Bloesem

Daphne van der Meulen

Another Dutch designer today. Daphne van der Meulen designs beautiful jewelry from her studio in New York. Daphne is drawn to the minimalist things in this world, which clearly shows in her work. I am a minimalist myself when it concerns jewelry, only my wedding ring and an anniversary ring, both are very minimal…guess that’s the reason why I’m so attracted to Daphne’s jewelry. You can buy her pieces at her Etsy store…but…be aware the prices of her jewelry will rise after July 4…so this is your chance to buy her jewelry for very affordable prices.

I would also like to show some of Daphne’s gorgeous paintings. It’s interesting to read the philosophy behind her paintings... Daphne's inner feelings and surrounding noices... Here you can read more…

Dustcollectors

These are not standard vases but Dustcollectors. The designer Sebastiaan Straatsma from the Netherlands was inspired by objects and shapes with multiple functions when he created these Dustcollectors. Not only  a decoration piece but also a collector of dust... so why not turn a vase into a Dustcollector? Hmm… any thoughts? I think they are fresh and fun looking and no more vacuum cleaning....

I have no idea what kind of material Sebastiaan used for the dustcollectors, but visit Sebastiaan’s website. and ask him a question, just  click here.

I'm Perfect?

‘I’m perfect’ was Leonie Janssen’s graduation project at the Design Academy in Eindhoven last year. Leonie has a fascination with the human body, especially with all the small imperfections and differences between our bodies… so she mapped out the various body types and shapes using pictograms and compiled them in a book called I’m perfect… fat legs, thin waist, big breasts, broad hips, round bellies (anything sound vaguely familiar…) but that is not all she did… unlike many other designs that like us to believe there is something as a ‘perfect image’, Leonie wants us to see that there are many other possibilities than this  so-called perfect image… so she translated her pictograms into products… the beauty of different proportions! Check out her website to read more about the I’m perfect concept…

Later today I'll be back with some more posts about Dutch designers...

Leif.designpark

I guess this post speaks for itself… the work by Leif.designpark, a design team based in Japan, is simply gorgeous. The team consists of Takashi Ueno and Mamoru Naito and Keizaburo Honda. Their work ranges from interior design to art and industrial products. This Lin pod bench combines nature and design quite literally… the idea is to create an atmosphere comfortable for both human and plant… The Tubomi is also nature inspired and projects a flower about to blossom… I can certainly relate to that… a great lounge chair for dreaming up ideas…

The Tone series is the best modern interpretation of mid-century furniture  I have seen... click here to visit Leif.designpark's website!

House hunting

Just wanted to share some images of our house hunt here in KL… it is funny… in every new city you go through what I guess is a naïve phase… we had our mind set on a small bungalow surrounded by rain forest looking at the KL skyline… quite romantic, right? Only we forgot the many monkey families that love to share the view with you… hmmm, so you need at least a few dogs to keep the monkeys out, or at least that is what they tell us… true or not, I think I will settle for a nice condo with a view… otherwise it is great to see many houses and explore the city, what I love about KL is that it is so green (compared to any other city I lived in) and at the same time is a cosmopolitan city, with many retro-like buildings mixed with new developments…hope you enjoy this small KL collage!

Katy West

A new wonderful ceramic artist…Katy West...Katy is a graduate from the Royal Collage of Art in London, where she still lives and works. It was almost impossible for me to choose images from her beautiful collection and projects…I wish I could show them all…please enjoy these images and here you can find Katy's website...I will be back posting again later today...now I have to run and do so more viewings for a possible new house...no luck so far...but we keep searching!

Ceramic art by Katy West...here you can visit her website.

Five and a Half

Judy Lee of Five and a Half sent me an email to show her terrific limited editions handmade journals! These images on the journals are excellent…I love the funkiness…Five and a Half is a bookmaking and design studio in Brooklyn, New York.

Each journal is filled with pages of sugarcane fiber and recycled paper. There are useful details present in each journal, like an inner pocket for loose leaf notes. With summertime in full swing: lots of places to go, stuff to see, this might be the perfect journal for you…for more info click here…or here for the online shop.

Looking for Lulu

When I received an email from Emily Corey this morning I was first touched by her beautiful work, but when I read the story behind “Looking for Lulu” I was even more touched….Emily will be the mother of a baby girl from Vietnam, called Lulu which she and her husband are adopting…but it has been a very long wait…and Emily is eagerly waiting for the referral to come trough…during the wait for their daughter Emily has created these paper pieces of art…every item is sort of an ode to her daughter, Lulu! You can buy them here and read more about “Looking for Lulu” over here! {ps. Emily keep the faith she will come very soon!!}

Mixed Plate for Summer

Mixed Plate blog just launched a Summer Shopping Gift Guide with products from a lot of great independent artists and designers which is definitely worth a visit. Mixed Plate is written and run by Honolulu based Liana Miyamura. Some of the products include this pillow and wall art above by Nancy Veltri.

Xenia Taler

And finally before the weekend starts I would like to show you the work by a woman from my former hometown Toronto, Xenia Taler. Xenia and her partner Steven Koblinsky make these gorgeous tiles. Xenia designs and Steven crafts the clay and glazes in their studio in Toronto.

My first introduction to the tiles by Xenia Taler was at a wonderful store called Token on Queen street (unfortunately no website there yet). Xenia wrote me an email last night telling me that their website is finally ready, so please have a look here to view their entire beautiful collection.

Don’t forget to have a look at the ceramic boxes as well! Have a great weekend and ps. I’m working on new weekend reads as we speak…so hopefully I can show them to you very soon.