color of the new year

it's been officially announced ~ blue iris is the color that will carry trends in 2008. the color experts at pantone have selected pantone 18-3943 as the color that will push the market in the upcoming year.
"from a color forecasting perspective, we have chosen pantone 18-3943 blue iris as the color of the year, as it best represents color direction in the coming year for fashion, cosmetics and home products," says leatrice eiseman, executive director of the pantone color institute. eiseman added, “emotionally, it is anchoring and meditative with a touch of magic.”

one of the more than 3,000 colors in the company's eco-friendly lineup, blue iris is billed as a combination of the stable and calming aspects of blue with the mystical and spiritual qualities of purple.

{photos from the sartorialtist show blue iris on a stylish bicyclist in paris, a dapper gentleman in new york city and a lovely-legged lady in milan this month}

{several products showing the use of the iris color ~ it'll be interesting to see how many more come out in '08}

i happen to love this color {whether it's color of the year or not} but i'm curious what you all think?

concentric delicious

i just found the most fabulous looking icebox cookies ever {well, for my concentric circles loving self} these are now the official cookie of studio wellspring ~ ;o)
i'll be making my own version this coming weekend ~ wish me luck that i can get mine to look as perfectly fantastic as these do.

{found on none other than martha stewart's empire website}

art quest resolved!

the ever researching ms.90/10 rule sent me a link to the lekker home website where this exact vase is for sale. it says nothing about the artist, but it does say the vase is imported from amsterdam.
so i searched in the netherlands and found this:

a very similar coral vase in a high gloss steel-silver on the interesting site dutch by design. this vase was designed by norman trapman and is so similar to the larger white version i figured it must be the same designer.

i found norman trapman's work in several places:

{here is an even more similar vase being sold at design-ws}

{an interesting log stump vase found on it's-knot-wood}

{this 9-bottle vase found on a uk site compare-store-prices}

and finally it all came together on a netherlands based site called galeries ~ hark! i present to you the tulpenvaas by norman trapman:

art quest

there's a bit of an art mystery going on.... and i need your help.
these interesting coral-like vases keep showing up around me from different sources and now that i'm curious to find out who did them {simply because of the frequency with which they've been appearing} i can't find out a thing.
our office has acquired two {as a gift} and i've asked several people here about them, and even taken the liberty of picking them up and flipping them over to see if there was any info underneath. but i came up with nada.

{a side table in our conference room}

and of course i've searched the entire internet and still can't find out who the artist is or where these pieces come from.

{photo from decorno's blog}

{photo taken by steven randazzo}

so if you know the answer, or have any ideas on where i can get it, please share ~ my curiosity would be ever so grateful!

swell swap

the holiday ornament swap of 2007 was highly successful in spreading the joys of the season. i've already received 5 of the 9 ornaments from my group and i'm so impressed with everyone's creativity & skill. it's wonderful to get a little piece of holiday cheer from so many different places ~ south africa, canada, new zealand, texas, seattle, minnesotta. i made 8-point origami stars, gave them a dusting of gold shimmer, glued a rhinestone in the center, and strung a loop of silvery grey beads for the finishing touch. i hope my swap-mates enjoy what i sent them as much as i am delighted with what they've sent me.

tons of photos of everyone's contributions are here.

holly jolly crunch time

lots to do today away from blogland ~ hope you have a weekend filled with good cheer!

chance of showers

those who know me fairly well understand my crush for umbrellas {case in point, teri sending me this tip}. alas, last thursday i missed an incredible showing of umbrellas and a benefit for 826-seattle at the design commission in seattle. but luckily tons of photos of the beauties have been shared on flickr.

it featured over 25 decorated and artistically transformed umbrellas from artists, designers and architects across the country ~ the remaining umbrellas are still up for auction on ebay. all proceeds from the auction benefit 826-seattle {a wonderful non-profit dedicated to helping youth with writing skills of all types}.
please jump here to see a time lapse video of the opening night ~ it's the next best thing to being there!

