If It's Hip, It's Here began in 2007 and was one of the first design blogs to receive national and international attention. Begun as a way to share interesting art, fashion and objects with fellow design-lovers, it's more of an e-magazine than a blog. The posts are informative and educational articles rather than simply a collection of images or lists. Striving to give thorough information, large photos and links to the artists, photographers, architects, furniture manufacturers, fashion designers and/ or their stores or items, IIHIH prides itself as both a resource and entertainment.
IIHIH is written, edited, researched and designed by only one person. This makes it difficult to keep up with the multitude of blogs and sites with enormous staffs, researchers and people who search other blogs for content now dominating the internet. Because of this, IIHIH tries to keep you up on ongoing trends as well as provide readers with original information not found elsewhere.
IIHIH has been proudly featured on several other reputable sites such as Gizmodo, NY Mag, Boing Boing, Racked, Laughing Squid, Born Rich, Gearfuse, Designboom, Lost At e Minor, Dezeen, Ad Age, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, Businessweek, and is grateful for any mention or shout-out.
Interestingly enough, IIHIH has a larger global readership than US readership.
Unlike several other blogs, IIHIH does not feature guest posts, paid for reviews, text links or anything that would discredit the integrity of the content.
About the founder, curator, editor and author:
As the creator of If it’s Hip, It’s Here blog, Laura Sweet has always had an admiration for art, design and craftsmanship. Her blog is an outlet for Laura to share what she admires as “hip” with her readers every month.
Above photo of Laura Sweet and her dog, Indie, by Jay Clendenin for the Los Angeles Times. The painting of the three chairs behind me is by Matt Condron and the metal piece upon which she is leaning is by David Buckingham.
Laura holds degrees in both Fine Art and Art History from UC Berkeley. Not only was she schooled in the everything from the cave paintings at Lascaux to the critical art theorists of today, but she was taught by some of the most respected contemporary artists today such as Christopher Brown and George Miyasaki. She also has a degree in Advertising Design from world-renowned Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design, where she was an Advertising instructor for eight years.
Formal educational institutions aside, Laura believes being exposed to different people, different ideas and different experiences open our minds and our hearts. In that regard, Laura has been well blessed. Currently residing in Beverly Hills, Laura has lived and worked in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, Detroit and Seattle. Experiences in these assorted locations has exposed her to a variety of diverse attitudes, styles and values. Growing up, Laura witnessed her grandmother illustrate advertisements for department stores and later flourish as an award-winning watercolorist. Her parents and siblings, all avid art enthusiasts, helped nourish her thirst for art and design throughout her childhood. In addition to collecting art and opaline glass, Laura’s mother was a docent at the Museum of Art in San Francisco, her brother-in-law is an acclaimed San Francisco Bay Area painter and her sister has had her home featured in Metropolitan Magazine for its exceptional design.
For more than 25 years, Laura has been on the creative side of the TV and print advertising business. She has produced work on several major accounts from Lexus to IKEA. Her work has been featured on the cover of Communication Arts, and she has received several awards and honors from The One Show, The Addys, Art Direction Magazine, Adweek, Creativity, Luerzer's Archive and other advertising groups and institutions.
This time-consuming, competitive field is something she absolutely loves and has provided her with rewarding experiences and knowledge about many products from popular consumer goods to niche brands.
Below are some various articles and interviews (please click upon the images to enlarge):
To see her professional work, references, experience, awards or to make any inquiries, please see her Linked In profile.
No one pays me to do this. I'm not owned by a larger company. It's a labor of love. Because of that, any and every donation is of great help in continuing this blog.
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