Showing posts with label design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label design. Show all posts

14 May 2011

Inspiration: floral and window displays ...

The following floral displays are by Ken Marten, who works at McQueens in the UK ...

I especially love bleeding hearts and I hope they make their way into wedding bouquets this season ...


I love these inside designs of all single-type flowers and grouping of glass globes ...

My favourite type of hydrangea, called 'fall' hydrangea for when it's in season, looks rustic with lots of antique colours ...

This is an amazing terrarium ... I love the scale ...

Orrery (rejected design) by Ken Marten
{Orrery (rejected design) by Ken Marten}

I really like this window display, it's a temporary design, but clever how he suspended the forsythia with their own water bags, it makes the design even better this way ...


Another inspiring window display, this time from writer Pia Jane Bijkerk to promote her book ...

30 January 2011


Inspiration: Amazing Florals and their Designers ...

Some of my favourite floral designers and their creations are shown in this posting. Mostly, I admire these ladies for allowing flowers to remain true to their nature, for not over designing, and for parallelling the design philosophies of wabi-sabi ...

This is how I became inspired by flowers, gardening, and nature from a young age: Green fingers are the extension of a verdant heart ...

Poppies & Posies
is a New York-based boutique floral focused on combining florals, twigs, berries, fruits and vegetables into organic, loose, garden style arrangements ... Some of their creations are shown below ...


{florals by poppies & posies}

"Would I say that flowers run thru my veins? Perhaps, poetically speaking. What I know for certain is that my love of flowers comes from family, from wonderful memories of planting gardens with my parents, from building my own family, watching them grow, and then finally helping my clients with their vision of their wedding day - a day that is the foundation of a new family.
My philosophy is simple...never force a flower, let it breathe and sway. Let it show itself off in a flourish of petals. It is safe to say these blooms know what they are doing by now, evolving from miniscule little specks to their present day glory."
-Kate Holt of flower wild
{bouquet by flower wild}

McKenzie Powell focuses on floral and event design. Her company is based in Seattle. With these designers, there is a common thread of childhood memories in the garden and their love of flowers: "Spending my childhood days barefoot in my parents' gardens, it is no surprise that my work is what it is. Pods, buds, and blossoms are found throughout my designs. Fruits, berries, and herbs find their place as well." -McKenzie Powell

{flowers by McKenzie Powell}

Meet Erin Benzakein of Floret, an eco-lovely organic flower farm in Seattle ... and her lovely creations ...



{photographs courtesy of Floret}

Based in San Francisco, Studio Choo is unique in their approach to floral design. They have collaborated with other artisans to form their storefront Prairie Collective ... They also write a weekly column for design*sponge "we like it wild" ...



{photographs courtesy of studio choo}

Saipua is a Brooklyn-based small family-owned floral and soap company. They have been making olive oil-based soaps since 1999 and designing flowers since 2004 ... Here are some photos of their storefront and florals ...


{photographs courtesy of saipua}

If that wasn't enough, here is some more inspiration ...

Crafter, Blogger and Floral Designer Amy Merrick's blog AN APPLE A DAY and Brown Paper Design

23 October 2010

I LOVE ... Haptic Lab's baby-soft maps and readymade quilts of American cities, such as San Francisco, Seattle, Austin, Boston, New Orleans, Philadelphia, etc. (see pictures below) Here's how they describe their quilts:
Soft-Maps are quilted maps of cities and neighborhoods that represent someone's unique place in the world. Wrap your children in them, have a picnic, pull them close during the next Nor'easter. As a keepsake, a Soft-Map serves as an intimate reminder of home: where you’re from and where you belong. In a world that is increasingly digitized and remote, a quilted Soft-Map provides an expressive way to reconnect with your surroundings.

Not only beautiful, these blankets can be used as a mnemonic tool. As your child grows up with a Soft Map, they learn to read their neighborhood and its landmarks in a tactile, easily remembered way.



Some more inspiration:

Amazing florist in Rome - Tulipani Bianchi

Newer company for event design - Landing Feet First

Little Flower School with Nicolette and Sarah

17 July 2010

Inspiration: Simplistic design and gray, white and green ...
Here is the design I submitted for EVDS 2010/2011 Lecture Series poster and mail out competition ... I love this font, it is Gulim Che ... I especially like the spacing between the letters ...



David has been watching me piece together the vanitas portraits so far. Yesterday, his curiosity got the better of him and he asked me to scan his tattoos and his hand with Leo's hand ... I think the pictures turned out somewhat sweet ...


