L&G ready for NYIGF 2012!

We can't believe it's that time again! 2011 year ended and now L&G is TOTALLY pumped for 2012 and ready to share some brand new works!

L&G will be showing an exciting brand new line of table top items & jewelry along with JOIN and eight other Northwest based studios.
So come visit us at Accent of Design at the Jacob K. Javits Center, Level 3. We'll also be right next to other talented young designers from American Design Club and A+ Young Designers.

It's gonna be a par-tay! woot woot!

BLANC Rocked the House!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Seattle for making the BLANC pop up a success!
We had a great time this week and were so inspired by people's enthusiasm about design! With this and the OBJECT opening a week earlier, we're feeling some serious momentum for Design in the Northwest. FINALLY!

Here's a little summary of the weekend:

It all started Friday with a preview party at Sole Repair...

...A perfect evening of TOTAL wintery white festivities filled with inspiring work from 30+ designers from Seattle, Portland, Los Angeles, New York and Vancouver.

Everything looked pefectly BLANC.....Wintery white but warm and cozy all at the same time. There was special BLANC themed cocktails and snacks and lots of people dressed for the theme.  It was exactly how I enviosned...perfectly BLANC! I couldn't have asked for more!

 

(photos above by Eric Becker)

On Saturday, we braved the wintery elements opening the big garage door at Caffe Vita's Bean Room for the BLANC pop up. Using bags of coffee beans, discarded pallets and crates Jean led the crew of willing volunteers in merchandising a beautiful display of BLANC and non-BLANC design items.

The crowd was consistent and diverse from JOIN followers to coffee-sipping walk-ins. By the successful end of the first day, we knew there was no other option than to extend the hours three more hours on Saturday and open up again on Sunday!

And of course we had to treat ourselves to some hot coco with homemade marshmallows that totally hit the spot!

All and all,  it was just so great to so many people who came to support and celebrate design! It's resounding clear that Seattle is ready to embrace design more than ever! We say this is the turning point!! and that deserves a group hugs & high-fives all around!

Phew! I'm totally exhausted and need to go hibernate for the next 6 months now!!

See the rest of the event HERE!

BLANC Mailers!

I'm excited to share these special mailers that Chelsea Heffner of plainMADE  and I collaborated on to reach out to some special museums / shops / press from Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and NY.

Each card is unique and it's just a little something that we hope will entice them to come check us out and/or support the event!

....but mostly I just wanted an excuse to get Chelsea to do some beautiful hand-painted artwork! :)
Her free-hand color washes is totally perfect for what I had envisioned for BLANC.  She even got these beautiful slightly textured thick water-color paper to paint on. Then I did the layout for the text and printed it with just my printer!

I was more than surprised and happy to find that my ghetto Canon MP470 printer did SUCH a stellar print job, didn't chew up the paper or die!

I really hope people will get them and keep these for awhile....I know I totally would!

BLANC: a Winter JOIN Design Popup!! NOV 18-19

I'm SUPER excited for this design Pop-Up shop that JOIN and Brite Collective are organizing, which will be happening next week! eek!! 
Its been awhile since we've done an event for both JOIN & Brite in Seattle, and figured this is the perfect time to gather everyone and jumpstart the shopping season with lots of awesome work from independent designers!

We gathered 30+ designers and artists to do a special curated works under the theme BLANC.

Full details below!
JOIN Design Seattle and Brite Collective presents:  
BLANC-A Winter White Design Pop-up Shop

We're ready to ring in the winter holiday season with a one-of-a-kind market of great design. In celebration of winter, BLANC will feature a curated selection of limited edition objects that are white, blank, or otherwise achromous in color or spirit. Additionally, the pop-up shop will offer a cornucopia of other well-made goods from 30+ talented emerging designers from the West to the East.

DAY 1 / NOV. 18th / BLANC PREVIEW PARTY 8pm-12am 
Celebrate independent design. Special preview of "BLANC" curated items, BLANC cocktail menu, live music, and more. Wear something white! 
Time: 8:00pm - 9:30pm BLANC preview shopping event. 9:00pm - 12:00am DJ & special guest performance by NODDY. 

Location: Sole Repair Shop 1001 East Pike Street Seattle, WA.
Suggested Donation: $5.00

DAY 2 / Nov 19th / Design BLANC Pop-Up Shop 11am-5pm 
Support independent design by checking off your gift list early with items from the BLANC curated collection as well as other original design goods ranging from furniture, art, housewares, jewelry, accessories, ornaments, and more. Also enjoy special activities by Brite Collective holiday, hot beverages from Caffe Vita, pizza by Big Mario's, and more. 

Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Cafe Vita Bean Room 1005 East Pike Street Seattle, WA.

Get a sneak preview here!

Featuring Works from:
&c. Jewelry / Aleksandra Pollner / Alisha Louise / Ashley Helvey / Blk Pine Workshop / Brandon Perhacs / Cairo / Chadhaus / COATT / Elizabeth Patterson / Erich Ginder / Fleet Objects / Fort Standard / Free Time Industries / Fruitsuper / Grain / Herman Yu / Iacoli & McAllister / Jessaline Beutler / Kiel Mead / Ladies & Gentlemen Studio / Meet Me Here / Piano Nobile / plainMADE / R&L Goods / Studio Gorm / Thomas Im /  Zanna Printed Textiles / Handpicked items from OBJECT and more...

