plainMADE for BLANC

I'm SOOOO stoked about these limited edition of 30 hand-painted and screen printed posters I had specially requested Chelsea Heffner of plainMADE to make for BLANC!!

I literally thought of the idea randomly while working on something else , texted Chelsea right away, she totally got on board with it, we bounced off some ideas over the phone, she painted and printed them, I got them in the mail,  and VOILA! we got ourselves some beautiful BLANC prints made! She's amazing.

It's been super fun art directing the event, especially it gave me a great reason to collaborate with talented people to do fun special projects like this! But the main intent in making these posters is meant to offer something (like a special souvenir) to further extend the concept of BLANC even after the event ends.

As I started thinking about ideas for the posters, I was thinking more of what the sense of white means and what that could look like.
I started throwing out words to Chelsea and started thinking more about natural phenomenons like light, fog, cloud, fluffy, air, water, transparent, reflection....and gradually lead to other mood words like simple, pure, airy, austere, clean, calm, quiet, mysterious....

And final result is this...

Beautifully lightly washed watercolor in layers on slightly textured thick paper.
Looking directly from the front, you can only see the soft gray and light color hues over lapping each other.

and looking at the print from a different angle......

...The word "BLANC" printed in semi-transparent white paint appears as it catches the light.
....and changes from another angle.

I just REALLY love the subtlety and personally think the effect she did added a lot of depth.  It's simply magical...

All these prints was SO spot-on in conveying all those concepts that I had in mind...  It's as if Chelsea was able to read my mind better than I can!! creeepy~!

Each print is numbered and stamped by plainMADE.

These will all be for sale on both days of BLANC preview party (and if they don't sell out) will also be available at the BLANC popup the next day!

Sorry to say that I get first dibs! yes!

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...

Home Sweet Homestead

Instroducing a new L&G item...Homestead Candlesticks!
We've heard that there's no place like home and got to thinking...does that apply to candles as well as people? Assuming this it does, we've created these sweet wood house-shaped candlesticks out of solid Hemlock and Copper tubing.
This is a combination of our love for wooden blocks, iconic houses, and copper!!

These Homstead candlesticks stems from some of the elements & pallet we're using for our kitchen re-design project (see below post). Even the shape of the candlessticks partially reflects the silhouette of our duplex as well!

 Presented as a set of two, these Homestead Candlesticks add the right mix of homey charm and modern simplicity. Available  HERE!

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...

Color Ceramics by Kirstievn

Oh...what subtle beautiful colors...
all handmade by Kirstievn  from the Netherlands.

And I'm really in love with this wall...

 

Worst Day of My Life...

I had to work last Saturday to finish the VERY last item for FAB.

But it was seriously ROUGH....probably the roughest day I ever experienced.

I had to sit outside under the blinding sun...

Then had get my picnic sheet out to sit and hand crochet the Mega-Doily Rug for the day...like some sort of farm peasant! 

And to make matter worse....

...I had to make some honey whiskey with ginger ale & mint to stay cool & hydrated,  and eat these fresh tayberries from the local farmer's market instead of a real meal.

...this work environment is just plain absurd.

I think at some point I even fainted....but no one believed me and just said I looked like I was sun tanning...or got drunk and fell asleep!! They've never had to work in the sun, crocheting a rug while being intoxicated on a Saturday! What do they know!!

ok...maybe I doze off a bit...but not the whole time!

Le Petit Mobile

I'd like to go to Paris and visit Le Petit Atelier someday and see all their handmade ceramic housewares, but especially these wonderful ceramic mobiles that simply makes me smile....

Back to the Land Homes (part two)

The much anticipated part two of my Back to the Land House post! The hardest part is not including every image of every interior of the book, but these are my top picks.

These and more on Flickr.

Imagine a studio like this!

Or one of the many glorious geodesics.

Some inspiration for our kitchen!

I love the Japanese feeling of this space combined with the massive string art (the text caption is from the book...the way the whole thing is written...not sure what they're talking about most of the time)

These have me dreaming of an Adobe shack...

Circular windows!