Light

Found this through my new favorite blog, {Black.White.Yellow}. We love this simple and pare down woode frame Jazmine Lamp by Nina Tolstrup from Habitat. Love the cable detail. Coolness.

Senior Appreciation Day On My Birthday

Today is my 27th birthday! Happy birthday to all the March 30th people out there!! I found out that I have the same birthday as Vincent Van Gogh! COOL!! (don't mind him, he's just a little pissed that he didn't get his ice cream cake this year) But besides him...I also have the same birthday as um... MC Hammer, okay...not Van Gogh, but still pretty cool.... He knows how to bring the party......oh, and there's Celin Dion...eeeeh, and Ian Ziering (the guy that nobody cared for from original 90210) Ah man! my cool level just totally tanked!
Anyways, it's not about them..it's about ME!.....and yeeeeees, I'm OFFICIALLY in my late twenties and am actually looking forward to the whole getting old thing! Woo Hoo!
I got super excited when I found this great blog, Advanced Style, with photos of beautifully aged "superior" people on the street. There's a great mix of styles from really sophisticated suits to funky but fabulous outfits.
Seeing all the photos of them got me really inspired, since they all express such true grace, pride, and beauty. Just look at their cool gray silvery hair, their impeccable style & color pallets, and the perfect accessories whether it be a cashmere scarves, a handkerchief, a hat, a leather case or shades...yeah...they're pretty stylin'.....All I can say is that I got a lot of work ahead of me to ever achieve that level of coolness....It does make me wonder though... "what kind of grandma or grandpa will Dylan & I gonna look and act like when we turn 60 or 70?" ...Thought bubble....I think I would probably be one of those grandmas who swears at all the cars when driving but while I'm the one who drives like a maniac...and Dylan would be the grandpa that would stop and watch some construction work or yell "get off our property!" when no one is actually around and grumble a lot.....oh wait, never mind, I think we already do that now....
But of course, we'd both still be rummaging for cool objects together. I don't think that will ever change. :D
Whatever type of old people we become, I hope we are as cool as them....
I also need to some of these fabulous frames. NOW!
What kind of grandma or grandpa will YOU become when you turn 60 or 70?

L&G Storytime No.5: Capture This!

Today on L&G's storytime segment for Poppytalk, we would like to share with you this wonderful book, "The Camera" one of Time-Life Book series. We found this book and it totally fuels us to get even more excited about cameras and photography!
Both Dylan and I are a little obsessed with cameras these days and recently found a twin lens Rolleicord V camera to add our collection of vintage cameras.
This beautiful book contains captivating historical and artful photos as well as informative instructions on how manual cameras work.We simply love the graphic illustrations and all the striking black & white photos.
I think our next camera experiment is to get a microscope camera! Just imagine all the amazing things you can capture...a fly..crystallization of vitamin C! Remember looking at onion peels during science lab? I'm always the one hogging the microscope!This crazy revolver is actually a camera invented in the late 1800's. Hmm, not sure why ANYONE would invent something like this. What was the objective?!...whatever it is, I think it's a cruel joke! Imagine using that and pointing it at people you know and shouting "say cheese!!"....You'd wonder why everyone in your photos looks horrified. I would definitely add this to my list of 'really useless inventions' along with Roomba and The Jonas Brothers. (sorry!)

But this is a book filled with visual inspirations that will get anyone to pick up a camera...or if you're like us, you'll end up picking up ten cameras!

L&G Living Room on Bloesem!

Irene from Bloesem did a brief post about L&G's storytime segment for Poppytalk. She used a photo of our living room! Yay! Thanks Irene! We love your blog and are honored that our new space made it on there! :D

Picture me Rollein'

I'm so excited. I just picked up a classic Rolleicord V twin lens medium format camera today on Craigslist! It's from the mid '50s but has (according to the owner) had less than 10 rolls of film shot on it EVER. It shows too. It's absolutely clean right down to inner workings and the near-perfect leather case.

The best part: it was only $125!

I can't wait to get out there and take my first shots! In the meantime I'll just oogle over my latest find.

L&G Studio on Etsy Blog! Woo Hoo!

We're SUPER DUPER excited to share that we actually got featured on "Get The Look:Home Edition"!! Our items from L&G has gotten picked for other people's spaces in the past, but now we finally got our own article! Hurray!! But being featured on Etsy was a totally unexpected surprise!
This post is on the apartment we lived in Capitol Hill last year. We did a studio tour awhile back for Poppytalk. I still dream about the tall ceiling and the old word charm of the building, but we've moved on...on to bigger and better thing...maybe? We hope to do another tour of our home when we get or act together...
Here's a the "Get the look" article about our apartment:This weekend's Get the Look: Decor is inspired by the bright and colorful Seattle, Washington apartment of Jean and Dylan of ladiesandgentlemen. When it comes to finding great deals on vintage treasures and furniture, this couple has discovered the secret. With their background in industrial design, they also enjoy the challenges of remodeling a kitchen or building custom shelves that meet the demands of displaying their many vintage collections. I recently interviewed Jean to find out more about Ladies and Gentlemen's decorating process. Read on to learn how to achieve their distinctive look.

