What do you listen to while you work?
Recently, I have realized I work best with music that is nearly instrumental but with a slight peppering of vocals which do not take center stage.

I like that it doesn’t demand my attention, which is ideal for concentration. Also it follows the approach to my own work. Most of my work is wrapped around a subtle narrative which is sort of abstract, and I liken that to vocals which are abstract but still add to the song.

How do you listen?
I use Spotify on my iMac while I work. I have music playing from the moment I start to the moment I finish. It’s very integral to the work.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers?
I like Pitchfork and Stereogum. There is a lot I don’t like about those sites, but they are good for finding new music. Soundcloud is really awesome, and I use Spotify all the time.

Does music influence your work?
Majorly. I couldn’t over-exaggerate this if I tried. Three or four years ago I started to dig a littler deeper into my personal work.

Music is probably the art form that moves me the most. I started keeping track of music that I deeply responded to, and I created a little playlist that I call “Soundtrack to My Work.” Then I would try to approach creating visual work that felt the same way as this music. All of my NOD project and most all of my personal work in the past three years has been made this way.

A lot of this music is vocally abstract and sort of whimsical with a twist of melancholy, and I think you can see that in the work.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste?
I have been doing a lot of music-focused editorial illustration for the fashion company Aritzia. They have introduced me to some fantastic new music lately. I look through my favorite new bands related artists on Spotify too. I would say that if my peers on Twitter bring up a band a few times, I’ll usually go check it out.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be?
If my work was a song, I would want it to be this little one minute piano piece called “Row” that Jon Brion made for the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It’s so beautiful. I can listen to it on repeat. I think it feels exactly like the work I try to create, sad but hopeful, childlike but sophisticated.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist is sitting in an Eames Lounge Chair oiled santos palisander veneer and black MCL leather. This playlist is for nighttime, hence the dark-colored chair. Preferably listened to in a warm climate, windows down, alone, leaning back, relaxed, and lost in the music.

Andy’s Playlist:
1. Row, Jon Brion
2. Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, Ryuichi Sakamoto
3. Rain Smell, Baths
4. Garden 1, Teen Daze
5. Undo, The 1975
6. The Great Estates, Freelance Whales
7. Cleam, Mister Lies
8. Want U 2 Know, Different Sleep
9. Accordian, Madvillain
10. Sing About Me, I’m Dying of Thirst, Kendrick Lamar

Photos: Andy J. Miller

What do you listen to while you work?
I have a pretty broad taste, but when I really need to bury myself into a project, I usually have something electronic or ambient playing. It helps keep me focused.

How do you listen?
I have the studio to myself all day, so I pretty much just blare the computer speakers.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers?
Designers.MX, Pandora, Spotify, Daytrotter, and Audiotree are some of my favorites.

Does music influence your work?
It sure does. When designing anything tech related, I listen to a lot of Kraftwerk and Underworld. One example is the playing cards I did for Bicycle [above]. I also do a lot of illustrations based off of Morrissey lyrics. A lot of great things to work with there.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste?
My friends are constantly sending me songs on Spotify. Other than that, I usually find new artists on Daytrotter or Audiotree.

If your work was a song or a musician, what or who would it be?
I would have to say Bruce Springsteen. I have been a really big fan for some time now. I love the stories he tells with his songs and I try to do the same with my design and illustrations.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist is: the Goetz Sofa in Walnut Veneer, Neon Messenger Fabric, and a Night Crush Fabric for the accent. (My favorite piece has always been the Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. I shall own one someday.)

Luke’s Playlist:
1. One Million Lovers, The Growlers
2. The Sky is Black, Window Twins
3. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Santa Esmeralda
4. Well I Wonder, The Smiths
5. Wrecking Ball, Emmylou Harris
6. Midnight Confessions, The Grass Roots
7. How Long, Ace
8. Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf
9. In Dreams, Roy Orbison
10. The Partisan, Leonard Cohen
11. Solitary Man, Neil Diamond
12. City of Night, Bruce Springsteen

Photos: Luke Bott

What do you listen to while you work? Usually I’m listening to 90′s hip-hop and an 80′s dance mix called “Sleepover Party” by Nina Mendoza, which keeps creeping into the playlist. The upbeat stuff is good to play when I’m working on bigger pieces — painting or cutting linoleum.

