Greetings!

Check out our line of reflective bike decals. They are plotter cut here in Brooklyn, USA from an engineering grade “conspicuity film.” Same material they use to wrap cop cars and fire trucks.

These 51 piece kits are available in 7 colors and will work wonders for your visibility in low light condition.

But don’t take my word for it, just watch the video already.
More info and available for purchase at: RydeSafe.com

RydeSafe. Be Seen.
Tonky

RydeSafe Reflective Bike Decals by TONKY from Tonky Designs on Vimeo.

Hello hello hello,

Just unloaded a fresh batch of wood-fired pots from an anagama kiln in Peekskill, NY.
Sold a few pieces at last week’s Brooklyn Flea and the rest are posted over at my Etsy store:

etsy.com/shop/TonkyDesigns

Everything is fully functional, diswasher safe, microwave safe, and oven safe… all kinds of safe.
Just in time for the holidays. Go have a look, the photos turned out pretty..

Shown above a slab built sake set with Shino glaze. $55

-Tonky

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

Talib Kweli at Occupy Wall Street from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

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FOR iPhone, iPad, etc:

Talib Kweli at Occupy Wall Street from Eddie Pages on Vimeo.

enjoy,
-Tonky

See more of his work: behance.net/joefenton
Buy a print: joe-fenton-art.myshopify.com/

The Lullaby – 2011 – By Joe Fenton from Joe Fenton on Vimeo.

Have a look at these customer pics of my wood fired ceramics in their natural environments
( Thanks Ward and Jimmy! )

I have some studio style shots of the rest of the work and will post soon. I like these better in a way since they shows the work IN USE, which is the most rewarding part of making hand-made pots.

Notice the toasty colors and exciting glaze effects. These pots are glazed, but not decorated, which means all the variation and exciting details result from the exposure to days and days of intense temperate and wood ash. Each firing is a surprise.

-Tonky

Hello all,

I have some new hand-made ceramics to show you. Recently unloaded a wood-fired kiln up in Cold Spring, NY. Did a little photo shoot last weekend and will share those images soon. Everything will be available for purchase at my ETSY store and also in person this summer at the Brooklyn Flea.

Ceramic sculptor, Tony Moore, fires his two-chambered kiln four times a year. The first chamber is called the ”Anagama” and the second the ”Noborigama.” The kiln burns 3.5 cords of wood over 4 days and takes 12 days to cool. The resulting pots are mind numbingly delicious.

In Moore’s own words:
” I wood-fire my works to give a natural wood ash patina and fire color to their forms. In orchestrating and running a kiln for a community of ceramic artists and potters there is a comaradery and exchange of information which brings a collective dynamism to the whole process. One’s labor and insights are exchanged for the good of one’s art and the kiln. ”

Shown above we see Tony Moore stoking the kiln and  the pyrometric cone packs (BEFORE and AFTER ).

Pyrometric cones are calibrated to bend then melt at different temperatures so these packs are placed throughout the kiln so Tony can carefully monitor conditions. If parts of the kiln are underfired the glazes won’t melt properly; if overtfired the glazes can run and pots can collapse. Firing a kiln correctly is an exacting art and a poetic science.

Stay tuned!
-Tonky

If you find yourself in Seattle, let me suggest two destinations that will maximize your gustatory pleasure.

Shown above :
1) Grapefruit Parfait topped with wasabi dots and grapefruit glass
We finished our meal at Canlis with this scrump-cialescent creation of Chef Jason Franey. Canlis is a 60 year old Seattle institution that has been taken to new heights with Chef Jason at the helm. In fact, his hard work was just recognized with Food and Wine’s 2011 “Best New Chef” award.

2) Guanciale – (unsmoked, cured pork jowl)
From Salumi Artisan Cured Meats in Seattle’s historic Pioneer Square district.  Salumi was founded in 1903 by Armandino Batali, father of the world famous chef Mario Batali.

On site, we enjoyed grilled cotto salame sandwiches lathered in a spicy and oily garlic puree. I brought the Guanciale back to my friend’s house and cooked it the next morning. Fried it crispy like bacon and enjoyed along side parmesan reggiano strips, scrambled eggs, sourdough toast, fried cherry tomatoes, coffee, and fresh OJ!

YUM,
-Tonky

Citizens,

It took five days, but I’ve finally bounced back from an all-night push to finish some killer new work and to install it at the Tea Lounge here in Brooklyn.

Come check it out and celebrate the end of the weekend this Monday from 5-8pm and stay to hear the SIXTEEN PIECE jazz ensemble led by Russ Flynn at 9pm. From what I’ve heard it should be new, groovin, and loud!
(www.russflynnmusic.com/live/)

The Tea Lounge has a full bar and transforms into an event space after dark. Lots of room and tons of comfy couches.
$3 Beers | $4 Wine

WHAT:
Tonky’s Art Opening

WHEN:
Monday, March 7th  5-8 PM
Live Music at 9PM

WHERE:
Tea Lounge (google map)
837 Union Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Hope to see you there!
-Tonky

Thanks to Ben Toht of the Saline Project for help with the poster.