mateo ilasco

berkeley based designer, meg mateo ilasco creates beautiful, timeless designs for the home. from her studio in california, meg has created two lines of pillows and a lovely line of cards with foil-stamped illustrations. meg describes herself as, "prefer[ing] not to introduce items that are merely pretty or driven by market trends. instead, my creative propulsion is often personal and strives to communicate an idea or deliver a narrative. with a penchant for old-fashioned methods, humble materials, manual design, and physical craft, my tools of choice are quite simply an x-acto knife, a pen, paper and glue. naturally, letterpress and screenprinting are my preferred printing methods."

meg has two lines of pillows: the literacy and motion lines. literacy (which reminds me of a calder mobile- which i love), "explores the expressiveness of writing, particularly its duality in relaying both a direct message in word as well as an abstract visual message in form. here, illustrations that seem like fanciful blobs transform into literal messages when rotated." each pillow is around $28 and can be purchased online at meg's shop. the motion line is a series of, "simple illustrations conveying complex emotional experiences. together, the illustrations create a visual narrative, but the story that unfolds is up to the interpretation and imagination of the user." each motion pillow is $16 and can be purchased right here.

my favorite pieces of meg's are her "seeds" cards, which are part of a series of cards testing different materials or concepts. most of the products are limited in quantity or are available for a limited time. currently you can buy a trio of her cards for $8 that depict cups, cactus flowers, or lamps. each card has white foil-stamped illustrations on walnut veneer. more more info on meg's work (including additional cards and dishtowels), please click here. enjoy!