This is a post about nothing much. I’d been wanting to eat at this restaurant for a while. The quest had nothing to do with the food and everything to do with that phenomenal pickle, which must be about 4′ long. Located in the heart of downtown Detroit, Eph’s serves sandwiches. Big sandwiches. The sandwiches don’t come with pickles. How weird is that?
And here is a totally unrelated picture. It’s not a great picture. But the little oak leaves were so fascinating - they resembled thick fabric more than anything else, almost felt - and their soft little round fingers were precious. I’m so over all the pointy-fingered oak leaves. And the color, I thought, was gorgeous. The caterpillar must have thought so, too.
I’m often coming across designs and ideas that set off the same response: I wish I’d thought of that. I wish I’d done that. These felt daisies - used to embellish cushions, decorate walls, purses, slippers and… anything else, for that matter - are of that variety. So simple, honest and cheery. Wish I’d come up with these. I didn’t, which makes me so glad someone did, and that I found them. In this case, I’m glad to have come across Michelle Butler’s work; her design company Isolyn was at the ICFF.
Filed under: greeting cards | Tags: doodles, greeting cards, national stationery show
Hand-drawn patterns. Happy people. Eco-conscious. I love Loop. Loop is another new discovery (among so many!) from the National Stationery Show; this was their second year at the show. Exhibiting three small and well-focused collections of notecards around those themes - hand-drawn, eco/FSC-certified papers, pattern-oriented designs - Loop was toward the top of my list of faves. Above, “Poliwog” is part of the drawings series. (If you could examine it closely, you would be able to tell it’s hand-drawn, not computer-generated. I’m digging that; it’s special.)
Part of a separate collection called “doodlespark,” the notecards above (”Wander”) and below (”Spring”) were generated as a back-and-forth project. I thought the back story made the cards even more interesting - each drawing began as a doodle and developed incrementally as mother and daughter sent them back and forth. I’m so fond of the idea - to doodle back and forth with someone - because sometimes words just fail!
In this case, you can actually buy a “finished” doodlespark set of cards, but I’m excited about possibility of starting up some doodle relationships myself. (I have a friend who is so wonderfully artistic; she’s fantastic at sending postcards fairly regularly - often embellished with doodles - and I would love to see what would come of a doodle-thon!) Here’s the doodlespark back story from Elissa at Loop; you can also buy the drawings and notecards and read up a bit more at the website:
Because I fear using the word “delightful” too much, I won’t say much about these chandeliers from Fiona Gall / Emerald Faerie. Indeed, they rather speak for themselves, right? I saw her work at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair as I cruised around and took a break from the stationery. The black backdrop set off these handmade wire chandeliers beautifully, making for a stunning and glittery little booth.
Many more of Fiona’s wire sculptures are viewable on her website (a lovely site, but wear your patient pants). They remind me somewhat of Marie Christophe’s work (her work has been on my “favorite” list for some time) - perfectly light and airy and delicate, and each piece utterly unique.
