stina persson :: am i the last to know?

think she was featured on notcot awhile ago, but i just saw her work for the first time and it's beautiful!

too cold to wear skirts? i think not.

i'm sick of pants and i'm making a new skirt. now that i've blogged about it, i'm being held accountable. see, that's how it works. it worked for my halloween costume...

and i don't care that i live in new hampshire where i'm supposed to don the seasonal attire of smart wool socks with my birkenstocks. or that i work at a company full of engineers that wear the same thing they left high school in (well there are a few exceptions of course, there are always exceptions).

i'm going to snuff out seasonal depression one skirt at a time. now if only the sun would come out.

home for the holidays

santabot

Christmas Wishes :: Gwen Frostic

Though I fail again at posting her prints, I've been re-skimming the Gwen Frostic biography I gave to my mother for Christmas and wanted to share a few of her inspirational quotes, poems, and thoughts as we look forward to the new year and all that it has to offer.

"Creativity is freedom, knowledge is creativity."

"Be a part of your own drama... Do your own thinking... Dreams without work are fantasy, work without dreams is drudgery... There's never a problem you will face that you cannot solve yourself... You will never get an idea about something you know nothing about... There's always more than one way to do something. Seek the alternative... Progress doesn't need to be destruction."

"Youth means the temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease..."

"Everyone in the creative field has the responsibility to do his part to prevent the destruction of nature. We must try to get people to think differently rather than do differently..."

and finally

"Nothing in the world is so powerful as an idea whose time has come."

Merry Christmas!!!

Santalaceae :: aka mistletoe

mistletoe, one of my favorite holiday traditions

interesting facts about mistletoe (taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistletoe)

1. it is a hemi-parasitic plant

2. it causes gastrointestinal problems

and finally

3. "It was the plant of peace in Scandinavian antiquity. If enemies met by chance beneath it in a forest, they laid down their arms and maintained a truce until the next day." This ancient Scandinavian custom led to the tradition of kissing under the mistletoe."

and dessert

tuesday lunchtime

monday haste

pahr rrrrum pum pum pum

so i lied, maybe tomorrow i'll post some gwen frostic prints. here's a pattern instead.

wednesdoodle

gwen frostic :: today's heroine

such an incredible woman. i'll post examples of her lovely prints tomorrow (need to sort through my favorites). talent brought to you from the lovely state of michigan! shaped like my favorite wintertime handwear, michigan brings a plethora of wonderful things... beef jerky... nature and wildlife... detroit (slows bbq: http://slowsbarbq.com/ best bbq in the world!)... gwen frostic's letterpress studio and "curiosity shop" with original working heidelberg presses...

so until tomorrow, please enjoy the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH23Sqb3Rvo

plaidoodle

fyi :: printing on fabric

is easy as pie on an ink jet printer. instructions found here:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Inkjet-Printing-on-Fabric/?comments=all#CSYFKRYFD80X1ON
(has other great "how tos" including making flexible circuits using an inkjet printer).

to insure color fast ink follow this link:
http://www.dharmatrading.com/html/eng/3446-AA.shtml?lnav=transfers.html

now to make a laser cutter at home and all of my dreams will have come true!

mmmeh... thought i'd put it out there anyway

triptych

pistachio

pistachio is an eco-gift store that recently opened in canada- one of my best pals, pete, has been a contributing designer since it's inception. so excited!! can't wait to visit.

read about it on treehugger: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/david-suzuki-bruce-mau-eco-shop-toronto.php

patyka :: mmm!

i love visiting my friend adam. during my last visit, i fell in love in his shower... with a French... line of organic bath and body products. patyka is produced by the small firm he now works for (yep, just ended my sentence with a preposition).
partake: http://www.patykausa.com/index.htm

what's it to ya?

sometimes i have daydreams about the illustrations from my high school spanish text book (circa 1972) and more recently art nouveau (wink).

so i took a break...

thursday flora

better late than never :: the "speakeasy" bluetooth ear piece

the mood board :: i love making moooood boards.
the reason for it's conception and existence you ask. well, plantronics had a competition for bluetooth ear pieces... and i registered and made an inspiration board and started a sketch but got caught up on "well i should probably build a model and do a really hot rendering" but i didn't want to. so i didn't...

so instead i finished the sketch. voila!

