Art Opening this Thursday!

We are so lucky that the studio where we work also happens to be an art gallery! The opening for our next show, entitled Optimism, A Natural Vector is this Thursday from 7-10 pm, so if you're in the Bay Area, please stop by to say hello and check out the art!

Here is a description of the show, written by curator Gareth Spor:
When an artist invests himself or herself into the creative process, with the goal of rewarding the viewer, the resulting artworks can produce a lasting impact on the audience and possibly the world. Not to suggest that all artworks should be bright and kitschy, for many types of work, if made with sincerity and honesty, can produce a lasting effect.

Someone who values the social practice of art making never intentionally alienates his or her audience. Too often people these days get worn down by the current state of affairs in the world and lose sight of their potential to do good. Optimism does not presuppose ignorance, but reflects a general attitude that regardless of the current state, positive change is always a possibility.

Optimism: A Natural Vector will be on display from May 3 - June 2, 2007. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, May 3 from 7pm to 10pm at 3824 Mission Street, San Francisco. For further information please contact the gallery.

Artists include:
Michelle Blade
Luke Butler
Rachelle Cohen
Christina Empedocles
Sarrita Hunn
Danny Keith
Travis Meinolf
Leah Rosenberg
Jacob Peter Tillman
Hannah Wachs

Card Catalogs

We've had vintage library card catalogs on the brain recently. We love everything about them- the little wooden drawers, the smell of the cards, the nostalgia of something from the past that has all but been replaced by computers. We are still on the hunt for the perfect card catalog to put in our home (preferably dark wood, like the one pictured about which is from the library at Tulane University), and until we find one, we'll continue to be inspired the ones pictured below:

This card catalog and collection of vintage books is from the lobby of one of our favorite brunch places in New York, Public.

A few weeks ago I saw this post about a site where you can type in any information you want to turn into a catalog card. Click here to make your own.

A craft room is a great place for a card catalog. This one, from Bits & Bobbins, looks like a perfect place to store all your... well... bits and bobbins!

An entire card catalog wall from the University of Wisconsin.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Last night we spent a lovely evening at the Herman Miller showroom celebrating the Undeniable Awesomeness of our friends Anton, Christina and Kate. They were being honored as the winners of Metropolis magazine's 2007 Next Generation Design Competition. How badass is that?! Under the auspices of their super smart collective Civil Twilight they conceived, designed, and built a prototype for what they call Lunar-Resonant streetlights. The idea is that we can combat light pollution and conserve energy with street lamps that dim and brighten based on the ambient light in the night sky. Full moon? Less streetlight. New moon? More streetlight. GENIUS. Look for the full story in the May issue of Metropolis.

The Bees Knees

As some of you may already know, I'm the recent victim of a pretty gnarly obsession with bees. It started with a visit to the San Francisco Bee Keeping Society, and now I can't seem to escape them. They're everywhere. Yesterday in the New York Times there was an article about the very mysterious and very scary CCD (colony collapse disorder), and then Emily over at Inhabitat posted about this crazy vase made by Studio Libertiny (and some very talented worker bees), and then the folks on BoingBoing pointed me towards the work of Aganetha Dyck, an artist who "collaborates" with bees. Buzzy, indeed.

Vase by Studio Libertiny

Artwork by Aganetha Dyck

Stick it to me

In my opinion, finding the perfect glue stick is similar to finding the perfect pen (mine is the Uni-Ball Vision Exact with the micro tip). Once you've found it, there is no turning back! I am a big fan of the Tombow gluestick, a Japanese product that somehow manages to glide on smoother than the rest, and is less prone to drying out. It also comes in different strengths, repositionable or permanent. And a quick glance at their website shows that you can also buy them in flavors, or "pretty fragrance", so you can enjoy the smell of grape or strawberry as you do your gluing. Pretty great!

Lovely ladies

Last Friday, a box containing some 1500 squirming ladybugs landed in our mailbox. They had been sent to us as a gift in honor of Earth Day, and as a tribute of sorts to a friend and favorite artist of ours, Charley Harper. Ladybug releases are a common Earth Day activity, as they are great enemies of aphids, and thereby great friends of your garden. We don't have a yard, so I called the Alemany Farm, a lovely urban farm not far from our house. The farm manager Jason invited us down to release them and it turned into a lovely event with all the volunteers and staff gathering to ogle and set free all the lovely little beasties. I'm so glad we discovered the farm, I can't wait to get back there and get my hands in the dirt.

Awesome

Not a week goes by that I don't find another blog to add to my ever growing list of bookmarks. A couple weeks ago I discovered a site called Your Daily Awesome, which is one of my new favorites because a) it's updated everyday (unlike this site, but we're working on it!) and b) everything that author Chas Bowie posts is truly awesome!

The posts are short and sweet and heavy on the visuals (with lots of emphasis on art and music), and just perfect little nuggets of inspiration to carry with you throughout your day.

