We’re the biggest fans of finding inspiration in the world around us — and that includes the world above us!

Keeping up with celestial events like meteor showers and full moons is a fun way to stay in touch with our solar system’s breathtakingly whimsical wonders. In fact, coming up on April 29th is a Full Pink Moon, named after the creeping phlox: those perky little pink flowers that tend to crop up this time of year and officially usher in this fresh season.

A pink-themed lunar event? That’s just the right shade of perfect for us!

The color pink is a time-honored classic — whether it’s pale and delicate like the tiniest hint of coral in a vintage string of pearls, or in-your-face like a fuchsia fanny pack. We love it.

Pink, while typically pigeonholed as a “girly” color, is actually a nuanced hue that communicates a rollercoaster of feels — calmness, tenderness, and optimism are just a few. Who doesn’t need more of those things in their life? And some even consider it the most rebel Punk color there’s is!

We’ve got bushels of watercolor cards here at Studio Masha D’yans that celebrate this unforgettable color, as well as some celestial selections if you’re eyes tend to stray to the skies!

Leopards in Roses

Earth tones and vibrant pinks mingle and mix in this mashup of flora and fauna!

Good Vibe Frogs

This fantastic color is front and center in this festive celebration of spring.

Couple in Space

Turn your eyes to the skies and let your imagination frolic among the stars!

We hope you get to enjoy this rosy celestial event!

What gives you more warm fuzzies than a playful surprise showing up on your doorstep?

Whether it’s a basketful of jelly beans in your fave color, a bottle of bubbly from someone who knows you well or daffodils popping after April showers, we think May Day surprises are the bee’s knees.

May Day is a fun, classic holiday… but did you know just how classic? We’re not talking classic like a string of pearls, we’re talking historical, ancient classic. Like, Stonehenge classic!

Goddess Flora by Sandro Botticelli, 1470

One of the oldest origins of May Day lies with the Druids of the British Isles, who believed May 1st symbolized the return of life and fertility to their part of the hemisphere. The Romans took this time to celebrate Flora, their goddess of flowers, and in Medieval times, the Maypole became a well-known tradition.

St. George’s Kermis With The Dance Around the Maypole – Pieter Brueghel the Younger, 1627

Frolicking, flowers, and light? That’s our kind of holiday here at Studio Masha D’yans!

Via Xtabay Vintage. Photographed by Holly Andres.

The cool history of this holiday doesn’t stop with the Maypole, however. In the US in 1886, May 1st was the beginning of the 8 hour work week, making great strides in the improvement of American working conditions.

Coachella Photo: John Davisson via Pollstar.com

There’s just something about spring that makes you want to share some love, and that’s a trend that isn’t changing anytime soon. With massive springtime arts festivals like Coachella and Primavera Sound happening all over the world, it’s clear: it’s time to let loose!

So, whether you’re celebrating those tiny little blooms cropping up in your flower pots, or recognizing a hard worker in your life, we’d love to help you find the perfect way to say “Thinking of You!”

While nature quietly breathes its sleepy winter sighs, we humans are experiencing a bit of an awakening. It’s the New Year, after all; a time for fresh starts and exciting beginnings.

Razzle-Dazzle Ruby pop-up book by Masha D’yans

Gazing Back at the Picture Books of 2017

The New York Times recently published its round-up of 2017’s best-rated picture books, and reading it has inspired and sparked remembrances of our own beginnings. From the honest, childlike wonder in Marc Martin’s A River, to the almost hauntingly whimsical imagery in On a Magical Do-Nothing Day by Beatrice Alemagna, it’s easy to see how children’s books sparked so much inspiration in a young Masha D’yans.

Children’s picture books represent infinitely more than a simple way to learn to read. We have loved them since we could first look and touch, and they have shaped the course of Masha’s  life and career. Picture books provide a way to enjoy both story and art in four dimensions — adding the element of time to the experience. Time to which you can be transported, and years through which you can hold on to a single story.

Looking Forward To Our Own

sneak-peek of Polka Dot Parade

Now, in 2018, Masha has the pleasure of contributing the visual dimension to two vibrant picture books: Polka Dot Parade: A Book About Bill Cunningham by Deborah Blumenthal, and Flower Talk: How Plants Use Color to Communicate with Animals by Sara Levine. We’re equally joyful about Color Me Enchanted, a collaboration with Masha’s mother, Gala Lazuli. Released in 2017, this intricate coloring book highlights fairy tales from around the world, allowing the owner to contribute to that visual element themselves.

pages from Color Me Enchanted by Masha D’yans + Gala Lazuli

As we look to the New Year, it’s important to remember those beginnings that shaped us so early in our lives, so that we may honor them and continue in what they started.

