Plumb Spring 2015 Catalogue by Abrams&ChronicleBooks

Spring 2015

GOODS FROM THE CREATIVE SALT MINES We’re proud to introduce the second season of Plumb, a line of notebooks designed and illustrated by contemporary artists. Conceived in collaboration between Knock Knock, artist Tucker Nichols, and design firm MacFadden & Thorpe, Plumb seeks to make notebooks by creative people for creative people. Each element is carefully considered, from inside to outside, paper to binding, size to function, with the aim of enhancing and catalyzing the creative process.

been inspired by store-bought notebooks that they’ve altered and hacked to suit their unique purposes. And sometimes the results expand the conventional definition of “notebook.”

Every season, the Plumb team works with three selected artists to design the blank notebooks they want to see in the world. The artists are asked to think about how they use notebooks in different environments, for varied applications, and about the meaning and utility of recording their ideas. Often they have

Plumb originated out of the belief that creative people want more than blank or merely decorative repositories for their thoughts and ideas. By offering notebooks envisioned by working artists, Plumb speaks to those who aspire to live their most creative lives.

1 plumb

3 plumb

(14th century, Middle English, from Anglo-French plum, plomb, from Latin plumbum lead) noun : a lead weight attached to a line and used to indicate a vertical direction — out of plumb or off plumb : out of vertical or true

2 plumb

adverb : exactly straight down or up : in a perfectly vertical position : to a complete degree

For our inaugural release, artists Tucker Nichols, Sumi Ink Club, and Katherine Bradford stepped up to the plate. For this second season, we’re honored to present the work of Nathaniel Russell, Linda Geary, and Jason Polan.

transitive verb 1 : to weight with lead 2 a : to measure the depth of with a plumb b : to examine minutely and critically < plumbing the book’s complexities >

4 plumb

adjective : exactly vertical : standing perfectly straight and not leaning in any way

Definitions © Merriam-Webster

Nathaniel Russell Nathaniel Russell is an artist, musician, and maker of things lo-fi. His art is known for its visual charm and abstract or imaginary themes, often accompanied by witty text. After earning a degree in printmaking, Russell spent several years in the San Francisco Bay Area making posters, record covers, and woodcuts. He returned to his home city of Indianapolis and now spends his time creating drawings, fake fliers, bad sculptures, wood shapes, and music. Russell’s work is regularly shown around the world in both traditional galleries and informal spaces, usually surrounded by an expanding list of friends, collaborators, and like-minded folk. He frequently returns to his second home of California to work with friends on projects as varied as murals, print workshops, and backyard musical performances. Russell posts his new drawings, photographs, ideas, and observations on life on his blog, Crooked Arm. Like his art, Russell’s Plumb journals reflect his uniquely humorous take on the ineffable and the mundane: “Something I’m concerned with in my artwork is connecting to the unknown mysteries of the universe and being alive. Anything is possible. As humans, acting like we know what’s going on? I think that’s hilarious.”

“ Some of my favorite art and music comes from so-called amateurs. It just hits me in a way that nothing else can. I think art and music are just too important to leave to so-called experts.”

Waking WAiting Walking Nathaniel Russell uses different notebooks to take advantage of pockets of opportunity—to record his dreams, to fill time during lulls, and to sketch out in the world. Each notebook in this set is bound differently to suit its unique purpose.

Interiors

No. 31017 NATHANIEL RUS

SELL

Indiana-based artist Nathanie l Russell makes artwork in a wide humorously absurd range of media, including paintings and murals. , sculptures,

In my everyday life, I always carry I mispl ace them a notebook. , find them , and pick them up again. I have sketchbooks dating to high schoo l, when I saw that artist s like Picas so and Robe rt Crum b were very seriou s abou sketchbooks. t Writing and sketc hing are ways more in the mome for me to be nt. Having the motivation to fill a page a day helps me be more alert and really take in my surrounding s—looking up the sky or down at at the curb. It’s a meditation. I also do a lot of writing in my sketchbooks— titles, ideas, keywo rds. I have a horrib ory, so I’m alway s surprised when le memlike, “That’s a I go back, great idea—I was a genius!” I’m feeling blank If or lost, I can return thoughts, sort to earlier of like brain time travel.

plumbgoods.c

Special-edition accordion-folded artwork

Photograph © Katie Coles Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Wholesale: £9.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: Notebooks: 3.5 x 5 inches; Slipcase: 3.75 x 5.25 x 1.25 inches Specs: Paperback with paper graining and foil stamping; 3-volume set, each bound on a different side, 64 pages each; slipcase; smyth-sewn binding; accordion-folded artwork with 6 panels; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Nathaniel russell

Drawn to Music Nathaniel Russell is a lifelong music aficionado whose listening choices impact his artwork. This unique set celebrates the relationship between music and creativity, and is designed specifically for use while listening to your favorite music.

No. 31019 Wholesale: £13.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 12 x 12 inches Specs: Record sleeve with pocket; 11-x-11-inch pad with 50 sheets, chipboard backer silkscreened on both sides; 1 inserted poster; 1 flyer; card with artist interview

Pad

Flyer

NATHANIEL RUSS

Poster

ELL

Indiana-based artist Nathaniel Russell makes humorously absurd artwork in a wide media, including paintings, sculptures,range of and murals.

PLUMB: What do you listen to when you’re drawing ?

John Coltran e, but then I realized it wasn’t helping and I had to NATHA NIEL: find something with I usually listen acoustic guitar. to a mellower sort of thing that doesn’t require too PLUMB: You’re much attentio a musician yoursel n, like maybe reggae Does that inform f. . For me, the your artwork? best records can fade into the backgro or you can pay und NATHAN attention to them. IEL: Yes. Early on I kept my can let your mind You music separa go or you can te from my ten to the words. lisartwork for some reason. Music brings In the past few about every kind of years, though, feeling possible I’ve thought . It’s great feeling a , “What am I doing? This to get is ing, make yoursel up in the mornthe same place.” all coming from f a cup of coffee, But even though put the needle make records I on the record, , I wouldn’t call then set up the table myself a musician; I’d and call myself someon You’re not engagin draw or write. who plays music. e g with the Internet or anything else—it just feels very wholesome. It’s PLUMB: Are you like comfortable calling vored-coffee commerone of those flayourself an artist? cials. PLUMB: Does the music you’re listening to influenc e what you’re making? NATHA NIEL: It’s about maintai ning a mood. If I’m really energiz ed and jazzed up and the music is angular and abrasive , I can get into that. I was trying to get the right kind of energy the other day so I put on

NATHANIEL: Yeah, but only because I have evidenc e. I have a CV. I went to school for art and I’ve done it my whole life. But it’s really hard to sing in front of people— it’s much more personal. Now I tell myself I’m too old to feel self-con scious about this stuff. In the end, I’d rather have followed my passions, so if I feel stupid or selfconscious about it, who cares?

plumbgoods.com Photograph © Andrew Hutchison Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

Fake-Jacket Journal

Two reversible dust jackets provide four different cover options

Nathaniel Russell likes to create humorously absurd fake books in many forms. While this journal’s interior remains blank for maximum versatility, the two reversible jackets allow the user to present four different faces to the world.

