A little collection of things found on some recent walks. One of the walks was to one of my parents' burned down neighbors' houses. Charred scissors, and melted aluminum and glass formed little puddles in the ground and hardened into the most beautiful shapes. There is always beauty to be found in the ruins.

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On a side note, my parents' house which survived the Tea Fire in Nov'08 has been featured on radio, TV and in the newspapers for being fire resistant. While a lot of good luck and the favorable direction of the wind had a major hand in the house surviving, my parents also made some really good design decisions in constructing their new home that contributed to the house's ability to withstand the fire. See them here.

And now the fire is long gone and regrowth is underway. Homes are being rebuilt in every direction and people are moving on. But I think about it all the time. Perhaps if you had lost everything, that would be the only thing to do: move on. No questions remain; things are just gone. But with a house still standing amongst all these ruins, the idea of loss lingers. And haunts. It's hard to comprehend complete loss adjacent to something completely unscathed. There is not a lot of sense in this, but eerily, a lot of beauty.

The idea of architectural loss is certainly an interest of mine. In graduate school my architectural thesis project was based on the idea of loss; the idea that buildings have lifespans and that they are also subject to dying. I think I am continually fascinated by buildings dying... intentionally or just haphazardly. Neglect turns out to be beautiful and misuse results in surprising afterlives.

Found this amazing artist, Jody Wong, via bencke corner.

I love how the drawings on the pages before and after resonate on the pages that are open. I know that sentence doesn't really make that much sense... you'll just have to look at Jody's blog to see what I mean.

Go now.... here.

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oh, right, almost forgot. Does anyone have a good recommendation for a hotel in Brisbane, Australia? I will be there for one day only. I know it's impossible to see any city in one day, but perhaps there is a interesting little place in a interesting neighborhood that I should stay at?
Many thanks!

Beasts now live on the walls of the studio.

Another little sneak peak of the house I'm decorating... the light is perfect right now.

The bottles and jars I found Italy, as well as the rusty candelabra. The glass fishing floats I found on Ebay and the terrarium I planted this morning. I'm so happy this all coming together after two years of imagining what it was all going to look like.

In between knitting, my museum work, and architecting, I am also a decorator/buyer. Two years ago I went to Europe to buy furniture for the house I was also helping to design. And now finally things are out of storage and the house is starting to look lived in. We've still got a ways to go, but I like this stage... things remain uncluttered and simple.

I am particularly proud of the orange iron chandelier I found in Italy. This is one of my favorite little rooms.

Thank you all for the comments on my last post. Looking now, a day later at the two designs, I can see that I was taking things a little too seriously. But this time yesterday, I was convinced otherwise..... So, long story short, I'm happy everything is cleared up :)

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And moving on....

I can imagine this on my table very easily... a stunning ceramic piece by Brian R. Jones... find his shop on Etsy.

Today: a weird coincidence...

I was just pursuing the pages of PoppyTalk Handmade and came across a design by Samantha Hahn, which my new I LOVE YOU card resembles immensely.

There was that moment of realization.... Gasp! Since my card appeared the day after hers on the web, do I look like a plagiarist? Did I get sucked into some handmade Valentine's Day sentiment vortex, and spun out on the same tangent as Samantha Hahn?

What to do? Is it ok to still sell the card? Do I graciously remove it? So weird. Am I over reacting?

I feel so deflated... sigh.

Loving Hella Jongerius' Home Props.

There's a new card in my store.... or rather, my stores now. I just opened up a new little shop with big cartel in addition to the one at Etsy. Going to see how it goes, but so far so good. I'll be loading more products soon.

I really like how clean and simple big cartel is. I also like that you don't have to be member to buy. Again, simplicity. Got to love it.

So... if you are interested in the new card, check out either Etsy or big cartel.

I had such a nice coffee today while I was at a meeting. Everything was all black and white, and in amongst all this... a spot of delicious brown.

The flowers in our studio are finally nearing the end of their bloom. Dying, but still so pretty.
My green thumb itches to get more plants into the studio. It makes me happy to look up from my work desk and see green.

