BLANC: a Winter JOIN Design Popup!! NOV 18-19

I'm SUPER excited for this design Pop-Up shop that JOIN and Brite Collective are organizing, which will be happening next week! eek!! 

Its been awhile since we've done an event for both JOIN & Brite in Seattle, and figured this is the perfect time to gather everyone and jumpstart the shopping season with lots of awesome work from independent designers!

We gathered 30+ designers and artists to do a special curated works under the theme BLANC.

Full details below!

JOIN Design Seattle and Brite Collective presents:  

BLANC-A Winter White Design Pop-up Shop

We're ready to ring in the winter holiday season with a one-of-a-kind market of great design. In celebration of winter, BLANC will feature a curated selection of limited edition objects that are white, blank, or otherwise achromous in color or spirit. Additionally, the pop-up shop will offer a cornucopia of other well-made goods from 30+ talented emerging designers from the West to the East.

DAY 1 / NOV. 18th / BLANC PREVIEW PARTY 8pm-12am 
Celebrate independent design. Special preview of "BLANC" curated items, BLANC cocktail menu, live music, and more. Wear something white! 

Time: 8:00pm - 9:30pm BLANC preview shopping event. 9:00pm - 12:00am DJ & special guest performance by NODDY. 

Location: Sole Repair Shop 1001 East Pike Street Seattle, WA.
Suggested Donation: $5.00

DAY 2 / Nov 19th / Design BLANC Pop-Up Shop 11am-5pm 
Support independent design by checking off your gift list early with items from the BLANC curated collection as well as other original design goods ranging from furniture, art, housewares, jewelry, accessories, ornaments, and more. Also enjoy special activities by Brite Collective holiday, hot beverages from Caffe Vita, pizza by Big Mario's, and more. 

Time: 11:00am - 5:00pm
Location: Cafe Vita Bean Room 1005 East Pike Street Seattle, WA.

Get a sneak preview here!

Featuring Works from:
&c. Jewelry / Aleksandra Pollner / Alisha Louise / Ashley Helvey / Blk Pine Workshop / Brandon Perhacs / Cairo / Chadhaus / COATT / Elizabeth Patterson / Erich Ginder / Fleet Objects / Fort Standard / Free Time Industries / Fruitsuper / Grain / Herman Yu / Iacoli & McAllister / Jessaline Beutler / Kiel Mead / Ladies & Gentlemen Studio / Meet Me Here / Piano Nobile / plainMADE / R&L Goods / Studio Gorm / Thomas Im /  Zanna Printed Textiles / Handpicked items from OBJECT and more...



New L&G Item: Rise Over Run Stool

Our newest item, Rise Over Run hanging step stool we recently debut at the IDSwest show in Vancouver!

The idea to make this item came from the need that I (Jean) couldn't reach all the high and tall places...especially in our new kitchen with a floor-to-ceiling-pantry unit!...ooh la la! SO much storage!

And me being a storage maniac that I am, trying to reach to all the empty places to store things made me feel like a crazy 5 year old doing some risky business just to get to a cookie jar...and we all know how that usually ends...broken cookie jars, broken bones...or worst..a broken heart...

So to prevent me from pulling off some silly stunts just to reach the places I need, we came up with Rise Over Run!

This was inspired by the basic construction and elements of stairs in a home. We broke it down and turned it into a mini 3-step folding stool to then be transformed from the functional piece into an elemental abstract shape which can be displayed on the wall.

So the story ends with Jean being able to reach all the high places she needs to, no breaking anything, and a piece that we can appreciate on our wall.  Hurray!

And check THIS quick fun thing I did... BOOM. gif power!

My very first attempt at making a gif animation... oh boy! This is totally SO mundane that it's making some sort of ironic statement?

NO? not convinced?....ok. yeah, me neither...

Just wanted an excuse to make a quick amateur gif clip!

In any case, Rise Over Run will be available online soon! We promise!