We wish a Happy New Year to you all, and hope that this year’s beginnings shape your life in the best ways possible.

As we get ready to attend the National Stationery Show next week, we thought we’d take a walk down memory lane (strewn with plenty of fleurs, of course). Please enjoy a look back at our last show.

Our booth was a light construction, hand-pinned with a myriad of salvaged silk flowers collected from all over and deconstructed by Masha and her mom.

It was a real labor of love and art to compose the blooms into lush compositions of color gradations on the walls. Masha’s idea for light shelving was to use feathers to hold up the cards. Alignment was difficult to achieve by hand but everyone loved the unique effect. Best of all, the cards were the heaviest thing about this booth design.

Lucky number 2345!

Silk petals served as flooring. It was a welcome zen activity to brush them back in place with a small broom after each busy day.

The lighting was a bit harsh for photos, but we spotted many a fake “selfie” being taken in order to photograph our booth design OTDL. That’s a compliment, right?

Let’s not forget about the fashion. All outfits were done by Masha and her incredible mom and incorporated artwork from the cards.

As well as the cards themselves (see hat).

Here’s Masha with friend (and fellow curly girl) Emily McDowell enjoying the show.

See you in NY!

We’re excited to spot the first signs of spring coming all around, while working hard on the next collection of cards for you. What do you have planned for march?

Siri, Siri on the phone, who’s the fairest of them all? This post is not about selfies, promise, we just couldn’t resist the pun. Instead we want to talk about fairytales and our collective obsession with them, especially in our age of high tech magic. This most dazzling, valiant and resilient of genres typically features: children or young maidens, magic, happiness (think fairytale ending), an occasional unicorn and the escapist notions of ‘Once upon a time’ and ‘Ever After.’ Naturally, fairytales have been aligned with the world of art, film and high fashion since well… once upon a time. Think about it: youth, fantasy, beauty, horror, love, heroic acts, history and elves. What’s not to love?!  

The well of folk stories remains bottomless for Hollywood, as evidenced this year by the lavish reinterpretation of Snow White in The Huntsman: Winter’s War, and the enduring popularity of the serial fantasy Game of Thrones, to name a few. And hardly a season passes by without at least a few fairytale references in the fashion world. To celebrate this point, the museum at Manhattan’s Fashion Institute of Technology hosted an exhibition highlighting the central role that clothing and style play in the telling of our favorite stories. According to Fairy Tale Fashion associate curator Colleen Hill, “In versions of numerous fairy tales by authors such as Charles Perrault, the Brothers Grimm, and Hans Christian Andersen, it is evident that dress was often used to symbolize a character’s transformation, vanity, power, or privilege. The importance of Cinderella’s glass slippers is widely known, for example, yet these shoes represent only a fraction of the many references to clothing in fairy tales.”

And speaking of references, Vogue had this to say about the Miu Miu Spring 2016 show: “In their eccentrically layered outfits, the models at Miu Miu looked like they had unearthed the ultimate chest of dress-up clothes—you know, the ones that in fairy tales are discovered covered in dust in the attic next to a one-eyed wooden rocking horse and ribbon-tied bundles of letters—and piled treasure upon treasure (granny boots, Alice in Wonderland pinafores) in an attempt to realize all of their make-believe fantasies at once.”

Dolce & Gabbana, never one to be outdone, couldn’t keep from joining in on the fairy tale fun during Milan Fashion Week. Their Fall 2016 show included references to Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Snow White. Bellissima as ever.

If all this hasn’t satisfied your love of fashion and fairytales, you only have to wait for the stroke of midnight of this year’s end for ‘Color Me Enchanted,‘ an upcoming coloring book (for grown-ups and not so much) by Masha D’yans and Gala Lazuli. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, it features more than 90 pages of fashion-forward illustrations, inspired by… what else, fairytales from around the world! Get those magic coloring wands ready and watch this space for more sneak peeks.

From top left:
1. Red Riding Hood by Comme des Garcons from Fairy Tale Fashion
2. A look from Comme des Garcons: Menswear SS17
3. Fairy Tale Fashion
4. A look from Miu Miu Spring 2016 show
5-6. Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2016 show
7. A spread to color from Color Me Enchanted by Masha D’yans and Gala Lazuli

Dear You,

It’s been a while since we wrote. I’m choosing this moment in April – national letter-writing and poetry month – to send a few words from New York. I still consider it my home, and when Spring rolls around, there’s just no place like it. I admit to being somewhat reluctant about leaving warm & sunny Los angeles, but all was forgotten with the first sight of Central Park. A stroll through its tender, fresh blossoms, undamaged by the lingering cold, can cure any travel weariness!

