Archive for the category: design

:: Get Folksy

Posted by Joelle on July 16, 2008 | Permalink

Rulers by GetFolksy on Flickr
Enchanted by the name, I’ve been keeping an eye on folksy.com for a year or more, since a mysterious message appeared there about beta testing. It seems the project finally launched in beta a week ago, and is taking it’s first faltering steps towards becoming a suitably marvellous site.

A lot like a UK based Etsy, this is a place to buy and sell items by crafters and small designers. There’s also a making section which will showcase how to guides and stories about the making of items on the site. Currently there’s a good showing of work for sale from design graduates. Here’s my picks: Read more…

Categories: craft, design, shopping
Tags: craft, design, folksy, handmade

8 comments

:: You know what’s exciting?

Posted by Vanessa on June 12, 2008 | Permalink

- I am dogsitting a bulldog called Vito. He is very shy and very sweet and he does not like walks at night time.
- Stephen made a pan rack out of a rod and some nails and hooks. Now all our pans hang from the ceiling. This is a good storage solution.
- I got my first copy of ‘Believer’ magazine today; my mum got me a subscription for my birthday. Once I’ve read it I’m going to use the text to decorate glass plates and make the match the table we collaged with Believer back issues. Hurray literary-hero themed crockery!

Categories: craft, design
Tags:

2 comments

:: For good pictures

Posted by Sonja on April 21, 2008 | Permalink

What is it about Pictures? I love pictures. I like to look at nice pictures. I like to go into the gallery shop, after looking at Pictures in an exhibition, and look at more Pictures on postcards. I have a box file for pictures I like, and this smaller box for smaller pictures I like. Both my Picture boxes are full.

I found my dream picture box online. It’s called VADS, the online resource for visual arts. It has all the picture archives from lots of museums, universities, galleries etc etc. Translation: lots of nice Pictures. You can sign up and then store all your favourites in a ‘lightbox’. The pictures are sorted in collections, depending on where they’re from - the Crafts Council, Design Council, or the Frederick Parker Chair Collection. Et cetera.

I can’t show any here because they’re all copyrighted, but I promise it’s a box of delights.

Categories: about us, art, design
Tags:

1 comment

:: Mark Pawson and possessions

Posted by Sonja on April 12, 2008 | Permalink

Last week I went to a private view of Mr Mark Pawson’s new exhibition at the Horse Hospital, one of London’s best venues, and miraculously still little known. A bit like Mark himself - one of our best visual conjurers, but miraculously still little known. He probably likes it like that.

He prints his own signs, badges and postcards. He collects things, mostly plastic figures, and always completes the set. He works in bright colours. He is the coal miner of culture.

I invited my friend Katie, who recently had all her possessions stolen and destroyed in a lock-up break-in. As we entered the exhibition, and I saw what a feast of objects Mark had assembled, I had some misgivings about bringing Katie. She saw one of his signs, that said something about listening to all the unplayed records you’ve ever bought, and reading all the unread books, and had “a moment”.

But we stayed and looked at his full set of plastic Kinder polar bears, and read his ‘cultural workers’ manifesto, and Katie seemed stoical about her losses. I may buy her a set of his badges, to set her back off down the road to ownership.

Categories: adventure, art, design, london
Tags:

1 comment

:: William Morris - my new hero!

Posted by Sonja on March 31, 2008 | Permalink

Oh don’t you love it when you find a new hero?

I went to the William Morris Museum in Walthamstow.

Amongst all the tapestries, stained glass windows and old cloth-bound books was a piece of linoleum (yes, linoleum) designed by the man himself. We’re talking linoleum from the 1800s! And they found it in a skip.

They also had his satchel, that he used to carry all his socialist pamphlets around in. He was quite the socialist, being against mass-manufacturing, for workers’ rights, and believing in good design as the route to a decent life for all (he put it better than that - seriously, you need to visit this museum).

He also had some interesting things to say about pattern, and they had his original designs, blocked in on squared paper like a cross stitch pattern, and then the resulting woven fabric.

I’m already planning a second visit. It’s pure pattern porn. Mixed in with a bit of politics.

Speaking of politics, “they” are trying to shut the place down. Disgrace.