I found the bicycle of my dreams ... it is a wicked MADSEN and I love the colour ... I could haul stuff around, especially when Leo gets big enough, I'll throw him in the bucket ...

16 June 2010

Inspiration: airplane. Here are a couple illustrations I worked on last night and this morning ...




I have blogged about studio mela before - I love her posters!!! Here are a couple of them:

(Don't wait for tomorrow)

(Love is Everything)

See her work ... studio mela blog or here

Here is how she describes herself: i'm an artist. i get paid to draw. i love what i do. i'm also a wine lover, a beer hater. a mommy. a dreamer. a writer. but above all i'm really just a girl who lives a lovely little life. this is a space to keep the good. the deep. the funny. the amazing. the small. the big. the best.

Redbean Design - the portfolio of San Francisco based designer and illustrator - Melissa Crowley. Melissa's work includes identity, print collateral, stationary, website, packaging, event, apparel and surface (wall, textile, decor, paper) design.

(hatch and terrarium pillow cases)

Tamaishi Kayo is a Japanese artist. She studied art with Setsu Nagasawa, one of the preeminent Japanese Fashion illustrators. Kayo's work includes water painting, book cover design, magazine illustration, T-shirt design and more. Here is one of her illustrations:

(What are you thing? 2007)

3 June 2010

Today it's all about kids...
Here I found inspiration in this circus themed boy's room styled by Kate Dixon. My little guy's room is already circus + cowboy theme, so I love this design, ferris wheel toy box, chalkboard wall and all. See the pictures below.



Bloesem Kids is my absolute favourite blog for children design and crafts. Check it out for amazing designs, designers, products, crafts and other lovelies geared towards children.

For example, I found this awesome design on the Bloesem Kids blog: this tree bookshelf was designed by Shawn Soh from Korea, picture shown below.


My favourite photo shoot has been a simple one - white sheet backdrop and taken outdoors with natural light. Here are some shots from the photo shoot - simplicity and the first signs of spring!



I made this funny puppet/rattle in university last year, it was a self-portrait. All the parts were designed to move when you shake it- the hair, the eyes, the head...it makes me laugh...it has been suggested that we start making these as kids toys. I'll see if I can find the jigsaw...this could be a fun weekend project!


The radiating converse shoe!! The converse is timeless, I keep reiterating this shoe in designs every so often, this time it's radiating!!


And finally, here is a short story I wrote about three months ago. I am trying to show the circularity of life. Now to work on some illustrations for it...I would love to illustrate it in the style of Eric Carle's work, like the caterpillar we all know and love!!!

Look up, way up in the sky
There is the sun that glows and glows

Onto a seed that grows and grows
With the warmth of the sun that glows and glows
From way up in the sky

This is the tree that's growing and growing
From a little seed that grew and grew
With all that help from the sun's glowing and glowing
From way up in the sky

These are the branches, reaching and reaching
Up and up from the tall, tall tree
That has grown and grown from a tiny, little seed

These are the leaves, shiny and green
That have sprouted from those branches
Of the tall, maybe tallest, tall tree

All that growing and growing takes a lot of energy
The tree has gathered it up all this time
From when it was a small, maybe smallest, small seed
From the glowing, glowing sun way up in the sky

Now, raindrops collect in those lofty leaves
And the water drains all the way down
The branches of the biggest tree of trees
The tree needs all this water to grow and grow
and with the warmth from the sun,
The tree is sure to, you know!

But after some time, it turns icy and chilly
And those leaves shiver and wither away
They fall one by one from the tree
That is still reaching, but empty-handed today
The tallest tree, all bare now, still stands proud
And the sun embarrassed hides behind a gray snow cloud

Look down, down on the ground

Those tired withered leaves
All around the tree surround
Like a giant comfy blanket
Keeping the tree's roots warm in the ground
And so the tallest tall tree
Through winter stands warm and proud
[Well maybe a little chilled]
Through the chilliest season
Until the sky is once more sun-filled

Look up, way up in the sky
There is the sun that glows and glows

Onto a new seed that grows and grows
Under the shade of the tallest tall tree
From the branches that reach way up high
Sprouting new leaves in the warm sunny sky
That wave and dance
Or drain rain down when its gray and cloudy
Down and down the tree
To the newest new tiny seed


3 January 2010

Here is a little of what I've been working on lately...

I am trying to make regular digital photographs have a Polaroid quality. Here is a photograph I took at the fair and have been playing around with. Shown below is the before and after.




At the flea market, I picked up some children's books from the 1950's. I always think the illustrations would make great stationary. I made a couple with some of the illustrations I found.




Finally, I am starting to teach myself patterns, more to come, these are just a few I made this evening.