Hella Nuts!

Chad and I are a couple of Hella Jongerius nuts. We have 3 of her vases (2 from Ikea, pictured above), 2 of her Repeat textiles from Maharam, and now we are contemplating on getting the big bowl with the cluster of roses and beading (the first picture), it will be a Christmas gift to ourselves! We made 3 large cushions with one of the Repeat fabrics that we've been enjoying very much, and we still don't know what to do with the other one, pictured below.It would be an overkill to use it in the living room, so I'm thinking of using it on a love seat that we could put in our bedroom. Like this sofa here, but using cheap Ikea love seat ($169!!!), the fabric is about 3 yards by 6 feet tall, I'm thinking of mixing it with grey felt coz I don't think it's enough fabric to cover that love seat. I also thought of making a nice headboard with it and pad it with down feathers. Got any other good ideas for me on how to use this fabric?

Thanks Modish!

Jena from Modish has my little nutty friend as the main image for her Holiday Cards Guide, great advertisement for me, thanks! She also has 2 of my cards among her favorites, love her!!

Miki Tanaka

Most people who know me have seen me wearing the beetle necklace by my good friend Miki Tanaka. I am a loyal customer, I stick to a few designers that I go back to year after year, and Miki's jewelry is one of them. Every season she comes out with pieces that are very thoughtful and imaginative, but still maintains her signature organic style. She's always inspired by her travels and her Japanese upbringing, like the bugs series came from her trip back home and was fascinated by these funny creatures. For her latest collection, Miki uses simple floral pattern as her theme which is engraved on each design, it is a softer and delicate group compared to her previous work, the precious little 18K gold pendant necklace is my favorite. These are Miki's men's collection but I think women can wear these necklaces as well. You can find Miki's jewlery at Opening Ceremony in New York and L.A. and Shopbop.

Tomboy Wednesday

I usually hate all the car shows on TV, but recently I am obsessed with BBC America's Top Gear. The 3 hosts are like regular cool dudes and are so lucky to be able to test drive the sexiest automobiles ever made, like this Maserati. The best part of the show is their crazy car experiments, I just watched one episode that the 3 guys converted everyday cars into stretch limos and chauffeuring British pop stars to a music event in Central London during rush hour. The biggest challenge was they had to use European small-size cars like Alfa Romeo, Saab, and Fiat. Here is one of the frankensteins made of Fiats. This red limo is impossible to get to the back seat, since there is no back door, you need a dolly and a pully to roll you to your seat, it's stupid and hilarious! I don't want to give away the ending but you can imagine what would happen when there are no wheels in the middle of this super long limo! So if you are a 10% tomboy like me, you should definitely give Top Gear a try.

Zune Artist Series

I didn't know anything about Zune until a week ago, and last night I met the delightful illustration duo TADO, they are in town for the release party for the Zune Artist Series. In case you don't know what it is, it's a pocket-size media player that is like an iPod for the PC users. But enough about the gadget, I'm writing about it because of the beautiful etched artworks you get to choose on the back. Here are some of the Zunes with the etched illos by TADO, Chisato Shinya and Colletivo. You can check out the entire collection here.

Sunshine and Shadow

I love Sunshine and Shadow because Lily's clothes are very wearable and especially the tops, that scoop neck looks good on most body types! Here are some of my favorite pieces from her Winter collection, kind of lady-like but still tough and edgy. The sliver of bright color peaking out of the dark cardigan is a great idea for people who like to wear dark color clothes but want to change it up just a little bit.

My Kind of Sexy

I was working at home yesterday and my iTunes was playing the theme song from "A Man and a Woman" , I hadn't heard that song in a while and I recommend that as your work music, it inspired me to design something really beautiful and romantic. I love that movie, Chad even has a video tape of it, it's so romantic, the style is sophisticated and sexy (come on, she's in love with a Grand Prix car racer!), and Anouk's hair is the best thing in the movie! That floppy center-parted below the chin hair that is always in her face, impractical but it's so chic and simple and goes so well with her exquisite features. Some people want to be Audrey, or Jane, or Catherine D, and I want to be Anouk.