Categories: adventure, art, craft, design, london
Tags:

No comments yet

:: Spoons

Posted by Joelle on March 17, 2008 | Permalink

The spoon is a small topic to warrant a whole blog post, I know. But I like spoons, and today I found these: the most charming spoons I ever saw. I feel so covetous of these spoons, to have them hanging above my kitchen counter, quickly to hand when I need to scoop up a tablespoonful of something for my baking. They are by Beehive Kitchenware Co., who work from the inarguable premise of making things that are decorative as well as functional.

For any other spoon lovers out there, feed your habit.

via Poppy Talk Handmade’s Green Pop

Categories: design, shopping
Tags: spoons

5 comments

:: I’m all a flutter

Posted by Joelle on March 11, 2008 | Permalink

Much as I love the way they look, I’ve never got on with false eyelashes. I find them fiddly to stick on straight, and part way through the evening one will begin to peel away, like a hairy caterpillar making its way across my face.

Here’s a possible alternative though, in the shape of a silver necklace by Stephanie Simek, who has spotted that these soft human-hair lashes make a dreamy, surreal necklace. Available for $38 on her Etsy shop, along with versions shedding a beaded tear.

With Easter coming up, her impossibly delicate looking gold-lined quail egg necklace also caught my eye. Very pretty, yet quirky jewellery.

Categories: craft, design, shopping
Tags: etsy, eyelashes, jewellery, necklaces, stephanie simek

2 comments

:: Cross over the road

Posted by Sonja on March 4, 2008 | Permalink

My boy and I fancied going to an exhibition, but we didn’t fancy public transport, so we decided to go for a walk in the park instead.
There is a small gallery opposite my block of flats (I can see it from my kitchen window), but I’d never been in before.
We went in.
And happily so - the exhibition was all about pattern, particularly graphic pixelated patterns, with plenty of craft influence. Just my cup of tea.
There was a rose made from vinyl crosses stuck on the wall to look like cross stitch. There were cards wrapped in thread, with photographs printed on the thread. I got a belly laugh from a video of a JCB doing a painting.
The girl who does the cross stitch stickers was there, so I can tell you her name is Polly Glass. She has some really amazing homewares stuff that you have to do a bit of hand-crafting yourself to complete. I’m trying to decide whether to buy the rose and stick it on my new desk at work… You can email her if you’d like to do the same.
:: A Pattern Emerging is on at the Library Gallery, Edwards Lane, London N16. It’s open Mon - Sat 10am-5pm and Sun 1pm-5pm until Sunday 9th March. And you can drop in on me for a cup of tea afterwards.

Categories: adventure, art, craft, design, london
Tags:

3 comments

:: Dotty - Project the Second

Posted by Vanessa on March 4, 2008 | Permalink

Hello! I’m feeling quite pleased with myself because I just finished this bag, a take on the clutch in my ‘Bend-the-Rules’ sewing book. Of course, it’s extremely imperfect and is only my first take on the project (even in this picture you can see loose seams and the button needs securing) but I have plenty of spare fabric to practice better versions with. I went on an exciting shopping trip down to the fashion district (the nearest subway stop is Pershing Square) where I was astounded by the sheer number of fabric shops and the way rolls of fabric were stacked ceiling high in each. Fortunately, I had a tour guide who helped me find the best shops to go to, and the fabric and button for this bag is from Michael Levine. When I get better at sewing on my machine, I’ll definitely be heading back to buy some more interesting fabrics.

Even though I messed up the lining in this particular clutch (it’s a bit lumpy and my ’see Jane run’ fabric is upside down from one angle) I’m proud of myself. I threaded my machine up on my own, without having to phone Kerry or have a refresher lesson. One step closer to being an efficient sewing machine user!

Categories: art, craft, design, shopping
Tags:

2 comments

:: Dardik good designs!

Posted by Kirsty on March 3, 2008 | Permalink

I’ve fallen for Helen Dardik’s designs big time. I stumbled upon her website literally minutes ago, and my head exploded with ideas of what I could make if I could afford to commission her designs as fabric. Curtains, cushions, skirts, bags… Or wallpaper! Wouldn’t this make the scary-coolest wallpaper?

Categories: design, style
Tags: designs, Helen Dardik, inspiration

No comments yet