it's a jewel tone sorta week

i was walking this morning and saw this amazing extra wide door with a cute little iron (of course painted over) handle.
i want one.

oh, and providence was lovely

A Better World by Design Conference :: My notes in summary

A Better World by Design Conference
Providence, RI :: RISD/Brown
November 6-9, 2008

Niti Bhan : Emerging Futures Lab

It is so silly that we spend the majority of our talent and time designing for the top 10% of the population (economically speaking), there’s a huge opportunity and though it may not seem sexy and cutting edge, we’re missing out (though I do think we can make it sexy and cutting edge). Representing the voice of the user, Niti presented her evidence in a very design applicable format. As we consider designing for the BoP, our current understanding of the word “customer” must shift… a lot.

“Uncertainty is the only certainty”
Meaning, the majority of customers in the developing world cannot plan. Their income is uncertain which greatly affects purchasing patterns. This population is constantly waiting; waiting on work, waiting on infrastructure- buses, clean water, etc. Systems like our two year phone contracts are simply out of the question. Consider “pay as you go” systems. Whether that’s pay as you go phone plans or “pay as you go” groceries (buying only what you need, single use sachets, etc.), we need to understand that this isn’t about generating a consumer but meeting needs.

“Life is hard, make it easy to use and easy to choose”
In terms of consumerism, the all-in-one, greatest and latest product won’t survive. It’s not the way the “system” works. Niti’s example for this subject was again a reference to how cell phones succeed in the developing world. You have the “calls only” version (maybe doesn’t even have a screen) for a minimum price, the next step up has a very simple and obvious change in features- maybe it has text messaging. The services and upgrade in the premium model makes it very clear to the customer what they are purchasing. There aren’t extra features- “bull shit”- for the customer to question their true value (therefore losing respect and trust in that brand).

“Trade-offs are a fact of life”
Everything is a trade off in this culture. Do I buy a newspaper today and possibly not have money for milk tomorrow? Pointing towards the last paragraph, really expose the value/lack of value. Create a transparent brand. These products will not be thrown away, they will be reused and refurbished and people will capitalize on this cycle (do we have cell phone repair shops in the U.S?). It is not our goal to make consumers out of this market. Oh how I wish we too thought of purchases as trade-offs and not just in the monetary sense, but in the “natural resources/waste/disposal of” sense.

In closing, Niti left us with these principles (forgive me if I repeat something) that could very easily become design priorities and directives:
Uncover and map the values gap.
Maximize constraints, minimize resources.
Maximize the “freemium” (i.e. Flikr)
Cross pollination first- why reinvent the wheel?

Got it? Good.

Next up in my notebook, Ecolect. Thank god someone is finally creating a database. Here’s to hoping it is as successful and dependable as we’re all expecting it to be. In this session we discussed the “Triple Bottom Line” which I never actually wrote down, but it looked something like a ven diagram and I’m just assuming the three circles had something to do with everything you would put into a life cycle analysis. What I took away from this is
1. we need a database so we have access to materials
2. we need a database so we can evaluate the footprint of these materials
3. we need a well developed/streamlined way to conduct an LCA

All of which are very involved and in constant flux (is organic cotton better than regular cotton? Ceramic mug or recycled paper cup? Paper or plastic? Ahh!) So, I suggest we stop making things. We stop and use and reuse what we have and clean up what we’ve done. I’m only half joking.

Finally, one of the the last presentations was Aliza Peleg from “Better Place” (Shai Agassi’s EV dream).

They first showed this adorable movie. Made me feel all soft and fuzzy like a marshmallow.
watch it here
In my opinion “Better Place” is a good senior thesis. It’s that ideal world that makes sense but people love to dump on it b/c they’re realists. Better Place describes themselves as “A mobility operator that delivers transportation as a sustainable service”.

Yay.

