Tonky Designs handled SlowPig’s branding and designed its promotional materials. ( logos, e-commerce website, t-shirts, posters/postcards and tickets printed at Brooklyn’s finest letterpress studio: Coeur Noir. )

After spending a few months working on contract as a designer at the National Football League this summer, I can’t say the SlowPig logo wasn’t at least partially inspired by the team logos that that stellar design team puts out. I CAN however say that The SlowPigs would make a very un-intimidating name for a football team.

SlowPig is a celebration of heritage pigs and the people who drive the movement. Just 5 days left to purchase tickets for this all-you-can-eat & all-you-can-drink gourmet extravaganza organized by Chef Dan Fox of the Madison Club. If you dine on swine and live within a day’s drive of Madison, WI, you should be there. I’ll be there; my mouth is already watering.

More info and tickets Click HERE

-Tonky

Take a gander at my most recent book cover design for Milkweed Editions. The Tarball Chronicles ($24) by David Gessner documents the author’s road trip to and around the gulf coast during the 2010 oil spill.

This was a challenging project and it took a while to zero in on a design that encapsulated Gessner’s work. You can see some of the rejected concepts below. Since Gessner asks his readers to look “beyond the oily pelican” that dominated news coverage I was tasked with designing a cover that was specific to the disaster while also not reading as cliche or “too similar” to every other image we associate with the rig explosion and subsequent months-long undersea gusher.

We settled on this collaged composition that features a monstrous BP cleanup worker with a pelican head ( courtesy of J.J Audubon) and framed out by filigrees appropriated from an early 20th century mardi gras ball invitation

thanks for looking,

-Tonky

Just in time for your holiday gift giving, I’ve completed my limited edition Justin Beaver Print.

Little is know about the North American Justin Beaver other than:

- He has beautiful hair
- He sings purty
- He chews down trees to build his sub-aquatic home
- His last name rhymes with Bieber

Supplies are limited and priced to sell at $30. See more pics and purchase online here:
Justin Beaver Limited Edition Print.

thanks!
-Tonky

Check out the cover I designed for the book The Nature of College by James Farrell.
The Nature of College | $16 | Milkweed Editions
It’s a very nice read and especially worth buying for people in or entering college.

I pitched various ideas to the publisher Milkweed Editions and they went with the “Modern Day Vanitas” concept.

Each chapter sheds light on a different aspects of college life: The Nature of Parties, The Nature of Sex and (Sometimes) Love, The Nature of Politics, etc.

So I created an allegorical still life, much like the Dutch ‘vanitas’ paintings. In this modern day example, each object symbolizes a different facet of the book’s contents. Special thanks to Ward Yoshimoto who photographed the still life for me. The raw hi-res image is simply gorgeous.

enjoy,
Tonky

The still life wraps around the spine and back. Here is the full spread sans text and title.

Ye-all,

Check out the NEW design we produced exclusively for Blissliving Home.
The Shangri-La Wall graphic comes in a set of 4 for $75 and is available in “Storm Grey”

What’s cool about this design is that the grey will match any color wall and you can tile multiples as shown above.

Order at BlissLivingHome.com

-Tonky

Whereas the acrylic stuff is funky and fun, these porcelain”lens” necklaces are elegant and delicious. Those words aren’t really dichotomously opposed pairs. Eh well.

Nevertheless, the single disks (black, red, white) are on long chains, so they can double as soy sauce dishes if you find yourself at a sushi picnic with no vessel.

The “constellation” necklace features white porcelain lenses connected with oxidized sterling silver hardware. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.

-Tonky

Howdy partners,

Not much sleep these days. Hard at work shooting some of my freshly minted designs.
What do you think of the new laser cut acrylic jewelry?

Above we have:
-Oversized Clinky Necklaces
-Back to Basics Bangles ( circle, square triangle)
- Transparent Color Paddle Necklace

-Tonky

We were up until 5am glazing our new line of functional clay wares. Everything is aesthetically tight and minimally glazed and the porcelain is so thin that firing will create a charming variation in each piece as a subtle warping occurs at red hot 2165 Degrees F.

The official drop date is August 15th at NYIGF here in NYC at the Javits center, but I wanted to give you a peak at some of the pre-fired forms. If you are attending the show come see us at Booth 3901 in the “Accent on Design” section.

The kiln is loaded and heating up so keep your fingers crossed. I’m really excited to see these things finished and glazed.

You can look forward to some tasty photographs within a week or so once the kiln has cooled. We have some gorgeous nesting bowls, modern platters inspired by TV dinner trays, and also ceramic JEWERLY for the first time!

all for now.

love,
-Tonky

Tonight Tonight,

Some of my work is in a group show called “Made in Redhook.”
The opening is tonight Sat, May 22 |  7-10PM

Lucky Gallery is located in Red Hook
176 Richards Street, Brooklyn, NY. 11231
GOOGLE MAP

In fact, all day is the Redhook area studio tour. So why not make it a day-long adventure?

http://www.brooklynstudiotours.com/

Come on by for free wine and mind blowing art.

-Tonky

Have a gander at some pics from a set for a New York Lotto commercial for which I performed some design work.

Shown above is the spot’s NYC based production designer Julian Laverdiere towering in front of the Met Life Building and Grand Central Station.

I aided Julian in the creation of various generic and landmark buildings. My role was to run around to photograph various NYC sites and to grind away in Photoshop to create large-scale printable facades that would be assembled and detailed by Brooklyn Model Works.

The experience was so compelling that I bought a Mega Million ticket and …. LOST

Enjoy.

-Tonky

CREDITS:

Director- NE-O
Production Designer: Julian Laverdiere
Production Co.- SKUNK
Agency- DDB

-Tonky