Interior

NATHANIEL RUSS

No. 31018

ELL

Indiana-based artist Nathaniel Russell makes humorously absurd artwork in a wide media, including paintings, sculptures,range of and murals.

PLUMB: You make fake books, book covers, fake and lists of fake book titles. What fascinate s you about fake book titles and covers?

amount of clumsine ss and ridiculou ness to life. With sthe fake book covers, I want those books to exist, and by manufacturing just the covers they do exist. Having multiple jackets on this journal is, for lack of a better term, ceptual art. The concovers suggest all the secrets that of the universe are tained within, conbut it’s a blank book. It’s like one of those one-hand-clappi Zen riddles. ng

NATHANIEL: I enjoy looking at a book and just seeing the title. I don’t have to read ever it—it’s enough to know it exists. Then I like to imagine mysterie s within the and mentall y fill in the blanks. One of the first lists I ever made was “Titles Making up those for My Memoir.” titles, I could imagine a more interest PLUMB: Your ing or cosmic lists and titles With book titles, life. have stream- of-cons there’s a certain ciousne ss quality a we give to the trust them. Do you author, that they do a lot of revision? to know what they’re talking title means somethi about and the NATHA NIEL: ng and is no I don’t revise dent. It’s up to accia lot. Because drawing us as viewers s are persisten or readers to figure that t in my head before meaning out. I lay them down, I tend to get them right on the first try. PLUMB: Though when it comes And you invert that to writing and with your fake idea words, often the first covers, underm thought is best ining that authority one. I like to juxtapo with clever whimsy. se funny things mundane things with or with things NATHANIEL: that are hard to wrap your I know a lot of brain around, the stuff I do can be talked like the joy and sadness about as whimsic and ridiculou funny, but I’m al or sness of everything. very serious about Sometimes the I do. I don’t think what roughness and the anything is disposclumsiness of able or meaning a phrase is where the less. There’s a magic certain capture the weirdne is, where you can ss of being alive. plumbgoods.com Artwork © Nathaniel Russell Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Endpapers

Wholesale: £12.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 6.75 x 8.75 inches Specs: Hardcover; 192 cream-colored pages; smyth-sewn binding with foil stamping on square spine; head- and tailbands; 2 dust jackets, each printed on both sides for 4 unique covers total; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Linda Geary Linda Geary lives in Oakland and is chair of the painting/drawing program at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Her abstract paintings and collages explore the relationships between color, space, and scale. She is also passionate about bringing artists together for conversations around art, and in 2013 cofounded the Painting Expanded Symposium, an engaging series of discussions about contemporary painting. In 2011, Geary spent a year visiting 100 artists in their studios; the resulting conversations on art, life, and color are collected in her recent book, Studio Visit. Geary’s notebooks for Plumb are a natural extension of these collaborations. Says Geary, “Having conversations about art is almost as fun as painting. A big part of my practice is talking to other artists. Their feedback keeps me on my toes and eventually a breakthrough happens.” Geary has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in the United States and Italy, and she is the recipient of an Elizabeth Foundation Grant, a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, and residencies at Omi International Arts Center and the Millay Colony for the Arts.

“ As an artist, it’s about permission to follow an idea without knowing the outcome. Even if a work fails, it still leads to the next step. I never know how a painting will get resolved.”

Elevated Journal

Back cover

Linda Geary frequently sketches with paint on paper, exploring positive and negative space. She illustrated this journal with sketches rather than finished art because they feel fresher and more open to the work of the individual user.

Interior

LINDA GEAR

No. 31014

Linda Geary is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her abstract paintings and collages explore the relationship s between color, space, and scale.

PLUMB: Is experim entation importan to you? t

PLUMB: When you’re teachin g, you encour age your studen do LINDA: Yes, it ts to sketch and journal? is. I’m constan tly doing paint sketche s on paper, and the art on my three LINDA: Absolut Plumb noteboo ely. It’s a huge ks is from that kind of teachin g at part of drawing. Sketchinall an art on paper is smaller g times the drawing school. Somein scale, so it’s s in a student much quicker a journal can be ’s way of working much through many ideas “real work” they’re better than the without making doing, so we a big commitm ent about what’s talk to scale and going on in materia ls. These types the notebook that isn’t of pieces are going on outside ongoing thoughts—they’re of noteboo the k. Because the kind of notation s. journals are private and the students don’t PLUMB : Why think anyone’ did you choose s going to see informal express the work, it’s this not precious and ion for the journals? the stakes are lower. LINDA: It looked PLUMB: When more fresh. you hit creative played around We blocks, how do you work with putting through them? a more finished painting on a cover, but result didn’t feel the LINDA: Actuall blank enough y, I set a timer for the user to have myself to make for permission to decision use what they wanted. it for s in a short amount of time. For the Elevated This happen Journal , we ed the other day: I chose from thought , “I’m gouach e drawings I’d made really not making clear based on studies decisio ns and did in souther I it just looks terrible n Italy. I was right looking at architecture iPhone’s stopwat now,” so I set my in a very loose ch for half an way and thinking about in which to make hour the interior and a radical decision exterior spaces of I have to make shapes, positive someth ing dramati . negative space. and happen before c I move on to the next thing. That really works. plumbgoods.com Photograph © InTheMake.com Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Endpapers

Wholesale: £12.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 6.75 x 9.25 inches Specs: Paperback; 240 pages, light blue with aqua dyed edges; smyth-sewn, flexi binding; head- and tailbands; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Linda Geary

Stack book Linda Geary was recently inspired to create a stack of 285 unique color swatches, which became the basis of a dynamic art project involving 100 other artists. This journal begins and ends with 32 of these evocative swatches.

No. 31016 Wholesale: £14.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 6.25 x 8 inches Specs: Paperback; 288 pages (256 creamcolored, 32 with color studies); exposed smythsewn binding; deckled edge; perforated card with artist interview

Sample spread from swatches at front and back

Interior

LINDA GEAR

Linda Geary is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her abstract paintings and collages explore the relationship s between color, space, and scale.