My question- feel free to answer if you have one- so we’re taking combustion engines off the road and replacing them with batteries that have huge eco-footprints. I understand that they will recharge them as long as possible BUT you can’t recharge them forever right? And when you can no longer recharge them we will all of a sudden have a huge issue with massive amounts of waste. How are they approaching the development of the battery technology? Has someone figured out how to control this responsibly? Also, why do we keep taking major dumps on the big three? I don’t approve bailouts but helloooo Ford, GM, and Chrysler are American as apple pie. Patriotism anyone? Comments on the subject are invited and encouraged.

ruby tuesday numero dos

ruby tuesday

thursday 02

thursday 01

gardenia anyone?

election day pattern

manufactured landscapes :: wall-e wasn't too far off

is it too early in the morning for this? there was a clip where a worker said "we need to sort the materials to recycle but now we're too far behind"... are we too far behind? where do we start?

a film by jennifer baichwal capturing the work of edward burtynsky

check it:

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/film.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes

view trailer:

http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/displaytrailer.php?directoryname=manufacturedlandscapes&size=high&extension=mov

just weavin'

thought i would share a few shots of one of my first pieces.
a little explanation: i'm trying to fully experiment with and understand the capabilities of various textures and techniques in a neutral palette before getting crazy with color. next class i get to start my own warp- yiip! what to do... what to do...!?!
on another note. how is it november 3rd? seriously? november 3rd?

or...

tgif

wednesday lunch break pattern

today's heroine :: edith head :: costume design

tuesday night i went to see the movie "city of ember"... the costumes- mostly knitwear- were beautiful. so much texture, the costume designer ruth meyers did an amazing job.
therefore, i felt inspired to blog about one of my favorite (cliche or not) costume designers of all time, edith head.
is it a coincidence that all of my heroines wear amazing glasses or have funny bangs? i think not.

"...Head was a very private woman, a trait well illustrated by the dark sunglasses that became her trademark. Originally the lenses were blue, but later they were dark shades of gray. They were worn originally to see how the clothing would appear in black and white. The glasses and her unchanging hair style helped her to hide her true age. In the 1920s, she wore a Colleen Moore Dutch boy cut, but in the 1930s she noticed Anna May Wong's style and copied it: flat bangs with a chignon at the back. She would wear it for the rest of her life. These features and the consistency of her appearance over the decades helped make her an instantly recognised figure. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Head

also, if you remember the movie "the incredibles", i would like to note the remarkable resemblance between edith head and the silly little seamstress "edna more"...

the end of fall

cue the magic words..."and a chance of flurries"

"take a hike" or "go felt yourself"

a week ago i went on a short hike with my parents. i spent most of the hike picking up leaves and acorns and at one point found these awesome fungi and decided it would be a good photo op for the iphone case i made out of felt. (this is about the point where i heard my mother who was further up the path yell "are you ok!?!").

SAORI :: my current fibercraft

i recently started taking a saori weaving class and am finding it more enjoyable, relaxing and intuitive than previous fibercraft endeavors.

so with that said, let me introduce you to SAORI:

"The "sa" in "SAORI" ("ori" means "weaving"), is a Zen Buddhist term that means "each thing has its own unique quality" or "each person has his or her own unique quality." So, because of these spiritual roots, as experienced and expressed by founder Misao Jo, SAORI is more than just a technique. It is also:
A philosophy that all people are artists: each of us has a latent intuitive power that SAORI can awaken
An aesthetic that embraces the natural beauty of unintended "mistakes" and encourages exploring the unknown.
A social movement towards bringing diverse people together to learn from one another. It is especially a movement to include within a larger community people who may be isolated or marginalized because of disability, age, income, overwork, caregiving, ethnicity, or other reasons. An artistic yet practical path of meditation, therapy, rehabilitation, trauma recovery, stress reduction, identity-building, community-building, economic self-reliance, and holistic human devlopment."
http://saoriworcester.com/what.htm

my teacher bobbie had to get permission from the city of osaka to open a saori studio outside of japan. pretty crazy eh? i however do not drive to worcester for classes, but to a studio in penacook, nh. the photo on the left is misao jo who is now 95 yrs. old.

monday boos

i heart henry

it seems like every time i hear or read a poem and like it, it ends up being by longfellow. though i enjoy the way "iambic pentameter" rolls off the tongue-don't mistake me for a poetry buff, i've just been getting back into it lately.

hmmm :: a quick thursday pattern

feliz cumpleanos :: pevo!!!

pattern 03

does it look crooked? it's crooked. why is it crooked? i tried to fix it. hmmph.

si scott :: hold onto your scivies

consider yourself inspired. check it out http://www.siscottstudio.com/

miz kate

between dave drawing the same car over and over and kate drawing adorable animals... it's a wonder we ever accomplish things during meetings.

pattern 02

pattern 01