Wednesday's Vintage Obession- Milk crates

1. vintage bottle carrier
2. milk jars in crate
3. vintage milk crate
4. milk bottle crate

This is certainly a late post but it I have been crazy busy! I just drove back yesterday from a little jaunt to Cape Cod to visit family and spent all day today catching up with orders and work. We got a huge response to the Lucky Magazine's Deal-of-the-Day on Thomas Paul Portland plates so it's been quite hectic! Woke up this morning with no milk for my coffee or for my daughters' breakfast. Not having my coffee was rough; my daughters of course did just fine. So perhaps that's why I have "milk on the brain." My little late Wednesday vintage obsession is milk crates. I love any vintage item that looks cool and also serves a function. These pieces are perfect for holding just about anything- tea towels, aprons, magazines, napkins or what about cool vases or old bottles with fresh flowers just for a little decoration? I love the idea that milk at one point was delivered to your home. We've got to get that going again, don't you think?

Why do we love Snowden?

Snowden Flood.

Ok, first things first-her name. It's just darn cool. But, come on. That's not why we love her. Oh there is just so much more to Snowden.

Snowden Flood is an interior designer who studied Fine Art in London and then later came to New York City to pursue a Master's degree in Sculpture at the Parsons School of Design.

After graduating, she worked at the Brookyln Museum of Art in the Design department and then with the amazing architect Peter Marino as a designer and a textile specialist. There she worked with clients (and we are going to "name-drop" here) such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Chanel and the Four Seasons Hotel.

Snowden is back in London now and working on her really cool collection of tabletop, cushions, tea towels and aprons.

But why do we really love her (aside from the fact that she is such a pleasure to work with)? She takes the landscapes of London and recreates it into a chic, fun, graphic and colorful image. She places these images on things we can use such as tea towels, mugs and aprons-we love great design that is also useful! She sees the lines of the building, the shapes, the patterns- the beauty of human creation and ingenuity. She sees beauty where others just ignore it. These images are great for those who have traveled to London or lived there and can relate to them. But I love them just because they are modern, simple and fun.


first row (l to r): Tate Modern apron, Albert Bridge tea towel, Battersea Power Station apron
second row: London River Series mugs, St. Paul's Cathedral tea towel

It's not easy being green.

I'm a few days past St. Patrick's day but green still feels right for this week. Today is the first day of spring and darn, I just remembered, I forgot to try the egg trick. Apparently on the vernal equinox, an egg will stand upright on its bottom and stay that way the entire day. Did anyone try that today? Does it really work? Did you take a picture? I'm so curious. OK, back to green. It doesn't have to be Irish green because although I'm Irish- that ain't a pretty green. Let's talk about spring green. It is a cool, fresh color like summer grass, new spring Maple leaves or a juicy tart lime. It can be soft and soothing like the color of a pear, the stem of a tulip or a green grape. It can certainly be olive or Hunter green like the head of a duck, a Barbour jacket or a pair of Hunter wading boots. Or green can remind me of the designs of the 70s- that pea soup green- very acidic and quite ubiquitous- the green ash trays, green sinks, green commodes, green tiles, green shag- uh what were they thinking? And hey, isn't everybody "going green" these days?

I've pulled some of my favorite green items. From now until March 31st, use coupon code: green at checkout and get $20.00 off your order of $50.00 or more. Happy spring!

Green facts:

• The color green can have dramatically different meanings in some cultures- in Islam- it is a celebrated color as it is thought that paradise is lush and green and in many other cultures, green denotes sickness, envy or greed.
  
• The Chinese term for "cuckold" is to "wear a green hat". Consequently, you will rarely see Chinese man wearing a green hat.
• Do you remember in the Wizard of Oz- in the Emerald City- everyone wore green tinted glasses so that everything looked green?
• And of course- who doesn't just love Kermit the frog? Did you know that the first prototype of Kermit was made in 1955 out of a green coat that Jim Henson's mom threw in the trash?

For a stroll down memory lane. Play this YouTube video of Kermit singing his famous, sweet, song, "It's not easy being green."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpiIWMWWVco

Ode to Heather Moore

I'm not sure how I first discovered Heather Moore, the fabulous illustrator and designer of Skinny LaMinx, perhaps I found her in a magazine or a blog. Regardless of how I found her, I'm so glad I did because I just love her work. So much that I imported her products from South Africa- quite a distance, since I'm based on the East coast of the United States. It was so worth it, her items have been among my best sellers as they are unique and just beautifully made.

Heather lives in Cape Town, South Africa. She studied English and Drama and "fell" into illustration when asked to produce the illustrations for a book. When creating her designs, she uses a lot of "cut-out" shapes in her work, "enjoying the clean edges and slightly wonky end result." She turns her designs and "paper-cuts" into a screenprint with the help of a computer and then has them printed in waterbased inks by a small screenprinter down the street from her studio. Her designs are printed on locally produced 100% cotton hopsack. Her influences are from Scandinavian and Japanese designs from the 50s and 60s. She also loves Irish designer Orla Kiely and New York designer Jonathan Adler.

I love the clean lines and wit found her designs and the colors are just perfect. Her aesthetic fits in a old home (sitting perfectly next to beautifully worn antique wood furniture) and in a clean, modern home. The red "Eep" tea towel just pops a black and white kitchen with stainless steel. I love finding beauty in the mundane. I do dishes about a dozen times a day (at least it seems to be that much) and I love using her tea / dish towels- it just makes me happy. I also love that her tea towels and aprons have stories behind them. She used a collection of her own and "borrowed" spoons as a design- for her "Borrowed Spoons" tea towels and apron- see the photo above. Also check out the photo of her vintage mugs- they served as the inspiration for her "Mugs" tea towel. I love this towel and her mug collection is just fantastic! Her tea towels wash beautifully and just get better with time.

In her words after having just read Alain de Bottons, The Architecture of Happiness, "beautiful aesthetics help us to connect with those things about ourselves that we value and aspire to, and can remind us that human beings are filled with great potential to imagine and create amazing things. Well-chosen colors and surfaces and well-crafted things of quality can remind us of our best selves: individually, culturally and as a species. So a tea towel can do lots more than just dry the dishes!"