Faiyaz Jafri's Etsy Shop

Faiyaz is Siu Yin Chau's other half and they make one super-talented couple. He is a renowned illustrator from Holland and currently lives in New York. He specializes in 3-D illustrations of robot-like humans and deers, because he often uses vibrant colors as the back drop these chrome-looking mammals seem lively and adorable! The fawn sculpture was exhibited in Taiwan and will be showing in Hong Kong during Christmas time. You can see his work here. And now you can buy his older prints for a very affordable price from his Etsy shop, I just bought the orange one called Vortex, That orange is going to look good with my powder blue book shelves (they actually hold Chad's vinyls).

My Talented Etsy Friend

To be honest, there are not that many things that I would actually buy on Etsy and especially toys, and Mike Burnett's 60's inspired toy figures and plush toys are on top of my must-buy list! They are 100% handmade, the characters are so nutty and bad ass, which I love. Look at Sid Vicious flipping the bird, and Mister McBallbuster, he may be old but you wouldn't want to mess with him, but he looks so huggable. (Mike, I hope you have more of Mr. McBallbuster because he's currently sold out!) And Cletis Elm with his tats, John Deere hat and his gigantic bags under his eyes just cracks me up

Toy Thursday- Part Deux

I love owls and we have a collection of owls tchotchkies at home. At first glance of this photo, I wanted these toy owl figures so badly and wondered when did toys become so sophisticated?! And after reading about it on Vinyl Pulse, these are prototypes of wind up toys that Nathan Jurevicius designed for Toy Tokyo, so the final products will be in color. I'm sure that they will be beautiful, but I prefer these blank white ones better.

Toy Thursday

I was looking at Vinyl Pulse and found tons of really cool designer vinyls and customs that I need to post them here. While Babushka dolls are nearing the end of its revival, Kokeshi dolls are the clear successor. Kokeshi doll is a traditional folk wooden doll from Japan. Right now there is a custom Kokeshi doll art show at Subtext in San Diego and here are some of the designs. I want to make one just for fun, and conveniently the curator of the show is selling blank ones online!

Blanca

I found this illustrator from Madrid called Blanca Gomez when I was researching on Moo mini cards, she has made some really cute Moo sets that she posted on Flickr. Her work reminds me of children's book illustrations from the 60's, and her use of muted but rich colors has that authentic Madrid flair. Too bad her shop is currently closed right now because I would really love to buy a print or 2 from her!

Knock on Wood

It is a word play on the saying "knock on wood". I have it permanently hanging on my bulletin board so I can knock on it whenever there's a need. I made the print with my favorite printer- Gocco. In case you haven't heard me rave about it, it is a Japanese portable devise that allows you to expose screen and print, both in one unit. You can read about it here. I'm planning on making a black type on wood version for my Etsy shop, perfect for all the non-traditional holiday shoppers!

Good Morning!

And I love a good cup of coffee. I use Mukka Express not for making cappuccino, but to simply make a frothy cup of espresso! I've been trying to master the art of stove top coffee making for quite some time now, I've tried every setting for grinding the beans and the coffee still came out pretty grainy. Two weeks ago I finally have it down! The instruction for this gadget said to use the pressure frothing button (on top of the lid) only when you're making cappuccino, but one day I tried to make espresso with the pressure button activated and the result was mind-blowing, nothing was broken and the coffee was perfect! It's frothy and creamy and no grains, you don't even need to add much milk to make a perfect cup of latte! So no more spending $4 on a cup of coffee for me!

The Best Winter Accessories!

I've tried to knit hats and scarves for myself every year but always ended up giving them to Chad (they look better on him anyway), so this year I'm going to invest on these beautifully made pieces from my good friend SIU YIN CHAU instead. I especially love the big cable knit scarf with pockets, the hoodie that you can also wear with a matching sweater, the leg warmers with little white buttons, and the ingenious shawl collar scarf (the blue and brown triangular things in the bottom picture)!!! If you are in New York, go check out her pieces at Opening Ceremony and Barneys. She makes knits for men too!

Great Flickr Find!

I am proud that I am from Hong Kong and there are a lot of things about it to be proud of, like stamp graphics! I know you must be laughing right now, it is nerdy but I have a father who's been collecting stamps ever since he was young. I think the graphics of the stamps are often cutting edge instead of traditional and cutesy, like US stamps tend to be. I found these stamps from my favorite Flickr group Hong Kong Nostalgia, I recognized them and brought me smiles because I used to take out dad's stamp albums just to admire these designs.