Displaying posts from July, 2009

I’m so excited to introduce a new sponsor. Rubens is a Brazilian web designer and art director but more importantly Rubens is an amazing artist. He has just started an etsy store Lines ‘n’ dots. Fluid and fabulous prints and limited editions. I’ll let him explain…

“I’m using a online way to sell my art because I’m a nerd. 😎 I love computers, internet, technologies, video-games… I’m a shy guy also, so the internet is my office. That’s the motif of the art digital in my life. I divided my life between computers and dreams. When I’m not in a computer you can find me reading, playing video-games, lovin with my girl, visiting parks and art museums, libraries, shopping… I love to write poems and read texts of brazilian modernists… well…

I draw since any children starts to draw. In 2000 I started an Industrial design course and I worked 6 years as webdesigner/art director for small-medium companies. Illustrator is my tool of trade. I love hand drawing and paints like acrylic, watercolour, pastels and collages… I really love to do collages and I have lots of cuties, sad, ugly and beautiful images. Now I started experiences mixing digital art + watercolour.

I decided create the store now and sell my things for many reasons. Maybe a hippie dream… I don’t know.. haha. I have a obsessive aesthetic neuroses. It is a disease… really… I love curves and the beauty… sensual body forms and nature forms make me crazy.”

I love his work and I love the way he thinks. You’ll find his portfolio here with links to his blog and etsy store or just head on over to the left hand column and click on the still life with apples.

Shadow and light, something seen and something imagined. Dutch photographer John Dummer brings a touch of realism as well as whimsy to his work. Beautiful rooms that you can imagine real people in. And of course it wouldn’t be a great portfolio without me raving about the food photos. All round a delicious body of work.

Sorry folks, there will not be a Flickr finds post today. Instead, I thought I’d share with you a major purchase I made about a week ago. A bit of background first…

During the kitchen renovation, I wanted a dining table built because I needed something narrower than an average size table, and it needed to fit 6 people. My boyfriend and I were initially going to build it, but my contractor offered so we took him up on it. The table turned out to be pretty disastrous. The wood of the top ended up warping and splitting, and the pedestal base was completely non-functional for such a long table. In the end, I ended up picking up a couple cheap table legs at Ikea and adding those on, particularly for instances when some of my porkier cats would launch onto it from the countertop. Here is a photo of the table:

I’ve been looking for a table on and off for several months now and have had no luck, up until a couple Fridays ago when I took my boyfriend down to the Byward Market with me on a table hunt. We were in Stacaro, my new favourite store, when Jeff spotted a really cool desk. It was on sale at 40% off (floor model), and had a black steel base and a wood top, the same colour as my cabinets but a few shades darker. It came with a shelf attached to house a desktop computer, and we quickly discovered it could easily unscrew off. It was the perfect width (just shy of 3′) and length. Here is a photo of it from their website:

SOLD! It arrived last Monday and I finally got a chance to try it out with the shelf (decided it was too distracting and hid my Pantons) and find some things for a centrepiece. I love it. I am so happy to have something straight to eat off of, and I am no longer embarassed to have people over for a meal.

There’s a few more photos over at my kitchen blog.

WINKS – weekend links. Here we list what has come in during the week, things we’ve found and things we think you’ll want to see. If you’d like to see your blog or website featured email us and if we think it fits with our readers we’ll link you. So what’s in this week?

• Junk Delux – “the traditional junk shop for the disenchanted youth of the 21st Century, who are sick of the multi-national corporation”. Benjamin Scott rules over this retro furniture shop based in Margate, Kent, which focuses on affordable modern design. Junk Deluxe specialises in British mid 20th century furniture, but also carries a good stock of Danish, Belgian, German and Dutch design. It looks so much fun. Imagine rummaging through the piles of junk to unearth that treasure. Heaven!



• mc&co is a retail shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Founded in 2006 by Corinne Gilbert and Dan McCarthy, their website is now up and running and I’ve had to restrain myself from licking the computer screen. Their stock is just so delicious. Limited edition runs of unique objects, handmade, artisan and gorgeous!
• Original 1920s prismatic lighting salvaged from Cornish churches, industrial factory lights from the former Eastern Bloc and reclaimed lighting from the Victorian hospitals of South East England – these, and much more, all feature in the eclectic and ever changing collection from exciting new lighting brand Skinflint. OMG, OMG if reclaimed, vintage or industrial tick the boxes for you then this is a dangerous site, especially since they ship worldwide.
• Modern lumberjack. Handhewn from reclaimed wood and steel (often from construction sites, old barns or in some delicious cases…whisky casks!), the new Broen collection from Varian Designs bridges the gap between manmade and naturemade. As their website says, “Architecturally inspired. Environmentally conscious. Tradition meets innovation.”




• I know I’m going to regret this but I wanted to give a shout out to one of Brisbane’s best secret sources on eBay. I’ve been a follower of Katherine from The Oldboathouse for awhile now and have found and won some fabulous pieces. Now Katherine not only has a stall at the Gabba antique centre but a blog where she highlights her finds before they hit eBay or her stall. Insider trading… nothing wrong with that. I know some of Brisbane’s best known decorators and savvy home owners are among Katherine’s clients. Like all things it takes patience but every so often you find your treasure at a really great price. OK I’m regretting telling you already.

It’s been a long week, and today is a day off for me from the day job, as is every Friday until after Labour Day. And that folks, is my summer holiday. Anyway, I thought I’d share this gorgeous 4 story Georgian home (with summer house out back) in London with you, because I could really use a weekend at a place like this right about now (I’d be quite happy with the little summer house).