Turning Bits Of Paper... The Art Of Quilling

Quilling has been a fascination of mine  since I was a girl. I can't remember where I first saw it. I associate it with my grandmother, who taught me quite a few nifty things so perhaps it was through her. I pretty much love anything that uses paper as a medium. Martha Stewart always has some sweet quilling examples (above) and her site is where I usually turn for inspiration first because the projects found there are not too easy, but achievable.

I have recently though, stumbled upon the most brilliant quilling artist! Russian born, London based Yulia Brodskaya has been quilling for a little over three years, but her projects are so stunning, she has garnered the attention of many profitable entities and she truly has taken it to a new level. I thought you might like to see some of her work.

She has created pieces for the covers of books you will recognize, and as well, some very fun invites.

Who knew that the art of rolling and shaping tiny strips of paper and gluing them to a background could be so lucrative? Or really, so innovative! What makes your jaw drop and shatter into smithareens though, is the piece below. I have never seen something like this, and imagine the possibilities...

If you visit her site you can see various stages as well as angles of this piece, titled "Babushka", which she explains in depth. Every angle captures a different quality of light and emotion. She really is an inspiration, not only due to her incredible talent, but also through how she describes her process and insights into the medium itself. I just love how she has taken such a simple craft and created something so unique for reasons completely removed from where the craft originates. Just stunning.

Steel Butterfly

I am SO excited about this. In my circle of "always ready with a hairbrained, newfangled, tree hugging idea" kind of friends, the discussion of alternative housing and building comes up often. Being in the Kootenays, the Land of the Intentional Community, there are actual examples of eco housing all over the place if you know where to look for them. What we don't understand, is why the concept is still labeled "alternative" and not looked to as the emerging norm.

Enter Maison Idekit Home out of Quebec. (For those of you not geographically adept, that is the large french part of Canada that sits right in the middle. Home to Montreal, which even Vogue recognizes as not being limited to igloos... unless of course you count the Ice Hotel, which is at least the most fabulous igloo going... for those who are into that sort of thing.) Maison Idekit's founders Bernard Morin and Joyce Labelle have finished construction on their dream home, which is also their business prototype, using seven reclaimed shipping containers. The massive steel boxes are the type used by freighters to carry shipments overseas and are generally reused to some extent. Eventually though, they end up in a sort of giant box graveyard that hopes to at least see the steel recycled, but with wood losing its reputation of being the worlds most renewable resource and the strength of steel being greater, using these containers for much needed affordable housing makes sense.

Brilliant idea, not to mention green, but the emphasis here is on affordable. The cost of the Idekit home using traditional building meathods, would reportedly be $400,000. Apparently, the actual cost using the second of the Three Rs was for $175,000. That is a HUGE difference and other countries (of course) have already put this idea into production. A company who calls itself, appropriately, Container City in London in the UK already is in full swing with a number of buildings that also boast clean wind turbine energy for their live/work studios.

For use as student housing in Holland the containers make quite a statement as the Keetwonen complex.

Hurricane victims in the US, as well as a few here and there one offs, may be the start of a movement on this side of the ocean, and companies such as DeMaria Design Associates are turning prefab into preFAB. (Ugh, I hate it when I do that. Sometimes it cannot be helped.)

The DeMaria website uses one of my favorite Bucky Fuller quotes,

"There is nothing in a caterpillar tells you it is going to be a butterfly."

So true.

Head-lights.

Shhhh! I am being sneaky and blogging from a computer that I am not supposed to be on. So naughty! I am the only person on the planet who is actually good at crashing a mac. This would be my reason for being absent for what is seeming like forever... to me at least! I haven't had my computer for weeks now and it feels like an arm is missing...

I have been using my downtime (insert laughtrack here) to catch up on my other favorite activity, my magazine obsession. Always the most fun is British and Australian rags and I am just on Cloud 9 with all the hints of the Yule Season this year! (That is not PC, it's the word I have always used because I think it reads as a more well heeled and nature inspired version of Christmas.) I say hints because, strangely, what gets me all tingly are the sparkly candlesticks and trying to decide on a scheme for the abode.


