Pretty In BLANC: Part II

some more inspirations for more of an everyday-look of BLANC...

 Some classy combo with white and off white from Sartorialist.

Simple but bold from Bu of Bu the right thing.

Crisp and fresh from Stand Up Comedy in Portland.

Flowy and light from Totokaelo.

I'd wear all of these not just for BLANC, but for, like, ever....

Pretty In BLANC: Part I

Been seeing some great inspirations for what to wear at BLANC preview party this FRIDAY where we're asking everyone to wear something white! I still got lots to do on the list to prep for the show....Obviously, I totally have my priority set here....

I especially love this whole collection by Rodarte for Opening Ceremony...totally BLANC.

 Some great pieces for the boys, too!

AmDC Pops up in SF

Wish we're in SF for this!  Kiel from American Design Club is working with  Rand + Statler in curating a pop up shop this coming Saturday, August 27th with bunch of designers we adore.

List of designers includes:

Kiel Mead, Silva/Bradshaw, Emily Rothschild, Fort Standard, Kai Williams + Chen Chen, Annie Lenon + Valerie Gnaedig, Lara Knutson, Jill Peterson, Studioooij, Iacoli & Mcallister, Steph Mantis, Pat Kim, Alexandra Snook, Chuck Routhier, Andie Olive, Mark McGinnis, Grain, R&L Goods, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio, Michael Cummings, Thomas Im, Marianne van Ooij, Evan Clabots, Seldon Yuan and Annika Jermyn.

If you're in the SF area, go check it out!

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....

Summer Drink Recpie for D*S Behind the Bar

We love Ryan & Alissa from one of our favorite online shop, Horne, who also carries our Superior Servers on their shop!

We couldn't be more thrilled, when Ryan asked me to write something for their Behind The Bar column for Design* Sponge.

I've always loved having picnics (especially an impromptu picnic that I did for this post!). And lately I've been really into using cucumbers...even just in water! So I came up with the this Summer Cucumber Lemon Vodka drink!  You can read the entire post HERE.

The best part of doing all this was that after taking the photos, Dylan & I got to enjoy the drinks with some friends for a real picnic! 

Yah....work is rough.....

Have a great weekend!!



All Tied Up

I still can't get over rope jewelry!
Check out these bold necklaces by Eleanor Bolton. These are a limited edition especially for Darkroom's Aztec Camera season.
Each are handmade & hand-dyed from 100% cotton rope .



L&G Chalk Piggies at Crewcuts!!

So....we had to keep this hush hush until recently...and we can't wait to share this exciting news!! Our Chalk Piggies are available on Crewcuts online HERE for all the stylish & adorable kids! Like this lil' adorable girl!We've been excited about this ever since one of the buyer from J.Crew first contacted us after purchasing a piggy after the holidays!This is our first time working with a big company such as J.Crew and we were more than happy that everything went as planned and now they're actually in one of the Crewcut store in NY and online! This is totally what I envisioned where the piggies would end up... to be with stylish kids & parents and be part of both of their worlds!

I think I'll be visiting our piggies at the Crewcut store when I head to NY this coming August!
Can't wait!

Dark & Beautiful

I'm obsessed with everything at this London based shop, Darkroom!!
Everything is just insanely striking and beautiful....



Japan Sight / Taste / Find: 3/9

Day 4: Full day of visual stimulation

SIGHT: Seiya & Mami's took us to visit their kids, Aika & Yume's, elementary school to talk about the difference of school & lifestyle between the States & Japan.

TASTE:
Dinner at the Minatos and hand 手巻き寿司 Temakizushi with super delicious & fresh fish of all sorts.

FIND:
A used restaurant supply store filled with fun things of all sorts that made us want to open a restaurant just for the fun of it.


Japan Sight / Taste / Find: 3/8

Day 3: Roaming around

SIGHT:
Playground with a globe marry go round.

TASTE:
Mami made us a well-rounded breakfast with the best tasting egg.

FIND:
Got stuck looking at tiny microscopic miniature people of all sorts in the model making department of 東急ハンズ  Tokyu Hands....a department store of 7 floors filled with materials, supplies, and everyday items of anything you'll ever need and everything you CAN'T think to need but feel compelled to get....Pretty much, it's like heaven and hell at the same time.

Japan Sight / Taste / Find: 3/7

Day 2: Woke up and saw this...

SIGHT: Snow in March?!

TASTE:
Lunch & a lovely dessert set at a close by Japanese-Italian restaurant in 市川 Ichikawa where they made their own desserts.

FIND:

Got couple of vintage  暮らしの手帖 Kurashi No Techo lifestyle magazine at Seiya & Mami's friends vintage book shop, Smoke Books. They had a whole shelf of them from the 70's & 80's filled with the best photos of everyday delights!

L&G Goods In Japan and Soon...US!