PLUMB: This notebook is an unusual format. What inspired it?

respond to. Then, when I returned my studio, I to made collages LINDA: This consisting of six color concep t started squares on a off as swatches for piece of paper, that myself. Like many person’s exact artists, I use Color-ai color choices, from d papers for leftover paper swatches, but I always from the original swatche missed surface s. I made two texture and the unident of each and sent the ifiable colors person their collage come about from that saved one for and layering colors myself. The 100 each other. So over visits and collages I decided to make took exactly one own color stack. my year. I did it over a couple of days. I would PLUMB: Were lay down one the artists enthusia color and let it dry, about it? stic and every now and then, that would be enough, but most often, I’d have to do LINDA: Every two or three single person layers get the colors did it without questio n. I wanted. I made to No one said, “I colors, trying 285 don’t want to do this” not to repeat or “This is stupid.” one. Then I cut each page Also, it change down to about d the convers 6 by 8 inches. I didn’t ation because most know what I was people can’t going to do with them, talk and look at color but the big stack at the on my studio was nonverb al. Langua same time. It’s table for a long time. comes to talking ge fails when it about color. PLUMB: And Color is so difficult then you used to describe, and them for your 2013 book there’s an emotion Studio Visit? al component to it. That’s such a product ive place to be LINDA: Yes. I’d for an artist—what we’re started doing all trying to get the studio visits and really. Working at, after the tenth with color, languag I though t, I’m one fails, so it just e going to bring falls away. stack of colors this for each artist to look through them and pick colors they plumbgoods.com Photograph © InTheMake.com Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

Spiral Journal Linda Geary uses discarded watercolors like the ones on this journal for collages or to inspire new paintings. She was drawn to the spiral-bound format for its lay-flat utility and grade-school nostalgia, with the most durable of covers.

Endpapers

LINDA GEAR

No. 31015

Linda Geary is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her abstract paintings and collages explore the relationship s between color, space, and scale.

PLUMB: How do you work? Every day? When you feel like it? And where?

computer there and I turn my phone off. The best ideas often start out as dumb ideas, and there’s an early stage when feedbac k from others would dismant le the thread. I try to keep pushing ideas interest ing occurs, until something and that has to happen without others around. separation is That the only way I’ve been able to maintain both worlds.

LINDA: I get to my studio in the morning and I’m there all day. I don’t work at night because daylight is very important to me. I work on big oil painting and works on s paper upstairs . Since oil paint is messy and gets all everything, the over works on paper are on a table away from the oils. I do dirtier work downsta irs. When I’m working on wood panel, PLUMB: Do you I use electric talk to others sanders to sand down the about your work? surfaces of my paintings, so it gets kind of dusty. LINDA: Yes. Having convers PLUMB: You ations about art is almost teach. How does that as fun as painting impact your own While it’s importa . work? nt turn off the outside in my studio to world, a big part LINDA: Being of my practice around student is talking to other totally inspiring s is ists. I’ve got a art, and I often few great people find that what I say to always rely on I can student s is similar to critique my feedback I need to work. Their feedbac to hear for my k keeps me on work. Convers own my and toes eventua ely, if there’s lly a breakth nothing going on in my rough happens. I live for studio, I have the breakth roughs; very little to bring to there’s nothing teaching. But better. They’re I do need to keep the what I’ve been going two worlds separat after since I terms of time e in started painting first and space. At . And the bad my studio, I can think paintings have to get for myself and made in order focus on other not to get to the breakthr people. I don’t oughs. have a

Wholesale: £14.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 9.25 x 11.75 inches Specs: Hardcover; 192 pages; spiral binding; perforated card with artist interview

plumbgoods.com Photography © InTheMake .com Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

Jason Polan Jason Polan is known for obsessively drawing the objects and people he encounters every day. Since 2008, he has been drawing every person in New York City, a project that’s gained attention from the New York Times, the Huffington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Polan’s work has been exhibited all over the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia, and has been featured in the New York Times, The New Yorker, ARTnews, Esquire, McSweeney’s, and The Believer. Originally from Michigan, Polan earned a dual degree in biological anthropology and drawing/painting from the University of Michigan. He is a founding member of the Taco Bell Drawing Club. For Plumb, Polan sought to make journals to help people take note of the world around them, which can result in wonderful serendipity. As he explains, “Once I was sitting in a class and somebody in the hall walked by the open door. He was brushing his teeth. It was such a weird thing to see, but nobody else saw it. I felt I was being rewarded for looking.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t even say this, but I’ve never had trouble with the blank page. I always want to draw, and I always want to draw more. I like blank pieces of paper.”

Observation Notebook This ultra-portable notebook is based on the one Jason Polan uses while moving around and sketching the world. He holds his notebook close to his face when he draws, so he thought it would be appropriate to put eyes on the notebook’s back side.

Interior

No. 31011 JASON POLAN Jason Polan is in the process of drawing every City. He has exhibited person in New around the world York Taco Bell Drawing and is the founder Club. of the

Inside front cover

A lot of my art consists of just drawing peopl all over the place e, . This journal is pretty close to what I carry around every day. It’s some that you can fit thing in a pocket, then pull out really quick and do a drawing. I don’t usually do oil paintings. The sketches I do are the piece s, not precu rsors to other thing s. I like a blank page . I alway s want draw, and I alway to s want to draw things and I think, more. I see I want to draw have certa in that thing. I’ll peop le that I’m more to drawing than others, but I don’t attrac ted the things are that get my attent know what ion. Over the years I’ve tried to get better at being accur not to make ate, any stylistic choic es but to draw as closely as I can to what I see. plumbgoods.c

Wholesale: £5.95 Inner pack: 6 Dimensions: 4 x 6 inches Specs: Die-cut cardstock cover; 72 creamcolored pages; Wire-O binding; perforated card with artist interview

Photograph © Mara Cazers Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

Jason Polan

A Collection of Paper Options Jason Polan collects and experiments with different papers to see how they impact his work. The 12 hand-drawn patterns in this notebook are distinctive enough to inspire creativity yet subtle enough to be used however you like.

No. 31012 Wholesale: £9.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 9.25 x 11.75 inches Specs: Flexible cardstock cover with matte foil stamping on spine; 96 pages, perforated for easy removal; smyth-sewn, lay-flat binding; hole punched through top of notebook for hanging or anything else; perforated card with artist interview

Sample spread

JASON POLA

Jason Polan is in the process of drawing every in New York City. person He has exhibited and is the founder around the world of the Taco Bell Drawing Club.

