2 Form

2 Form is a Norwegian design firm that focuses on textiles and furniture. I really love some of the rugs they make - they are totally non-traditional in the way that they are made - wool with a pattern punched out of it, so that the negative space forms the pattern; wool formed into stone shapes and threaded together...

fawn&forest

fawn&forest is another sponsor of our blog - they are an amazing online store focusing on everything green for your kids. The sell a huge range of really nice, modern goods - including products from some of my favorites - Three Sheets 2 the Wind, Area, Binth (octopus pillow above), Bookhou Design, and Netto (dresser, crib & polar bear rocker above).

Wendy Plomp

Wendy Plomp has taken the ubiquitous cardboard box and made an object out of it in her project "Message in a box". She silkscreens patterns and ornament onto flat cardboard boxes in an effort to give value to a typically discarded material - giving it a second life. I love the connection between the printed cardboard and traditional rugs.

Grijs - The Dipped Project

Loraine of the lovely blog Grijs has a new project called "the dipped project", which consists of eight tea towels whose ends were dipped in black ink. Such a simple, beautiful product! The towels are all unfortunately sold out at this moment, but I'm hoping she's back soon with some more (and maybe some other colors?). Beyond the fact that the towels are gorgeous, I think she presented the project really nicely - I love how the website consists of two overlapping photos of a person holding out the towels, and especially love how the website looks great at all browser sizes. Congrats on a new venture, Loraine!

Diem Chau

My friend Betty sent me a link to Diem Chau's work, and it's pretty incredible. I don't know how she does it, but she embroiders each graphic onto a piece of porcelain dishware. This is just a small sampling of her work - check out much, much more here.

Thanks, BBRK!

Urban Tailor

Jay contacted me about his new company, Urban Tailor, which brings custom tailored casual clothing to the the rest of us. You can choose between three patterns - the hoodie, the bandana jacket, and the asian track jacket. From there you get to design everything else - the fabrics for the interior lining, rib, jacket body, sleeve, and hood, and the details - the thickness of the garment, style of hood, rib length, buttons, zipper, and pocket locations. The only flaw in the process as I see it is not being able to see your design in some form of a rendering as it comes together, but considering the number of design choices you are given, the whole process is remarkably intuitive and straightforward. Urban Tailor also carries a selection of ready to wear hoodies and jackets.

+D TEAM

Cute plush toys by +D TEAM.

Nike Arctic Women's Jacket

The Arctic Women's Jacket jacket from Nike looks pretty dangerous. If you ever wanted to look like a crazed bloody maniac on the slopes, this jacket is for you. All you need is some zombie makeup or a hockey mask and no skiers would dare get in your way.

IKEA sneak peak

IKEA sent us a sneak peak of some products to come this April - here are our favorites:

The KNUBBIG table lamp by Michiko Nakata (above), with floral graphics on clear and frosted glass spheres. We love the bright colors of the GUNVOR fabric by Anna Salander (bottom left) and the very sweet BARNSLIG cushion by Maria Vinka - a pillow for keeping your hands and feet warm. The design and colors of the cushion remind me of kids pajamas.

HZL - Calle Henzel

A reader sent us a link to HZL's rugs - personally I'm a boring solid color rug person when it comes to my own home, but if I wasn't, these would be right up my alley. I especially like the rugs that mimic another material. Each of HZL's rugs are limited edition and handmade.

Thanks, Ake!

Lama Concept

Yvonne Laurysen of Lama is a Dutch designer focussed mainly on textiles. I came across her website today, and was really impressed by her felt rugs, each of which is created by cutting and assembling pressed industrial wool felt. The felt slices are randomly assembled, allowing for a natural pattern to emerge.

Lama makes furniture, too - check out the Loft light and the Sinus table and chair set.

Johanna Lindgren

2008! Can you believe it? I hope you all had a great holiday and new year and are rested up and ready for 2008!

Getting right back to it...Johanna Lindgren is a Swedish designer who works mainly with textiles (both making textile prints, and using textiles in innovative ways in her products). The P.O.C. light would be awesome in a commercial space somewhere as an alternative to a chandelier...Johanna has also experimented with wall textiles and screens (the light and top screen in collaboration with Helen Högberg). My favorite is the Slinga (bottom right). Made of industrial felt, it's a nice alternative to wallpaper or bare walls!

Future Craft

Josephine and Jenna Rivers - a mother/daughter team - emailed us about the launch of their Future Craft shop. We don't feature much by way of apparel, but I really like the graphic elements in their textiles. They work almost exclusively in black and white and create their own very graphic and patterned textiles by way of weaving, quilting, knitting, crochet, sewing, and needlepoint. I dig!

NIIMI

I love the idea behind this towel by NIIMI (no website that I know of - if you can point me towards one, it would be much appreciated!). It's a bath towel that can be modified as it starts to age - from bath towel to bath mat, to dust cloth or wash rag. Obviously, you can do this with any towel, but NIIMI's towel makes it easy for you with the built in grid and seamed edges. I wish that it were more colorful, but considering it was submitted to the Muji Award 02 (and won the gold prize), it's not surprising that it's white.

Form Us with Love

The chord is often the most unsightly part of a lamp. The Chord Lamp by the young Swedish firm, Form Us with Love, takes the chord and integrates it into the design. Use it with a funky bulb, and you have a beautiful fixture. Also very nice is the SwopIt, an acrylic side table that comes apart so that you can change the textile swatch sandwiched between the two acrylic pieces.