OBJECT Opening! 11.11.11

This is a super exciting news for Seattle.
Charlie Schuck, the mastermind behind OBJECT, which first started off more as  concept popup shops is now becoming a real brick and mortar store in Charlies' new studio in Belletown neighborhood (next to Suyama!)

The opening is today, Novemeber, 11, 2011. Starting at 630pm. L&G will have some selective items in there as well!

..and here's the first OBJECT newsletter!

Check out full event details HERE!

Time for Fun: Hand-Making Models for New Ideas

Finally feel like we're getting around to do something fun & creative in the studio!

We'll be going up to Vancouver to be part of the Interior Design Show West (Sept 29th-Oct 3) along with JOIN. This will be L&G's first time showing some of our furniture pieces, but also it will be the first time for all of us to show in Vancouver! Very exciting...


I didn't realize how much I missed hand-making models with color pencils, chipboard, balsa wood, and all that. Totally felt like a kid again.   


More to come, but here's a lil' sneak peak...

Some sample look books

A prototype of our new concept...can you guess what will be?

Aug 2011 NYIGF Wrap up!

Here's a recap of the JOIN at the NYIGF for the 3rd time!

This time with us being in the lobby outside of the Accent on Design area turned out to be a MUCH more pleasant of a space to be in...especially when the sun is out! Just look at how everything shines on the table!

Above: New server colors and cake servers from L&G, and colorful big Silicone ring by fruitsuper....and NO they're NOT eraser rings!
Here we got Chelsea H. from plainMADE getting a little sun tanning sesh at the Javits....


Photos above by Grain

New frame light colors from Iacoli & McAllister.

Also this time being next to AmDC made it 100 times more fun, too!

photo by Steph Mantis
Here are some highlights from AmDC's booth:

Bracelets made with mix marble cuts celebrating the colors & patterns of the various types of stone. By Chen Chen & Kai Tsien Williams.

Chika and I got to trade with Patrick Kim for one of his clever wooden tons and these lovely cutting boards with a simple rubber band at the end to keep it from slipping around.  So clever & thoughtful!

Beautiful and sleek glass vessels from Felicia Ferrone based out of Chicago.

Playful two-headed animal necklaces in various metals by Steph Mantis! (and yes... exclamation mark is required when referring to Steph!)

...and of course, we wouldn't feel complete at the NYIGF until we have some sort of birthday celebration! and this year is no exception...

Here's Chika with her doughnut birthday cake composed by me and Christa (of blkPINE bags). This is second time celebrating Chika's bday at the Javits and we went all out and made a doughnut tower with yummy doughnuts from Doughnut Plant....surrounded with coconut macaroons, strawberry Pocky sticks, and flower pom pom with napkins provided by the Javits.

Yes...I know...only a master mind & a true artist can create such master piece such as this. Christa and I took MAD pride in carefully piling the doughnuts up and sprucing it all up...and all the  grease spots on the box only shows how much thought went into this...

L&G and JOIN Friends at NYIGF Aug 13-Aug 18

We can't believe it's already been a WHOLE year since we debut our work at the NYIGF last year...the year went by super fast and we don't really remember what really happened...but all I can say is that this whole experience of having our own studio so far has been more than amazing, and it's been reassuring for us that we can actually make it work! 
...and in finding the need to give ourselves a little pat on our backs, we decided to celebrate a little by getting a cake!
Man...how I love that I can write off things like this as an business expense!

We even used the cake to shoot along with our new items that we'll be bring to the NYIGF this August: New pastel Superior server colors, Vintage Superior cake servers, ceramic Salt & Pepper Pawz, and Terracotta Piggy banks!

So yeah...It's been a crazy year where it felt like so much has happened yet I can barely remember it all.  Does that make sense?....and is that normal?
I think perhaps it's the fact that we're still learning the art of juggling everything and learning how to be our own bosses...and do everything else...to be a designer, product developer, maker, blogger, photographer, sales rep,  accountant, PR, creative director, packer, shipper and dishwasher...
Less assure you that i'm NOT trying to brag....seriously... :P

But all and all we feel...and I'm gonna get a little stupid sappy here...sniff sniff......we feel super lucky and grateful for all the wonderful supports we've been getting from friends, family, press and all of our customers this whole year since we launched our own designs!!  And we feel extra fortunate to be part of such a wonderful group of designers from the Pacific Northwest and to be part of JOIN!

So we're totally psyched for this August NYIGF where 8 of us design studios under JOIN will  be next to other talented peeps from American Design Club and “A+: The Young Designers’ Platform.” We'll all going to join forces to showcase our work outside the entrance to Accent on Design in the lobby area.  

Yes...nothing like partying in the lobby at the Javits Convention Center!! Woot woot!

Check out what everyone gots to bring!

 

New print from  R&L goods.

 

Hex Opener by Iacoli & McAllister 

 

Hung by Grain 

 

Canoe Canvas Pack by Blk Pine Workshop. 

Bows Scarf by PlainMADE

 

2012 Naturalist Almanac by Free Time Industries 

 

SBiR Rings by friutsuper design 

More info on NYIGF: Visit www.nyigf.com

The New York International Gift Fair is located at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 W 34th Street in New York, and will be open 9:00 am - 6:00 pm August 14 - August 17, 2011 and Noon - 6:00 pm August 18, 2011.