{all photos with gratitude from the design commission flickr set}

modern gingerbread house

maybe this isn't your grandmother's gingerbread house ~ but it's arguably the coolest gingerbread house design i've seen. it arrives fully assembled, is 100% edible and can be personalized {found at redenvelope}. i might just have to come up with my own version sometime. i love model making {i get to do it for clients every once in a while ~ see some examples here} so it would be a fun challenge to make an edible version. that is, if i had 150 hours of free time to dedicate to such an undertaking. ;o)

o

i recently came across this talented denver colorado team called o interior design. three very talented ladies have joined forces to bring ecclectic vibrant interiors to colorado & beyond. i'm really loving their self-proclaimed mountain modern/colorado contemporary style. their website is full of gorgeous interiors, so i just chose a few of my favorites along the reds & asian-fusion themes to share with you today. but please do check out the rest of their portfolio sometime!

jumpin jive

last night the lovely tangobaby & her beau treated me to viewing some of the most amazing dance clips ever filmed in history on their 10' movie screen home theater system ~ the audition performance of rudolf nureyev that gave him an open ride into both the bolshoi & the kirov ballet companies, bo jangles' soft shoe brilliance and the nicholas brothers in one of their most famous performances in stormy weather. it's valuable to know before watching the clip below that many performance greats such as mikhail baryshnikov, fred astaire, gregory hines, michael & janet jackson consider the nicholas brothers the greatest dancers/performers in history. it's widely agreed that if their biography was ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer generated because no one could duplicate them.

here they are with cab calloway in this incredible performance in the 1943 movie stormy weather:

btw ~ neither of them have any formal dance training ~ they learned their skills by growing up around vaudeville

weekend whirl

{ the palace of fine arts was a gorgeous scene in the december sunshine}

{my favorite thing inside the exploratorium was this huge mobile hanging high above the main entrance}


{elizabeth falkner, ms.citizencake, with her sweet ice winter dreamscape creation ~ an edible interpretation of the geographic south pole}


{some shoes & some candles at our company holiday party this past saturday}

bask in the wallpaper glow

dutch designer jonas samson uses a new technology to create light emitting wallpaper ~ it's now possible to use a two-dimentional flat surface as light source instead of just a 3d object. brilliant!
the wallpaper's patterns consist of embedded led's..... one can turn off the lighting, making the wallpaper a standard wall ornament, or have it turned on and enjoy the transition of multiple patterns. when the lights within the wallpaper are in the 'off' position, the wallpaper is indistinguishable from any other wall covering surface, and when they are in the 'on' position the wall emits a nice glow that can illuminate a small room.
in his designs, samson explores the utility, art and craft of turning conventional items into works of high tech design. the light-emitting wallpaper demonstrates his skills, which are quite unique ~ integrating highly advanced technologies with creative design.

3 weekends left til you know who.....

this weekend, besides seeking a milonga or two and going to see the sweet ice antartic dream scape by citizen cake, i'll be focused on finishing my ornaments for the swap and getting my chirstmas cards written, addressed & stamped. oh yes, and it's also our office holiday party ~ taking place at orlando's house. i'll take as many photos as i can of all the events to share with you. what are your weekend plans?

{photos of handmade ornaments on flickr}

holiday cheer tour

{a christmas tree in paris suggests an upward glance}

{grafton street in dublin ireland, all dressed up for the holidays}

{rathaus christmas market in vienna austria}

{holiday outdoor market in lugano switzerland with sparkle showers}

{holiday shopping in old quebec canada ~ is this 1895 or 1995?}

extraordinary oras

oh i love these! each of the oras wall mobiles is hand made from high-density foam and strung with superfine nylon-coated steel wire and micro sterling silver crimp beads. suspended from an acrylic bar, each one measures 31"l x 26"h. custom-made, bead-blasted, powder-coated aluminum brackets secure mobiles to the wall.

the colors are lovely and, as in my previous post, the shadows they throw are wonderful too.

such a fabulous concept!

kozai designs

established in 2003 by owner ron cromie {a long-time resident of japan and china}, kozai designs reflects a fusion of mid-20th century organic modern design with the japanese minimalist aesthetic of less is more, along with a celebration of warm natural materials, especially solid hardwoods and traditional hand-made papers {washi}.
much of their work is custom built-to-order in japan, with a wide range of sizes, woods, fabrics, and finishes available, and they have a shop in vancouver, bc. to warm up on a gray drizzling day, i thought i'd highlight my favorites from their lighting design department.

{two pendants from the wappa series made of bent cedar from akita in northern japan ~ the shadows cast by the fixtures are as alluring as the fixtures themselves}

{the mocoro table lamp above is a cylinder of soft ambient light nestled within a layered globe of turned japanese hemlock disks}

{via the lovely terramia}