Nosideup: 09.2008

30.9.08 1

The best bathroom floor tiles EVER

Anna from Door sixteen is not only a very entertaining blogger I just found out about; but the owner of what we shall officially know from now on as "the best bathroom floor tiles ever". Check how her reforms and decor go in her blog, and see her house tour for Apartment Therapy here.

PS: I am moving today. This means a mad succession of chicken dances and supressed screams of joy. I am finally moving to Oxford to live, as they say in Spain, "in sin" with my boyfriend ("in sin" because we are not married). So I might not be able to post later on.

PPS: You know about the giveaway and so on. So behave yourselves and enter.

29.9.08 1

Lisa DeJohn perpetual calendar

This oh-so-cute naive perpetual calendar is very imaginative, and it's the kind of thing that makes you happy only from looking at it. Find out more about Lisa here and you can buy the calendar online here and in the Magma stores in London (I found these two, it is possibly sold in million other places. Well, it should).

And yes, remember to enter the GIVEAWAY, answer the POLL (both links to the left) and you can even become an official follower of this blog (right side).

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Miho Kaneno

Miho is a lovely lady with lovely products. She exhibited in this year's Designersblock in London and everybody went crazy for her pieces: Little, cute as a button handkerchiefs with prints of cookies and vintage plates. She doesn't have her own website yet but you can see more about her here.

PS: REMEMBER THE PRINT GIVEAWAY! ENTER HERE!

28.9.08 5

African textures

A peek into some pieces that can be seen in the British Museum section on Africa. The BM is so, so big it doesn't matter how many times you go by: there's always a new room to see, or an object you hadn't seen before.

So here's some images of textures, patterns and materials.

Carved wooden door from Nigeria, 20th century:

Brass head, Nigeria, 16th century

Wooden mask from Congo, 19th century

Swordfish mask, Nigeria, 20th century

Cowrie shells elephant mask from Cameroon, 20th century

PS: REMEMBER THE GIVEAWAY! Link on your left!

27.9.08 38

It's about time... BLOG GIVEAWAY!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen.

It is ON.

It is only fair that if I've been so very lucky this week (Design*Sponge, Modish, my first various sales, blog look updates, etc.) I pass on some luck.

So, I am having my very first giveaway.

How does it go?

Easy!

Visit my store; come back here and comment under this post: say what would you NOT like from my store and why. Make sure I've got a way to find you back (either by signing with your blogger ID, or by leaving the name of your etsy shop or by visiting daily so that you'll know if you've won. I would not recommend publishing your personal info, just in case). The result will be published on Saturday 1st of Nov (given that there's at least 50 comments).

What do you get?

Well, you can get any print from my shop. We could even arrange for you to have printed any of the black and white drawings available as originals at the moment of the announcement.

PS: Come on, be nice, answer the poll on the left <= Sholud I change the blog's name to No Side Up? There are quite a lot named Home is where the heart is...!

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Perlen by Woodloops

They hade these beautiful, sculptural massive pebbles made out of oiled wood (oak, others available; sustainable forest management) in Tent. They are made by Woodloops. Find out more here.

26.9.08 3

3 columns!

Ok guys, this is a bit the "must have" for the blogging season, and the only way I could possibly manage it was following this instructions. No other. If anyone is as HTML challenged as me, this is THE ONE.
How do you guys like it? (still little tweaks left to do)

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Bristish Sculptors' drawings

Today Mr. M. and i went to this British Museum show: British Sculptors' Drawings. And well, it was pretty uneven all the way through. Some of them just draw on 2D but thought and visualized in 3D, so you'd have studies for a piece. And others just liked drawing and printing and treated it as just another side of their art. For the first ones there was no visual reference of what their sculptures looked like (so you could see the process of their work), and the other ones were very different to each other, which meant you went from Oh, I like that to What? quite spasmically.

Oh well. Here's a selection, mostly from the type that liked drawing just because. And what's more, I've searched an sculpture of these so that both you and i know what they were (or are) best known for.

Bill Woodrow (above)

Cornelia Parker (above, detail)

Ana Maria Pacheco (above)

25.9.08 4

New material for the shop!!

Dearest you, I have new stuff in my shop! yey!

