Jacquie Severs

Those dudes at Google with their vibrant offices and healthy lunches have improved the internet yet again. Google Images can now sort results by size, colour, content and more. I love this function already - I love it so much because I can now easily do this:



And it is as easy as Googling "Car" and sorting from there.

I love colour and I love this function!

I finally bought a sofa. A big glorious orange sofa. I've been wanting to since I got my condo nearly 4 years ago now, and have been suffering through using two of the ugliest sofas known to man that were hand-me-downs. I say "suffering" with some sarcasm because I do realize having two hand-me-down sofas isn't really suffering at all. But the second one really, really offended my aesthetics. Even when I put a giant brown slipcover on it, I could still see those victorian rolled armrests. 

Purchasing a sofa has been no small feat. I'm pretty clear on what I like and dislike and with my budget it has been nearly impossible to find anything other than terrible things like this:





Look. I realize that this isn't the most offensive sofa ever made. In fact, it's pretty good compared to most of the stuff at the Brick or Leons or Bad Boy. But see those puffy rolled arms? I dislike them with the fire of a thousand suns. In fact, the sofa doesn't even really look comfortable. And I wonder if it would dye my white clothes red just from sitting on it.

Unfortunately, this is what people commonly call "contemporary" decor. If the definition of "contemporary" is "of the present time; modern" I don't see how this fits. To me, this is the same sofa that was around in the 80's and early 90's...therefore, not of the present time. What this says to me is that an existing sofa design was updated with new fabric colour. It is a mass market look. I know I'm not like most people in this regard but things that everyone has are things I do not want. I think of it like this - would you want to wear the same dress to a wedding as someone else? If not, why would you want your house to look like everyone elses? I think by purchasing an orange couch, something most people would never do, is a good expression of my consumer personality.

To me mass market furniture is very uninspired. It isn't thoughtful or creative or well designed. It is just what is "in". Red is in = red sofa. I appreciate my style is not for everyone, but having your own style keeps your home looking fresh, regardless of how long it has been since you redecorated.

For example, my sister's house is beige as it's base. Beige walls, beige carpet throughout most of the home. It seems unique and livable however. She's added a cool Todd Oldham for LazyBoy recliner in a multicoloured fabric, has a bright yellow kitchen and has large wall art in beautiful colours that are one of a kind. If you choose to buy what is popular in the mainstream I have bad news for you - your stuff isn't going to look contemporary or 'new' in 10 years. It is going to look like it was purchased in 2008, just like any other trendy item, like gladiator sandals for example. Just like this; which was once called contemporary and looks like it was designed somewhere between 1988 and 1991:

I'm not trying to be some sort of design snob, I'm really not. I simply wish people were more original.  We north americans have been so slow to adopt a modern look, it just came and went in the 50s and didn't stick around or get improved upon at all. In the 80s, there was an attempt, but I fear because it seemed to fail miserably people went running back to nostalgic looks. Like those brand new subdivisions that look like the victorian era exploded all over them. Like sofas that look like they are designed for the Pope to sit on them with doilies and toile and gold threads woven through. Like "country" blue and little white geese in the early 90s. How did we go from Eames chairs to little white geese? What happened? It seems now that time has passed and we've moved on from the Victorian revival yet again, that people are afraid of colour and of expressing themselves. They want 'safe'.

But I don't think it is all consumer's fault. Outside of Ikea and the relatively-new Urban Barn, where do we Canucks have to shop for unique and relatively affordable furniture? Sure sure there's upscale design stores and small boutiques in the big cities. But you know what? I can't afford a $4000 sofa. But is there nothing betwixt the $4000 designer item and the $799 Brick special? Does my budget mean I must suffer through bad design? Isn't the Brick or Leon's capable of selling furniture with unique features? Different styles? I'm serious when I say there wasn't one sofa at any of the big box furniture stores that I would even consider dropping a grand on. My ugly slip covered sofa was better.