So we got some DOUBLE exciting news for L&G and for us!

We currently have some L&G goodies & hand selected vintage items at our friends' shop in Japan called Depot Cycle & Recycle. It's a charming family run bike & lifestyle shop in Ichikawa owned by THE MOST adorable, loving, & happy people we know!!
For the past month, We've been sending some fun things from L&G, R&L goods, and Piano Nobile goodies for their house & lifestyle area of the shop. They just sent me the photo of what it looks like and I'm already in love with all the things, the colors, and just the charming aesthetic of their shop!! I Especially love all these beautifully made ceramic ware.
Here is a photo of the lovely Minato Family. Seiya & Mami & their 3 adorable kids, Aika, Yume and Yuni!! ( I'd like to adopt all of them....yes please...) This is pretty much what they look like ALL the time....always happy and adorable....no joke.
The Minato family visited us in Seattle last summer at our duplex and between Dylan, Chika, Jared and I, we had such a blast with them hanging out around Seattle, Ballard and Guemes Island to show them the great NW.
It was especially fun experiencing everything through their eyes since pretty much wherever they go...birds would sing, people would smile, flowers would bloom, babies would laugh, and even total strangers would go up and talked to them and be compelled to be their BFFs...
It sounds like I'm making it up...but I am not exaggerating.

So in about a week, Dylan & I are actually going to Japan to visit them!!
We'll actually get to really see and experience what its really like to live like one of the happy Minatos!

We're especially excited to see Seiya & Mami shop in person and see L & G piggy banks, servers, and doily rugs!
I made couple of Mini-Mega Doilies (One 2.5 ft diameter and the other is 2ft diameter) for them since their space is limited, but I also think they might actually do well at that size in Japan since it can also be used seating pads for the floor or on a chair....I hope they do well!
At that size... it's actually pretty cute if I may say so myself! :)

I also made a little sewn look book for them of our work.
There's something so satisfying about the combination of thread & paper...

Here's what the inside looks like...I can't explain how excited to see them & also visit Japan!! I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it!
It's been a LONG time (7 years!) for me since I was last in Japan studying abroad there, and Dylan on the other hand has never been!
We've been talking about it for couple of years now, and it's also been a long time since the two of us have taken a long personal vacation that's not family or work related!
So it's about time!

....now on with planning the trip......Oh boy!! Where do we even begin or stop!?!


Simple Delights

I made a new friend over the blogosphere recently...It all started when Chika forward me this link to ET AL., ETC. shop on Etsy thinking that it'd be something that I'd like. Interesting enough...she was right.
I was more than excited to see something as nice as Évita's work existing on Etsy....Besides the fact that her handmade clothes are well-made & adorable, she also seem to have a great sensibility to create simple, refined, and delightful clothes and objects.
Being able to keep things simple is harder than it sounds...it's a talent to be able to know how to pare down and know what the right element & design details to use that can make something feel well made and special. It's what I aspire to be...I'm still working on it...
Évita seems to have it down though!
Once I went to her Etsy shop, I couldn't stop looking at every single item if not once, but three times! It totally boggles my mind how she can make all these variety of garment from shirts, to knitwear, to sweaters, to dresses, to skirts, to bags...and even custom jeans!! Now... how many of you out there can say that you have sewn jeans let alone custom ones for other people?! I know there's no way in hell that I'd be able to sew a pair of pants that would look remotely as good or at all wearable...it'll probably end up with some weird puckering in the crotch area. :P
And of course..she also has these wonderful, well-packaged delightful object like this stamp set. I'm obsessed with stamps in general...and this one is no exception!Somehow along the way of purchasing some of her clothes. I ended up contacting her with few inquires and  I couldn't help but to ask her a ton of questions trying to grasp how she does it all.
I just think It's so interesting to learn about what creative people do and how they think. I especially like to hear stories about how they end up living where they are and doing what they do...

So what started as a simple shopping transaction turned into a long winded impromptu interview/conversation between two strangers....so much of it seems odd that things like that can happen, but at the same time so normal because it's so common to connect with people through the internet...weird how that works. But I love the internet for this reason.

Luckily, Évita wasn't weird-ed it out by my compulsive manner and was generous enough to take the time to answer all my questions. :)

Q: Are your clothes one of a kind and made from existing vintage clothes found in Japan?

Most, if not all, of the garments are one-offs/one-of-some-kind and they're made and patterned (from scratch) to new or vintage fabric. The vintage fabric comes "as fabric" and not from vintage clothes (vintage clothes have a life and time of their own so I don't really do the cutup & reconstruct). The garments are sometimes informed by vintage styles.
Q: Do you make things from scratch? I love to know a little bit more about your process!

