handmade headgear, for fun.

whether for an impromptu party or something more planned, this line of handmade headgear/headwear, offered up by the etsy site utha is, well, fun.

even if you just wanted to dance around the house in it. alone. so what? ;) enjoy...

in the round.

this afternoon, i'm drawn to the simplicity and raw nature of both of these products, each by different companies.

first, the "trio table" by expormim lists itself as a "collection of organic coffee tables of gentle nature." the blunt wood tops, made from european oak are sensible and sensational.

second, these coat hooks, offered up by schonbuch are made from solid ash wood with an open-pore white paint finish with hints and gleams of metallic finishes. just lovely. and schonbuch is a cool concept company designing and making for us all, some other very interesting product, like clear glass umbrella stands and small chests of drawers in a variety of metallic colors. nice. enjoy!

chandelier tree.

this made sho & tell's night. it's making my morning. this chandelier tree on west silverlake drive in california. the world needs more of these ;)

i hope your morning is starting off happy. if not watch this video, it's sure to at the very least, make you smile. enjoy!

monday & morrea seal.

besides mondays (yes i'm one of those strange monday-loving people), here are 3 things that i love today, from a new-to-me company, morrea seal. this feather tumbler, this black and white hand-printed grid tea towel and this herringbone hanging planter. i want them all!

morrea seal offers up a hand-selected variety of product, fashion, accessories from artisans throughout the united states. founder morrea seal (and yes, that is her real name ;) built up her brand through the ceaseless wonders of social media, blogging, an etsy site, her pinterest account has over 850,000 followers! and building up her jewelry line with drive, drive, drive...pure inspiration for a monday morning! enjoy...

buckminster's words....

this weekend, i'm lingering over the wise words of inventor r. buckminster fuller: " when i'm working on a problem, i never think about beauty. but when i've finished, if the solution is not beautiful, i know it's wrong."

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words to live by. enjoy...

friday & flower trap

happy friday friends! today, i'm admiring this unique flower vessel, a flower trap, offered up by utopia & utility. it's a "lens like vase, encompassing the flowers within and amplifying their beauty."

it's as if the flowers are under a microscope, placed gently on a woven birch bark stand. there is something about globes, about circles, about glass, about flowers. put them all together and you have something sort of mesmerizing.

i hope that this weekend finds you happy and relaxed. i'm taking my son on an eco tour this weekend if there's room on the pontoon boat that leaves a harbor near to me. i keep driving by the sign for this tour, and it seems intriguing. wherever you are, wherever you go, enjoy!

tea towel patterns.

this almost friday, i'm loving these colors and patterns. and the fact that they are tea towels? even better!

offered up by the fabulous company leif, some designs are brooklyn inspired, designed and created, some are straight holland textile house inspired. i love that...all stemming from unique and eclectic imaginations from around the globe. oh, and there's more...these were just a few of my favorites. check them out (and leif, if you haven't already) here. enjoy!

decidedly simple.

it's funny how your tastes change. and especially once you've reached a certain age, you'd think that you've done it, you've reached a design consensus in your mind, your personality has been decided and that's it, voila, you understand your own style and it's forever. not the case....at least for me.

i keep leaning, lately toward super duper simplicity, decidedly simple as i say. sparse. clean lined. very particular about objects, color, placement. void of clutter, chaos, interference. but not cold. there is a difference.

bolaget is one of my favorite go-to sources for decidedly simple. they do it right. all of the time. if you need a simple dose, head on over. you'll get it! enjoy...

lee woodman & charcoal.

i really like his work, lee woodman, the heavy to light to heavy again lines, the marks, the expression, the way in which the figure is captured in a very powerful way.

early in my college experience, i majored in fine arts, painting to be more specific. it takes some time (unless you are just plain gifted) to learn & capture the human body. it was the longest subject matter for me to conquer, though i never did fully.

but there was a time when i nailed it. i captured the human body, life sized, in charcoal, in paint, you name it. once that light bulb goes off, once you see real progress and that human form taking a real shape, the actual shape and likeness of your model, there is nothing more satisfying when creating art. at least in my opinion. enjoy...

the visual art of michele reginaldi.

these brass sculptures by italian architect and artist michele reginaldi have captured my attention this morning....

it's almost as if you want them to be something, something more utilitarian, like a table or wall treatment of something useful, yet they are beyond that, they offer to spaces, commercial and residential what utilitarian pieces miss.

 reginaldi sculpts/constructs his pieces out of brass (although he works often with plastic as well). for me, brass has never been one of those materials i've been drawn to. another words, i felt, having grown up in the 1970's that i was inundated with brass to the point of, well, i was just plain sick of it.

but michele reginaldi has revived my sense of brass adoration. it was there at one time, it waned, and now, i would take a larger than life piece of reginaldi's, place it smack dab in my space/place for everyone to see. no problem...enjoy!

nicole franzen spaces.

anne, from the city sage, turned me on to nicole franzen's photos. nicole is a brooklyn new york based food and lifestyle photographer. and she sees space/places/people(and food!) differently.

i must admit i have a jealous sort of crush on food & lifestyle photographer's work, life, what they are lucky enough to photograph and that they see these sometimes ordinary-to-us images, things, differently, beautifully, and then pass on what they see to us, to enable us to see it in a similar way.

today, this afternoon, i'm enjoying nicole's spaces. they seem to all be environments i could spend a great deal of time in. creatively. quietly.

oh, and if you are already smitten, wait until you check out her blog, here. you'll spend time there for sure! enjoy...

brick. by gervasoni.

i'm getting a late start to my monday post, but i wanted to share this "brick" line with you, offered up by gervasoni. and because it's solid stuff, and solidly gorgeous!

this line is chunky and sculptural, yet stately. gervasoni utilizes an array of materials in this line, such as feet made from hand carved barked wrightia trunk sections or handwoven rawhide, to brushed steel and textiled paneled doors. completely sumptuous materials, rich and solid as...well, a brick.

i also really like when manufacturers, designers or companies feature their wares like this, against a simple background, uncluttered, alone...for you to really see it, with no distractions, to enjoy it, to want it. enjoy!

have a great weekend!

i sure hope that you are having an amazing weekend! i, for a while, am stuck revising a thesis proposal. on. a. beautiful. sunny. day. yeah...

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i'm practically bug-eyed from changing/exchanging commas, periods and parenthesis. yikes. but hey, it's all part of the work of finishing a graduate degree. i'm so close i can taste it!

what are you up to? i'd love to hear...enjoy!

a man's best friend kind of line...

happy friday friends! i wanted to share with you this morning, the man's best friend line of innovative furniture designed by up and coming israeli designer tomski.

tomski, in this particular line (he has some other very cool product emerging), conveys, through design, the close relationship between dog and owner, illustrating in some ways unconditional love. the series has an interactive feeling somehow.

this line was designed as one of tomski's final college projects. it's really fun, imaginative and just plain cool. i hope he received a great grade ;) enjoy!

happy thursday summer evening...

where are you running to this evening?

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me? i grabbed my son, drove straight to the beach, and dove head first straight into the ocean. the tide was high, the seagrass was almost lime green it's so healthy this year. i discovered a path, through the seagrass. a pure sand path straight out into the cool atlantic ocean. if you don't take it, the seagrass tickles your stomach while you swim. we found the path, we swam. i practiced my underwater handstands.

even if you didn't practice your underwater handstands this afternoon/early evening...i hope you are enjoying yourselves just the same ;)