my my

some fun things from my my, an online store featuring d.i.y.'s. here's a few holiday gift ideas:

too cool cards (gocco) - paper explosion
soaps - mymy
broaches - totinette




(via creature comforts).

melina made

some vintage inspired modern fabric, wallpaper, glassware and accessories at melina made. she even makes vintage fabric covered purses to match your wallpaper. (via creature comforts).

anne appleby

the beauftiful panel paintings by artist, anne appleby are being exhibited at the greg kucera gallery in seattle till the end of december. one of my favorites is kinnickinnick; using aquatint, the hues are so deep and the contrasts of earth and plant colors capture pieces of nature so well. amazing art.

main space art and design

main space art design is holding an exhibit called "mad" which is 11 local artists+designers joining together to exhibit their work for one weekend.



a few exhibitors (with websites) are:

jasna sokolovic - ceramic wall art
renata crowe - fun jewelry, hats and sculpture
cul de sac design - love these ceramics
holly cruise - amazing cupcake rings (photo above)

cut velvet search - designers guild

designers guild has come the closest so far in the cut velvet pillow department search. thanks to anonymous for the tip!

canadian design

is there anything canadian about our design, a question a lot of us canadian's may ask. but the answer may surprise.

frau liebe

hey, how about these great vintage egg cups from frau liebe out of germany. egg cups, demi-tasse, shots? dig the deeeeesign.

the hurricane poster project

i don't know how long this hurricane poster project has been going - but i always love finding things like this. good designs and causes. found via insurgentmuse a new blog i like as well.

unna & co.

i got a tip on this company and i'm so glad i did. everything about this product sounds so good. from the packaging to start. these soaps are beautifully packaged in elegant keepsake box sets which are handmade from natural hand-woven thai silk, and are hand dyed to match the colors of the soaps in each collection. all of the silks are handmade in northern thailand by various families at their homes. they claim on their website "the continuous support for silk weaving at home will encourage the preservation of the traditional silk weaving method passed from the old generation to the new generation". these boxes are also encouraged to be reused.

and the product sounds so incredible. exotic herbal soaps using specific herbs, like tumeric and charcoal to exfoliate and invigorate, or light red sappan to heal and restore.

you can almost smell them they look so good. they can be ordered online here.

spring 2006

i always enjoy this feature when it comes in the new york times. lots of fun slide shows of the spring 2006 fashion shows.

the artist's studio

i am loving this artist's new mexico studio.

when there, click on objects and see things in full color. and she has the most beautiful view.

sunday links

i linked to heather sloane (via uppercase) and came across some great links on her site. the first one was oliver jeffers (an illustrator out of belfast). be sure to click on the fish tank, it'll take you on a nice journey. i love the way frank designed the site. and then at his site i found mac premo (an amazing collagist and illustrator). together they worked on a book with two other artists; duke riley and rory jeffers (websites not up).

best in show

that great place called uppercase in the great town called calgary has a best in show exhibit happening there right now;which is a show of man's best friend (and other animals) as depicted in contemporary illustration.

featuring artwork by bella pilar, jenny kostecki, camilla engman, christopher silas neal, heather sloane, mike kerr and renata liwska. affordable original art and quality digital prints perfect for christmas gift-giving.

also check out uppercase's gocco christmas cards. knowing what i know now, a beautiful job!

grey cup 2005

although i have no idea how football works i have to mention that canada's equivalent to the u.s.'s superbowl is the grey cup which is being held in vancouver tomorrow. the city is a-buzz with people and activity, so we are mosly trying to avoid the hustle bustle and staying close to home. there is a link to all things about vancouver there and maybe you can catch a glimpse into this seaside canadian city. the canadian football leaque is into it's 93rd grey cup.

while on the subject of vancouver, this real estate brochure came in the mail last week, and if you ignore the music it actually has a nice evening panorama image of our city on it's website. and if you wait a little longer you will see some not so bad close-ups of bits and pieces of the city or click on the sfu link. fyi - the "w" theme for this website has historic value from the "w" that still stands prominent in the cityscape from an old department store (no longer existing) called woodwards.