Here's how I'd describe it:

I have started flirting with the idea of pieces of lyrics taken out of context. They provoke confronted feelings: they are familiar and at the same time request close attention to their sole meaning and existence. I have ideated this collection (it is a collection, wait and see) as little, tiny bits of happines and optimism, and hopfully they'll make you hum the song to yourself when you meet them.I have found these mini canvases (5cms x 7cms) which are perfect for me to play with these new concepts: a little one of these can be seen almost as a beat.

You can also use these as cards!

1

Big, big thank you to Modish

Ladies and gentleman, the all knowing Jena from Modish has been absolutely amazing and marvellous and posted this bit about her favourite pieces of my Etsy shop. Isn't that outrageously fantastic?
Thanks, thanks, thanks, Jena.

24.9.08 1

Wall decals: Tasty Suite

Tasty Suite is an Etsy shop that sells wall vinyl decorations. I am a sucker for messages, so when I found out about their "Get to the point" collection I just had to (bad, Maria, bad). Mr. M. agreed, though, so here goes half the guilt. We got their stickers in bright red (of course). Can't wait to put them up in our Oxford flat!

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Chiharu Kataoka

I saw these in tent and thought they were glorious little objects. They are meant to be chopsticks, I think, but I love them per se. Find out more about Chiharu here.

23.9.08 3

Refined Society

Refined Society is a blog and a shop of an amazing hat designer. What's more, she's a fabulous person herself!

Check her stuff out!

1

design sponge, i love you!

Guys, guys!
I was going slightly mental today because I moved on from no sales to a quick succession of 4. I was wondering: really, what is this.
And "this" is the ever great Design Sponge!
Grace has put me up there again!
I am overflown with joy.
Thanks, thanks, thanks.
You can find the article here.

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Circa

It's been a lovely, busy and exciting weekend. I've been at the designersblock exhibition and party (that is extremely unusual in me, I get sleepy very easily); and what's more... I'VE HAD MY FIRTS SALES IN ETSY!!!! I'm extremely thrilled and happy and thankful.

But let me show you more about this design week:

Circa is an event running together with Tent. It is considered the biggest exhibition of mod furniture. It was thoroughly enjoyable, but it's not where you go to get you bargains (that's Oxford, remember?). I almost bought a teak bowl (scandinavian looking). So simple and smooth! But at 30 pounds (60 dollars) it wasn't an absolute bargain (although Liberty of London sells wooden bowls for 260 pounds right now). So here are a few pics for you to get the vibe.

The enamel bowls are krenit bowls. They can fetch interesting prices in galleries (300 dollars the smallest), but you can find them much more affordable on ebay. They were my first vintage love.

I do have something about display bells. And I loved the artist wooden hand in this one.

PS: Isn't that red chair adorable beyond belief? I never found out who was it by or how much was it... Anyone knows it?

CORRECTION: designed by Jeremy Harvey in 1978

19.9.08 2

Roam textiles

After all the coco de mer excitement, I return with the promised posts on the London design week.

At designersblock (you still have time to come see for yourselves until sunday) Roam textiles have proved a bright, cheerful and dari

ng corner. They are a couple of Scottish designer who have been collaborating with fashion houses and are now launching their own line of blankets and soft furnishings. And

the sofa where all of it is laid looks fabulous too.

Their motifs go from the ubiquitous Russian dolls, to the very fashinable nautical knots, to the downright cute illustrations. They customize baby blankets too.

How do you like it?

5

Coco de mer

Guess what? Mr M. and I found a Coco de Mer in Oxford!

No, not the kinky shop, although we know about those too, but the real legendary coconut!

Now, if you've never heard about a coco de mer before you might just think I'm a bit odd and a bit too excited about some kind of coconut.

I first heard about them when I studied in Swaziland. A coco de mer is a rare coconut that only growns in two of the Seychelles islands. The story goes that when those were not inhabited, the coconuts would fall off the trees and then some of them would be dragged into the sea naturally. Of those, some would reach mainland Africa.

So imagine what would you think of these weird, rather big objects that the sea would magically deliver to your coast randomly? Of course they were considered "gifts, practically. They became a very, very valued form of misterious currency. And their obvious shape was also highly regarded. (hence the name of the kinky shops, see?) When Europeans started going to Africa, they became fascinated by them as well, and it became a very sought after Victorian souvenir.

