salo, photo editor
BRUTAL ARCHITECTURE
Like an alt-universe Instagram account from the world of Francois Truffaut’sFarenheit 451 adaptation, a daily dose of Brutalist beauty.—John Brownlee, staff writer
LAURA CALLAGHAN
Vaguely NSFW slices of life that have been covered in neon and sharpened to bring out every detail. Her work evokes Patrick Nagel, Japanese wood block prints, and golden-age comic books with a distinctively pro-fem vibe.—D.S.
CALLIGRAPHY VIDEOS
There’s nothing I find more peaceful than watching someone practice exquisite penmanship. Your daily moment of zen. Also: pen porn!—J.B.
GARRETT CHOW
Chow is a mastermind of some of the most beautiful bicycles and accessories on earth, and his designs for Cinelli and Specialized deserve their own pinup calendar.—D.S.
COOPER HEWITT
The account for the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum in New York is great for keeping abreast of the latest exhibitions, talks, and events at the museum—the only museum in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to design—but even for non-New Yorkers, it’s a nice peek into their extensive collection. See objects both currently on display (these are the final weeks to catch their design triennial) and unearthed from the archives. It’s also great accompaniment to their collection-derived Object of the Day blog.—Meg Miller, assistant editor
PHIL DONOHUE
Phil Donohue (not the talk show host) channels the eye of photographic greats like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore in his snapshots of faded midcentury architecture, neon signs, and landmarks, mostly around Southern California.—D.B.
KIMBERLY DREW
Kimberly Drew is the online community producer for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she manages content across all their social channels. The true gem, though, is her personal account. Much like her popular Black Contemporary Art Tumblr, Drew’s Instagram curates artwork from contemporary black artists, mixed in with dispatches from within the MET and museum world, as well as Drew’s personal projects (she is also behind the new Black Art Incubator and ongoing Black Futures research project with tech writer Jenna Wortham).—M.M.
EAMES OFFICE
The official Instagram of Charles and Ray Eames. Because waking up to a plywood elephant in your Instagram feed never gets old.—J.B.
MATTHIAS HEIDERICH
German photographer Matthias Heiderich’s dreamy shots have made a few appearances in Co.Design’s Exposure column, but the best place to see his globetrotting adventures and the sculptural, pastel-toned cityscapes that he encounters are here.—D.B.
HERMAN MILLER
I wasted a whole Sunday afternoon inside, glued to my laptop, after discoveringHerman Miller’s addictive Instagram account. The Michigan furniture company posts archival photos of its legendary midcentury-modern wares. Think George Nelson desks in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on an Eames shell chair, and even the occasional conversation pit (above). If you’re a history buff, the real gems are shots of items that never went into production, such as this lovely shelving unit Alexander Girard designed in 1956. —Suzanne LaBarre, editor
IDEA
While we’ve never visited the London-based booksellers Idea, it seems like a design-lover’s heaven by the looks of their Instagram account. This is your stop for amazing supergraphics spreads, rare ’70s Japanese design books, and a whole lot of ’90s-era Chloë Sevigny.—M.M.
GEOFF MCFETRIDGE
Cooper Hewitt National Design Award-winner Geoff McFetridge makes colorful and graphic illustrations that are tinged with humor (you can also catch his trademark style in the interfaces in the film Her). Here he showcases his latest work and inspirations.—M.M.
MID & MOD
I’m by no means a midcentury furniture buff, but I recently came across this account from Seattle-based restorer who uses Instagram to showcase some of theoften very funny behind-the-scenes details from his operation. His “before” images of the pieces as they’re found in the wild—covered in cat scratches, stains, nasty upholstery, and other forms of furniture abuse—are great; it’s refreshing to see these iconic pieces as they often end up after decades of use, as opposed to the perfect, antiseptic conditions you’ll see in showrooms. To wit: the before and afteron this gigantic Adrian Pearsall sofa.—KCD
NOWYPRODUKT
They showcase products more than anything else (as the name suggests)—some impractical but whimsical, some truly striking.—Katharine Schwab, contributing writer
NYT FOOD
NYT Food is a no-brainer because its dishes look both beautiful and attainable, with that whole perfectly imperfect aesthetic going on.—M.W.
PRESENT & CORRECT
For whatever reason, humans seemed to be hardwired to like things organized neatly into rows—and there’s honestly no one better at that than London-based design shop Present & Correct. The shop started as a stationary store and evolved to include vintage and contemporary design objects. Their Instagram arranges them beautifully, and makes it excessively hard to avoid purchasing.—M.M.
ALICE RAWSTHORN
[url=https://www.instagram.com/alice.rawsthorn/]Alice Rawsthorn
describes her Instagram as a “daily diary on design.” A writer for the New York Times, she picks a topic then posts a series of lengthy (for Instagram) anecdotes about it. Recent subjects include Yves Saint Laurent, design at the Olympics, and “design families.” If you’re looking for context behind the pretty pictures, Rawsthorn is the one to follow. —S.L.
STEFAN SAGMEISTER
Graphic design legend Stefan Sagmeister has a killer record collection and uses his account to show it off. Expect gorgeous cover art that’ll put whatever hand-me-downs you currently have to shame.—D.
.B.
STUDIO REKO
I don’t remember how I found Studio Reko, but I’m so glad I did. In real life, they’re a Stockholm-based design and art direction studio. On Instagram, they curate a coterie of images that are only united by their delightfulness: Internet holes. Abbas photographs. Lots of jokes. A lot of it is design—but in the end it’s visual culture, free of rhyme or reason, in the best way possible.
[Source:-Co Design Blog]