All of the garments are made from scratch, from the fabric up or in whatever direction it wants to go. My process is straightforward, completely circumstantial and depends on the remnants I find and what sort of garments they’ll allow. I draft the patterns in order to minimize the waste produced, which explains a lot of the long sleeved garments even in the summertime and all the size small. I try to make clothes/basics, that, by dint of combination with clothes the buyer might have, work with a wardrobe. I stray away from making "statement pieces" or "handmade-looking" clothing and just try to produce garments that are well constructed and understated, defaults or whispers even.

Q: How long have you been living in Tokyo and been doing Et al etc? What brought you to Tokyo? I'm super intrigued since I love the idea of doing my own thing and be living in Japan!...yeah you're sort of living my dream right now....

ET AL., ETC., in general, has been around for 4 years. The plainclothes & whitespace has been around for almost 2 years – it started up after Beth (of ofmatter.etsy.com) introduced me to Etsy, after I re-discovered my amateurish ability to sew and pattern. I've been in Tokyo since mid-February.

I came to Japan as a total-tourist, on a travel grant, after having spent a few months in the Philippines. I chose to stay simply for the reasons that Tokyo is not where I was (nor is it the Philippines); Japan has a similar strain of post-war-Americanism that engulfed the Philippines but Japan managed to develop and maintain its own (culture) despite that; and I wanted to be in a place where I could have my quiet, my say and more importantly do. Every project I've wanted to do here, I've completed.

You should come to Tokyo with your pal and dream and do! Especially since the economy is so unreliable right now – it’s the perfect time.
Q:Where did you live before you moved to Tokyo?

I went to school in Providence, lived in NYC, worked in The Land of Enchantment (New Mexico), and left the States from SLC (where I was before moving to New England).

Q:Do you have a design/art background? specifics?

I went to RISD and studied A/architecture and got a bonus degree in Fine Arts; I also dabbled committedly at the school up the hill in Anthropology and French. As for specifics: RISD came with a lot of personalities, but was a rather conservative environment/monoculture that instills the belief and attitude that talent and individualism are real and that art is somehow divorced from cultural production and value systems. I was, however, fortunate to find teachers that helped me find a way out of that; those conversations and critiques are my background.

Q:what do you love the most about Tokyo, and what do you miss the most since living in there?

For a metropolis that ranks one up from NYC on the list of those most populous, Tokyo is amazingly quiet. Since I hadn’t left the States before my recent, now almost two year, bout of tourism, I like that I can see too much architecture here and see the (sort of) aftermath of postmodernism (built or otherwise) sufficiently working for a city.

I don’t miss the attitudes. I do miss my family a whole lot at times, a few friends that I was starting to get to know well, large windows that spanned the entire façade of a previous apartment, coffee cups that come in more than one size, and driving the Volvo240 wagon with ETALETC plates recklessly on my way to wherever.  Thanks for being so wonderfully open...


Piggies Going to Toronto!

We're sending out a small batch of Chalk Piggies to this adorable-looking kid design store in Toronto called KolKid. We wish that we're the ones going there since we've always heard great things about the city, the people...and the country in general.

I'm sure the piggies will be well taken care for once they're there and will most likely even get wonderful health care benefits.....I'm just happy to know that they'll have a wonderful life there.

Designing kiddy things has always been on our things-we-like-to-do-list....but that's opening another can of worms...but they'd at least be very cute worms.
Looking at the Kolkid webshop just make me want to start doing that! I just can't stand it!! It's all too freakin' cute!!
Perhaps someday more baby slippers...



Guilty Pleasure Purchase(s)

I don't usually do that much shopping on Etsy...not sure if it's because I haven't seen that many good things or because I don't like to spend the time to search through millions of listings. Whatever reason it may be, I'd like to think that I got lucky and actually found some wonderful things. I got so lucky that I ended up splurging on a thing or two.... or three.... :P

I'm loving everything Évita of ET AL., ETC has to offer in her shop. (SUPER affordable, too!)
I especially couldn't say no to the geometric patterned dress, and the lightweight sheer sweatshirt...There's just no way that I can live through the summer without these. Absolutely not.
I'd buy majority of the things in her shop if I could...but I figure this is a good start.
I have a somewhat long & interesting story about my interaction with Évita from this transaction....she's absolutely fascinating and I wouldn't do justice if I don't devote a whole separate post about her! More to come later.
A pair of woven toe leather lace ups. Perhaps more appropriate for the fall....but what the hey! I've been searching for a pair of lace ups for awhile and seeing the texture of the weave and the rich reddish-brown leather...AND at an amazing price of $20? I'd be stupidly insane NOT to get it! (no offense to all the people who saw this and didn't get it....)
isn't she a beaut?
Found this at Copped and Sewed vintage.

I totally feel like a lottery winner to have found all these great things!!...except I didn't get millions of dollars...and in contrary, I had to spend money it....BUT that's beside the point. The point is the pure joy that I'll get when I wear them....it'll be freaking priceless!