When my husband and I moved to Providence from Chicago, I expected to be disappointed with the shopping selections, as I was used to an incredible variety of shopping choices in Chicago. However, that has not proved to be the case. In fact, I have been so inspired by all the amazing small shops and their owners, that I started a series on my own blog, Lavender and Limes, called “Shop Talk” where I feature a local store, thier unique products and the story of how they came to be. I have compiled a little ‘Best Of Shop Talk’ that I would love to share with you!

Simple Pleasures:
This little shop is tucked away and a bit off the beaten shopping paths of Providence, but it is well worth the extra trip. The shop has a very global, eclectic feel and some of my favorite items include the stacks of suzanis, the wide variety of ceramics, and the trays full of exotic jewelry. I love that the shop is owned by a mother-daughter team, something I have always wanted to do with my mom!

Simple Pleasures
6 Richmond Square,
Providence, RI
401-331-4120

East Side Eden:
Owner Alexandra Knott’s story of how East Side Eden came about is very inspirational, especially for us creative types. Always an avid gardener, Alexandra pursued a corporate career for 15 years until she was biking by the abandoned store front and greenhouse and it dawned on her that it was the perfect spot for a gardening store. Now, many years later, her store is a staple for all local gardeners and her selection of home decor items makes it the perfect spot to pick up a quick hostess’ gift!

East Side Eden
1 Alfred Stone Rd.
Pawtucket, RI 02860
401-726-2700

Title: “Mare Mosso,” 2007

RISD grad Serena Perrone’s drawings and prints are currently on view at the Sol Koffler Gallery, the primary exhibition space for RISD’s graduate students. This gallery is free and open to the public and if you are in the area, I would strongly suggest stopping by to see this stunning, even haunting, exhibit. This particular exhibit is titled “In the Realm of Reverie I-VII” and includes a series of large-scale, gold-inked woodcuts.

Titles: “False”, “Improve”

Since graduating from RISD with her MFA in 2006, Serena’s work has been exhibited across the country and abroad, in Italy, where she spent a semester as a visiting student. However, this is her first solo show, which she says is fitting since she began the instillation on display while she was still a student at RISD.

Title: “Phantom Vessels and the Bastion of Memory”, 2007

The themes of this instillation draw upon Serena’s interest in natural history, sideshow freaks and the idea of personal loss and reflection. You can see the subjects of her woodcuts are often disfigured children and people with missing limbs.

Title: “Non-Ambulatory Delirium” 2003

Currently, Serena is living in Philadelphia and wearing many hats. She splits her time between teaching at Temple University, working part time at a graphic design firm and creating more large-scale woodcuts. I have a pretty good feeling that in time, we will be seeing more of this talented artist!

**All pictures courtesy of Cade Tompkins

Today I am going to feature three RISD grads whose work really caught my eye and whose stories and inspirations were both interesting and thought provoking. There is so much talent at RISD and it was very hard to choose just three, so I narrowed down my artist search to those that would have their wares for sale at the 20th annual RISD Alumni and Student Art Sale, Saturday, October 11, 2008 from 10 am to 4 pm on Benefit Street (Between Waterman and Hopkins Streets). That way, if you are in the area, you will have a chance to meet these lovely ladies.

Jennifer Wells-Dickerson had such a wonderful story attached to her work, that she immediately intrigued me! Jennifer grew up in North Western New York farm country and her mom was a high school arts teacher. Although Jen always loved creating art projects, she decided in high school not to take any art classes because she would have had her mom for a teacher (high school student’s nightmare!). She continued on to college and tried to pursue a degree in psychology, until an elective jewelry class changed the course of her life.

Jen went on to receive her MFA at RISD, a school she chose because it dispelled the myth that to be an artist, you must be starving! Now, you can find Jen teaching (this spring) at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, taking care of her new baby and working hard to create jewelry that is simple and well made and can be passed on from generation to generation. She especially enjoys making custom engagement rings and wedding bands because it is important to Jen to make jewelry that has meaning behind it.

