About Melissa Wood:

Despite a dire case of wanderlust, Melissa has lived in Chicago forever. Her three children—loves-of-her life—are beyond wacky, cool, and smart.

Goofballs, entirely grown up and brilliant in their own right, they continue to both inspire and mock her: a delightful combination! Road trips with paper maps, anything Europe, books, foreign films, a good meal, awards season, music, family, and travel are what Melissa is all about. Oh, and hand-addressed notes, Harry Potter stamps, and continued love for finding notes in her mailbox.

Over the nearly three decades of illustration and design, her passion for both old-world sensibilities and the quickly fading retro world of her childhood are constantly ignited. She finds that the inspiring subjects of travel, transport, architecture, cultures, cuisine and history serve as souvenirs of the dappled sun-spotting, ticket-wielding, boarding pass printing, street wandering, vintage modes of transporting, culture immersing, map-reading, adventure-taking crème de la crème of the lives we all live & witness as best we can.

Sure, gadgets are fun. Twitter is M’s new best friend, Instagram inspires always, and the zip flash ping of instant communication is both addictive and productive.

But, this life? The proof?

A studio brimming with paper, pens, paints, architectural tools, and a drafting board; Colors popping from Prismacolors and paint tubes stacked inside of a red art school metal tackle box; Sketchpads and watermarked paper piles ready to soak in the ink of a brush, marker, pencil or pen; Sturdy file boxes archiving nearly 30 years worth of original art; An antique Prairie School desk that holds vintage paper maps on standby for research and inspiration; A vintage Tower Travel typewriter because why not?

And best of all, a creaky hinged, wooden wine crate stuffed with old ink-worn letters, sketches, fading photographs, and shelves brimming with dusty books and old diaries.