verre-y cool necklace II

i came home today and found this beautiful necklace:



waiting for me in a package on my front porch. many thanks to two lovely friends! who incidentally have been reading my blog; you guys are so great!

the necklace came from the Clay Pot which i definitely want to visit next time i am in brooklyn!

sf haunts

design*sponge guest blogger sfgirlbybay has posted her favorite sf haunts here. check it out if you will be here soon - or if, like me, you are here already.

happy earth day!
consider planting a tree - or several - to offset your carbon emissions. or get a terra pass.



finally, in both the spirit of earth day and of design - check out Green with Glamour. As, the proprietors say: "Go Green. Stay Stylish".

like no other

check out this ad for the bravia sony tv - set in the streets of sf.



the creators were aiming for a "really simple, visual celebration of color" and i think it worked. how about you?

strong shapes

strong shapes always attract my eye. clear outline, confident color choices, self-assured forms - i think these are central to what i like and common to many of the designs in which i find inspiration. the works of henri matisse, kelly wearstler prints and wall paper (not to mention her outfits on top design), the jersey of doo ri, port2port press letterpress, arabian geometric patterns - all of these have strong and striking (to me) shapes.

for instance, The Piano Lesson, by Henri Matisse:



geometric forms, such as this wallpaper from kelly wearstler, are strong and clear; they pop!



or how about the french dot wallpaper from Nama Rococo?

or these, from flavor paper:



strong shapes can be visually arresting for more than just visual pleasure. the work of kara walker - who works in cut outs - is striking but also draws attention to social issues in a firm, yet not hit-you-over-the-head way.

Kara Walker's installation for the School of Arts at Columbia:



an heir to matisse's cut outs? This is his Two Dancers:





finally, i am also finding inspiration in doo ri - these shapes are not geometric or fixed but arresting in another way - a swoop of jersey cloth where you'd least expect it:


photos: Luis Bañuelos Aréchiga

go threadless

my husband worked hard on his threadless submission... take a look and vote for his submission if you like it... then browse around - fun to check out and vote on the various designs..

if you are looking for just plain old good design - and less cute slogans, again i really recommend poketo.

book cover art

my dining room has a large, white blank expanse of wall - which i've been contemplating for a while now. our first attempt to fill it failed but now i think i may be on to something....

all posters below available from well allposters.com


Art by Vanessa Bell



Art by Michael Farrell


Art by Alvin Lustig

verre-y cool necklaces

thanks to oh joy! i came across these at verre new york.



this necklace, in addition to the one toast n candy made, inspired me to make a necklace of my own... which i will post once i actually make it ;)

diamonds in the rough

i went into the payless shoes the other day to look for the abaete for payless line and see what i could find. and look what i found:



these come in gold, black patent and silver and are $20. they even seem like they'll be comfortable too ;) the collection is uneven - actually i think these were the only cool pair there but i am glad i waded in and checked it out - got my jolt of metallic for spring for $20 ;)

*addition as of 4/1: the NY times apparently agrees with me!

flaneur-ing and poketo

when i looked at this photo that i took in hong kong...



... it reminded me so much of the concept of the flaneur in late nineteenth century french art. particularly, this painting, Place de la Concorde by Edgar Degas:




a flaneur was a 19th century term for someone who walks about (Paris) seeing what there is to see. i feel that could be me walking about san francisco. at any rate, when one walks about one sees bits and pieces of people, groups, signs, stores as one passes by. this sense of passing by is reflected in the man walking out of the picture frame, in the horse swinging round as I walked by and moving out of the frame ie. my line of sight. sights seen by the flanuer are transitory, incomplete, always moving away and on from the viewer flaneur as the flaneur moves on herself. it also makes just a cool alive image - the person/horse/whatever moving just out of the frame.

to flaneur is also a way of describing to surf as in surf the internet. yesterday, while surfing around, i found poketo, which promotes the work of independent artists and is worth checking out. especially the shirts by hannah stouffer, marc atlan and tim gough. go crazy people! not only are these rad, but the customer service is most excellent.

you won't believe where this bathroom is

look carefully.

hint: it is not a disco.

ming yellow

on my very last day in hong kong, i saw this in the art museum. which i thought was extraordinarily beautiful and, for something hundreds of years old, very fashionable in color.

the yellow dish was offset too by this blurry but beautiful blue vase:


i have more from hong kong to share, but i am going to string it out a little...

star ferry in hong kong

i need to find out why they call the ferry the 'star'. this is a star design punched into the seats on the star...

it is fantastic public transportation. efficient, gorgeous views, not too crowded. excellent.