I don't think it was always like this. This is a symptom of the mass market world we now live in. Nothing is purchased by retailers in small quantities. This is really the global marketplace taking away our choice. In the case of something like books, mass marketers take away our array of choices, but it is ok, because they give them back on the internet and include free shipping. But in the case of large items like furniture, the choice is taken away and not well replaced by the internet. (Ever looked into the cost of shipping a sofa from LA to Canada?) At one time you might have had a miriad of sofa choices in a wide selections of fabrics to choose from, and the option of customizing your choice for your space, all this made possible because the stuff was produced locally. You now have only the top 20 designs in one colour made in China and shipped in massive containers of only that one design (afterall buying huge quanitites of the same thing keeps prices low). 


Furthermore your sofa doesn't have any shelf life. The design is going to go out of style, but likely no faster than the couch itself will disintigrate into nothingness. No products are made to be permanent anymore. Everything is disposable.

Because everything is disposable (I'm looking at you, 5 year old dvd player on last legs) these days, it doesn't matter if the style is 'classic' or 'timeless' or 'well designed'. Because the retailer is counting on you buying a brand new one within 10 years anyhow. Following the herd to the new trendy look, colour or style.

Furniture that is unique and well designed should last a lifetime. It should appear timeless. You shouldn't look at it and think "wow that reminds me of a boy-girl party I went to in grade 7". This is one reason why stylish people with taste all over america are frothing at the mouth to get their hands on mid-century modern design. It is still fashionable and stylish after all these years because when people made the products, they were making them to last a lifetime. Not a decade.

I'm not saying I have the most timeless style ever or something, I just want to have more options available to me. At this point, some of my best items have been finds at garage sales and thrift stores. Like the two wooden lamps I bought this week, likely circa 1960, with original shades for $15 on kijiijii. Those lamps placed in a decor store on Queen street would have fetched ten times that because the people selling them would appreciate that 1. they are classic, 2. they are original  and 3. they can't be replaced.

There, I just identified them: Those are the three points missing from all contemporary furniture. 1, it isn't classic (has a short shelf life) 2. it isn't original or unique 3 they can be easily and affordably replaced.

I've never really seen lamps like I just bought in a store in my lifetime. But I've seen at least 3000 variations of this lamp:

 I'm honestly not even going to bother to figure out who was the designer that brought these clear based lamps into style because I don't care. It's now been ripped off so many times that it doesn't matter anymore. And I think this is because corporations are so scared of taking risks. They just want safe. They want results for shareholders. They reproduce this in a watered down version. They'd rather rip off every design in their catalog to ensure it is "safe" and has lots of "turns" (product management speak for how many times the stock turns over in the warehouse) so they can make the most money possible every year. I can't blame them for that, but I can feel frustrated by it.


One of the first companies in the US to really begin selling modern furniture, Design Within Reach, has been falling apart recently, because instead of continuing to sell designer furniture like Knoll orignals such as Eames chairs and Barcelona Chairs,  they decided to start selling their own knock-off versions of these. Essentially watered-down cheap mass market 'takes' on the originals. Because they wanted to improve their bottom line. (There's a great article about that mess in a recent Fast Company issue, if you want to read more.)

Why are we north americans so obsessed with fast and cheap? I wonder if it is because our countries are so young, so new that we can't imagine the future. European nations have this perspective on time, because they are filled with buildings thousands of years old. They see that things change, but not really. They appreciate timeless quality and good design because they are well aware that those 'things' could be around for many lifetimes. At least this is my theory. We don't have any perspective on that. Which is perhaps why we continue to recycle 'victorian' over and over again. We keep seeing victorian buildings as 'old' and there is some sort of nostalgic attachment to that style, so we keep recycling it.

People seem to think modern is always cold and minimal. Not so. This was recently confirmed for me by this little home decor style quiz I did that was shockingly accurate. Also for my mom, and another person I know who took the quiz. Try it out and see if it works for you. I got "earthy modern". Which couldn't be more true. I like modern looks, especially mid-century things, and I love warm colours in my decor. I want it to be comfortable and pleasant. I want lots of natural woods and original finishes. Hand made things. I want it to be well designed so that my investments will last. So I must say, the quiz's placement of my style was bang on. I felt it was so bang on in fact, that I celebrated by purchasing my orange deep seat modern sofa.
Must go lounge now.