So you get the idea of their rarity and value. They still fetch high prices in art auctions and ebay nowadays (yesterday we found a seller that had some for just about less than 500 dollars). And we just got one of 5 pounds (10 dollars). The lady was very nice and she asked us what was it after she sold it to us. I explained her the whole story and she said "Oh, I thought that was a coconut, but no-one believed me". I explained the real value of them to her, much to Mr. M's despite (he thought it was just rude to pay 5 pounds and tell her they were acutally much more than that).

Our coco de mer is not as round an even as the best ones out there, but it is very tactile, very smooth and shiny, and looks like an sculpture. Am I gonna like Oxford...

17.9.08 1

Lorna Robertson: S-h-o-p-p-i-n-g

This young and witty lady went around supermarkets performing a ritual of consumption. From baking muffings and paying for them in a supermarket, to writing dirty jokes behing beer labels. A wonder.
More about her here and here.

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ladies and gentlemen... it's on!

Today was the "Press day" at Designersblock in Covent Garden.

And there was such a friendly mood all over the place! I'm really going to try and serve the information in bite-sized articles about different designers. So keep posted 'cause there are already a lot of them.

16.9.08 2

Zara home is where the heart is...

These Magnolia teacups are so shamelessly barroque they deserve my attention. Absolutely so much over the top they're actually gorgerous! They have this golden finish inside and outside, and the print is everywhere.

And then in the kid's section these have been my favourite find: I wouldn't buy the whole lot, but the starry plates must be the best breakfast plates ever. imagine how beautiful toasts with red jam would look on them!

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Sneaky, sneaky...

Shhh...
Don't tell anybody I've taken this pic.
This is how one of the most important design shows in london looks less than 24 hrs away from the press release!
If you are in London this weekend, do come by!
Designersblock is in Covent Garden's piazza, n.1.
And if you do pass by, say hi (Kith Kin area)!

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Camilla Sundwall

Camilla has been a colleague of mine in Central St. martins and she's got out of there as a star. This piece is hard work and she's finally got the video demonstrating how it works in her brand new website.

15.9.08 1

Bloody lino!

Rememer I said we should all try lino printing? Well, as amazing as it is, it bloody hurts!

I have this new design I'm gonna try to have printed from lino for the shop, and my hands look like I have a wild life. Is the lino too hard to cut? No, the lino si fine. I just keep getting cuts from rubbing my knuckles against the design and maybe some cutting tool flies against a finger or two too. But I'll resist, and I'll finish it and I'll get to print it some time, and I'll show you. And we'll all laugh about it.

And well, the more I suffer for my art the more I want one of the increasingly expensive gocco sets...

So if you have one you no longer want and plan to get rid of it very, very cheaply, convo me or find me or e-mail me.

14.9.08 0

The perfect cup?

Everybody is a bit peculiar about cups: too tall, too small, to straight, you name it. I spend hours of my life judging the cups and mugs that cross my way: may it be the one? But there's always something to tweak about them. I like them with a curvy bottom, a non-infantile pattern, I rarely use their handles, and I like them to be able to hold quite a lot of rooibos. And I saw Anthracite, a cup by Hans Christian Gjadde for Royal Copenhagen. Is this the perfect cup?

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We all have a past...

... and I've met Almodovar's. The now internationally acclaimed director is tightly related to the Spanish Movida, the 80's social and cultural revolution that took place mostly in Madrid. And Pepi, Luci, Bom y otras chicas del monton reflects the ambience of it. And it's actually a very bizarre film. I still haven't decided if I like it or not. I have a certain dettachment from a John Waters movie which allows me to enjoy it; with Almodovar it might hit home too close. Still deciding myself, but give it a go yourselves and see what you think.

13.9.08 0

Dapper den's galore!

Free your inner marine!

Dapper is a new Etsian with a classic style with an edge.

I specially like her clutch bags:

12.9.08 0

The School of Life

This is why I love London. Some brave, original and smart people have opened the School of Life, an "apothecary for the mind". What an outstanding idea! You can walk in and say something like: "At home I have no peace, and i have a 2 hr commute every day. I want a heart warming reading list". And they provide! They run courses and can do some awesome things such as introducing to to a type of specialist you want to meet (for a price): tea with a ballerina, anyone?

On tome of all this wonderfulness... the shop design is totally intriguing and beautiful: they've got tree trunks "growing" inside the shop. And they sell philosophy inspired art. Top marks in my book.

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