JHill Designs: Real or Imaginary Travel, Preserved in Prints

Jennifer Hill is a young Boston designer who creates fabric, stamps, calendars, and all sorts of print material from a rich imagination about place, history, and beauty. Hill’s print work is done on recycled papers from greenerprinter.com using naturally based inks on recycled paper generated by wind power. What makes JHill Design a beautiful green find is the way Hill’s images re-invent travel nostalgia into sustainable design elements for today. The Around the World Note Cards are reminiscent of posters, wallpapers, and postcards from another era, yet the colors vibrate with a contemporary edge. Hill’s most innovative work is her series “Places I Have Never Been,” an ode to travel that culminates in a gorgeous annual calendar. It’s not too late to buy this year’s version, with June spent looking at Silver in Zacatecas, Mexico
, July consuming tart cherries in Traverse City, Michigan and last but not least December at the Zeppole Festival in Positano, Italy. Although February has come and gone, you can revisit it by ordering the Bridges in Pittsburgh as a frameable print in a variety of sizes. Perfect for the city’s 250th anniversary. The Block Island print (in the calendar and note card) represents an imaginary vacation to Block Island, Rhode Island to see the birds resting on the Atlantic fly away, to eat some homemade scones and to ride a bicycle along the beach. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Alzheimer's Association, the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support and research. As Hill describes it, the patterns she creates are influenced by natural settings, local culture, and the events she imagines occurring there. Surround yourself with her work and you feel deposited in the middle of a travel story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Jack London, Mark Twain, or Colette. Each print includes tidbits of information about the city and country name, the language, even travel miles. Other historical icons work their way in to the design story: old travel books from the American Geographical Society, hand painted boots from Austin, Texas, and more. These excursions translate into beautiful design elements, potential travelogues, and global awareness. JHill Designs: www.jhilldesigns.com