(anyone who is interested in purchasing anything or ordering a custom piece can email Jen at jwellsdickerson@hotmail.com)

Jennaca Leigh Davies begins her artist statement with this thought, “The work I make is meant to be worn, but I also intend for it to be an interesting object when off the body. I think of my jewelry as small sculptures or miniature architecture.” I guess this should be expected from a women who is a practicing architect, working on high-end water-front properties in Providence. Her focus on detail and new techniques is evident by her pendants, which are made using new technologies such as laser cutting and cad cam as well as ancient metalsmithing techniques including enameling and metal fabrication.

Jennaca was raised in Rhode Island and always felt that RISD was the “ultimate art school” and so it seemed an obvious choice when she went back to school for her masters. Upon graduation, she was given a prestigious grant from the American Austrian Foundation to study at the Salzburg Summer Academy. She was also awarded a four month residency at the Oregon College of Arts and Crafts in Portland, Oregon. This gave her a chance to focus exclusively on jewelry making and allowed her to try new techniques. Now settled in Providence, she spends as much time outside of work as possible focusing on her jewelry making.

Update: you can contact Jennaca via email right here.

Claire O’Neill, born and raised in Providence, graduated from RISD in 2006 with a MFA in Textiles. In an unlikely combination, she also holds a degree in Montessori teaching, so in addition to working on her line of childrens and womens wear, Owl Clothing (http://risd.digication.com/claireowl/Welcome/), she also teaches at a small Montessori school on the east side of Providence.

I was very drawn to the graphics on her line of childrens t-shirts, and I wasn’t at all surprised when Claire told me that her designs are inspired by her large collection of old toys, books, and puppets that belonged to her parents and grandparents. Claire’s graphics have an innocent, old-fashioned quality about them, invoking images of Peter Rabbit and other beloved childhood characters. While at RISD, Claire’s thesis focused on the concept of carrying our childhood with us and how that shapes the person we become.

All of her beautiful products are spun from yarns from Jaggerspun in Maine. Claire uses as many local connections for her raw products as possible and particularly likes that Jaggerspun is a family run business devoted to producing high quality materials.

Thank you ladies for sharing your stories!

I had the pleasure of meeting with local Providence designer Sarah Waldo, whose line of organic childrens clothing has been covered by Daily Candy, Rhode Island Monthly, Cookie and Small Magazine, just to name a few. Sarah, a Cape Cod native, attended Parsons in NYC and majored in Fashion Design. She knew she wanted to focus on childrens clothing and since Parsons didn’t have a program for it, she created one. Although she was the only student in the programs first year, it had already grown to 10 students by the second year. What a great lesson in creating opportunities to do what you love.

While in school, Sarah worked for the childrens wear design department of Ralph Lauren and later, for the upscale childrens wear company, Kule. With all of her knowledge, she decided to launch her first collection in the spring of ‘08 and it was met with rave reviews! Sarah is extremely dedicated to creating clothes that not only raise the bar on childrens fashion, but also better the world. All of her clothing is made with organic fabric and low-impact, plant based dyes. All production takes place in the USA, right in Fall Rivers, MA. It is important to Sarah that she personally knows the people creating her clothing and can rest assured they have fair wages and benefits. It is incredibly refreshing to see her dedication to producing products of extraordinary quality.

During our visit, she let me snoop around her studio and it was darling- great inspiration boards, amazing fabric stashes and fantastic views of the whole city out the large windows of the old loft building. It would hard not to be inspired in those surroundings!

[photo above from sarah’s recent wedding! photography by Orchard Cove Photography]

I am so thrilled to be guest blogging here on Design*Sponge, so I want to start by thanking Grace for this opportunity! My name is Christine Chitnis and I am a freelance writer and blogger living in Providence, RI. You may have seen my radiator and house featured here on D*S! My husband and I moved here only three months ago, but I have made it my business to get to know the town and make as many connections as possible to the local art and design scene. Providence often gets overlooked in favor of Boston or even Newport as desirable places to visit, but it is my personal opinion that Providence should be at the top of any East Coast visitors list, especially if that visitor happens to be a design lover.

I thought I would start my guest blog with a bang and feature some of the incredible collections currently on display at the RISD Museum. I had the pleasure of a private tour of the museum (thanks Matt and Jamie!) and the collections that absolutely blew me away were the Twentieth Century collection, Beth Lipman’s installation and The Asian Textile Exhibit. I have to say, funny enough, that one of my favorite things about the museum was the wallpaper in the bathroom (see above)- now that is some attention to detail on the museums part!