My favourite colour is orange and I love clever stationery items, so this has got me pretty pumped up.

Check it out:

Yes folks, it appears to be a block of wood. But appearances are deceiving! It's actually a memo block.
Just peel off a layer and write away.

At first when I saw it I thought it was some sort of clever wooden paper. What a sucker for trompe l'oeil! It's not. It's made of paper. Simple printed and stacked paper.

You can buy it here.

A little something to put a bounce in my step...

A new category for the blog again! Road Trip!

Last October I turned 30. Though I had hoped to do something pretty spectacular, the timing of my birthday (thankgiving weekend) is always difficult. I had work commitments and family commitments that prevented me from getting out of town for much more than a long weekend. Even missing my family's thankgiving feast (for the first time in my life) was iffy at best, but I wanted to do something different for this birthday celebration because I'd spent the last 29 having turkey.

I love going places I've never been before. A lot of people suggested I go to Montreal, but while j'adore Montreal, I've been there a handful of times already. So I started about finding places that are within a 6 hour drive of where I live. 6 hours is about a half-day's drive. If I was going only for the later part of the weekend, I didn't want to spend two of the days driving. This eliminated other condenders: Virginia, Boston, Vermont...

And so I settled on Cleveland,departing Saturday night and returning on Tuesday evening. A lot of people have said to me, "why Cleveland?" but they miss the point - it's somewhere I've never been before, and it is an industrial city with a rich history. I'm a person who loves Detroit - and people say to me the same thing, "why Detroit?" These cities - no longer in their heyday, are so interesting to me. I love corporately-sponsored art, and these blue-collar industrial towns are chock full of it. Maybe it's where I'm from but I can't help but adore the blue collar towns.

On top of that, I knew there would be some cool cultural things to see and great restaurants to eat in and thanks to Hotwire, incredibly affordable (and swank!) hotels to stay in.

We headed out early and stayed our first night in Niagara Falls.  We had some good sake and sushi and boogied and then stayed in a retro (but clean and highly rated) hotel, again for a great price. In the early hours of the morning we headed out, traveling south around the lake through Pennsylvania.

I guess it seems obvious but it had never dawned on me that PA would have such a vibrant and beautiful wine region south of lake Erie (pictured). Vineyard after vineyard whizzed by as we quickly entered and exited the state. With rolling hills to the south and a great lake to view at north, PA was more scenic and interesting than expected. It has quite the tourist feel, and the state encourages cycling vacations through the wine routes. A good idea for another time, I guess.

The drive to Cleveland is only about 5 hours from the Falls, so we arrived just in time to check into our hotel. The great thing about booking online is that they don't know how much you paid - only that you did. When we arrived, our room as booked wasn't available, so they upgraded us to a suite, which had a great lakeview. And free cookies to boot. Pretty amazing for $40USD.

Downtown Cleveland reminded me a bit of downtown Atlanta - it doesn't have a lot of residential areas and is mostly a business district, so on Sunday when we arrived the place felt like a ghost town. Literally there were no cars on the streets and no people and nothing open (save the Rock and Roll hall of fame, which is always open.) So we went out adventuring, looking for something to amuse us for the day.

There wasn't much, so we walked the entire downtown checking out the architecture and outdoor sculptures. I love outdoor art -  it is one of the reasons I love Chicago so much. Corporations need to do something to support the arts - it is even mandated in some areas - so why not decorate your own property? I love that it forces people to see art and experience art in their daily lives. Those of us who like art make the effort to see it, but so many people never do, have never entered an art gallery. By putting it outside in large scale, it's impossible to avoid. I love that.

Among the works was the well known Free Stamp by Claes Oldenberg.
The stamp was originally intended to sit face-down on an 'ink pad' in front of the Standard Oil building. Standard Oil had commissioned the piece and Oldenberg told them the word 'Free', though intended to be invisible to the viewers, was in reference to the War Memorial across the street. But before the sculpture was placed, Standard Oil was bought out by BP and executives didn't buy Oldenberg's explanation, instead insisting that the word 'Free' was actually a jab at corporate America, and the lack of freedom office workers have. So BP offered the Oldenberg to the city of Cleveland, saying the artist could place it anywhere else in the city and they would still pay for it.