PLUMB: What kind of paper do you like to draw on?

people to do differen t things— I just think it’s a fun added variable JASON: I take to making artwork. my supplies very seriously, and I’m always looking for new good ones. I PLUMB: Your try out differen art is so observa t papers, like if I see based. Is it hard tiona notepad in, to look at both say, the doctor’s office. paper and what the I like you’re drawing differen t thickne experiencing the ? sses of paper, tooth, the size. the JASON: Drawing I usually work helps me slow small, so I get excited down and see the about that rare thing I’m drawing occasion of doing somethi were to take . ng big. Mixing a picture of somethi If I things up sometimes it would just be ng, is fun that quick interacti do different things. and it helps me but when I’m on, I also like drawing drawing someth on weird things ing it takes me longer. like fruit or cups— I feel like I’m differen t three-di looking at that thing mension al objects very that have angles having an interacti carefully, and I’m or curves. on with that thing. Drawing helps me pay attentio PLUMB: Do you what’s going n to have a big collectio on around me. of paper? n When I see weird things, I’ll where I look around have a moment to see if anybody JASON: Yeah. else is thinking Usually I don’t , “What? What’s have journals that that?” I feel like I’m are straight -lined. being rewarde either use blank I’ll d for always trying books or I’ll do to find those graph paper, because things are a little off that I like grids, and or a little weird. drawing into I like I never know what those them. They help things are, and me see things different never plan it, I ly. I also like old but when it happenscan paper. I have an old always so exciting. it’s pad that’s just for stamp collecto rs. Having ences with differen differen t experit papers prompts plumbgoods.com Artwork © Jason Polan Plumb products © Who’s

There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

The Collecting Book

Sample spread

Jason Polan is a compulsive collector, not only of paper ephemera but also— via his drawings—of people and things. When he organizes his assorted clippings, scraps, and found images, he puts them into journals like this one and adds drawings and notes.

Sample spread

JASON POLA

No. 31013

Jason Polan is in the process of drawing every in New York City. person He has exhibited and is the founder around the world of the Taco Bell Drawing Club.

PLUMB: What

do you collect? in 2012—because I was curious JASON: Most what the differences of the things I would be. Before collect are two-dimensional the 2012 one, I did paper things like I didn’t think tographs, drawing phothe drawings in the 2005 s, newspapers, one were bad, comic books. or as I compare I’ll think, maybe the two, I definitel but I could use this for a y feel more confiden project sometim t with the more e, or it’s just that I like recent one. I think that looking at this goes with most thing and I want to be able of my projects —afterw to look at it more, ard I’m going to buy so comfortable capturin I just feel more this thing and g have it certain so I can keep things. Part of doing the looking “Every Person all over the place. at it. I have piles In New York” project When I get orgawas that I wanted nized, I put them to get better at drawing into a journal. people. PLUMB: Some of your drawing ects—“E very projPerson in New York,” or the books in which you’ve drawn every piece of art in the Museum Modern Art—hav of e the quality of collecting those objects or people drawing them. by JASON: Yeah. The drawing s themselves are part of a bigger thing. Some artists will take 100 hours on a painting, and I take 100 hours making 1,000 drawings that add up to a portion project. I guess of a I’m a big fan of quantity. I did the Museum of Modern book twice—o Art nce in 2005 and then

PLUMB: You also make unusual with elements lists, like “weird clouds.” JASON : We’re always looking things, but it’s for fun to try to find certain things, and then you while you’re looking find other things for those things. When I’m making lists of stuff to for, I kind of go look about it backwar ds. I’ll see a weird cloud and I’ll think, that’s weird,” “Oh, or I won’t even think about it. Then I’ll see another weird cloud and I’ll think, “That’s a weird cloud.” It usually takes a couple sightings and then I start to look for them, because I want to collect them.

plumbgoods.com Artwork © Jason Polan Plumb products © Who’s

Endpapers

There Inc.

Wholesale: £13.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 8.75 x 11.25 inches Specs: Hardcover wrapped with textured paper; 160 cream-colored pages; smyth-sewn, lay-flat binding; head- and tailbands; waterfall tabs with illustrated dividers; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

TUCKER NICHOLS Tucker Nichols is best known for his smartly funny drawings and large-scale gallery installations. Nichols often takes inspiration from found objects and from the surroundings of his studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nichols’s work has been featured in museums and galleries around the country and in Europe, and his drawings have been published in McSweeney’s, The Thing Quarterly, and the opinion pages of the New York Times. With Plumb, Nichols has explored his love of paper notebooks and the freedom and serendipity they offer, supporting his own spontaneous creative process. “I find my favorite drawings of the day are the ones that I make when it’s time to leave and there’s still some paint left,” he observes. “I might as well clean it up by just using a big brush and getting the paint onto some paper to see what comes out.” As long as paper and pens exist in the world, Nichols plans to keep on creating.

“ The notebook that I keep in my pocket— anything can happen in there. It feels like, ‘Yeah, you can be organized, you can do that here, but let’s not get too organized. You might miss something.’”

Tangle Notebook

Interior (lined)

Interior (unlined)

TUCKER NICH

The Tangle Notebook is a formal version of notebooks Nichols has hacked for himself—just the right size to work things out, with tabs for dedicated projects and vertical center lines to organize one’s mental space.

No. 31000

OLS

Northern California artist Tucker Nichols best known for is his smartly funny drawings and large-scale gallery installation s.

PLUMB: What do you most love about your studio?

days alone, but there are just enough people around so that you can have a great convers ation while you’re making a cup of tea.

TUCKE R: Well, its location at the Marin Headla nds is sublime . And there’s not a lot of bandwid th here— it’s almost like PLUMB : When dial-up— so you I can’t spend too much where you realize have momen ts time online, you’re doing which can be super-fr much consum too ustratin g for ing or interacti someone like me who ng, how do you shift to really loves to focusing on creating sume content con? . Sometimes I’ll sit and wait it out to TUCKER: So much try to get someth of what I do is online to entertai ing ect-bas projed, with outside n me, but most the time it just deadlin es, of which helps. isn’t worth it, But then it’s too so I focus on other things, easy get into a period to like drawing or where it feels walking. It forces all you’re suppos like real discipline. ed to do is whatI’m lucky enough to have ever you have a a deadline for. that’s very beautifustudio in a place When there’s a day l, so walking I don’t owe anything central part of is a anybody, I can to my daily life here. convince myself I don’t need that to do PLUMB: Is there those are actually any creating, but a community of artists the days when around you? most need to I be working becaus that’s the kind of creating that’s e TUCKER : Yes. most satisfyin the This is an ideal g. I really want place because not only to be making things are there other that dent artists with resia form or a home. don’t yet have their own studios If you don’t also other artists but tect that type procoming to visit of creative work, all over the world. from it can be hard to grow I’m the kind of into areas that son who likes permight otherwis you to spend most e have wandere of my d into.

plumbgoods.com Photograph © Tucker Nichols Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Wholesale: £12.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 7.5 x 9.75 inches Specs: Soft-bound cloth cover with matte foil stamping, 160 pages (96 lined, 64 unlined); head- and tailbands; 5 waterfall-tabbed sections; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Tucker Nichols

Dot Notebook Tucker Nichols created this notebook as if he were making an existing notebook better—rounding the corners, dyeing the edges, plopping down big dots. It’s fun and open, so users can do with it whatever they want.