anyway the two teams playing are the montreal alouettes and the edmonton eskimos (how canadian sounding is that eh?) and to add a design slant to it, a link to grey cup programme designs from 1949 to present. go eskimos!

cut velvet cushions

some more things i can't find online, these cushions from trianon interior design and antiques in toronto (416)-363-9851. i am so wanting these, the bright colors and shapes!. if anyone knows of anything similar (or even just where i can find the fabric) i'd love to hear from you. (via wish magazine).

design journal 1965 - 1974 online

design online is an electronic library containing a digitized record of design journal for the years 1965 to 1974. you can access the library by browsing through the journals, or entering keywords to search. such a great find and resource! (via i like).

did i say i liked felt?

well, here's some more this time from local deep cove's (a vancouver suburb) room6. it's a bit of a ways out, but such a cute little cove of a town and this shop is full of goodness. must somehow get down there to see all her new christmas stuff.

i heart felt

i couldn't find these tea cozy's online anywhere, made by elephant ears (a flat tea cozy and hatbox tea cozy). i saw them in wish magazine and they reminded me of those felt wall organizers from design public. for some reason i'm loving felt in the kitchen accessories department lately. imagine oven mitts, pot holders, all with this blanket stitch. these can be found in toronto at the tea emporium (416) 483-9547.

georgia straight living

the georgia straight's new living magazine is out and available as a pdf download here. i'm in love with this green countertop by poggenpohl. and i always have a soft spot for good scandinavian designs with these antonio citterio's pepper and salt mills.

also some local designers of wood furniture are an interesting read, particularily in element designs and derek young's at queuebert.

vinyl for windows

nuages inspired by childhood visits to the natural history museum, by pierre marie are just one sample of the vinyl for windows products available through domestic.

i find these so fun! and be sure to check out akroe's ridoe, another cool one.

holiday font time

some holiday fonts to play with:

bodie mf holly
faux snow
christmas silhouette ornaments

places and spaces

places and spaces a uk based online store full of unique furniture and accessories is now one of my favorite stores to peruse since hoping for happy accidents recommended it. here are a few favorites:



this super nova pendant which would cast unique shadows.



a maribowl in sea blue reminds me of my grandma's depression glass.



a snowdrift rug (including tire marks).



this droog strap for holding magazines, newspapers.



an eek dresser just because i like it.



and a couple of holiday cards like this airstream and reindeer;



and a lovely christmas tree.

gocco loco!

where to begin? pronounciation? go-ko it rhymes with loco. i always thought it was gawko and along with thinking that i had no idea this machine would make me so happy. i loved my experience at my gocco workshop at blim this past weekend, getting to know this incredible little hand press and all it's goodness.



i had no idea this carbon loving machine used flash bulbs, did you? cute little old fashioned yellow light bulbs - (that you can save afterwards and make a mobile or something, as sonja suggested). so first off you find a design. (4"x6"), and you can cut and paste, yes, hula, "COLLAGE" bits and pieces together to make your original. the only catch is it all has to be a carbon-based photocopy (which is just a regular photocopy), or something laser printed, and even some bubblejets will work. or even a sharpie - as it's carbon-based. so you can just write stuff free-hand or draw as an illustrator would say. so once you have your design set you open up the machine, place your original inside, place a blue filter that does something to the photocopy, and your master film plate slid in. put your flash bulbs in, click in place, press down and "poof" a big flash of light (like a camera) and you have your master film.

then you choose your paint colors, and literally gob yes GOB the paint all over the black carbon areas. almost like decorating a cake. oh ya - there's some fancy "ink blocking" you can do - which is basically placing some foamy material in between pieces in your design that are different colors so they don't bleed into each other. then once that's done, you cover it with the cello attached to the film and slide it into the machine. and then press down the top part (with film in) onto the card you are wanting to print onto.



and then after that its easy - just press away. you can press up to 75 times before you need to add more ink. and the film is good for 1000 copies. you can even press onto napkins, ribbons, bags, shirts (there's fabric paint as well). just a printing dream. make it up and print it. mousepads, magnets.

