About Moss & Fog
Good-looking things, posted from Portland since 2009
Since 2009, Moss & Fog has gathered art, architecture, design, nature and science from every corner of the world, and credited the people who made it. Seventeen years in, the job is the same. Find the good stuff, say why it’s good, and send you to the source.
- 2009First post goes up
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- 2027Still looking
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- Every storyThe Atlas →
▸ 197,000+
2009The year we started
7,000+Stories in the archive
8Worlds in the Atlas
PortlandWhere it’s made, under a lot of moss
Why the name
Moss & Fog is named for the Pacific Northwest, where we’re based. The forests here stay cool and damp most of the year. Moss grows over anything that holds still, and in the morning the fog moves through the trees slowly enough to watch.
We look for work that holds up to a second look, whether it was made last week in Seoul or carved into a cliff two thousand years ago.
What we cover
From buildings to beetles
How we work
Three things we always do
Moss & Fog was started in 2009 by Ben VanderVeen, a designer in Portland, and it’s still made here.
- Everyone gets credit.Every artist, photographer, architect and maker we feature is named and linked, so the work leads back to the person who made it.
- We say why.A beautiful picture is the start. Each story tries to tell you the one thing that made us stop.
- Nothing gets thrown away.The archive goes back to 2009, and we keep improving old stories on the same address instead of starting over.
The masthead
Who makes it.
Moss & Fog is edited by Ben VanderVeen in Portland, Oregon. Stories carry the Moss & Fog name because the site has always been the work of one small desk, not a newsroom: every piece is chosen, written and credited here.
- Editor
- Ben VanderVeen
- Made in
- Portland, Oregon
- Since
- 2009
- Corrections
- Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we’ll fix it on the same page, with a note.
In good company
Who’s written about us
Magazines, podcasts and fellow curators who have written about us, quoted us or sent their readers our way. Tap a name to read what they said.
An exciting new series of futuristic automobile designs.
Robb Report · February 2023Read it
posts on kottke.org credit Moss & Fog as the source, from 2019 to today. We are also credited by Colossal, Yanko Design, Laughing Squid, Neatorama and Design You Trust, and cited on Wikipedia in articles from Hang Sơn Đoòng to the deep-sea coral Iridogorgia chewbacca.
“Every day, I look forward to my Moss & Fog. You make it a great start to every single day.”
E. Eve, reader
Membership
Readers keep it free
Everything we publish is free, with no paywall and nothing to unlock. Members cover what that costs: image rights, research, reaching out to the artists we feature, and keeping a large independent archive online.
- Your name in our Hall of Fame, for good.
- Trees for burned forests. 2% of every membership plants trees for forest-fire recovery.
- Members-only extras, from the members newsletter to stickers, totes and shop discounts.
The Moss & Fog family
Our other sites
When a subject deserves more room than a single story, it gets a site of its own. Each one is made by the same small desk in Portland.
Go deeper
Guides, maps and tools
Good to know
Questions, answered.
Can I send you my work?
Yes, please! Send a few images and a line about the piece through our contact page. We look at everything, and if it fits, we’ll tell its story and credit you properly.
How do you choose what to feature?
We look for work that holds up to a second look, then we say why it stopped us. Craft, surprise and care matter more to us than fame or newness.
Can I share an image I found here?
The images belong to the people who made them. We credit and link every one, so the best way to share is to link to the story or to the maker directly.
How do I save a story to come back to?
Tap the ribbon on any story and it waits in your Cabinet, a shelf of your own. It’s free, it takes one tap, and there’s no account to make! Open it any time from the ribbon at the top of the page.
Is Moss & Fog free to read?
Every story, all the way back to 2009, with no paywall. Members are a big part of how it stays that way.
Get in touch
Say hello!
Found something we should see? Want to work together, or just tell us what you think? We read everything.
Follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Threads, Bluesky and Facebook.