Interior (cream)

No. 31001

TUCKER NICH

OLS

Northern California artist Tucker Nichols best known for is his smartly funny drawings and large-scale gallery installation s.

Wholesale: £9.95

I was commis sioned to do an art piece for the working somewh Denver ere and sudden which is in a building Art Museum , the design spreads ly designed by the architect Daniel it’s finally achieve like a fungus until Libeskind. The d walls are absurdl y that feels finished a certain density sloped, beautifu . In this photo, l but difficult to hang getting pretty I’m artwork on, an close. choice for a museum odd of making a piece . I liked the idea My studio isn’t that was a sort big enough to hybrid between of accommodate a rug and a painting a project like this, so I worked to suit the wall-floo in an old military r hybrid Libeskin gym with a lot created. Carpets d good mojo. of are underfoot It was January unless they’re really and the gym is unheate valuable and d, so I spent then they get hung on the most of the time in a wall winter hat and supposed to touch where you’re not parka. The painting them. was spread out on floor, and to look at it I climbed the There’s someth rickety ladder. up a ing very odd As I worked, about painting a life-sized I thought about how every carpet is somethe floor, walking carpet. You’re on body’s solution and crawling to a drawing on this and I started wonder design problem. thing, which ing who’s actually makes it actually become designing so a carpet in addimany tion to being see. I know many of the carpets we a picture of a of them are made carpet. I was intent on by children in not sketching freezing cold out what the design was mountain villages in Afghani going to be ahead stan—does sometime, but I decided of one give them it had to be bilatera sketch to follow, ally symmetrical, they coming which meant up with the designs are that if I made a single their own, or on mark, I would have they been actually be making four making these designs marks. You just for so long that start it just happens over time somehow?

Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 5.75 x 8.25 inches Specs: Paperback with matte foil stamping, 160 pages in 2 colors (112 cream, 48 yellow), perforated for easy removal; dyed edges; lay-flat binding; perforated card with artist interview

plumbgoods.com Photograph © Scott Thorpe Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Endpapers

Interior (yellow)

Perforated card with artist interview

Explorer Notebook

Interior (unlined)

Interior (lined)

TUCKER NICH

OLS

Northern California artist Tucker Nichols funny drawings is best known and large-sca for his smartly le gallery installatio ns.

These stairs are near my studio , at an old militar outside San Franci y complex sco where a Nike missile tained for many site was mainyears. It’s open most afternoons can visit the giant so visitors weapons. You and then come can descend in an elevator rising up out of the ground which is very with the missile weird and drama , tic. These bright bring you up from the nuclea yellow stairs r warhead loading outdoors. It’s a very zone into the your mind around ominous thing—hard but fun to try —to be makin yards away from g art when you’re to get this total destru just fifty ction enterprise. I like to take photographs, but I’m not much photographer of a technical . I shoot almos t exclusively but because with natural light I’m shooting digitally I can differe nt things afford to try a . My wife is a few profes sional so I hesita te photo graph er, to call elements of decisio mysel f that becau se I see how many n-making go printed photog into producing raphs. When substantial she gets her camer of sublime, but a out, it’s sort I’m informally in charge of docum household and our family. When enting our come back from we travel, her photographs the lab and I see that we were the same things looking at and she pulled have seen. I love out images that that. I couldn’t

plumbgoods.co

Photograph © Tucker Nichols Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

For Tucker Nichols, notebooks have never mattered more than during his travels. That usage inspired this unscripted notebook as a place to keep track of unusual experiences, sightings, and overheard snippets of conversation.

No. 31002 Wholesale: £9.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 5 x 7 inches Specs: Chipboard cover with matte foil stamping, 128 pages (64 lined, 64 unlined); 4 waterfalltabbed sections; elastic closure; gusseted pocket on inside back cover; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Tucker Nichols

Chunky Blue book Tucker Nichols’s father worked for a company that printed Bibles, so growing up Nichols used blank Bible dummies as sketchbooks. This portable jotter is a fantasy version of those early Bible blanks. Sample spread

No. 31003 Wholesale: £6.95 Inner pack: 4 Dimensions: 3.25 x 4.75 inches Specs: Textured paperback, 192 pages in 2 colors (160 cream, 32 light blue); lay-flat binding; dyed edges; perforated card with artist interview

Endpapers

TUCKER NIC

HOLS

Northern Californ ia artist Tucker Nichols is best smartly funny known for his drawings and large-scale gallery installations.

This photo is from a project at Gallery 16 in Francisco wher San e we took a small watercolor of mine and blew it up to wall size. I wondered if it would keep the elements that appealed original form in its —but it beca me something altog ethe r. Sudd else enly it was an envir onme nt you could walk into rathe r than could hold in a thing you your hand. I have total contr ol in my studi o. If something isn’t work ing, I just get rid of it. But with transformative a process, I give up a lot of that control. It’s only recently that I’ve been able to trust in that type of proce ss. You can’t dict how you’r pree going to react to a new form of something you’ve made . You just have have faith that to there’s enou gh energy in first iteration to the ride through to the new form.

plumbgoods.com

Photograph © Tucker Nichols Installation at Gallery 16, San Francisco Plumb product s © Who’s There Inc.

Perforated card with artist interview

3 little NotebookS Tucker Nichols created these notebooks for pocket portability, each with graph paper of a unique grid size. For Nichols, the printed grids ground him so he can think in a more off-kilter way. Interior (orange notebook)

Interior (green notebook)

TUCKER NIC

HOLS

Northern Californ ia artist Tucker Nichols is best smartly funny known for his drawings and large-scale gallery installations.

As an artis t, you’r e both puzz le-m aker solver, so you and can constantly bend the rules and the boun darie s of what you’r e maki ng and then solve whatever you’v e put into play. When my friend Alex broke his wrist, I wanted to draw a comp letely useless map on his cast. It was about more than the map, though—I just think there ’s some thing comp ellin g abou t casts. When I was young I wanted a cast like most kids, but, I didn’t realiz e that in orde get one, you r to had to go throu gh a lot of pain and hass le. It was a real hono r to draw over Alex’s cast. all I felt like I was back in fourth grade again. But I inadverten tly hijacked his cast narra tive: the ques tions shift ed from “What happened to all over your cast? your arm?” to “Who drew ” plumbgoods.com

Interior (blue notebook)

Photograph © Tucker Nichols Plumb product s © Who’s There Inc.