Dylan and Jean appreciate objects, be they high design or the everyday mundane. Dylan tends to gravitate to modern, clean, technical and minimal pieces, while Jean has a way of finding items with lots of color, texture and character. They're both accumulators, so the resulting collection is a great mix of simple and complex.

"When we started the L&G shop last year, our affection for knick knacks, housewares and various eclectic objects really grew. Every time we find things for the L&G shop, we ended up keeping some stuff for ourselves. It's kind of a curse in disguise, since we still have trouble figuring out where to put everything."

Ladies and Gentlemen love to display objects they cherish, so shelves and storage are critical. Storage within storage is even better to create various divided spaces to display items from giant beakers to tiny little pods and toys. "Shelves allow us to quickly and easily change the feeling of our space and house our collection of goods. In our dream space, we would like have an entire wall of floor to ceiling shelves. It's well worth the added dusting!"

Dylan and Jean use their finds to create collages in their space. "Our permanent architecture and furniture tend to be more simple, timeless and versatile, so that they work well with whatever 'collage' of quirky objects we collect. As we develop our new space, we try to make initial decisions deliberately to change and grow over time. Every once in awhile we like to completely rearrange on a whim, too. It's always changing and evolving."

Visit Etsy's There's No Place Like Here flickr pool to view more photos of Jean and Dylan's home.

You can see the actual post, too see what they pick to get the L&G look! here.

Here's some recent picks of L&G items on other Etsy posts.
L&G item on Etsy's Finds Vintage: The art of DisplayL&G on Etsy's "A Cozy Home" gift guide.

L&G on Etsy's Get the Look!

I was browsing Etsy's great "Get the Look:Home Decor Edition" and was thrilled to find that one of the Etsy admin picked an L&G item be part of the look ! The inspiration was from the Brooklyn, NY home of illustrator Alex Eben Meyer. This happened on the 8th...I'm always little behind on the news...but I can still pretend that it just happened, right?
Here it is nonetheless! Ta-da!
They picked out L&G;s vintage dart board! I had to put a heart around it. :D
You can read the article, here!

HBO's Grey Gardens

Just saw the trailer of the HBO version of "Grey Gardens" starring Jessica Lange and Drew Barrymore. (Playing April 18) I have to say that was a little skeptical when I first heard that Drew Barrymore was playing Little Edie...not because I don't like her, it's just that she typically plays the ditsy sweet girl in most movies. So it was hard to picture her playing the eccentric & carefree (and somewhat delusional) Little Edie. But after watching the trailer with scenes of Little Edie talking about her costumes, I was surprised by how much Drew Barrymore spoke and acted like the real Little Edie. I'm actually curious to watch the HBO version. It's a fictional film depicting their lives before and after the original documentary....definitely more like a typical dramatized story, but curious nonetheless. There's even one of the Baldwin brothers! I just can't remember his name...do they have any names besides Alec? :P
The Original 1975 documentary is a must-see. It's a true all-American tale depicting the daily lives of two relatives of Jacki O after they lost their wealth. Big Edie and Little Edie lived in a decrepit manor living amongst dozens of stray cats and wild raccoons. They live their lives remember their glamorous past in the crumbling house of East Hampton.

Watch the original trailer below:


Since the film, Little Edie's sense of style has served as inspirations in the fashion world. Designers like Laurie Foon , Todd Oldham, and beyond has used Edie's mix-match technique, her color pallet, and her signature head wrap in their collections.
I found these fashion spread (via Zoom Zoom) referencing scenes from Grey Gardens. I really like the soft and the dreamy feel of these shots.So, here's Little Edie's best fashion tip. “The best thing is to wear pantyhose or some pants under a short skirt, I think. You have the pants under the skirt and then you can pull the stockings up over the pants underneath the skirt. And you can always take off the skirt and use it as a cape. So, I think this is the best costume for today. I have to think these things up, you know..."

Now I just have to go bribe someone with HBO to watch the movie now.

L&G Storytime No.4: Parlez Vous Francais? Oui!

Bonjour à nos amis! Today’s Poppytalk Storytime centers around the graphic treasures of the 1960 French language book Parlons Francais.