This is not meant to be a post on Christmas decor, but it was this image which led me to the site of Honey & McAlpine where they have a rather interesting take on the trophy head trend that has been around this year. I quite like this idea although the prices are pretty steep. I like the garden sculptures as an ethereal ornament for all seasons, but the first one would make the most hauntingly beautiful focal point for outdoors in December. Not advocating the practice of blow up snomen and rooftop sleighs here AT ALL! We should get that straight. But I like this... and I like how the unadorned wire kudu disappear into the surroundings the way they would in real life. Like shadows.

Getting Started Early...

Some of my new favorite things from Cox & Cox. I am not much of a shopper, truth be told. I do love buying gifts for people though... especially unique, beautiful and ingenious ones. I have a teensy Martha streak (although I am loathe to admit it). I am NOT the domestic goddess type, but it's OK, they have an apron in this shop especially for me so I can make some snowflake cookies. I DO love to present things beautifully, and the collection of ribbons, stamps and such has me mentally wrapping gifts as I go! Do take a gander at their website, it is so beautifully presented and so many more interesting goodies than what I have here. Very well priced as well if you are used to purchasing from across the water. 

Inspired By The Garden of Life- Doshi Levien

This year in Milan, Moroso launched their Beautiful Backsides into the public eye. For me, the moment I laid eyes on the creations of Doshi Levien was the beginning of the sort of crush you get on a movie star where your pulse quickens every time you see the picture but you know the chances of actually meeting in person are pretty slim, let alone going home with them. The crush phase, however, has now blossomed into a beautiful relationship. Well, on my part. OK, I suppose that makes it a bit stalker-esque, but the more I learn about Nipa Doshi and Jonathan Levien the more I like 'em. Lots. 

 

Let's start with the obvious. Their pieces for Moroso are wow. I mean it. Lots of other words come to mind also, but the first time I tripped over the blue sofa online that was the only thing in my head. Just a huge wow. Period. In today's overpopulation of tuxedo lines, this is SO refreshing, and the graphic elements and colour are genius. 

Their Princepessa piece is of course a reference to the Princess and the Pea. Not only are fairytales sheer uberness but being inspired by one that pits a farm girl against the aristocracy and has the farm girl come out on top using honesty over beauty says something. 

In serious coolness even beyond that, the company is committed to sustainability, utilizing all the right Rs, which puts them at the top of my list. Also, I have big respect for the way the duo sources only the best talent in production. 

Which brings us to shoes. Yes shoes. The pedi-art that Doshi Levien have created in collaboration with John Lobb are made completely by hand by London artisans that have generations of experience in leather working and a collective understanding of human anatomy. This is what it takes to take a shoe from fashion piece to perfection. Again, not in my closet anytime soon, but sometimes just knowing that people still take pride in what they do is enough to motivate one to aspire to the same.  

We can be inspired by the greatness in what these two have accomplished in such a short period of time, but also in the way they go about their work and in finding what they need in their other half. The couple's inspiration for My Beautiful Backside is a painting of a man and a woman lounging on pillows from the stunning book "The Garden of Life", written by Naveem Patnaik, who not only is a popular politician but also an avid supporter and lobbyist for the arts and the environment. A man who truly sees the entirety of what he stands for. I think Nipa and Jonathan most likely live their life by the same principles and are a good example of, well... good. 

Pretty modern

This is a nice combination. 

I sort of covet anything resembling a long horizontal box with legs. I don't really have a particular style preference (you may notice that while reading other posts on this blog) as long as there IS some. This piece from DecodeLondon is a Jethro Macey design and comes in "Hive" and "Floral" (above) patterns. As I said, this is a beautiful combination of materials, each lending their part to the texture and feel of the overall piece which pretty much adds up to fabulous. The base is solid oak... pretty nifty... but the part that is ultra (yes, I am starting a new alternative to "fierce") is that the doors are carved out of a stone composite that I am sure would give this piece an absolutely stunning look up close. 

(Insert Oooos and Ahhhs here.) 

Photo courtesy of DecodeLondon