No. 31004 Wholesale: £7.95 Inner pack: 4 Dimensions: 3.25 x 4.75 inches Specs: Paperback 3-notebook set, 64 pages each, each with graph paper of different grid size; exposed stitched binding with colored thread; perforated card with artist interview; shrinkwrapped with bellyband

Perforated card with artist interview

SUMI INK CLUB Sumi Ink Club is a participatory drawing project established in 2005 by Los Angeles– based artists Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara. The club produces work collectively in open public meetings that can be organized by anyone, anytime. At these meetings, everyone comes together to draw: the young, the old, people who are considered good at drawing, and people who think they can’t draw at all. The result is art that feels as if one impossible person created it. Fischbeck’s and Rara’s work has been shown at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art and London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. Since 2000, they’ve also performed music as Lucky Dragons, an experimental band. Sumi Ink Club’s Plumb journals reflect the ways Fischbeck and Rara use notebooks as well as their participatory creative process. “I’d really like to make a notebook that somebody’s best friend would feel they can grab and leave something in,” says Rara. “It’s that kind of spirit where it can be for focus and deep thought, but it can also be something that is passed around and shared.”

“ If you arrive and the paper already has something on it, what a relief! You already have something to react to and build on, so it’s more like other human interactions. But just approaching a field of white is very daunting.”

SUMI Starter Pack For these notebooks, Sumi Ink Club was inspired by the simple construction and self-publishing of zines, and also by the idea that notebooks can be a place where something is made to be shared. Notebook interiors with starter drawings

SUMI INK CLUB

No. 31007

Sumi Ink Club is a collaborativ e drawing project started by Los Angeles–b ased artists Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara.

PLUMB: Can you describe what Sumi Ink Club is and how you guys work? SUMI: Sumi Ink Club holds collabor tive drawing ameetings that are open to the public. The result is a drawing that looks like one impossi ble person made it. Sumi charcoa l dissolve ink itself is just d in water, one the most widely of available and cheapest art materia ls. We use it because it’s either on or off, either black nothing. It’s a nice way to organizeor group drawing a —every one can to the piece without add the distinction who drew what. of

people drawing togethe r as if they were just talking to each other. the drawing s And themse lves are more a way of taking notes than making something precious to be preserve d. PLUMB: How do you explain the consistency in the drawings? The pieces done oversea s versus in LA versus in New York all look like they’re a similar pattern, even though of course there is no pattern to it.

SUMI: Unlike with paint, with the ink there’s no layering . When you down ink and lay then draw more PLUMB: What ink on top, it become appeals to you s one materia about making group l without the sense drawings? of one drawing being on top of another . Becaus e everySUMI: We’ve one is using always thought the same materia about what it means ls and the same size when someon brush, working e says this person is all sides of the from creative or that drawing , the person is not creative result is what a group . Sumi Ink Club of humans drawing shares the belief that for, say, two every single hours life form, not just human, There’s a certain would generat e. is extremely creative density. When Sumi Ink Club . zoom in, there you has been about are fascinating feeding the idea micromoments of that drawing extreme differen is something everyon ce, but when you zoom e can do. Drawing out be a convers can similarity between you can see the ational activity drawings made , with different people. by plumbgoods.com Photograph © Sumi Ink Club Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Zine interior

Wholesale: £12.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches Specs: 3 paperback notebooks with starter drawings plus 1 Sumi Ink Club illustrated zine, 32 pages each; exposed stitched binding; perforated card with artist interview; shrinkwrapped with bellyband

Perforated card with artist interview

Sumi Ink Club

Day + Night Journals Sumi Ink Club designed these journals to allow people to have two parallel but opposite journals going at once, to accommodate the different sides of themselves. Interior, Day Journal

No. 31006

SUMI INK CLUB Sumi Ink Club is a collaborativ e drawing project started by Los Angeles–b ased artists Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara.

Wholesale: £12.95

PLUMB: The two of you live together, work together , travel together . What is your studio life like?

SUMI: We really treasure being to walk to the able studio or just feel close enough that it’s not a major inconvenience to go there. Our new studio within walking distance of home, is that’s been the so biggest change. can easily come We home and cook food. But the ideal place also has PLUMB: So despite access to good food the many parts of so we can continu your lives that working—our e are about collabor last studio was tion, you also aacross the street from have this binary a great Vietnam way of working. restaurant. Definitel ese y choose your dio based on stuproximity to good SUMI: We’ve food! Other key things come are a strong Internet channels of communup with multiple signal and a ication—actually good table. holding meeting We finally got a solid table s and emailing to replace the each other rather wonky piece of plywood than just talking we had on two about everyth ing all horses. It feels sawthe time. And very real and having the studio and really makes us want house be separate to sit down to really importan is work! Simple physical t. For focus, it’s things that allow best to work at a place to enjoy being you that’s designa in your studio ted as work only, versus are crucial. We finally working at home, have enough on the road, or room have a couch in a café. or reading chair! to last studio was Our shared, with PLUMB: You just people walking through moved to a new and sometimes dio. What makes stuinterrupting, but an ideal creative the new studio environment is completely private. for you? We’re curious whether we’ll thrive in an environment without interruptions or miss the random visits. SUMI: We prefer to work alone in the studio, so we usually switch off, like differen t shifts. We’re rarely there together.

Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 6 x 9 inches Specs: Textured paperback 2-journal set, 80 pages each (one with white paper, one with black paper); titles debossed with clear foil; perforated card with artist interview; shrinkwrapped with bellyband

plumbgoods.com Photograph © Sumi Ink Club Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Endpapers

Interior, Night Journal

Perforated card with artist interview

SUMI ART BOX: Make + Share + Keep

Portfolio box

Pad with starter drawings

No. 31005

SUMI INK CLUB Sumi Ink Club is a collabora tive drawing project Los Angeles– based artists started by Luke Fischbeck and Sarah Rara.