The artist refused - so the stamp sat in storage in Indiana for some time. It took over 7 years of negotiations before the artist, BP and the city of Cleveland could agree on the eventual location, Willard Park.

The piece was not set 'Free' side-down as originally intended and instead was laid on its side. The artist reportedly commented that it appeared as if an angry giant had hurled the thing from BP to the park (several blocks) and it had just landed this way.  It is huge - almost 30 feet tall. It would take a giant to move it.

Monday we went to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I'd recommend it to any music lover. Yes, it's full of a lot of male musicians, and it did bother me that some people, women in particular, didn't get the attention I think they deserve. That said, if you love music or history it is worth checking out. The building itself is spectacular. Designed by architect I.M. Pei, it sits right on the lake.

(Me in the lobby of the Rock Hall).

Pei is a Chinese-born American architect, lucky enough to call himself friends with the Bauhaus architects Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer.

If you find there is a similarity between this building and the Louvre's glass pyramid, it is because Pei was the lead architect on that project too. He was criticized for participating in the Rock Hall project, because some saw it as low brow compared to a prestigious project like the Louvre. In fact this is one of the reasons Pei was chosen by the project sponsors - the Rock Hall desired respectability in the museum world and they saw a great building as a good place to start.

I'm a real music lover but I have to say the building itself is worth seeing and experiencing almost as much as the contents. It's extremely impressive and nice to spend a day inside. The interior spaces the unusually shaped building creates are spectacular. And though some see the building as a garish failure, I enjoyed the physical placement on the lake and the overall feeling when inside.

We also checked out the Gordon Square Arts District, on recommendation from the Design*sponge Cleveland guide. The highlight (aside from the most intense Philly Cheesesteak Sandwich ever) was a shop called Room Service. It had giant wall maps, cool Pantone giftware, locally produced goods and rockn'rollin Thrash Cleveland t-shirts, one of which I bought for the bf.

What else did we do in Cleveland? We ate. Boy did we eat. I had deep-fried sauerkraut balls, for the first time ever (amazing). Then, when we were headed to the artsy Iron-Chef owned Lola Bistro, we ran into a guy who was from Canada and now lived in Cleveland. For some reason, he insisted that we not go there, and instead go to a small local restaurant that was really hard to find called Bruno's. Bruno's is, as I'm sure you could have guessed, an Italian joint. Because the Bf's extended family are Italian, I'm pretty picky about Italian restaurants. If I can have it better at home, why pay for it? But Bruno's was incredible.

Owned by the former chef for the Cleveland Browns, this little joint in a residential neighbourhood is a passion project of the owner. I think there were only 12 tables and the service was super friendly and home-y. I could have only eaten the appetizer and been full - everything was homemade (notably, the pasta), fresh and incredibly delicious. I don't think I've ever had a salad so memorable (it had hand twisted rotini noodles in it) nor have I ever seen portions this generous. For a starter we had fried calamari, which was the most delicious and tender calamari ever, I'd say. It melted in your mouth but was hot and crispy on the outside. I could tell from the first bite that this wasn't just a frozen bag of deep fried garbage - this was the real deal, hand cut, hand battered and hand fried. Later on the chef confirmed this.
For the main I went with a classic, veal parmesan. The dish could have fed a family of 6 and I am not exaggerating in the slightest. I would go back there in a heartbeat, but I would go back hungrier.

Which brings me to the question, would I go back to Cleveland? Absolutely. Due to the timing of our trip, I wasn't able to check out the Cleveland Museum of Art , which I would like to sometime. I love to travel to places I've never been to though, so I would schedule this on a road trip that goes through Cleveland and maybe doesn't stop in for more than a day. I've had it in my mind that I need to go to both Lexington KY and Pittsburgh PA, so it would be a good place to stop in on the way.

Cleveland. Really!

Recently at an event I saw a woman with the most perfect pixie cut hair. As a long-time short haired person (now venturing into the world of having long hair) I am always on the lookout for great short cuts. I'm still unsure about this long hair business and I'm always looking for a reason to chop it all off.

