This is Not Ikea

Let me begin this post by stating, for the record, that I have nothing against Ikea. They offer generally good design at very low prices, and even inspire some amazing DIY projects. But, as a name for a vintage home furnishings store, This Is Not Ikea (or TINI for short) is pretty catchy, and gives you a pretty quick read on what they're about. In their own words: "For the same amount of money as a piece of disposable furniture from IKEA, you can own a beautiful unique piece of vintage furniture that will stand the test of time as well as the tests of design and style. When you buy something from us, not only will you love your unique piece of furniture, you won’t walk into a friend’s house and realize you have the same lamp or dresser that they have."

I met the guy behind it all, Alexis, after replying to a craigslist ad. I went to his house to pick up some chairs he had posted, and was escorted into vintage design heaven!

This is the front room of the guy's house, and it comprises only about one-fifth of his spectacularly curated collection. The rest is split up between his garage and several of his neighbors' garages which he rents as storage. The store really only exists online. But, while I was there, Alexis was happy to take me to each one of his spaces and helped me browse the jam-packed rooms like a personal shopper. Currently, I'm trying to build a collection of mid-century dining chairs in a mix of white, teak, and chrome, and while I had come for this (to be recovered in white):

I ended up finding these:

And, bonus: something for the top of the table, too!

As I drove away, thinking about what a great find I'd made, my first instinct was to keep it a secret and have it all to myself ... but that wouldn't work with this one anyway. Apparently, word is spreading fast about them, and I have a feeling that their whole operation is about to explode. I just hope they don't raise their prices! (They aren't quite as low as Ikea's, but much more reasonable than any other vintage shop or consignment store that I know of.)

Check them out, but beware: you will find more than you planned!

Ready, Set, Pounce! Felt story set, Necklace, Bag

Last month I did my first Ready, Set, Pounce! post, where I do ten or twenty pounces on Etsy, until I find a few gems from undiscovered shops. I found these favorites tonight:

From CocolocosFeltDesign's shop, opened February 2009:

The Giant Turnip Felt Set, $12. What a fun way to tell a story with your favorite little friend! I want one of these to enjoy with my niece, Monroe.

From TESfashion's shop, opened March, 2009:

Large Retro Flower Necklace, $25. This piece makes me want to put on a simple, pretty dress with some cute heels and go window shopping in an outdoor mall somewhere, just to celebrate Spring.

From LemonInk's shop, opened January, 2009:

Maxi Messenger Bag, $95. I love this graphic. The bag looks pretty well-made and functional, too.

My secret love (of math) has a date at the MOCA

Those who know me well may be able to tell you that deep down, I really really love mathematics. I almost majored in math, actually, and then decided on the more practical computer science. And after that I ended up getting an art degree. Go figure.

But in all seriousness I do find there is a huge playground of overlap between the two, art and math. Which is why I'm excited about going to this new exhibit coming up at the MOCA.

Boolean Valley is an installation which is the collaborative work of potter Adam Silverman and architect Nader Tehrani. The room-sized piece consists of hundreds of clay objects by Silverman, formed and arranged according to an algorithm developed by Tehrani.

What interests me about this piece is that, even though the design for the piece is generated by a computer, the piece in the end is still handmade, in a very traditional medium.

More information can be found on the MOCA's website.

The importance of sketching

I had to remind myself of something today: how important it is to just keep filling my sketchbook, no matter what I'm putting down. It came to me as I was thinking about my designs, and how I want to progress further in developing my own signature style.

I think that during the last five years as an art director in advertising, I have focused on the opposite: cultivating a diverse portfolio. I've tried to show range, that I am able to speak (visually) from the voice of my client, no matter who that client is. Now, as I focus on merchandising my own art, I need people to want my products because they came from me, and they like what I do. My pieces need to be recognizable as mine; they need my thumbprint, which is quite a shift for me.

I know intuitively that the best way to do this is through being a prolific sketcher. There's just no way to just "think up" what you want your art to look like. So, my plan is to fill at least five pages of my sketchbook every day, no matter what. Even if it feels like I'm just drawing to fill my quota, because even that can be beneficial, I think.

Buy your stocks in Moleskine!

If I only had a journal like this one

...I'm sure I would come up with the most creative ideas ever!

This journal from artist Nikki McClure is for sale at buyolympia.com, a website which sells the creations of a group of extremely talented artists. I just discovered this site (thanks for the tip Nicole!), and I have already added about twenty things to my mental list of what I would buy if I ever bought a used sofa and found ten thousand dollars in cash stuffed inside the cushions.

Nikki's beautiful cut-paper illustrations are sprinkled throughout the book, along with the occasional thought-provoking word or phrase.

I love the free-form way that this book encourages you to journal, expressed so poignantly on this page:

Because, to be completely honest, when I think about actually writing and sketching in this journal, the compulsive part of me seizes up and says through clenched teeth, "But there would be absolutely no chronology, and you would probably end up with all these skipped pages because you have to write in these random categories, and, and, and...!!" Which makes me realize, perhaps that part of me needs to shut up sometimes, and leave me in peace to just sit under a tree somewhere flipping aimlessly around this book, and see where the rest of my mind takes me.

Kitty Knitter!

Now adorning my refrigerator is this brilliant work of art, which I received in the mail from my adorable niece Samantha:

Samantha is my brother-in-law's oldest daughter. When we met two years ago, Samantha and I bonded over crafting. I taught her the basics of knitting, and her little six-year-old fingers picked it up surprisingly well. Now, Samantha and I are solid crafting buddies.

The kitty knitter is colored orange, after our cat Estelle.

And, here is Samantha, as my flower girl, telling me about her latest art project:

Remember, crafters, the importance of recruiting the youth into our fold! :-)

My new favorite artist: Aaron Kramer

"Trash is the failure of the imagination."

