Open House: Home of Nancybird Designer Emily Wright

 

It's been a while since I've done an open house post where we get to peek at a lovely home somewhere around the globe. I was thrilled to see one of our designers' home featured at one of my favorite blogs, Design Files.  It's only fitting that our next open house post features these beautiful  home of Nancybird designer Emily Wright and her partner Robert Dabal as captured by photographer Eve Wilson.  Featuring a light airy space that highlight layers of textures (can you spot her textiles and stunning creations?) and natural elements, their home is truly a reflection of  their own aesthetic and everything that they love.  I had the pleasure of interviewing Emily and it's wonderful to get a glimpse of her home and studio.

All images from Design Files
Photographed by Eve Wilson
Production-Lucy Feagins/The Design Files

Perfect Pair: Spice Mills

Hope you had a wonderful weekend!We continue our perfect pairing series with the spice mills by Magnus Lundstrom. We now carry his beautiful small walnut spice mills that perfectly go together with the porcelain/wood combination. Featuring clean modernist lines and quality materials, these spice mills are functional work of art ideal for your table top and kitchen. A conversation starter while adding just a little flavor to your meal!

Fashion Love: Kapital

 

 

It's hard not to get lost in the Japanese beloved label Kapital's catalogs,not just for the well-crafted clothing but for some truly amazing photography worthy of a page in National Geographic. I was engulfed in the images captured featuring diverse locations (from city corners to far flung exotic destinations!) combined with the emotions of the subjects. It's a visual feast going through the pages of these beautiful photo-journalistic style images from the various themed catalogs like the earth style, sea gypsies and indigo indigo. Best known as amazing denim makers, I'm drawn to to the textures and silhouettes of their key comfy pieces like the outerwear and knits that are made to last now available in their shop.

All images from Kapital

Perfect Pair: Scarf + Bag

With Valentine's Day about a month away, I'm inspired to start our perfect pairing features showcasing pieces that just seem to go together oh-so perfectly. For this first edition, we have Ellen Truijen's versatile and just-the-right size Shopper Bag paired with Osei-Duro's black Basket Print Scarf for that perfect winter getaway ensemble. These pieces are ideal companions whether you stay at a resort or opt to trek around a far-flung destination this winter...or may even for your daily trek at home.

Art by Emily Feretti

I'm drawn to the works of Melbourne-based artist Emily Ferretti not just for the pattern and nature themes, but for the dominant color she uses in her oil paintings-blue! You can view more of her amazing work here at Sophie Gannon Gallery and would love one of her painting especially that last one called Skyeline. Maybe because it's the color that's present all around us in nature whether you look up or down.  And whatever shade or tone it may be, blue has been a favorite color of mine. Especially living in Southern Cal, I'm being more mindful of the different shades of blue present in the skies and ocean.

Painting Images from Emily Feretti
Studio Photos from Studio Visit

Open Shelves Inspiration

 It's the new year...a fresh beginning and with it comes the urge to purge, clean and organize. I want to clean and hide the mess and clutter that I somehow accumulate every year.  There are definitely plenty of beautiful container options (maybe for a later post) to catch and hold everything. But I'm loving the open shelving approach to showcase all the little trinkets,treasures and wares and what ever else you want on these shelves. Given some thought, time and actual arm workout, who knows what essential wares can pop up on one of our shelves? I can see some of our objects and wares from the shop front and center in one of these shelves.And ooh I do spot one of Oji Masanori's brass trivet and Rina Ono's similar wooden coaster!

photo by Matthew Williams via

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Hello 2014!Happy New Year!

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Like always, I can't believe it's the new year and 2013 went by in a flash especially with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.  And since it's the beginning of the new year, it's time for resolutions, to do lists, goals etc. for the upcoming year. But instead of long resolutions that's hard to stick to by the end of the first quarter, I love this list of values as it's more of a manifesto,reminder or call to action. It's a simple list of values,  yet we may have to remind ourselves often as we're confronted with the ups and downs of life. What I've learned from last year is that it's not just the the grand gestures of love that are always important, but the simple acts of love that really matters like simply hanging out over a good meal with your loved one or a phone call (yes a conversation over the phone versus text). And as simple arithmetic reminds us, the little things add up to big things. 

And as time moves at a fast pace as we get older, it's like driving a long commute.... somehow our mind wanders and we're not even aware of our surroundings and how we got from point A to point B. So we hope to be more mindful of our environment and really experience the moment... the smell, the colors and feel of the surroundings...a true sensory experience and connect with the moment. So here's to the simple acts of love and really living in the moment for this year and always. Happy New Year!