PLUMB: The two of you have such diverse careers. How visual and music can you handle art so many activitie s? SUMI: We have faith in the streng good materials, th of a few simple and we believe good faith to in people coming rules and make someth together in ing. If you can like the genera agree on some l form it will all things, take pen, you’re getting and the way it will all closer and closer is beautiful. Just to making someth hapthe agreement ing that itself is beautif ul. PLUMB: Over the years, what advice have you or bad? been given, good SUMI: We’ve been blesse d with great offered us advice mento rs who throughout the have four principles: years, and we 1. Never say try to stick to you are too busy even if you’re for a studio visit in the middle of working on mess. This is something and actually the best it’s a time for a studio is also about embracing chance visit. For us, this situatio vibes—you should respectfully welcom ns and projecting good visit you as a e anyone who graciou wants to friends and becom s host, open for anything. 2. Work with your e friends with get too bumme those you work d about rejectio with. 3. Don’t n—even if you of a million things only get one you apply for, out writing, thinkin it is still worth g, proposing, the exercise sharing—all valuab of themselves. 4. le Be clean and strive to be organiz activities unto ed. plumbgoods.co

Art © Sumi Ink Club Plumb products © Who’s

Sumi Ink Club designed this box as a special object for collecting and sharing things, a living scrapbook. To start the process, the box contains an illustrated pad and a special-edition two-sided red and purple poster.

There Inc.

Wholesale: £19.95 Inner pack: 2 Dimensions: 9.25 x 11.75 x 1 inches Specs: Clamshell box with gusseted front pocket; 50-sheet 8.5-x-11-inch pad with dark blue dyed edges; perforated card with artist interview; 27-x-8-inch artist poster

Perforated card with artist interview

KATHERINE BRADFORD Katherine Bradford is best known for her paintings of boats and of superheroes. She approaches these iconic images with a sense of playful adventure and tenderness. According to Bradford, “One thing that I really revere is awkwardness, because it implies a kind of vulnerability.” Bradford was a longtime teacher at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, and her work has appeared in numerous solo and group gallery shows and museum exhibitions. Her paintings are held by many private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum. For her work with Plumb, Bradford drew on her longtime practice of making her own calendars by hand. “I love the idiosyncratic mark a human hand can make,” she says. “Maybe it’s a way of going through your days, and your life, to let a little bit of mishap in.” Bradford currently works in both Brooklyn and Maine.

“ Notebooks play a big role in a visual artist’s practice. The whole idea of making a painting or work of art causes people to fail. But if you think you’re doing something private, you relax a little more, and better things happen.”

TITANIC SKETCHBOOK This volume is inspired by sketchbooks Katherine Bradford uses to organize her thoughts and store ideas. The colored, perforated pages encourage experimentation and break the tyranny of the big black sketchbook.

Interiors with and without perforation

KATHERINE BRAD

No. 31009

FORD

Katherine Bradford works in Brooklyn She is known and Maine. for her paintings of recurring subjects that embrace mystery and whimsy.

PLUMB: Why do you return to painting similar images, such as the Titanic, again and again?

points of light, so maybe that’s how I came to the Titanic also about survival. the first time. It’s I love survival ries—quests stoand rituals and communities doing somethi ng ceremonious together.

KATHERINE: I think it’s the same reason we have dreams about the same things. As an artist, after a while you have access to your subcon scious, so certain themes PLUMB : It feels just keep coughlike a huge ing themselves image for a big journal up—thank god! where anything I like cultural images. happen. can I’m rather obsesse with the Titanic, d and fortunately it provides a rather KATHER INE: potent metaph Well, Plumb or man’s fragile really got me thinking place in the world. for about noteboo reduced the I’ve ks. I had taken using imagery to a noteboo series of shapes. It’s iconic, Once our collabo ks for granted . a mighty symbol— ration maybe it’s every started , though, I realized ship. After the it was a big Titanic sank, another of how I learn part ocean liner, the and how I procee Carpathia, came to from one step d the rescue. Maybe to another. I that’s the ship, hopefu see a lot of students doing l on the horizon their best work appearing just , notebooks and in when you need I always think it. it’s too bad—if only they could work like PLUMB: Does more publicly that the story of the ! Notebooks Titanic also appeal to play a big role in a visual you? artist’s practice sort of a scary . It’s prospec t to do KATHER INE: large work that’s public. Yes. The sinking The whole idea pened at night, hapmaking a painting of so or work of art dark, open ocean, you’ve got the cause people can full of mystery to fail, but if beauty. It was and you think you’re doing an ocean liner, something private, all lit up under a starry relax and better you sky. I love dots things happen. and plumbgoods.com Photograph © Katherine Bradford Plumb products © Who’s There Inc.

Endpapers

Wholesale: £14.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 8.25 x 10.5 inches Specs: Paperback, 240 pages in 3 colors, perforated for easy removal including 48 horizontally perforated pages; flexi-bound with rounded spine and head- and tailbands; perforated card with artist interview

Perforated card with artist interview

Katherine Bradford

Mini Superhero Notebook Katherine Bradford depicts superheroes because they are mystical, dress in bright colors, and appear totally free in midflight. She designed this portable notebook with colored pages to prompt grand, high-flying ideas.

Interior (red)

KATHERINE BRA

No. 31010

DFORD

Katherine Bradford works in Brooklyn known for her and Maine. She painting is mystery and whimsy. s of recurring subjects that embrace

Wholesale: £7.95

One of my favor ite times in the studio is when don’t have what I I need—I don’t have the color I need, I don’t have the size brush I need, don’t have anyth and I ing to paint on. I’m forced to It’s then that be inventive and I have to pull something new. in The unplanned is so much fun. In life, circumsta nces require you to give way to a lot of other forces. That’s not a bad way make art—to be to open, to invite the unexpecte d. I resp ond to work that has a playf ul quali Artists in the past ty. had to provide verisimilitude, exactness, liken ess. But today what most is the life of the imag inatio we need notebooks prov n. Infor mal ide a space wher feel intim idate e you don’t d, wher e you can expe rime and vary your nt approach from page to page .

Inner pack: 4 Dimensions: 3.5 x 4.5 inches Specs: Paperback, 168 pages in 3 colors, perforated for easy removal; perforated card with artist interview

plumbgoods.com

Interior (gray)

Interior (blue)

Perforated card with artist interview

Short Stack Journal

Inside front cover

Sample spread with starter drawing

KATHERINE BRAD

FORD

Katherine Bradford works in Brooklyn She is known and Maine. for her paintings of recurring subjects that embrace mystery and whimsy.