so with all of that in mind, the most important thing is your design. now i have seen some pretty fancy designs and layers - you can do layers. like print one, let dry and then lay down another. so it can get pretty technical with the registration part of it; but there are some beautiful gocco works out there. i think what i've learned from my design (which i'm not loving by the way), is that detail is what works best. i used quite a block design, blocky letters, and subject.




with the "bird image" (below - illustration cut out from a bird book), done by a fellow classmate, her detail really comes out so well and so i think that detail alone or with a blocky letter would work. but what i've done the block and block is not as effective.



so all in all, i got (20 holiday cards) made from the class and YES, purchased a gocco machine! i'm so excited to start working with it. and already ideas are swirling about. i would definitely reccommend a workshop though, and there is even another one coming up for the fabric version. apparantly you pull out the press block and attach a handle stamp kit and press onto shirts, bags, etc.




there's some amazing gocco-ing going on out there (like above - a sample the instructor had, by united congress, vancouver) and the possibilities are endless i think. there's also a flickr pool for gocco, (unfortunately, flickr is down tonight here on the west coast so i'm unable to link you there directly), but search for gocco pool. and go gocco loco!

UPDATE: the gocco pool from flickr is here. is especially like this, this and this.

nice

nice, a design house based in london work in illustration and graphics within music, fashion and product design. and also have this cool wallpaper line. love the peacock design (above).

sonja ahlers

soniatree, originally uploaded by poppytalk.

i lucked out in two ways yesterday. i signed up for an exciting gocco workshop at the blim gallery (which i'm going to post about soon) and while there, was mesmerized by an installation by vancouver artist, sonja ahlers. and sonja herself was there also taking the gocco workshop.

i first saw her work (and didn't realize it) exhibited at the moleskin exhibit out of japan (online). and then seeing her installation, was so inspiring. it was like looking into an intimate journal (on a wall). the horse mural with a canvas incorporated within and it's verse was like opening one of the pages.


the tree adjacent (above), a weeping one, although weeping, still had a playful, whimsical style . it could have been the other page of her journal; if intended i'm not sure.






a refreshing installation in a cool space. loved the gallery and gracious director, yurko iga too.

it was a fun workshop with lots of fun things to tell about soon. was just a nice bonus to see this type of work and gallery in town. thanks sonja for your inspiration. you can see more gallery images on my flickr site.

luren jenison

i just had to post about the work of luren jenison, (initially seen at design sponge last week), because her work is simply breathtaking. i can only imagine what these wall installations look like in person. with a bfa in textiles at rhode island school of design, luren's nomadic environmental designs explore the idea of if ones environment is always changing (hence these moveable fabric stencils), people will become more aware of their surroundings and make them aware of interiors elsewhere.

{on a personal note; perhaps my mother re-arranging furniture so often when i was younger (see post below on modular furniture), made me more aware of my surroundings, and interiors elsewhere, forming an aesthetic/critical eye.} thanks luren for your insight and inspiration.

holiday cards

thinking about holiday cards, i've been sort of scrounging around for ideas/designs and have found a few notable ones:

the lovely port2port press can make personalized ones.

rosa's adorable ones along with ana's and hilda's too!

kim's surfer girl pocket rock (could be a card... think holidays in hawaii)!

fred flare's rudolf cards.

good on paper holiday penguins.

holiday gift cards (see photo) from one good bumblebee. also check out her other paper goods; some wonderful things.

and i couldn't forget uppercase.

modulars

i love this modular sofa from caban. i'm all for rearranging. perhaps it's hereditary, my mom was always rearranging, or it's from the cold northern weather, that kept us cooped in for days, just to shake things up a bit, my mom would rearrange the living room rather often, getting rid of any cob webs. whatever the case, we had one of those modulars, each end without an arm, and was always fun to see what they could be formed into next.

fashion friday

a few canadian designers to introduce you to:

i love this blouse from dace a vancouver-based designer. and out of toronto, the people have spoken and damzels in this dress.

available at lark on 8th and main, vancouver.

raw nerve

raw nerve a design collective, based out of the u.k. will breath new life into your old sofa. they offer an initial consultancy to find out the exact requirements for the sofa you would like to re-upholster and then interpret and transform all the collected information into graphic and typographic designs to reveal your sofa’s past memories and experiences. (via cafe e cigarras