How do you listen? If my girlfriend is home, she’s usually working on her thesis, so I often wear headphones. When painting I play music on my house (Logitech) system. Nothing fancy.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? I usually download through iTunes, but have recently started messing about with Rdio.

Does music influence your work? Absolutely it does — sometimes in a literal way and sometimes not. For example, I used a quote from an Aloe Blacc song in this type piece on wood. Often I use music as a motivator to support whatever mood I’m in that day. I find that music helps me not over-think what I’m working on.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? My musical tastes are influenced mainly by my good friends as well as the years of country and classic rock I listened to in my parents’ cars. I have been fortunate to have friends who are musicians or DJs. They play the music and I dance.

What song or artist best represents the work you create? I wish I could say it would be something like “Survival of the Fittest” by Mobb Deep, but realistically it’s probably “Why Can’t We Be Friends?” by WAR.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist: The ideal place (for others) to sit and listen to my playlist is on the Eames Sofa. It’s simple, elegant, not ostentatious, and you can fit a few people on it to enjoy the music with some friends. In a perfect world, the sofa would be in the back of a pick-up truck on its way to the cottage.

JIMMY’S PLAYLIST

1. Across 110th Street, Bobby Womack
2. Indestructible Sam, Buck 65
3. Big Joe Mufferaw, Stompin’ Tom Connors
4. Copperhead Road, Steve Earle
5. Rotation, Big K.R.I.T.
6. Player’s Ball, Outkast
7. War, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
8. Shook Ones Part II, Mobb Deep
9. Driving Down The Freeway, Arowbe
10. Tapas, Action Bronson
11. 1991, Azealia Banks
12. Let’s Take A Walk, Raphael Saadiq

Photos: Jimmy Mezei

What do you listen to while you work? Oh, so much music is out there! Depending on my mood, I might either tune in to KEXP or to the ‘Deerhunter’ Pandora station (my fave). If I bought a new album that week, it will be on constant repeat. I like playing a mix for the background of my thoughts while creating art and illustrations.

How do you listen? I have some awesome Sennheiser wireless headphones plugged into my iMac that allow me to travel about my studio while working, since I’m not always glued to my computer.

Do you have any favorite music websites/providers? Pandora is key, and streaming KEXP or KCRW music. I like Spinner.com for getting a first-listen-smorgasbord of new albums. NPR’s music site is the best, my favorite being the Tiny Desk Concerts, like this one with Y La Bamba (who are dear Portland friends).

Does music influence your work? This last painting I did [above: "WhaleShark, ForestFire," acrylic on found wood panel] stems from feeling good about a new music collaboration with Justin Potts, a prolific musician who is also an artist. I’m attempting playing drums and singing these days. (You know, because I don’t already have enough on my plate.) When I’m feeling great about a new song I just heard or am working on, it shows in my work. I’m not physically drawing “music,” but the outcome of the work itself is satisfying. I’m easily influenced by things that make me happy. Here is a song Justin recently posted that I can’t stop listening to. It’s sweet and puts a skip in my step.

Where do you find music recommendations? Who influences your musical taste? I have a lot of friends here in Portland who are musicians, and I love what they do and who they love to listen to. My friend Scott Magee (aka DJ Cooky Parker) spins a Soul Night dance party every month of rare soul/R&B 45s. The tunes are amazing, and I find myself listening to that when I’m lounging (or dancing while cleaning) at home. I follow him around record shops hoping his awesome taste in music rubs off on me.

What song or artist best represents the work you create? I would have to say Luna. Simple, sweet, brilliant. And by brilliant, I mean bright and happy. It kills me that they are no longer together, but I covet those albums.