Special Delivery

Imagine my surprise when I came home yesterday to find a box of flowers propped up against the door to my apartment! Turns out they were from lovely Todd, who sent me one of his very own creations from the Todd Oldham flowers from FTD collection. If you haven't already seen it, you should check it out- there are loads of designs to choose from, and most of them come interesting and reusable containers, like colanders, teapots and cheese graters. Definitely something to keep in mind as Mother's Day approaches. Below are some of my other favorite bouquets:

Speaking of Todd, he asked me to pinch-hit for him in this month's issue of ReadyMade while he was off filming the final episodes of Top Design, and here is the project I came up with. It's a garden caddy with pockets all the way around to hold your gardening tools, while the bucket is used to hold flowers and clippings. Mine is currently filled with sewing supplies and fabric, and it works great for that as well. Also, sewn onto the caddy is a "Buzz Off" patch, one of my favorite items from the shoppe. (That's me in the background of the shot, wearing a shirt that Todd designed. It's all interconnected somehow...)

New Art

Pictured above is the newest addition to our art collection- a beautiful silkscreened poster by the talented Mr. Jason Munn of The Small Stakes. We picked up a simple white frame for it last weekend, and after a little bit of a dramatic episode in art hanging (let's just say it's a miracle that both the frame and the poster are still intact after it FELL OFF THE WALL), it is up and we are loving it.

Boys who craft

I brought my sewing machine and a small stack of flea market fabric home last weekend and set up a little at-home crafting station in our kitchen. Since then D and I have been practicing our sewing... together! He is getting quite good with the machine, and stitched up the entire back of this tie by hand. Hurray for boys who craft!

Meet me at the show

I know this has already made the blog rounds, but I just installed the iConcert Cal plug-in for iTunes and it is my new favorite thing. It scans your music library and generates a custom calendar listing of all your favorite bands' upcoming shows in your area. (Click on the link above to download it- it's free!)

"Uncle Bwuce?!"

So I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be from Nevada City. And it turns out that in addition to being the hometown of the lovely and talented Joanna Newsom, it's other claim to fame is that it is the seat of Nevada County. "And...?" you ask? Well, turns out that Nevada City was settled in 1849, 15 years before the state of Nevada. "And...?" Well, when Nevada decided to call itself "Nevada", the good folks of Nevada City got pissed off at having had their thunder stolen, as it were, so they drew their county line to resemble a pistol aimed point blank at the name-stealing state of Nevada. "Really?!" Yes!
So this friend of mine from Nevada City also happens to be a very talented filmmaker whose production company is called Terri Timely. They make wonderful music videos, commercials, and short films. One of their shorts is called "Children are a Gift" and is being screened as part of the hi/lo film festival right now. Go see it. You will love it. (And I'm sure a lot of the other shorts being screened will be pretty darn good as well.)

))<>(( - forever

I think the first time I heard about Miranda July was when we discovered "Learning To Love You More" a wonderfully whimsical and heartfelt interactive art website. After that I would see her writing pop up in places, and then she made a fantastic movie, "You and Me and Everyone We Know" and now she has a new collection of stories coming out called "No one belongs here more than you." She has created a clever little promotional website for it. It's a lot of fun. And as I clicked all the way to the very end, I was glad to see that we share the same taste in teapots.

"Black as midnight on a moonless night."

Wow, this is so right up my alley....
I am a big fan of coffee.
We recently did a story about roasting your own beans over at my day job at ReadyMade magazine. I quickly became obsessed, and have been roasting my own beans a couple times a week ever since. (If you too are a curious coffee connoisseur, check out the current issue of the mag, or head over to Sweet Maria's.)

You know who else is a big fan of coffee? Mr. David Lynch. You know who else is roasting his own beans? That's right! Head on over to his website and order yourself up a bag or two of David Lynch's Signature Cup. And perhaps the best part? The slogan: "It's all in the beans...and I'm just full of beans."

Handmade Nation

Hop over to YouTube to watch this sneak preview of an upcoming documentary called Handmade Nation, which features interviews with all our favorite indie crafters and small business owners. Can't wait for it to come out!

(via Modish)

Visual DNA

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

You must all try this! Click on the link above and see what your choice of images says about you. It only takes a few minutes, and is super interesting. Above is a sample of my "Visual DNA".

(via Salt & Pepper)

BYOBW

For those of you in San Francisco, be sure to head down to Lombard Street tomorrow at 4 pm for the 7th annual Big Wheel Race. Judging from this video taken at last year's race, it looks pretty awesome.

Rock On

We were talking with some friends about patents recently, and Google's semi-new patent search feature. As you can imagine, there are quite a few bizarre patents out there, including this awesome "musical instrument support" filed by Eddie Van Halen in 1987. You can see from the illustration above how this innovative device leaves "both hands free to explore the musical instrument as never before." Totally brilliant. (Thanks Anton for the link!) Click here for some more celebrity patents gathered by Ironic Sans.

Duct duct goose!

An LL Bean catalog arrived in our mailbox this weekend and I was absentmindedly flipping through it as it was on its way to the recycle bin when I saw this plaid duct tape!

I know there are duct tape enthusiasts out there who make everything from wallets, belts and bouquets of duct tape roses, (just click here for some how-to's and here to see lots of other great duct tape creations) but imagine how great a plaid duct tape wallet would be! I might have to pick up a roll or two just to try it out.