i’m doing a little spring/summer cleaning and redecorating around the house this week so i’ve been keeping my eye on fabrics i could use for small projects. i’m loving these textiles from michael miller fabrics- they have a great vintage feel to them and enough bold colors to keep my inner color-lover satisfied. if you’d like to pick up any of these styles you can click here or here to purchase.
May 6th, 2008 - 10:00am
design show season is almost here and i’m so excited i feel like my entire home office is starting to vibrate from all the anticipation and excitement. next week i’ll be sharing some pre-show coverage for all of the shows taking place this month (icff, bklyn designs, surtex, the national stationery show) but today i wanted to end things with some beautiful new pieces from lotta jansdotter. lotta will be showing as part of bklyn designs next week (i’ll be there with bells on- i can’t wait!) but i wanted to share a little sneak preview of my favorites: beautiful new pillows, pencil cases and tote bags. i love all the yellow, grey/linen and purple. click here for more information on lotta jandsotter or stay tuned on may 12th for full bklyn designs coverage. i’ll see you on monday, until then, here’s a summary of this week’s highlights. have a great weekend!
May 2nd, 2008 - 02:00pm
i’m a big, big fan of artist alice stevenson. i first saw her work a few years back and immediately ordered some of her incredible illustrations. i was thrilled when i was able to hire her to create the design*sponge shop logo and i’m even more thrilled now to hear that her fabric for st. jude’s is available! ‘treehouse‘ is a 2 color design screenprinted on upholstery weight linen and available in two colorways: grey on grey and grey on faded red. i’m loving the grey on red style and am now saving up to buy a few yards for a small chair reupholstery project. you can pick up yardage for your own home projects right here for around $86 per yard right here.
April 30th, 2008 - 10:30am
i’m loving the combination of natural linen with bright apple green right now. these new patterns and colorways are from designer shannon lamden of aunty cookie. she’s selling several new styles at her etsy shop for around $8.50 per yard- click here to check them out.
April 24th, 2008 - 09:00am
based in clinton hill brooklyn, cakehouse is the studio of kristen couse, an artist specializing in home accessories made from recycled fabric. mainly using secondhand sheets (cleaned, of course), kristen creates all sorts of designs for the home ranging from napkins and placemats to tablecloths. she’ll be debuting some new pieces at the brooklyn flea this weekend so follow the link for directions or click here to shop cakehouse’s etsy shop. [thanks, kristen!]
April 18th, 2008 - 10:15am
despite being a fan of all things related to design, i’ve never been a big museum girl. something about the crowds and having to be so quiet always makes me a little on edge. but lately i’ve been trying to embrace museums a bit more and take advantage of some of the incredible collections nyc has to offer. two weeks ago by good friend jennifer met me at the museum of arts and design to check out one of their latest shows, extreme embroidery. we were blown away by a number of the pieces so i was thrilled to hear from the museum last week about their new location and new exhibitions. starting in september, the museum will be reopening at 2 columbus circle in nyc with triple the amount of exhibition space, more programming and open artist’s studios that will allow museum-goers to engage in the creative process. MAD (the museum of arts and design) has always been supportive of the indie design world and hope this new space will allow for more interaction and learning for members of this community. for me, the most exciting thing about the space is the first show kicking off the opening, second lives: remixing the ordinary. the entire show will be about “visionary approaches to creative re-use”, an idea i think we can all get behind and appreciate. the show will feature 40 contemporary artists but i wanted to share my favorites above and below. the first images above and below are from artist susi macmurry; her piece is entitled “a mixture of frailties” and is actually made from latex wash gloves, calico and tailor’s dummy. from a distance it’s hard to image that this incredible piece isn’t made of some sort of luxurious fiber, but when you look close you can see the gloves that susie used. i can’t wait to see this one in person.
below, there’s also a piece by artist jill townsley entitled “spoons”. spoons is actually a tower constructed from over 9,000 plastic spoons and over 3,000 rubber bands. this will definitely be a must- see when when it opens. to find more information on the MAD museum or visit their current 53rd street location, click here.
April 7th, 2008 - 10:00am
when it comes to accessories, i’m pretty much a pillow-holic. affordable (well, sometimes), fun and full of texture and pattern, pillows are my favorite way to indulge in a trend or look without jumping in head first. right now i’m looking for pillows with some sense of texture and i’m loving these new designs from karen karlstrom. a former photo stylist, karen is based in lausanne, switzerland and creates each one-of-a-kind pillow by hand. you can browse her full collection and find a retailer near you right here. [thanks, karen!]
April 2nd, 2008 - 09:00am