Only seven days into the year and I've already created heaps of lists all titled "To Do."
Will it ever end, I ask you?

{image from here, via ffffound!}

4th street bridge Christmas lights

Hello 2009.

I'm back after a wonderful little road trip to Zion and Bryce National Parks, via Joshua Tree.

Walking in the snow :: Zion

Sunset Loop/Navajo Trail at Bryce Canyon

This time I remembered to bring along the old Polaroid, expired film and all. Took the back way home and stumbled upon an old, beautifully neglected road-side motel.... with a forlorn yellow chair.

Roy's Motel and Cafe, Amboy, CA

Happy to be home and back to work, but wanderlust still beckons.... I'll be heading to Australia to visit my sister soon. I think I could stay on the move forever.

Happy New Year everyone!

Heading into the snow.... see you next month!
Hope you all have wonderful and safe holidays :)

Today CG brought her new shoes into the studio. And my heart stopped.
They are by Sigerson Morrison.

Shoes are my weakness.

Cute little geometric shiny gold flats with ballet straps?

Trouble.

It is raining in Los Angeles. And I'm under the weather.
It's all sniffles, sneezes and coughs. And lots of aches.

Yesterday I ate soup. Today I am still eating soup. Tomorrow, I will most likely be eating soup again.

That is my own forecast.

{image via designboom}

Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Millie....

Have a great weekend!

The view from our table at Pappy and Harriette's in Pioneer Town, close to Joshua Tree.
The light was incredible... and made for perfectly lovely birthday afternoon.

That, and the delicious chilli, the spicy bloody Mary's and the fantastic game of Yahtzee.

The desert is an incredible place. It's hard to describe. You should just go there if you can.

It has taken me about ten years to fall in love with Los Angeles. I have always loved certain aspects of the city, but to be honest I've been planning my escape for about 9 years. Lately, I've had many days like today, and therefore it's a good example why this place can be so frustrating and refreshing at the same time. Hence the love. Of course I sat in traffic for what seemed like an inhumane amount of time, but I also got to experience the softer, more ironic side of the city.

Bear with me; it's not a long story, but it's a story. Our studio is in some serious need of more storage space. As five designer individuals we certainly have collected some pretty stuff along the way and we need to store/display these things, only to be fair to said collections. However, we also need to be efficient working people, so things like filing cabinets are handy yet not-so-pretty. Our solution? Instead of Ikea (which we tried but felt so empty afterwards) we opted for an educational-furniture-salvage place right the street from the studio.

Tomorrow we are having some lovely wooden cubbies delivered which will be perfect for various paper and material samples. Also, some extremely utilitarian but perfectly lovely old filing cabinets will be delivered. Storage problem solved. If we could have afforded the lockers we bought them.


But what was so perfect about the walk up the street to this strange little warehouse perched on the side of the highway, was the fact that it was a salvage yard/store as well as an oasis/farm.

Los Angeles is full of these dichotomies. I took the photo of the stacked plastic chairs, and literally turned around and took a picture of the chickens and urban garden. I'm sure all other cities are this two-faced; I say that in the nicest way possible, because cities can't just be one thing to all people. Los Angeles has many faces, not just two: underneath all of this is a fascinating place full of social and architectural strangeness, diversity and surprises that have nothing to do with that face it puts on to the rest of the world. This is the LA I love. The one that you have to sit if traffic for.

And, no joke, 45 minutes later, I was sitting mind-numbing traffic for an hour to go a mere 15 miles. An utter waste of time. This is how it goes. At least I got to see real live chickens living in downtown LA. That's a first for me.

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On an entirely different note, I'm happy to report that my knitting is back up to speed. And this is Octavio. He likes lamb chops, as do I.


Have a great weekend everyone! I'm celebrating my birthday this weekend with two other fabulous Sagittarians whose birthdays are days apart from mine, so the party usually lasts a little longer :)

It's still rather sparse, but the wall behind my desk is slowly starting to be what I want it to be.