Anyhow, I was checking out her mop when I realized the reason her hair looked so shiny and wonderful is because it wasn't hair at all - it was a wig made of black feathers.

So I did a little research. This wasn't just any feather wig bought at some costume shop, this wig was so beautiful, so well made. And I found it:




It's not exactly 'affordable', but wow, does it impress. You can also get it in a peacock version, but I really prefer the simplicity of this chic shag. This is a really nice evolution on the feather-headband trend.

A little research tells me that the whole thing was likely inspired by one of the many amazing headpieces hair and makeup artist Katsuya Kamo created for Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2009 runway:


Not quite as wearable...but then it wouldn't be Haute Couture, now would it?

Consider me on the hunt for a reasonable facsimile of this that falls within my budget. Headed to New York in a month or so - and I think I'll be hitting up some wholesale accessory stores in Manhattan to see what I can find.

Dear blog friends,

Well, I know you are out there. How do I know? I'm clever, ok? Anyhow, having readers is not the primary motivation of this blog. I know that sounds crazy, but to explain what I mean would take more effort than it is worth and I assure you that post would be boring as all-heck.

So, with that said, it's handy to follow blogs. I'm a blog-reader as much as I'm a blog-writer - there is just something so delicious about user generated content. And I follow blogs because when I 'follow' blogger neatly organizes everything and tells me what's new out there.

I will say I hemmed and hawed quite a bit about adding the 'follow' box to my blog this time. I know that more people read than follow, but I thought having the box there might encourage more people to read if I did have a follow box.

Clearly, I've over-thunk this decision. Anyhow, I went with the follow box that you can now find in the sidebar. Won't you be my first follower? I'll love you forever.

I was reading the Lilla Rogers blog today and noticed this crazy tassle on a handbag:



















Ok, ok, so it's Juicy Couture, far from the Louis Vuitton version, but I love it. It's crazy. Tassels are over the place lately if you look really closely.

Last month I was lucky enough to have a friend take me to LG Fashion Week in Toronto. What fun this is! Fashion is an intriguing industry. Plagued by controversy, the industry thrives in spite of it all. I enjoy the shows because I find almost anything creative inspiring, and get ideas from all of it. Is fashion my industry? Not exactly, but so many industries are influenced by, and in turn influence fashion that it really applies to any consumer goods category.

Packed into a new space at Exhibition Place (pictured), the runway shows are loud, crowded and anything but reserved. It wasn't just me standing up on my chair, in the back row, hooting and hollering. This is a crowd who makes noise! People take notes and pictures, send emails and tweets, talk to their neighbours and generally have a light-hearted good time. I wonder if this is the same in Paris?

I can think of it like this - fashion shows, like shows of any kind really (art shows, theatre shows) thrive on the last minute rush to completion. We creative types love that pull-an-all-nighter stuff. If we didn't, we wouldn't be working in these businesses anymore. When the goods finally hit the runway, there is nothing a designer can do to perfect their work. The tweaking is officially over for the season. There is such a relief in that feeling, it makes you almost giddy. If you really did stay up all night, you are literally giddy. This translates throughout the crowd, which is full of mostly industry types. You've got the writers, who are true fashion fans, excited to see what's new, and the the industry people, so relieved another season is over. Mix that with a 750ml bottle of wine, and you get quite a vibe in the room!

I can relate that to my own product-launch experience. You find yourself in your living room the night before a launch gluing mocked-up boxes together because you can't imagine what your display would be like without them. Would the crowd have known otherwise? Probably not. But a true creative designer can't let their creations see the light of day unfinished. Witness any graphic designer show you their work mid-project. They will be sure to inform you repeatedly that the work is 'not done yet'.

If you missed it, you can check out LG Fashion week designers, their bio, complete collection and videos of the shows here. Alternately, this week in Toronto is FAT, Toronto's Alternative Fashion week.

New category for the blog: Logo Love.

My first entry, appropriately, was sourced from www.logodesignlove.com (via Eddy).














This logo is almost an ambigram, but not quite! Click here for a good article on ambigrams.

