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...

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....

Wrapping Up Some Loose Ends...

Ahhh.....need to get some order out before we take off to Japan....
I'm SO ready to just get on the plane for 12 hours and do NOTHING besides sitting, eating, sleeping, catching up on all the movies I've missed this past year...aaand repeat...

JOIN at NYIGF 2011 Report: Part II

We were excited to see the friendly folks at the American Design Club (AmDC) and check out what new exciting works was at their booth.
Started by Kiel Mead around the same time as when Jamie started JOIN, AmDC is like the East coast version of JOIN; A grass root design collective with a common goal to promote and showcase emerging US design studios and designers. A wonderful collection of silver cast jewelery & accessories by Kiel Mead. I love his new "Pennant Flag" necklace where each flag is movable!
Simple & clever wooden tongs by Patrick Kim / Charming wooden "Merit Badge" necklaces by Fort Standard. Elegantly modern "Tool" pendant & rings by Silvia Bradhsaw / Faceted "Octagon Face" hanging lamp by Brendan Ravenhill.
Beautifully grotesque "Swell Vase" made with insulation foam & produce mesh by Chen Chen / Playful faceted wooden "Balancing Blocks" by Fort Standard / Flocked "Coatknob" by Brian Persico / "Tendril" lamps by Chen Chen. It's always so fun to connect with the delightful folks from AmDC and learning about them, what they do, and all that fun stuff. It made me realize that we actually have more in common than most people's perception about the east & the west coast...
As emerging designers, we have a lot in common in our situations, goals, values, and interest....and can totally geek out over tools, machines, materials, and other random topics like how the sound of falling wood blocks is oh so satisfying....

So really..we're not that different at all...we're all just people trying to make the best out of ourselves, pursue our creative dreams and live a fulfilling life...we're like a bunch of little fishies in the big ocean!...or in this particular case...in the big Javits convention center with way over-priced mediocre food & coffee...so at the least, we can all bond over that....
Then on one of the days, we got to celebrate Chelsea from Grain's Birthday! ..or should I say...Happy Boozeday!
Hey...we all needed a little break for having to be at the Javits for 5 days straight!! This shall be a good bi-annual tradition from now on. :)
After a long day at the Javits...there's nothing like shoving good ol' greasy comfort food in our faces at the crazy Hill Country BBQ (This is as far to Texas as I'm willing to go....) along with the folks from AmDC.
and this was how it all went down.... greasy bbq ribs, cornbread, collard greens, and couple of sweet vodka with ginger ale...
....aaaaand I'm out.

JOIN us again at NYIGF 2011

For our second national show, JOIN has combined forces once again along with 6 other Northwest design studios to launch a series of new products and accessories at the New York International Gift Fair January 30th - February 3rd, 2011.

JOIN will be located in booth #3916 in Accent on Design.

We're stoked to see some exciting new things from our friends!R&L goods' new linen button scarves. (That's Dylan & I...ha ha)

Iacoli & McAllister's brass & suede adjustable necklaces,

Meet Me Here's recycled banner bag with a nice finishing touch of the leather handles.

plainMADE's perfect spring silk scarves

Grain's new hand mirror handbound with natural twine.

BLK Pine's new canvas bag line.



L&G's New Items!

We know that the winter holiday has just past...but this also means its time to launch some new items for 2011 Spring/Summer! I know I'm ready for it!

here's a quick intro of our new additions:

This little piggy has a twist!: A new, limited edition (of 100) Chalk-it-to-me Piggy Bank with a knotted leather tail.

Superior Server Blues: We added a handsome new spring color - Vintage Aqua - to the Superior Server family!

Porcelain Gem Necklaces: Hand-cast ceramic gem stone necklaces highlighted along with various type chains.
Some of these new items will be launched at this coming NYIGF with JOIN!
JOIN has combined forces once again along with 6 other Northwest design studios to launch a series of new products and accessories at the New York International Gift Fair January 30th - February 3rd, 2011.

Hurray for new things!

UCU wrap up!

We had so much fun at Seattle UCU last weekend - L&G's first time at the event. Thanks to all that came by to say hello and shop!!

Here are some images of the show in review.

creature paws salt and pepper shakers. A little morbid...but I think a lot of people got a kick out of it. There were a lot of cute sound making whenever people picked it up... :)

Jean's new necklace collection with hand-casted ceramic gems.

Terrariums and terrarium ornaments. We're thrilled that the ornaments & the ornament kits sold out!! Tis the Season!

Daily affirmation mirrors - vintage mirror trays with positive expressions. "Go Get Him Tiger" was the run away favorite!

Superior servers including mixed vintage flatware and ladles not available online (yet!)

It was so great to plan our own little "store" out of (free) wood vegetable crates from the ID and craft paper.

We also really liked being able to include some new and old products for the first time and see people being excited about them! Thank you all for coming!!