Vitamin D2

Phaidon's in-depth look at the unassuming pencil, for artists and enthusiasts alike

Covered in henna-colored scribbles, Vitamin D2 is the unassuming sequel to Phaidon’s extensive 2005 tome Vitamin D: New Perspectives in Drawing. Like its predecessor, Vitamin D2 explores the contemporary world of art’s most fundamental, but sometimes overlooked tool, the pencil. Approaching its subject like a textbook, the book demonstrates the breadth and richness of modern drawing by carefully analyzing a diverse range of styles seen …

Budnitz Bicycles No.5

A gender neutral step-through cruiser joins the line of precision-built titanium bikes

Since its inception in summer 2011, Budnitz Bicycles has garnered a notable following amongst design and cycle enthusiasts alike for their precision-built titanium bikes. Following in the tracks of their first four frame designs, today we see the release of the No.5, a gender neutral step-through city cruiser. The versatile frame design combines top-quality materials and components—domestically sourced where possible—with the innovative split-tube cantilever frame …

Future Mapping Company

London's niche cartographer Marcus Kirby fuses data with design in a brilliant NYC map

In the contemporary age of GPS and smartphones, mapmaking is quickly becoming a craft of the past. But Marcus Kirby, founder of East London’s Future Mapping Company, is determined to make us think otherwise with his new representation of New York City, set for release at the end of May. “I felt that the art and craft of mapmaking had become quite formulaic,” Kirby says, …