Wall Blank started in 2008 as an idea that became a mass email to a group of friends. The idea was for a website where you could buy real, limited edition art prints, and not the kind of cheesy ones you find at most galleries. Instead the site was conceived as a place to print great poster art (both new and old), original illustrations and photographs. The concept also included doing no-profit prints, where the artist donates their work, and the profits go to a selected charity. The email idea grew and soon enough www.wallblank.com was born.

Wall Blank posts new pieces of art regularly, sometimes daily (but not quite). They release the prints in poster size as limited editions, that are typically available only for one week. Less, if  they are very popular. The artists receive a portion of the sale price. Wall Blank 'curates' the selections to ensure a cool, design-friendly collection of prints and artists. They also sell the works framed, if you want them that way.

I can't stop drooling in anticipation of the next release. Look at some of the past releases to get the idea:

t lunch on friday there was a discussion about 'guys with long hair.' Amusingly, the two guys at the table both had long hair in the 90's. I accused them both of wearing their long hair with plaid shirts, light coloured jeans and Docs, and boy was I right. They both admitted to this look.

Fashion experts say 'grunge is back', and I guess in a lot of ways they are right. Plaid, ripped jeans and vintage shopping are all back in vogue, and it could be connected to the economy. In the mid-to-late nineties, it was an era of scaling back, as we were in a recession then, too.

It seems natural that if a grungy, working-class look is coming back, that the staple footwear of that time would too. Yep, I'm talking Docs.
























Doc Martens turned 50 years old last week. But really, they go back a lot farther than that, with early incarnations of the company going back as far as 1901. The first DM eight-eye boot began production in the U.K. on April 1, 1960. It was developed for factory workers, bobbies and mail carriers, but it was quickly adopted by skinheads who began emerging in Britain in the middle of the decade. The resulting irony was that young rebellious types, and "the man" were wearing the same boots.


But like all things 'subculture' they eventually became so popular that they were mainstream. By the 1990s, the movement was in full force. Docs were being sold in the U.S. to teens from upper-class homes. They bought the same styles from shopping malls that subculture rebels had once purchased in the tiny shop in Camden. The brand name and logo saturated advertising, sponsoring festivals and sports teams. Annual sales globally hit about $400 million in 1999.
 
The company started to struggle though. In the early part of the new millenium clothes became streamlined, simplified and minimal. Wearing around a clunky pair of heavy-soled army boots just wasn't fashionable anymore. In time some took sympathy with the struggling company who had grown too large to meet demand (much like any fad product - recently Crocs has suffered) and in 2003 Jimmy Choo, Vivienne Westwood, Jasper Conran and Orla Kiely reinterpreted and customized the original boot. And momentum began building behind the brand again. In 2009 Jean Paul Gaultier used them in his runway show and campaign advertising for his fall/winter collection.
 
It seems safe to surmise that the boot will continue to regain popularity, but just how popular will they become again? Wisely the brand has begun offering limited editions of their boot in a new Cherry Red colour:
 

I don't know what it is about home decorating that makes me think about moving. Maybe it is some sort of sense-memory association with moving - if I'm moving furniture, I must also be packing boxes, right? In any case, when I redecorate, I also think of selling the place. MLS.ca is my friend. It's not that I'm not happy where I am, it's just that I never thought of it as a permanent decision. It was a stepping stone....to something. A way to stop paying rent.

 I spend a lot of time on rainy sundays at flea markets with coffee in hand. Since I really shouldn't buy any more glassware, vintage playboy magazines or record albums, lately I usually leave empty handed, or just with a bag of cheese curds.  Afterwards I like to drive around and look at neighbourhoods and houses for sale. Some days this involves old houses with big lots in small towns outside of where I live. I think about gardening and a shed and the possibitity for me to work from home, and if not, how long it will take me to drive to work.

However, lately it's involved considering 650sq ft condos downtown.

The problem is I'm not sure which step I really want to take. I miss the city, I always have, especially my friends. I'd love to walk to work, and I love the arts, so sometimes when I think about it, it is a no-brainer. On the other hand, sometimes I find the city suffocating, loud and phony. I also miss gardening and having a basement and seeing stars and sunsets when I live in a really urban area. Clearly the correct option is a condo in the city and a small place in the country - but this isn't realistic, so I must choose.

