DESIGN FETISH: Three Apples

For once, I’m jealous of my friends in LA for a reason that has nothing to do with Korean taco trucks or the weather: the Three Apples exhibition celebrating 30 years of Hello Kitty is one of those perfect confluences of merchandise and design that delights me. I’ve frequently said that Kitty is a perfect example of design: iconic as hell, and she’s composed of only a few minimal lines placed just so. She’s definitive and easy to spot through multiple iterations and even with radical changes to her.

My favorite pieces from Three Apples are generally those that recontextualize the version we know, but “Angst Kitty” by Angry Woebots is stunning and hilarious.

(Also, big ups to AlertNerd’s Sarah Kuhn for sending me a button set from the exhibit. Yes, there’s one on my blazer right now.)