Time for Fun: Hand-Making Models for New Ideas

Finally feel like we're getting around to do something fun & creative in the studio!

We'll be going up to Vancouver to be part of the Interior Design Show West (Sept 29th-Oct 3) along with JOIN. This will be L&G's first time showing some of our furniture pieces, but also it will be the first time for all of us to show in Vancouver! Very exciting...

I didn't realize how much I missed hand-making models with color pencils, chipboard, balsa wood, and all that. Totally felt like a kid again.   

More to come, but here's a lil' sneak peak...

Some sample look books

A prototype of our new concept...can you guess what will be?

Woonwinkel Swoon

We're excited when we first read about this new shop in Portland called Woonwinkel (means Home Shop in Dutch) that opened in June.

What's even more exciting is that our Chalk Piggies, Gem Necklaces, Superior Servers, and Mega-Doily rugs of various size are at the store!

It's a beautifully curated shop with things I've only seen from the far and magical place of the Netherlands combined with some great designers we totally love such as, Studio Gorm, Iacoli & McAllister, Von Tundra, and Chen Chen.

....pretty much a dream store. Perhaps if I make myself look small enough I can be a squatter and live in that shop....

Procesessing Max Lamb's Process

I'd like to do go to the beach and do something fun like what Max Lamb did....making this pewter stool right on the beach!

This one makes me nervous just watching it...the gigantic blade cutting a piece of lime stone and them running around it...



Setting High Standards

I met these guys from Fort Standards for the first time at the Feburary NYIGF in the AmDC booth, and was totally psyched that I got to trade for one of their charming merit badge necklaces.

...and since then...only being about 5 months later, they've designed & launched a BUNCH of new amazing products at this year's ICFF.

I was totally psyched to see these AMAZING Elevate tables made with crazy marble tops & white oak!! Mostly love the detail of the center notch and the clean construction of the triangle legs.
and of course me being a total sucker for terrariums...I have to love this: Terra-terrarium stand...that spins!
These classy Foundation tables are made with teak & stacked marble at the base. Clean, simple and cleverly constructed as well.
MAD Aluminum stool....just handsome.
I'm just so amazed by the scope of their work...and admire their sense for great details & general sensibility.
....Way to raise the bar on that one...and make all of us look bad!


Collected Magazine

This new online lifestyle magazine, Collected, launched this May founded by Krista Schrock and Jessica Comingore.

I love all their well-curated hand picked items. Pretty much.... I just want everything on these pages.



L&G presents: Cane & Able

We're debuting Cane & Able at a satellite exhibit, USE ME, in conjunction with ICFF.
A simple whitened pine stool truncated by a vintage cane. A multi-purpose supportive, mobile, and hangable stool. While they typically act as a person's 3rd leg, its now acting as the 4th leg...or even 6th leg if you decide to use to take it out for a walk.

Two of em hanging out...
Detail of dowel leg construction:
Visit Cane & Able in person during ICFF week at the American Design Club's USE ME show.

USE ME show: OPENS TODAY!

We got our pieces in the show!! Woo Hoo!
This will be our first time participating in a design show in NY!! We're stoked!!  But sad that we won't be able to be part of the excitement in person.. bum bums....

Some JOIN peeps like Iacoli & McAllister, Grain, and FTI will also have stuff there!It's gonna be a pretty amazing group of designers and I'm 101% sure there will be pretty amazing stuff, there, too!
...but here's our crazy shipping mess & packaged items before shipping them out to NY...which took me all night to makeshift a custom sized box from scratch.....who does that??
I think I ended up using every types of packing material possible for this box.
It was seriously a total piece of work in itself. :P
...but i think the people at AmDC will probably forever hate me because it's probably going to be a total hassle to unwrap it.....saaaaawweeeee~!!

We'll reveal the pieces under all those mysterious foam, bubble wraps, and cardboard pieces soon!!


Some ideas brewing...