This brilliant motto comes from Venice, CA, artist Aaron Kramer. (It's also pretty much my own approach to crafting, but much more eloquently stated!) I just discovered Aaron Kramer about a week ago. Now I want to camp out in his studio and shadow his every move and bring him glasses of water.

After seeing his name twice in the span of a few days, (on The Urban Craft Center blog, and a press release about an upcoming charity event), I decided to go to his website. His art is so beautiful and intriguing, and it's completely made from repurposed materials.

These "boats" are made from slicing the edges from old wooden salad bowls, and putting them together. Here's an installation of them in the Hotel Sofitel in LA:

This chair is made up of wine bottle corks (how many times have you thought about saving those but not known what for??):

There's tons more on his site, all amazing. I'll keep you posted on whether he lets me bring my sleeping bag in to his studio.

First Business Learning: Nothing goes as planned!

Sorry for the waning in posts last week – things are starting to sort themselves out with our move situation, so I'm getting back on the ball. And on that note...

As I stated at the start of this blog, I want to share not only my thoughts on handmade design, but my experiences as I attempt to sell my own handmade goods. My first outlet is going to be a shop on Etsy, with the plan of opening shop March 11. Which is two days from now. And which is also not ... going ... to happen.

At the outset of this venture, I knew a few things about myself that would both help and hinder me along the way. Number One: I am an extremely flexible person. This comes in handy when life throws you for a loop. In fact, this whole idea was birthed from the unfortunate circumstance of me getting laid off from my job as an art director at an advertising agency in Dallas. Being optimistic in general (that's Number Two), I figured that since life gave me lemons ... I'd open up a lemonade stand! Or, more accurately, open up an online shop for my handmade goods – something that I'm much more passionate about than advertising anyway.

Then life threw me another curve ball: my husband got a job in California. So, just as I've finished turning our guest bedroom into a silk-screening workshop and our second bathroom into a make-shift dark room, I've got to leave it all behind for a tiny furnished apartment in LA, with none of my crafting supplies, and no place to craft anyway. Plans go on hold. I start going crazy not being able to make things, so at Christmas time I go home to Dallas and ship myself boxes of fabric, yarn, and some of my more portable printmaking supplies. And when I return to LA, I'm back in business! This time I get really serious. I set up goals to start this blog on February 11th, and open up shop on March 11th. Then, because of various factors, March ends up being our month to finally move all our things from Dallas into a larger, unfurnished apartment. Yay, I'll be reunited with my silk-screening supplies! But a pattern seems to have emerged: Every time I begin making real progress with this Etsy thing, we end up moving!

So, a little bit of go-with-the-flow-ness has been crucial in trying to get this thing off the ground.

Now, the flip-side of being both optimistic and flexible is that I tend to set hugely unrealistic goals for myself, and then not put a whole lot of stress on actually sticking to the time-frame. Case in point: the above obstacles aside, I was laid off in June of 2008, and it is now March of 2009. So I think the real lesson for me here is going to be learning how to practice effective time-management. I'll get on that tomorrow ... it should only take ten minutes or so! ;-)

"Theeeere's aaaa place for us..."

Right now my husband and I are looking for an apartment in LA. On occasion, one of us will spontaneously burst into that song from West Side Story ("...Somewhere a place for us..."), just to irritate each other. It can be deliciously annoying, with just the right volume and timbre!

As we are seeing first-hand, city living tends to equal cramped quarters. And crafters need space. After spending days on end doing nothing but look for an apartment with a good studio space (neglecting Eleventy and pretty much everything else!) ... I discovered The Urban Craft Center. This genius place is the answer to every creative city-dweller's wish for a space to work. Well, at least every Santa-Monica-and-surrounding-area-dweller.

They just opened in November, and already they seem to be generating some buzz. My friend Megan was the first person to tell me about it. She gave me a flyer last weekend, and I put it on my list of things to check out. Then another friend sent me a link this morning from Daily Candy LA, and I thought, alright I gotta get down there!

I just stopped by for a visit, and now I can see why people are talking. It's ideal. Big tables, lots of supplies you can borrow, and a whole wall of books to inspire you. They also have a little shop with materials for sale. Very handy if you're in the middle of something and you realize you need an extra yard of fabric or something. They also have classes on all sorts of crafts. I plan to take several (and maybe teach a few if they'll let me!). They have different membership levels, or you can just try it out on an hourly basis.

I think that this place has the potential to fill a big need for local crafters. Not just by offering studio space, but by being a physical location for crafters to call "home base." It's funny how in such a physical medium, so much of the network that connects folks only exists online, through blogs and websites like Etsy. Those things are fantastic, but we all know how a JPEG can only say so much. I'm so excited to see what happens with the Urban Craft Center, and I hope to be involved however I can. If you live somewhere else with a comparable outfit, please post it in the comments section and get the word out! And if not ... start one!

Here's some more pictures of The Urban Craft Center , located on Main Street in Santa Monica. (Very cool website, by the way...funny how we use similar lines in our design!)

Paper yarn

I cannot imagine a more perfect marriage of my two favorite things! I ran across this post about making yarn from old newspapers the other day...

via greenUPGRADER:
How cool is that? The results when knitted or crocheted are pretty neat. Follow the link for ideas of what kinds of projects would be good applications of the stuff. They also link to one of their previous posts about making yarn from plastic bags.

The other thing that makes this idea so awesome is that in most paper crafts, you avoid using magazine and newspaper because the quality of the finished paper really declines. So you get so excited about repurposing all of your junk mail, and then you realize 60% of it is still headed for recycle bin. But not anymore! One more step towards zero waste!