I have to say this home tour of a place in Brooklyn NY, really has me inspired to think I can move into a small space, so I can be close to the people/things I love, give up commuting and finally accept, that deep down, I am a city girl after all. I can still have stuff from the farmers market and the flea market. I can still visit the country. But maybe all these country-girl ideas are things I just make up in my head and romantisize. Maybe the isolation would make me mad in the end, like Nicholson in the Shining.















I'm not usually a fan of mixed up 'international' looks. But this does a moroccan/south american look in a really warm, modern way that I enjoy. Also, exposed brick makes me jealous.

Further, I really dislike that colour of green most of the time. But mixed with these lovely spice tones, a deep rich brown and lots of natural light and wood tones, and suddenly it appeals to me. It is a challenge at best to make a red-and-green palette work, but this does, because the red is never too red, and the green is never quite deep in tone. The pattern mixing is perfectly done which helps scatter the eye and prevents the realization that this actually is a red-and-green look. I might just go and do a polyvore outfit inspired by it.

Decisions, decisions.

(as always, click to see full size - images are under copyright to the artist)


This month's illustrator is a french artist named Adolie Day who works in both digital and traditional media. Besides her artwork, she also works as a textile designer for children's fashion. You can see the influence of textiles is apparent in her work, which is rich with texture and depth.



















You can follow her delicious blog,  or pick up one of her prints on Etsy.

























What I appreciate most in her work is the balance. Balance between digital and organic, morbid and sweet, colourful and dark, serious and playful. The delicate lace-like graphics laid over top smooth shapes is especially dynamic . Somehow the artist manages to balance both the gothic and the childlike themes and as a result has created a style that is both cute and (oh I hate this word) edgy.

Everything old is new again, so the saying goes. That's why I love watching trends, to see how we collectively yearn and want. I'm fascinated by this collective decision making, however involuntary or subconscious. Anyhow, now that "my" generation is reaching the age where we begin decorating our first homes, it should be no surprise that the modern looks from the 60's and 70's are returning to favour. Afterall, while our parents loved Victorian everything throughout the 80's, we grew tired of this colour palette and design style and now we are ready to go a little further back. While our parents collected Victorian Antiques, those are losing value now as "modern classics" pick up steam. What sells as an antique is directly related to demand - and no antique will hold the same value forever, often moving up and down in value based on market demand. You can track trends then, by these values. For those of us born in the 60's and 70's, there is something pure and unique about the decor from that era that we love. We're not afraid of colour and we're not afraid of pattern! With the popularity of colourful appliances and wall paper on the rise, this decor trend will likely not slow for some time.


One retro design element that is continually gaining momentum is the Dandelion. Such a humble flower, (some would say weed), it offers unique design elements when shown in (what I call) "Pouf" form - the seeds ready to escape their stem and start the process of growth once more. The beauty of working with images of this botanical is the positive, warm and fuzzy memories it recalls - making a wish in the summer sunshine, and watching that wish float away on the warm breeze.

I worked with artist Jessica Rose to create a mug with a Dandilion design, and I added the text "Some See Weeds, Others See Wishes", summing up the feelings many of us have about this little lawn-living fellow. This is just one example, and in blue it is more unusual, because as you will see this trend is generally manifesting in yellow colour palettes. The artwork was just so pretty though! So blue it stayed.

But as we know, yellow is hot right now. Paired with other 70's shades like chocolate brown, avacado and wheat, it seems current and updated. I've also seen the image used with current blacks, greys and taupes. Will the trend continue? Likely, as more and more municipalities outlaw the use of pesticides, expect to see many more dandilions in your neighbourhood. With the youth attitude towards the environment the way it is, it is unlikely that dandelions will be seen as pests and instead  may have a sort of renaissance. If that is possible for a weed.

I think we could all use a little more buttery yellow in our lives. Don't you?

Check out some examples of this trend in action below.

 Miss Print























Saffron Craig
























Sanderson


















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St Jude's