more tomorrow when i am feeling more coherent ;)

'self-portrait'

an attempt to draw a self-portrait sketch in Illustrator:




i don't recommend trying to draw your own face. ever. it is just far too easy to make one look like a dope or way worse. in the above, i am supposed to be winking - with the existing eye. i tried drawing the other eye and that is where i started looking really stupid.

i do like my hair b/c it is how i imagine my own hair looks a lot of the time. kind of crazy and all sticking up. i know that isn't true, but that is how i FEEL it looks.

update: ok, i just took a look at this and my orange hair is turning out BLUE and there is no left eye! only the chesire looking grin. going to try to fix that. if you actually click on the image. you'll see how i meant it to be. i think it worked. i figured out how to optimize images for Web in photoshop and, as a result, am feeling pretty fancy.

Proenza Schouler @ Target

this is a close-up of the silk dress i got yesterday at target. that's right 100% silk and an intense, beautiful color too. it is proenza schouler (for target, that is). not only it is gorgeous in color, i think it looks good with my hair and my skin. i am growing to like the pairing of orange (again my hair, a notebook, a golden retriever) and jewel tones (a la this dress).

above photo is fuzzy on purpose, but here's a better look at the dress.



as everyone says, target is really changing retail - i think they are one of the only chains growing their apparel business due to partnerships with small designers like Proenza Schouler, Behnaz Sarafpour, Paul & Joe. they are onto something here. Also, if they are GROWING b/c of sales of well and creatively designed clothes from independent designers - then it must mean the American public is interested in this sort of design. whether we all knew we (coast dwellers and middle of the country folks alike i imagine) were interested in it to begin with or not.

now of course my dress will probably fall apart after one wearing, but i have plenty of fancier, less well designed dresses, that I've worn only once. i look forward to seeing target's next partners.

v-day designs

thanks to belle epoque , i've been upping my crafty-ante. she invited us over to make valentines and, while i didn't exactly make valentines, i did come up with these:







i also stopped by flax art today where they are having a massive in-store (not on web, i checked) sale on ribbon - satiny, grosgrain, all the super deluxe kinds. 50% off!

now back to figuring out my 'scanner darkly' technique...

ritzy

today, i went to afternoon tea at the ritz for a friend's birthday. luxurious - they let you sit and sip - bubbly bellinis and pots and pots of tea - for hours and hours. perfect place for a baby shower or as an alternative-to-bar birthday location. especially good: fruit (all the usual suspects plus grapes!) tarts and, well, the bellinis.

yum

I tried out Bi-Rite Creamery today.

Oh My God. So good. Going back.

holiday views

we spent the last week or so in CT and NYC where it was unseasonably warm. The trees in the woods at sunset looked gorgeous.

also looking good - the cooper hewitt facade & central park:

I also explored Fort Greene in Brooklyn.

I need to go back in the daylight to check it out further - including such curiosities as this former dry cleaner's, now a swank shop called Stuart & Wright (they've kept the old cleaner's sign)...

And back in SF, we had a fantastic view of New Year's fireworks from our apt:

farro is fantastic

i cannot get enough of this stuff!

here's a great recipe using it - and one that I made successfully in advance for a party.

i also really like how farro tastes when it is just finished in the pot - melty and gooey like oatmeal. so great.

not your normal pacifier

this past week, I have been in MA helping my cousin and his wife with their 6 week old baby. he is a darling and i spent many moments holding him, changing him and rocking him to sleep.


perhaps some of the most memorable moments were, however, our efforts to soothe the baby when he hit the peak of the top of the 'crying curve'. (apparently babies go through a major crying phase - of the inconsolable, caterwauling, red, screaming angry type crying - at 6 to 8 weeks). one or two times a day the baby would turn bright red and just bawl for no apparent reason.





of course we tried all the usual methods to soothe him, but those were useless. we brought out the big pacifying guns:





1. the vacuum*





Turn on the vacuum and the baby quiets. Something about the white noise.





2. the baby footrace





If #1 doesn't work, take baby and walk as fast as possible around the apartment. If necessary, run-walk w/ babe in arms through apartment building halls.





3. the baby drive by





If #1 and #2 don't work and the level of baby crying noise has reached into the stratosphere, put the baby in his carseat and sprint out of apt, grabbing only necessary keys. Get in the car and drive and drive and drive. Baby should fall asleep immediately once in the car and parent/care taker can try to enjoy a drive and a little peace ;)





*Dishwashers and dryers may be substituted.




All of this pacifying took place in Cambridge, which was very beautiful and unseasonably warm - until it snowed. It is funny to see snow on bright green grass and below trees still with leaves on!