Thursday 29 July 2010

Glamstore - IBIZA series



Recently there has been a lot of fuss around folk inspired designs. But I have a feeling that sometimes it's just an easy way to spruce up your design - by adding couple patterns copied from google picture library. I love designs that really rely on culture and take it seriously. I remember posting on The Dieline package design by Monika Ostaszewska, who took time to research the folk culture of Podlasie region in Poland and apply it to her packaging concept, based on a typical pattern of double-warp fabrics from Podlasie Region. Her concept won several awards, proving it is worth to dig deeper.
I don't know much about the design above - furniture pieces sold in Glamstore - but I do appreciate the intricate work put into painting of patterns. Really beautiful.



Tuesday 27 July 2010

Marjolaine Poulin's SCRAP Project



Yesterday I was delighted to post something about renovated furniture, and today ...even more delighted to share some more! Couple of days ago I received an email from Marjolaine Poulin, french Canadian carpenter who takes pride and joy in restoring old furniture, calling it a SCRAP project. In words of Marjolaine: SCRAP project's main goal is to pick up unwanted pieces of furniture on the sidewalks/trash, restore them and  and give them a second life. My work is both practical and poetical. I can't argue with that, it really is poetical to me! I love the aspect of collecting totally unwanted pieces and giving them a second chance in life. That's the poetical part. Check out more projects at M Design's blog.

Monday 26 July 2010

Social Fabric Furniture



Today my cousin (who keeps sending me interesting links in case I miss out) pointed me to Social Fabric - Australian studio renovating furniture by applying custom, handprinted fabrics. Just one look and I was totally blown away by the abundance of prints and colours. I am into renovating furniture myself (not that I actually renovate them myself, but half of my furniture was renovated) as well as collecting chairs and armchairs, so I would go visit Social Fabric premises right away (...had it not been on a different continent).
I have one old armchair that needs renovating at home and I think as soon as I find some interesting fabric, I'm going to have it upholstered and sold. And before that happens, I have to show you a short before & after of my sofa and another armchair I had adopted. For now, hovever, take a look at few more examples of Social Fabrics' work.



MoMa Leaflets Framed

 
Last year, together with my (ex)boyfriend, I went to New York. During our stay there I tried to visit as many museums and design related places as possible. Every time we went somewhere I would come back with a pile of leaflets and posters that somehow inspired me, or I hoped would inspire me in the future. Last nite I went through that pile and decided to do something with a set of MoMA leaflets. They are simple leaflets for visitors but because there were many language versions - and each version is a different colour - together they look like a colour book of some kind. I put some of them in empty frames that were lying around and... well I think it looks pretty good!


Thursday 22 July 2010

Hennessy - Beauté du Siecle Premium Packaging

Right now my studio works on a series of caviar and salmon packaging and we keep discussing what is premium in package design. There can be many types of packaging qualifying for that term, I think, while your clients rarely state what they really want. While browsing through the premium packaging examples, I found this one (from around 2007), created for Hennessy's Beauté du Siecle special edition. This unique bottle of Hennessy Cognac is worth $200,000 and it comes in crystle bottle by Baccarat and a chest, both designed by a French designer Jean-Michel Othoniel. Now, looking at this, I don't think my caviar is all that premium after all... :)


Wednesday 21 July 2010

Old Vinyl Records From My Apartment

When I moved in to my apartment, I discovered the previous owners had only left two things - a poster with Lech Wałęsa hanging on the wall and a bunch of old records. As much as I appreciate Wałęsa's role in the overthrowing of the communist system, I did not leave the poster. I did however hold on to the records and actually display the whole lot in my hallway. I used to buy vinyls back in the day, but only because they looked cool. I never owned a record player so none of my purchases were ever used, but they sure look great. The four records on the pictures are from the batch I had found in the apartment and the Gershwin one, in my opinion, is an absolute classic. it.

Tuesday 20 July 2010

My Very Own Gilding Workshops


Couple months ago I was visiting my friend in Warsaw. Since she's a professional art restorer, I decided to seize the oportunity and learn to turn old furniture into gold! Gliding turned out to be a time consuming proces, but it's definitely worth the effort. Maybe I'll convince my friend to give us a little written tutorial....


Thursday 15 July 2010

Beginning of a new Wall Clock Collection....?

When I was a kid I remember thinking: What's with my family collecting the wall clocks? Both my granpdparents and my aunt and uncle had really big collections of wall clocks and I thought it was a bit peculiar. Their living room walls were full of those little machines, making weird sounds at nights, making you realise time is conctantly ticking away...

And look at me now - developing my own collection. I have a real "thing" for clocks from the fifties, ideally I would own half of George Nelson's clocks, but I'd probably have to rent out part of my apartment to be able to afford it. Anyways, this just arrived, a birthday gift from my girlfriends!

Tuesday 13 July 2010

Ścinki - Fabric Scraps


Before I get to post a couple more things from my random collection of items in the apartment, here's a little inspiration of what you can do with scraps and leftovers and a little imagination. All of these were decorated with bits of pieces of fabric found at flea markets, dug out from closets, stolen from aunts and grandmothers (...I imagine). By ścinki.

Monday 12 July 2010

My Apartment....


And so today is my birthday. I'm not going to mention the number, but it's a round one. Since today is all about ME, obviously, I decided to post a couple of things from my own apartment - which I might continue some other time. Today:
- vinyl clock I made from an old record I had found at the apartment when I moved in (Mozart, by the way)
- flower vase set I got for my birthday (from BRW)
- and an unusual... well, I don't know what it is really, but it stands on pencils and I it!
Hope you like it too.

Wednesday 7 July 2010

Tea Pottery


I'm going to try to catch up with some posts :) This is what I would have in my kitchen cupboard to serve tea to my lovely girlfriends! I am actually having a dinner party this Saturday to celebrate my birthday (lets avoid mentioning the numbers...). Hm, I do have a tea set shaped as giraffe! I have to dig it out then.
This unique collection comes from The Teapottery.


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