domaki

Since Santa Claus first appeared on the cover of the magazine nearly ninety years ago, he has taken many forms. Take a look at a sampling of festive covers from the archive.

Evolution of the Desk (1980-2014)

More incredible match ups by photographer Peter Macdiarmid where comparisons have been made from World War 1 with modern day 2014. Throughout 2014 the First World War’s Centenary will be remembered.

Top: *** WWI ARCHIVE *** BOURNEMOUTH - 1917: Indian soldiers who were wounded fighting at Flanders recuperating at Bournemouth in England, Bournemouth, England, circa 1917. (Photo by Underwood Archives/Getty Images) ***MODERN DAY*** LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 15: Visitors walk on West Beach on July 15, 2014 in Bournemouth, England.(Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Middle: *** WWI ARCHIVE *** LONDON - 1917: A ‘male’ MKIV tank at the Lord Mayor’s show in November 1917 in London. (Photo by Topical Press Agency/Getty Images) ***MODERN DAY*** LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - JULY 17: Early morning light at the Bank of England on July 17, 2014 in The City of London, England. Throughout 2014 the First World War’s Centenary will be remembered. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Medieval egg book

As graffiti artists show every day, you can write on almost anything. In medieval times, however, most writing was done on stones, parchment (animal skin) or paper. The object in this image is special because it breaks with that rule (no pun intended): it shows Arabic funeral poetry written on an ostrich egg in the 15th century. It was found in a muslim graveyard in the Red Sea port of Quseir, Egypt. The text describes the journey from death to life and was written down to commemorate a young man that had died. Ostrich eggs were believed to give power to the dead and bring them back to life, which is why this book was ‘buried’ in the grave. What a great and unusual artifact of medieval written culture! It’s in pieces, but the shells survived in spite of being buried in the ground for over 500 years.

Photo: Jim Tuttle/NPR 

A masterpiece in pieces. Can you guess what it is? 

Sophie Roach (b.1988) is an artist and illustrator based in Austin, TX. By utilizing familiar shapes, patterns and her intuition, Sophie has created a unique visual language based on spontaneity and rhythm. Her abstract style is playful yet austere, extremely detailed, and often vibrantly colored.

I draw all the time and sometimes I hang the results on a wall and sometimes they’re applied to a product or, in one case, a double decker bus. I started doodling casually in my college classes about four years ago, but I didn’t take drawing very seriously until I hit a sweet spot in January of 2012. After six months of post-graduation floundering, I found my thing (my passion, or whatever) and a direction.

I’m always paying close attention to the world around me, recognizing patterns, then encrypting them with the family of motifs that I’ve created. The more I change up the world around me through travel and experience, the more I tend to come up with when I’m back at my drawing table.