....for AmDC's upcoming "USE ME" show for ICFF.

Made our submissions and is crossing our fingers...hope we make it in!



Truck It Over Please

This Japanese furniture shop, Truck, is incredible. Everything I see on there, I love and want....I want to live in their website.

And this shelf unit....oh dear.

Via Design Mom


Lend a Helping Hand

A great project presented by Tanya Aguiñiga.Tanya Aguiñiga is an LA base artist/designer whose been an active participant in the art/design community in bridging the world of design, art, and craft focused on the Latino community. She recently launched the project, Artists Helping Artisans (AHA), to raise money to work in the highlands of Chiapas with Mayan women in hopes to empower the people and preserve traditional & cultural arts and craft.
"...Artists Helping Artisans (AHA), will focus on helping artisans in marginalized communities whose craft traditions or livelihoods are at risk. With the current economic crisis, and tourism dwindling, many of these craft communities are in dire need of help."

It's really admirable and inspiring to see that even designers & artists can find ways to foster a better place by giving back to the people. This definilty makes me realize that even as designers we can make responsible contributions or actions that can improve people's lives beyond creating consumable tangible products.

So let's help Tanya help others... You can lend a helping hand and help Tanya to get her project in Chiapas going...and it's true...Evey contribution helps.

Donations can be made in increments of $10, $25, $50, and up to $2000 if you're feeling really generous! And with every donation, Tanya will even send something special made from her or from the artisans!
Donate $50 and receive a hand felted bird by Tanya.Donate $100 and receive a small Chiapas artisan made work and Limited Edition 11x14” print made by Tanya.

Read the full project description and make donations here.
Besides sharing the AHA project, it's also important to share Tanya's work! I first discovered her when I had the pleasure to meet Tanya at a craft show in SF back last December. Seeing her stuff was a total highlight of my trip! Not only does she creates beautiful one-of-a-kind handmade design furniture pieces, she also creates these beautiful dipped dyed rope jewelery that were more than amazing. I was literally hovering over her booth for an hour looking and trying everything on!

Dipped dyed bracelets with bright saturated colors.... I had to get the teal one! I realized that this bracelet was mentioned along with my doily rug back when Meg Mateo guest blogged on D*S!
Yeah...I couldn't help it..but I had to get one of these dipped dyed rope necklaces, too!
Check out her shop!
and yes.... she's hand-felt these folding chairs... Gawwwd....
I love how this chair looks like a loom.

ICFF Preview TONIGHT!

Our friends from JOIN Design Seattle are gearing up for International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in NYC from May 15-18. We wish we could go to NYC just to check it out in person!! Unfortunately we're missing it again...sigh.
But lucky for us, these 7 design firms below have thoughtfully planned a preview party in Seattle TONIGHT for the less fortunate people like us who cannot attend the show. Woo Hoo!!

+ KERF
+Yuri Kinoshita
+ far4
+ Iacoli & Mcallister
+ 16th Workshop
+ urbancase
+ graypants

THURSDAY, APRIL 29TH
6-9PM
5813 AIRPORT WAY SOUTH in Georgetown 

Dream Vintage Shop

I just spent WAY too much time browsing on this online Vintage shop, Modern 50 with an INSANE amount of vintage-antique furniture, things, and random finds that are all to die for!!
Not only are the stuff cool, all the shots are totally well stylized...I can only imagine what the rest of the space looks like. So, even if you're not serious about buying anything (like me), it's worth a look simply for some good inspirations!
Although I have to warn you..... you might end up like me....where you'll be feeling miserable and depressed after looking at everything because you'lI want everything but can't afford most of it.
......unless you're actually rich..then you probably won't be feeling so miserable or depressed. But I guess in that case, then you should be a philanthropist and share the wealth so we can all be happy. :)

FLKS is Good For You

FLKS (flex), a flexible and collapsible workplace by Dutch designers Kapteinbolt.Via Dezeen