Ideal place to sit and listen to your playlist: Eames Lounge Chair in walnut veneer and classic black leather. It sucks you in and holds you, like a great song, and if you need to get up to change the record, it’s easy to hop in and out of.

AMY’S PLAYLIST:

1. Red Wine, Pepper Rabbit
2. Why Must It Always Be This Way, Choir of Young Believers (watch the video!)
3. Desire Lines, Deerhunter
4. Malibu Love Nest, Luna
5. Rolling Over, Low Roar
6. Before, Plants & Animals
7. Gravediggers, Fenster
8. Jello and Juggernauts, Unknown Mortal Orchestra
9. So Long You Pretty Thing, Spiritualized
10. The Earthquake of ’73, Fruit Bats
11. Under Glass, Musee Mecanique
12. Out of Reaches, Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks

Photos: Amy Ruppel

How long have you worked from home? And where is home? I’ve worked from home on-and-off since moving to New York in 1999. First on the upper east side, then in Astoria and since 2005, Brooklyn. We’re one block from Prospect Park in a two-story home; we have the full second floor.

Describe your style? How would you define your aesthetic? Minimalist. I want my projects to look under-designed, inviting to read and memorable. The highest compliment I receive is when someone says they read one of our publications cover to cover. Fortunately dealing with contemporary illustration as a subject allows us an opportunity to showcase work that is not only colorful but meaningful as well.

How do you keep your work space organized? It’s actually disorganized chaos at most times, especially my desk. My partner, Sarah Munt’s desk is always much cleaner than mine. I’ll clean my desk after a major project or just recently before our Christmas party.

We do have two closets where we can keep our magazines and books plus supplies for mailing. And of course our bookshelves hold our reference materials. There are three sets of bookshelves throughout the apartment and every nook and cranny has something related to our work—we’ve managed to find some interesting spaces to hide stuff.

When you set up your home office what did you have to keep in mind? Were there any particular obstacles to overcome? As I’ve told people, we couldn’t have a live/work space and turn out publications and books like we do now twenty years ago—we would have to have had much more space. And as you know space is a premium in New York. We also can’t have our studio in Manhattan today, there wouldn’t be enough space even for what we need now at a price we could afford. So the space has to work well for living and working; actually I look at it as a work/live space since so little of it is just personal space. Almost every room has a business function whether it’s storage or workspace.

What I kinda realized but didn’t hit home until I moved in is that my commute is seconds. I rarely go outside—which I’m trying to be better about—except for lunch. And it’s a real shame as Prospect Park is just a block away. I have to say I’ve been better in 2010 about getting outside more but that’s the biggest difference in working at home. Working for someone else means a commute and in this city sometimes a long and always interesting commute.

Is there any piece of home office furniture do you most treasure? My Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman. I have had it for thirty years now, it’s much more a piece of sculpture to admire than sitting in. Not that it’s uncomfortable—because it isn’t—I fall asleep every time I sit in it. But it’s a good place to look over text and organize the day. A much more functional piece of furniture is my 4-foot adjustable height folding table which I got just a month ago on Amazon for $85. This gets a lot of use during our book seasons, I can spread out my little thumbnails and work out the flow of the book by color, theme or composition. Before this year I was stooped over in the club chair doing it on the floor—I’ve made good advancements this year!

What desk accessory can’t you do without? My Braun-like calculator.

What would you change about your work space? More open space and about 300 more square feet. The space is workable as it is, the light is great, the views relaxing it just would be nicer to have a bit more space to move around in.

What inspires you? Art. Books. Furniture. I collect all three and I pride myself in not paying retail for any of my furniture finds. I joke that my Eames shell chairs were just $50 each—a friend found them for me in a barn in Indiana—a set of eight in two different colors. My Mies Brno tubular chairs were just $40 each—a lot of times I’ve been lucky to find them where no one knows their real value. To me great furniture design is art, it’s 3-D sculpture. I like looking at them as much as I like sitting in them. And thanks to the Strand and Amazon my book collection isn’t pricey either, now when it comes to art, the price isn’t negotiable!