A Pop of Colour on a Cloudy Day

Nice embroidery sample from an embroidery workshop organized by Karen Barbe in Santiago, Chile.

Day Trip

A couple of weekends ago my boyfriend and I took a day trip to Blackrock because the Makers & Brothers duo, Jonathan and Mark Legge, were having an open house in their shop aka "the shed".

Next to the shed, James Carroll, one of the shop's makers, was doing a carving doing a carving demonstration. He was carving legs for his stools.

The inside of the shed had all of the beautiful objects for sale. I loved the brown paper and string hanging on dowels ready for gift wrapping. There was also delicious lemon cake and elder juice to snack on while admiring the items on the shelves.

My boyfriend took some time to say hello to the Legge family dog.

The swing by Toys Pure was hung up to be tried out. The shed is tucked in a shady corner of the Legge brothers' family property. I love the lights strung up between the trees and the old stone buildings. It feels like a secret garden.


I wasn't able to leave without buying something so I bought an enamel tumbler by Falcon Enamelware in the beige and grey combo. I think I'm going to plant a small succulent or cactus in it.

Details

Task Lamp by Owen Read(here), ceramic and cherry.

Waxed Canvas

Waxed canvas bags by HOI BO

Playing with Paper Folding

Page from a Book

Material Revolution Sustainable and Multi-Purpose Materials for Design and Architecture by Sascha Peters.

Memory hood, an abstraction of human emotion, designed 

by Max Schath. 

Pattern

Sven Markelius, Pythagoras textile produced by Ljungbergs Textilyck for Nordiska Kompaniet, 1952

Wiener Werkstatte fabric designs c.1910

Vanessa Bell, White printed on linen, Omega Workshops, 1913

Roger Fry, Amenophis printed on linen, Omega Workshops, 1913

Tableaux d'intimité

New York 

Amsterdam 

Prague 

Ile de Ré

These are some beautiful photo collections of lit windows in different cities by Anne-Laure Maison. I saw them a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about them so I thought I would share them. So intimate and beautiful.

Doodles

I'm working on an assignment for school and these are some doodles I did trying to work out where I was going with the project.

St. Lawrence Market in the Fall

Fresh sylvas that smell like peaches and honey and a nice orange pumpkin that will make it's way into a soup or a pie this coming weekend. The weather has taken a decided turn to fall and I am loving the cozy scarfs and tea lattes.

The Tactility of Textiles

Lately I'm inspired by textile design. I love the colours, textures and warmth that are possible in textiles that are made by hand. These are a few stitch studies that I've re-posted from Karen Barbe's blog of her own textile designs and inspirations. Her blog is here if you would like to take a look.

Memories in Objects

I'm visiting my family in Winnipeg this week and I was able to go to my cottage for the first time all summer. My cottage is my favourite place in the world. Nearly every object in the cottage has a story that goes along with where it came from. When I go to the cottage it's like visiting old friends. Here are some of my favourites.

Many objects are souvenirs from trips people have gone on over the past 70 years or more. These are working bellows that we use actually use to start the fire. They have soft leather sides and wooded top and bottom. 

There are three wooden chairs that are all painted in different colours with different designs. My aunt Marke painted them when she was a teenager. 

This is a stylized New Zealand fish hook. My Opa saw them and liked the shape so he made a large one which now hangs near the fireplace. 

My grandparents found this while they were traveling and bought it because it looked just like their daughter Saskia. I never met Saskia but I always liked this painting. 

Eating and cooking is very important at the lake and the cooking utensils are all kept in the same location that they have always been kept. The drawer is lined with this lovely wall paper. Opening the drawer is like stepping back in time a little bit. 

The rest of the utensils are kept in this lovely ice bucket. One side is a little bit melted from getting too close to the stove but it still does the job. 

Finally there is the big wooden world map which hangs in the living room. It is a little bit inaccurate (some countries appear twice) but nobody really minds. It was made by my great grandfather, my mother's Opa. He also built the cottage for our family and we will always be grateful to him for it.

City Market

Today I went to the farmers market outside Metro Hall. Apparently it's been happening every Thursday. I went on my lunch break and I got to see all the business people in their suits tasting watermelon and buying peaches. It was nice to see the financial district humanized in this way. There was live music and even though the rain was threatening, everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. 

 

The market had bread and cheese and meat and fruits and veggies but the flowers definitely stole the show. I wonder how many offices in the surrounding area are benefiting from the lovely fall blooms this afternoon.

Tactile Way Finding by Haptic Lab

Haptic Lab are a relatively new group started in part by architect Emily Fischer. The quilts are part of a project called Soft-Maps which was an academic experiment inspired by Emily's mother who started to lose her vision. The quilts were an experiment in tactile way finding, using the quilt as a tool for someone to orient themselves.


I love the meeting of the graphics of cartography with textile design. I find that maps bring with them memories of locations and that combined with the warmth of a quilt and the emotions that go with a quilt made by hand make this project such a beautiful combination of ideologies.