The Golden Day!!!

So....this is sorta kinda a big deal....well, not as big of a deal compare to the golden year...

BUT still...this year, 2012, this month, March, tomorrow, the 30th......is gonna be my golden birthday!!!!

Damn right.. I'll be turning 30 on the 30th!

But I'm WAAAAAAY more excited about the GOLDEN part than some silly insignificant number!
For anyone who knows me, I'm not the type of person to make a big deal out of my birthdays...(except when it involves kareoke) 

Dylan is being a TOTAL sweetheart and is planning the event and all I know is that we'll be having an nice group community dinner at Belle Clementine, which I can't wait!!!
So all I have to worry about is how I can make myself look golden for my big day!
Yah... I know...I sound like I'm 16, but it's been awhile.  :)

(Gold image and tassels above from Confetti System)

I'm not one to go all out and cover myself gold from head to toe like getting some fancy gold evening gown, sexy gold heels, and flashy gold tooth (they all go hand in hand, right?)
...BUT I'm always up for some tasteful gold accessories!

I was looking for a button up shirt with gold accents of some sort and ended up finding THIS gold collar necklace!....that's not available anymore! Bummer!!
But I think I can make something up by sewing a gold collar to go on a simple white dress shirt to classy it up!

I also really want gold polka dots tights, but can't find it anywhere!...I guess that means I'll need to make my own polka dots on my black leggings!! :P

Of course....I would need some solid dancing like THIS pair of amazing gold & black stripped shoes from Totokaelo. DROOOOOL!

 

Also would love this classy Gold Cambridge Satchel (and the neon yellow,too!)

I've also been wanting a gold casio calculator watch for years now.....and I ended up finding THIS 70's vintage Casio on ebay going for about $600! .....it's unbelievably awesome....

Aaaaaand while we're at it, I might as well add THIS special edition Gold Hasselblad camera going for $5,000+ to the of all the things on my list on how to look golden. Why not?

 

Well...actually I can think of more than a doezon of reason why I shouldn't get all that! But hey...a girl can dream right?!

But, hopefully I'll be able to get at least one of those things before the REAL golden year birthday!

New for 2012!

That's Jean serving up a fresh tray of 2012 goodness. With the holidays behind us and the NYIGF looming just ahead, it was right back to the drawing board for us in January. We were hankering to cook up something new.
As you may have picked up in past posts about our kitchen...we've been really obsessed with the combination of copper and brass with woods and leather. We've always been suckers for nostalgia and I think these materials really strike a reminiscent chord on a different...more fundamental level.

 To that end, it only felt appropriate to pair these warm, welcoming materials with minimalist, elemental forms that celebrate the integrity of the materials without any frivolous details. The resulting collection is a bit of a departure aesthetically from our past products, but a direction we're really excited about!

Without further adieu (follow links for more details or to purchase)...

Segment Necklace: An abstract arrangement of simple shapes and warm material combination using wood, leather and metal tubes.

Perimeter Tray: A solid wood base framed with powdercoated aluminum coupled with a carrara marble cheeseboard insert.

Cylinder Shakers: Copper, Brass, and Aluminum Salt and Pepper Shakers are designed to age and patina with use.

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...

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...

AmDC Pops up in SF

Wish we're in SF for this!  Kiel from American Design Club is working with  Rand + Statler in curating a pop up shop this coming Saturday, August 27th with bunch of designers we adore.

List of designers includes:
Kiel Mead, Silva/Bradshaw, Emily Rothschild, Fort Standard, Kai Williams + Chen Chen, Annie Lenon + Valerie Gnaedig, Lara Knutson, Jill Peterson, Studioooij, Iacoli & Mcallister, Steph Mantis, Pat Kim, Alexandra Snook, Chuck Routhier, Andie Olive, Mark McGinnis, Grain, R&L Goods, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Michael Cummings, Thomas Im, Marianne van Ooij, Evan Clabots, Seldon Yuan and Annika Jermyn.

If you're in the SF area, go check it out!

A little Tied Up

I still can't get over rope jewelry!
Check out these bold necklaces by Eleanor Bolton. These are a limited edition especially for Darkroom's Aztec Camera season.
Each are handmade & hand-dyed from 100% cotton rope .

Dark & Beautiful

I'm obsessed with everything at this London based shop, Darkroom!!
Everything is just insanely striking and beautiful....

Holy Mother of Leather Bags!

I think I died and came back to life when I saw these ridiculously amazing leather bags by Nutsa Modebadze!
She makes each bag with the MOST beautiful leather.
Nutsa designs all her bags with a such great sensitivity to all the leather she uses by truly celebrating it's texture, color & shape.

I literally spent HOURS clicking through EVERY single page looking at EVERY single thing...
And all these photos here are just a small tiny percentage of all the things she's ever made....

You can see all her latest work and her process on her blog...she's currently working on some wonderful woven leather stuff...I simply can't wait....
If only I could just touch one of these bags...I would die a happy person.