2020 Advent Calendar [3] – Gentangle Designs

December 3, 2020

Gentangle Designs is the nickname of a London-based illustrator and you can find a collection of related links here. This is her etsy shop and I’m particularly fond of her work because of the intricated patterns: her explicit inspiration is a thing called zentangle (zen entangle) which I didn’t know was a thing. You have a lot of ironic Christmas cards, but my personal favorite has to be “it’s beginning to look a sloth like Christmas“.

I am also completely in love with the squirrel, albeit I concede it’s not very Christmasy, and you might want to have a look at the “I am your father Christmas” one. Yeah, it’s what you think. If you’re feeling more traditional, there’s also cats, giraffes, alpacas and a bunch of very festive train stations (Brixton here). There’s also a couple of penguins which I find adorable and a beautiful Christmas tree.

I warned you I would try and do this: I’m not making any promises, let’s see if I can keep this up.

art and fashion

Metafisica / Metafisiche

What a splendid exhibition! I was expecting your regular, run-of-the-mill show at Palazzo Reale, which is usually good enough, but I was surprised at the depth and width of this new endeavour, that spans across the city with multiple initiatives and, even within the show

March 15, 2026 9:00 am

books and literature

Isaac Asimov’s “Fantasy” collection

I take issue with this volume, and not because they’re short stories and you’re bound to like some more than the others: they’re all delightful, with very few and negligible exceptions. No, my problem is curatorial: I take issue that instead of grouping all the

March 14, 2026 9:00 am

note to self

Comunicazione 101

Cara Trenitalia, Quando ero ragazza, ogni tanto mi capitava di prendere il treno da Milano a Tirano, per raggiungere i miei genitori in vacanza sul lago. È un viaggio verso nord, attraverso la Brianza Felix, che molto presto trasforma la campagna in una collina boscosa

March 13, 2026 12:27 pm