Grace & Go

Bold and gorgeous graphics from London-based Grace & Go. I love the animal print towels (they have some great baby onesies with a similar graphic).

Something's Hiding in Here

Something's Hiding in Here had one of my favorite booths at Renegade. It was very well thought out with nice details (little wooden price cubes, for one). Their products are just as nice - love the wooden rings and the little muslin bags.

Renegade Craft Fair

Hi all! This weekend is Renegade Craft Fair and Sean and I have been working really hard to get ready for it. If you are in the Brooklyn area and are looking for something to do this weekend, feel free to stop by! The fair is located at McCarren Park Pool on Lorimer St. (between Driggs & Bayard Ave.). We will be there from 11-4 on Saturday and 11-6 on Sunday. Stop by and say hi! We are Booth #81 and are located right smack in the middle of the venue. Some previews of our work above...

A few booths I'm excited to see - Alyssa Ettinger, Foxy & Winston, Lotta Jansdotter, perch!, The Onion (yes! the newspaper! I'm curious as to what they are selling!), Sesame Letterpress, Twigs and Heather...

Michelle Brand

I love it when people rethink the way an object is used, especially when that use gives the object a second life. Michelle Brand has created a 'fabric' made of the bases of plastic bottles. Each bottle is cut, sanded, and assembled into the tapestry. Beautiful!

Inleaf

Inleaf just launched a great new line of bags. The smoky graphics really appeal to me. Inleaf continues to make a conscious effort to use natural, organic and vintage materials in their designs.

ICFF - Wrap Up

Finally, onon Surfaces displayed a series of interesting conceptual surfaces. Each piece is made of laser cut Mylar and is meant to be used as a divider or wall tapestry. The patterns made by the cut paper are beautiful and I would imagine they make great shadows, too.

That's it for ICFF! It was our first time attending, and while we thought there was a lot of good work (especially in regards to lighting), and a lot of great material exploration, we didn't see much exploration by way of new ideas or forms. We did, however, really appreciate the student work that was on display, and hope to see more of that next year.

Sean and I only briefly hit the National Stationary Show. You can find great coverage of it over at Design*Sponge.

Have a really great long weekend, you all!

Conscious Design

I love the Tio chair by Conscious Design. The Tio comes in a range of fantastic patterns and colors, all of which come as interchangeable covers that allow you to with change the lounge chair as you so desire.

BKLYN DESIGNS - Lexie Lew

Lexie Lew makes doggy beds for your best friend, and if that's not enough, makes matching throw pillows for you! (By the way - the dog in the picture is just a stuffed toy - but it could breathe! How creepy is that?!)

BKLYN DESIGNS - Hi Five

Cool new work from Hi Five (a collaboration between Kiel Mead and Michael Cummings). I like the graphic nature of the chairs, and the treatment of the wood used for the skateboards - it almost looks like fabric!

Lotta Jansdotter - Spring 2007

Lotta Jansdotter's spring line is now available in her online store. Lots of cute tote bags, check book covers, aprons and other textiles. For an additional $5, she will wrap your gift, and include a gift card - a nice option for Mother's Day!

Mus Kunst

Beautiful bags from Karin Kuiper of Mus Kunst. I love the graphics and the bold color, especially the right-most bag.

Via Bloesem.

Mia Cullin

I really like the trend towards faceted/3-D curtains these days. It's a nice variation on print and pattern. Mia Cullin made this beautiful Flake and Flower curtain/partition out of Tyvek.

Via Pan-Dan.

Illu Stration

It seems like felt is becoming the material of choice these days. Mary-Ann Williams of Illu Stration specializes in felt objects (hats, rugs, jewelry, etc). I really like the pendant light - it's so soft (literally and visually).

Camp Apparel

Very cool bags from Camp Apparel. The bags are made of silk-screened ultrasuede fabric. I love the colors and the fun designs. Thanks to Tori at Camp Apparel for emailing us with her new designs.

Kirin & Co

I have to say, I am really smitten with these textiles by Lara of Kirin & Co. I love the patterns, especially the one she calls "Riverstones". It makes me think of fish bubbles or something. I don't know. I like fish and bubbles! These two designs are available on her Etsy store. Anyway, beautiful new work, and she has other lovely textile patterns that haven't been produced yet, which you can check out here.

Filipe Zanardi

Thanks to Filipe Zanardi for sending us an email about his Carpet-Lounge. This has gotten a lot of press already, but I thought it was worth mentioning here. I love the innovation on the traditional carpet as a gathering space. So often when lounging around my living room on my rug - after my elbow or butt has fallen asleep - have I wished for something to lean up against, and voila! Here you go! Instant chair! I wonder how comfortable the Carpet-Lounge is, though...

Thwart Design

More work from a new favorite, Thwart Design. I love the humor in their work. Above is the Mold Vase, below is the Iron Curtain.

Happy Birthday!

Today is my dear Sean's birthday! In honor of the fact that he turns 27 today, I wanted to post some of the baller presents he got for his birthday. I got him the Ben Sherman blazer. He's been eyeing it for some time now...It's a little much for my tastes, but how can a girl deny the man she loves such a pimpin' jacket? He got himself the Emerica Reynolds 3 shoes...note the bling bling cubic zirconium accent!

Anyway, a big happy birthday to my lovely Sean!

Area Bedding

Sean and I have begun looking for items for our wedding registry...I am totally in love with Area bedding...They use mostly muted colors and work with subtle textures. Plus, everything is super soft! Too bad their linens are so expensive.