The Twentieth Century exhibit is unique in that it combines so many mediums; clothing, paintings, furniture and textiles. Of course, I was drawn to the furniture…amazing chairs and in such perfect condition! It was also fun to see some of the clothing, especially the Pucci dress!

Beth Lipman is an artist known for her hand-sculted and blown glass works that call to mind historical still-life paintings. Her installation, After Your Gone, explores the themes of decay and excess. The glass wallpaper was exquisite and by far my favorite piece of the installation.

This incredible exhibit features Asian textiles and current student work inspired by the ancient pieces in a well curated display of old versus new. I found the Japanese fabric stencil (above) fascinating, as it dated back to the early 19th century, yet the design was in line with current textile trends.

Here are some exciting upcoming events at the RISD Museum: the opening of the Chase Center, a new addition to the museum, September 27, 2008 and its inaugural exhibition, Chihuly at RISD, running September 27, 2008-January 2009.

Being in this business of design and craft, I have been able to meet so many talented people. Since I am at the New York gift show this week, I wanted to share some of my friends with you. Not only are they doing what they love and making it happen, but they are also kind and generous, which makes me wonder if there is something to that. My amazing friend Dana of dbO home is such a person that comes to mind. I have many many of her pieces all over my apartment, and I never tire of them. All her ceramics are made one at a time and hand pressed with natural botanicals. Swoon.

Xenia Taler is in the same aisle as me at the show and I have major crush on her work. We both worked with Urban Outfitters this year which makes me feel not only akin to her, but honored to be included with an artist such as herself. She and her husband have been making these hand painted tiles and ceramics for over ten years now.

Amy Adams of perch! is also on our aisle (which is the Handmade section of the show, 5500 row). We have traded work a few times and I use one of her little bird feeders for an air plant in my bedroom. Amy’s super awesome and has great advice to give on being a working artist.

So come by and see us! I am in booth #5514. We are all pretty sweet despite the fact we will on our feet for eight hours straight for five days in a row without any natural sunlight, however, we would still love to chat it up with you.

And thanks so much for letting me share some of my inspirations and fellow crafters with you. I am sort of new to this blogging bit, but I hope you enjoyed it.

[image above: “daylight shade“]

I am loving uhuru, a furniture design and build studio out of Brooklyn. Most of the materials they use are “reclaimed, recycled, repurposed, reused or otherwise rejected from their original function.”

The Bilge Lounge featured above is made from reclaimed materials (like used truck springs) and yet it’s so simplisticly perfect and modern.

To me, a good lamp can be hard to find in regards to it’s design lasting the test of time. However, I find this Stoolen Lamp above to be classic and timeless for many people’s aesthetic taste.

How amazing is this? I’m in LOVE with it and I want one in my studio!

For all you crafty green people out there, I thought this was too neat to pass up. Greetje van Tiem has created newspaper yarn, which can be woven into a variety of things. Check out how to make it yourself here.

Today I scoured the web looking at some of my favorite artists and printmakers. I noticed that many of the prints that caught my eye had those gorgeous living specimens that we commonly call trees. So simply put, here are some of my favorite artists and tree prints.

Brooks Shane Salzwedel is an artist out of Los Angeles who recently had a show at the Black Maria Gallery.

I love how the greens and blues work together in this print by another LA based artist Melissa Moss.

Tugboat Printshop artist Paul Roden has this woodcut print available at Little Paper Planes.

I have long admired Rachel Salomon’s work. How beautiful are these prints? Okay, I am officially inspired now and must get back to the studio at once! Tomorrow, I will write about another passion of mine: green design!

Today I wanted to finish up writing about two more of my favorite artisans out of Asheville. Although their aesthetic is quite different from one another, they both create each jewelry piece completely by hand. I have several pieces by Amber Mahler of Mani Designs and I just adore her process. She ventures out to the woods to collect various botanicals and uses the lost wax casting method. She also finds vintage tins from around the world to incorporate into her work. Her jewelry is simply stunning. I recently found out that the Getty in Los Angeles has begun to carry her pieces.

Molly Proctor Designs makes retro inspired resin jewelry from scratch. How fun are her pieces? I have one of her cortez blue rings and I swear it glows.