Remember A Poem as Big as New York City, the book I illustrated? The words were written by little children from every corner of this infectious kaleidoscope of a city, and they seem most appropriate at a time like this. Because, along with the glories of Central Park, I also relish discovering new things in familiar corners. Each time I visit with favorite clients like MoMA and Saks, I find something different – who knew there was a space as magical as Mariani Fine Minerals on the Upper East Side? One specimen of their rare and exquisite crystals on display even matched the color palette of a Degas painting from the current MOMA show. You’d be blown away!

Further downtown in the West Village, I stumbled upon Calliope, another oasis of beautifully curated objects. It took a lot of will power not to bring all of them home. Another stop on my wander list was the new Whitney Museum, with its breathtaking panoramas of the city (and some fine American art, by the way). In the words of Charlie Parker, “Beautiful is the world, slow is one to take advantage.” 
Wish you were here. I’m sending you a few photos in the meantime.
Your girl,
Masha
(Write me)

Our Castle Monster at home on the Highline.

Central Park

A few of the unbelievable specimens from Mariani Fine Minerals

Cozy Calliope – photo by Josh Rubin for CoolHunting


Even NYC garbage is pretty in the spring.

Happiest wishes for 2016!
New Year = New Cards here in the studio. First fresh treat for you is a totally novel concept and a world premier (!) – collectible cards that together complete a fun fairyland scene (which also spells LOVE, just in time for the next holiday). Inspired by our customers’ habit of keeping Masha cards to frame as art, the LoveLand series lets one collect a whole grouping to display, or to send one by one until the recipient collects all 8. Or, simply use them individually as all-occasion cards. When we think outside the card, the possiblities art endless.

Our LoveLand series is precisely and artistically engineered to encourage delicious, on-going correspondence by enabling you (or your giftee) to send or give these cards one by one… over any length of time. Be a Cupid and spread the Love by keeping those intriguing flames going and the art of the written letter alive this February (hello V Day) and beyond! Available as singles or 8-card boxed sets.

But wait, there’s even more…
New Year New Cards Part 2 coming soon.

October is one of our best-loved months for so many reasons: the colors, the harvest, the romantic nip in the air, the opportunity to add creative layers to the wardrobe and, above all, Halloween! It’s up there on our list of favorite holidays — after our birthdays, of course. It’s a time when we can let our fashion freak flags fly in a way that might not be appropriate on most other days of the year. In this post we’re rounding up some of our favorite Masha Halloween looks for your viewing pleasure, and possible inspiration — leave your “I don’t know what to be for Halloween” excuses at home. Let the countdown to the dress-up parade begin!

Our cards are suiting up too with brand new cozy Kraft envelopes that feel so right for the season. The warm neutral color lets the vibrant artwork pop. Find more Masha halloween mischief here.

Read More

“I love you Mama” has been a leitmotif of Masha’s entire artistic career. She’s lucky to have been raised by uber-talented, creative, brave mom (you can read about Galina in Artists We Love) and grandma and she forever thanks them for the painting + fashion genes (and for toting her around in her extra chubby baby phase). Since this year is already zooming by, we thought we’d get ready for the mother of all card holidays ASAP with a small tribute to these incredible ladies and remind you to honor the super-women in your life. Let’s not forget, hand-writing a beautiful card for mother’s day, or any day, never goes out of style – we hope you enjoy our sentimental mix below.

1. We were inspired by Dolce & Gabbana‘s mother-themed Fall 2015 collection and imagined our keepsakes spilling out of one of their whimsical “I Love You Mama” bags. You can preorder one at Neiman Marcus.

2. Photos from the Soviet era are certainly brightened by Masha’s mom’s and grandma’s beauty and handiwork – almost every outfit depicted was made by them.

3. Bring your mama a sweet and timeless surprise of gratitude with our Kangaroo Mom.

4. Celebrate the springy beauty of a mother-to-be with our Baby Bump.

5. Our new Monkey Hug celebrates parenthood and cuddles. Send your love along with this cozy pair nestled in exotic blooms and melt your recipient’s heart.

6. Our new and lavish Peonies Beautiful puts it simply: go with the floral and stop to smell the blooms. Like a fresh bouquet, this card will beautify your mama’s day.

View all our cards for mother’s day here.