PLUMB: Why

do you paint pancake s? my own thought process with KATHERINE: direct mark-ma very Well, it’s not king. that I love pancake s. It’s who comes down I’m a visual artist someth ing about on the side of repetition, the the handma de. I horizontal lines love the idiosync the on top of lines, and then mark that a ratic those organic human being coming down drips makes. There are no vertically. It’s right angles in a stack of something, like my Maine house—it’s all a messed-up very human made. grid. that’s the way And I like to live. As PLUMB: You a person, I’ve appear sort of created visual peace with imperfe to have made a world around me. ction—it actually seems to fuel you. You let your and paintings studio PLUMB: You be somewhat work both in messy. Brookly n and in Maine. Do you find you KATHERINE: different art in make I wouldn’t use the two places? the word “messy.” I revere cause it implies awkwar dness beKATHERINE: a kind of vulnerab In the summer ity. When I go ils, I bring a lot of unfinish through my day, ed work to Maine, my life, I like to let in I’m working a little bit of mishap. so on the same things the two places. My Maine studio in PLUMB : Even barn and it’s is a your organiz just terrific— ational tools seem it actually is messy, so I to serve you feel very free better if they’re imperfec to let the paint fly around. t. KATHE RINE: This notebo ok was influenced by the fact that I make own calendars. I wanted everythi my my appoint ment ng in book to be something I drew myself— even the names of the days of the week. This helped me to think in terms of improm drawing , and ptu I started to connec t

PLUMB : Someti mes a change venue can make of things come together in a way that would be impossi wherever you ble started. KATHER INE: Yes, that’s true. sometimes just And being away from work for a while your is good.

This notebook was inspired by the artist’s own handmade calendars. Katherine Bradford likes everything in her appointment book to be something she draws, which allows her to connect her thought process with the act of making a hand-drawn mark. No. 31008 Wholesale: £12.95 Inner pack: 3 Dimensions: 7.5 x 8.5 inches Specs: Hardcover with Wire-O binding, 192 pages (145 blank, 47 with starter drawings); elastic closure; perforated card with artist interview

Sample spread with starter drawing

Perforated card with artist interview

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Retailer Signage A new line of blank journals envisioned, designed, and illustrated by contemporary artists, created in collaboration with Knock Knock.

a new line of blank journals envisioned, designed, and illustrated by contemporary artists, created in collaboration with Knock Knock.

A new line of blank journals envisioned, designed, and illustrated by contemporary artists, created in collaboration with Knock Knock.

TuCKeR NIChoLS Northern California artist Tucker Nichols is best known for his smartly funny drawings and large-scale gallery installations.

NAThANIeL RuSSeLL Northern California artist Tucker Nichols is best known for his smartly funny drawings and large-scale gallery installations.

SuMI INK CLuB Sumi Ink Club is a collaborative drawing project started by Los Angeles–based artists Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck.

LINdA GeARy Sumi Ink Club is a collaborative drawing project started by Los Angeles–based artists Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck.

SUMI INK CLUB TUCKER NICHOLS Tucker Nichols is known for his smartly funny drawings and large-scale installations. He is often inspired by found objects and by the area surrounding his studio in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nichols’ work has been shown around the US and in Europe, and has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Thing Quarterly, and the New York Times. As long as paper and pens exist in the world, Nichols plans to keep on creating.

lINDa GeaRY NaThaNIel Russell Tucker Nichols is known for his smartly funny drawings and large-scale installations. he is often inspired by found objects and by the area surrounding his studio in the san Francisco Bay area. Nichols’ work has been shown around the us and in europe, and has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Thing Quarterly, and the New York Times. as long as paper and pens exist in the world, Nichols plans to keep on creating.

sumi art Box

sumi starter Pack

plumbgoods.com

“The notebook that I keep in my pocket— anything can happen in there. It feels like, ‘Yeah, you can be organized, you can do that here, but let’s not get too organized. You might miss something.’”

Day + Night Journals

sumi Ink Club was founded in 2005 by los angeles artists sarah Rara and luke Fischbeck. at the club’s open meetings, everyone comes together to draw: the young, the old, people who are considered good at art, and people who think they can’t draw at all. The result is art that feels as if one impossible person created it. Rara’s and Fischbeck’s work has been shown at the Whitney Museum of american art and london’s Institute of Contemporary arts. They also perform as the musical group lucky Dragons.

JasoN PolaN Katherine Bradford is best known for her paintings of boats and of superheroes. she approaches iconic images such as the Titanic and superman with a sense of playful, tender vulnerability. Bradford has taught at the Pennsylvania academy of Fine arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. her work is held by many private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of art and the Brooklyn Museum.

“Notebooks play a big role in an artist’s practice. The whole idea of making a work of art causes people to fail. But if you think you’re doing something private, you relax, and better things happen.”

JASoN PoLAN

plumbgoods.com

Katherine Bradford paints in both Brooklyn and Maine. She is often inspired by water, as seen in her paintings of ocean liners and swimmers.

Tangle Notebook

plumbgoods.com

sumi art Box

“If you arrive and the paper already has something on it, what a relief! You already have something to react to and build on. But just approaching a field of white is very daunting.”

plumbgoods.com

sumi starter Pack

Day + Night Journals

Titanic sketchbook

short stack Journal

Dot Notebook

Explorer Notebook

Chunky Blue Book

“The notebook that I keep in my pocket— anything can happen in there. It feels like, ‘Yeah, you can be organized, you can do that here, but let’s not get too organized. You might miss something.’”

3 Little Notebooks

Sumi Ink Club was founded in 2005 by Los Angeles artists Sarah Rara and Luke Fischbeck. At the club’s open meetings, everyone comes together to draw: the young, the old, people who are considered good at art, and people who think they can’t draw at all. The result is art that feels as if one impossible person created it. Rara’s and Fischbeck’s work has been shown at the Whitney Museum of American Art and London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts. They also perform as the musical group Lucky Dragons.

Sumi Art Box

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Sumi Starter Pack

“If you arrive and the paper already has something on it, what a relief! You already have something to react to and build on. But just approaching a field of white is very daunting.”

Day + Night Journals

Katherine Bradford is best known for her paintings of boats and of superheroes. She approaches iconic images such as the Titanic and Superman with a sense of playful, tender vulnerability. Bradford has taught at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Her work is held by many private and public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Brooklyn Museum.

Titanic Sketchbook

Short Stack Journal

Spring 2014 Retailer Signage Kit No. 81045 Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches, easel-backed

ART & PHOTOgraphY Credits Plumb products © 2014 Who’s There LLC Original artwork on Plumb notebooks © their respective artists Artist interview card photo credits: Page 4: Katie Coles | Page 8: InTheMake.com | Page 12: Mara Cazers | Page 16: Scott Thorpe | Page 26: Greg Irikura

Printed on 10% post-consumer-waste FSC paper, using soy-based inks. All dimensions listed are: W x H x D.

Mini Superhero Notebook

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Mini superhero Notebook

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Fall 2014 Retailer Signage Kit No. 81050 Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches, easel-backed

KATHERINE BRADFORD

KATheRINe BRAdFoRd

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Katherine Bradford paints in both Brooklyn and Maine. She is often inspired by water, as seen in her paintings of ocean liners and swimmers.

1635-B Electric Avenue Venice, CA 90291 800-656-5662