You don’t want to end up like Brett and Germane, so follow us and Parlons Francais and brush up on your French!

What better motivation to learn a foreign language than the promise of an incredible, neat illustration waiting for you on the next page? Learn some words and you can impress pretty much anyone! We learned some French terms and now use them on a daily bases! We like to walk the corner market “Sept-Onze” (or more commonly known to Americans as 7-Eleven) and pick up a croissant and a slurpeé using our superior French speaking skills. We come off so cultured.

Parlon Francais is a set of 8 mini-books that are full of charming illustrations that make the leafing through them a delight. The best part is that each book has pages that can be removed and played on a record player for pronunciation.

Here are a few lessons along with some darling visual aids for you (read and repeat aloud…you want to learn French don’t you?): “Comment allez-vous?” - How are you?
“l'oiseau est dans l'arbre” - The bird is in the tree.
“L’Oiseau et Le Chat” - The bird and the cat.
"La Famille" - Family
"Nous allons en vacances" - We go on vacation.
"Mes chaussures sont de très petites" - My shoes are very small.
“Je voudrais un grand ballon rouge, s’il vous plait” - I would like a large red balloon please.
“Regardez-vous les animaux” - Look at the animals

Now you know all these phrases, your homework is use them and we'll gurantee that you'll impress someone...unless that person happens to be French. Au revoir! You can see more images, here.

Jean & Dylan
Ladies & Gentelemen

Oh My Goldness!

Saw this via Garance Dore. with tons of fantastic people with great styles. They're all too cool for school.
I'm absolutely in love the this gold yellow coat. Simply clever.
I'm in need of more sunshine, and wearing gold and yellow is a perfect way to brighten up an outfit without depending on the moody weather in Seattle.
Some nice use of the color.

Songs to Welcome Spring

It's been super nice in Seattle this last week, and I've been listening to this album EXIT by Shugo Tokumaru. It's been the perfect album to listen to. His music reminds me of spring and sunshine! Sounds cheesy, but once you hear it, you'll know what I mean. Thanks to Sonicboom, I picked up this album by chance when test-listening their used albums. I love finding music when I least expect it!
Shugo is a music genius who intricately weaves sounds of all sorts by using random everyday objects to classical Japanese instruments. He has collected hundreds of noise makers and often incorporates them in his music. Every song is a delightful collage of sounds that is simply wonderful to listen to over and over again. There's seriously not one song in there that I don't like. You can listen to some of his songs, here.

Hope it will brighten up your days like it does for me. Enjoy and have a good weekend!

Big Love for Big Knits

I love knitted, crocheted, laced things....but especially when they're enlarged and used in an unexpected context. As you know I hand-crochet a giant doily rug last December for JOIN:Design Seattle, and named it....Mega-Doily. (Don't judge because of the name. I'm not the most creative when it comes to naming things.)Since then, I've been getting links to all these other cooler knitted art/design/jewelery that totally puts my rug to shame! UGH! It's so unfair! People who try to make me look less cool totally suck! I wish my friends never sent me those links! It's as if they're indirectly saying "Hey check this stuff out! This reminds me of your rug, except your rug isn't nearly as cool as this! TTYL! XOXO! :D"
But despite my obvious jealousy-manifested hatred, I'm glad I saw them...cuz they are cool...I suppose....And I guess I SHOULD still share all this with everyone.

Okay, check these knits with gigantic upholstered tubes by Bauke Knottnerus.... Titled 'Phat Knit'. They are indeed phat and literally fat....like your MOTHER! OH! BURN!
This yellow knitted bench by Imaginary office has been making its way around the blogosphere. It's pretty awesome.....Like your MOTHER!...oh wait...that doesn't work. Crap!

But my jaw dropped when I saw these amazing series of knitted lamps with single strand of cord by a Korean artist, Kwangho Lee...I couldn't stop looking at them. It's simply brilliant and totally stunning. I love the more tangled ones, too. Lee has tons more other stuff that is beyond amazing....like your....ahhh- I give up.
Via come up to my room.

Elegant looking knitted necklaces from Jaclyn MayerAnd of course, who can resist Yokoo's edgy knitted accessories. I got a mustard scarf from her a while back, and am still totally in love with it. But now I'm dreaming about how I can rock the big knitted chain look....maybe if I wear my jeans backwards and sag them a little then I might be able to pull it off...hmm?
But I'm still warning all you out there who's trying to be better than me...watch your back! Because I'm totally gonna say angry things about you and make fun of your mother (when I get the hang of it) on the blog with my angry face!
Like this -->\ --/
Like this -->\ - >\ Or does that look more like an Asian face? Ugh! Double crap!