Here is an illustration I finished this evening.


I really wish I could have seen the New Amsterdam Village that was featured in New York City last September.


And it is for this reason:

In addition to the New Amsterdam Village, which represents a more "traditional" version of Holland, a demonstration model of a Dutch greenhouse will be showcased. The Netherlands is a world leader in greenhouse innovations and the Dutch have made great strides in energy saving technologies in this industry. In this special greenhouse visitors can familiarize themselves with flowering lilies, greenhouse vegetables, special micro vegetables and a bumblebee colony. Also a model of the electricity producing greenhouse can be found there, as well as an overview of the latest technologies and research in the Dutch glasshouse construction sector -ny400.org

Oiseaux sells beautiful vintage nameplates, like the one found below.


I love the crafty flower creations of Laurie Cinotto. Pictured below are some of her beautiful paper and fabric boutonnières.


I stumbled on Grant Hanna's website. I really like his painting titled Navigator (My Swampland) pictured below.


Land-Rich's mission is to provide beautiful objects that symbolize the quality, functionality, and sustainability of simpler times. Each quarter they will debut a new edition of products. Below is their Tallow Berry Bulb, now a part of Land-Rich's permanent collection.


Some blogs to take a gander at...

Twig & Thistle Stationary and Crafts
Eat Drink Chic Stationary and Crafts
Treasuring Lovely pattern design by Jessica Gonacha Swift
Tinderbox Dublin-based creative network
Green Wedding Shoes Beautiful and colourful photography of fun-themed weddings

I love Bonbon Oiseau, makers of jewelry and hair adornments!!! Here are a couple of their pieces...





When Christien Meindertsma spent three years researching all the products made from a single pig from a farm in the Netherlands, this Rotterdam designer found 185 products contributed to by the animal. She has published her findings in a book titled Pig 05049. To read the entire article click here.



I stumbled across a great blog by Saipua, who make soap and flowers. Soap for washing. Flowers for occasions. Well they make really beautiful flowers and beautiful soap, especially the packaging. Here's a peek at some of their amazing products...





Some great links taken from the Saipua blog...

17 beats - a blog of haikus
Flowers by Bornay - romantic floral artistry
Jezebel - love the stationary!!!
La Martiné - beautiful wedding flowers, beautiful flowers to wear
small stump + studio choo - photo diary of floral and art projects
Tacklebox - architecture + furniture + design

This entry is dedicated to Scandinavian designers I admire...

Finnish designer Akira Minagawa designs fabrics and clothing among other projects under the brand name minä perhonen. "Minä" means "I" and "perhonen" means "butterfly" in Finnish. In her profile she says she choose this name "with a hope of creating many beautiful designs as butterfly wings fluttering lightly in the sky". Her designs are reminiscent of fashion from the thirties with added femininity, and I especially love the hair pieces she designs.

Pictured below is a sample from her 2007 spring/summer collection.



Designers Mari Relander and Anna Katriina have a design company called Perhonen . They have collaborated on a wide variety of projects and competitions. They have exhibited abroad both with Imu design and on their own. Their designs were selected for the annual Sotheby´s contemporary art and design exhibition held in London in 2003. Recently their work was exhibited in Tokyo in an exhibition of new Scandinavian design. The exhibition was curated by designer Harri Koskinen and held at the Issey Miyake Design Studio Gallery (MDSG).

Their Anemone lamp is pictured below.




Designer Tord Boontje was born in the Netherlands, but currently resides in France. He designs for many different projects, but maintains a very unique and distinct style. His philosophy is the marriage between emotion and design. His textile work reminds me of Chinese papercutting.

I especially love his installations, and particularly his Winter Wonderland installation at the Swarvoski Crystal Gallery in Innsbruck.

Boontje says this of his Winter Wonderland installation, "In a demonstration of the emotional quality of crystal, we created a landscape in which the visitors are taken on a fantasy journey. References to fairytales, storytelling, history and adventures invite personal interpretation and dreams."

Shown below is a fraction of the work from Boontje's Winter Wonderland Installation.

In Canadian Art magazine (winter 2006) there is an article on Evan Lee and his scanner pictures. He sets up still-lifes and uses his scanner as a means to photograph his still-lifes. The effects are somewhat reminiscent of 17th Century Dutch still-life paintings, with beautiful shadows. He uses dollar store trickets, like tacky silk flowers and plastic bugs. And since I happen to have a scanner, tacky dollar store flowers and bugs, I decided to give this technique a whirl and this is the picture I ended up with.