it’s etsy time!
Posted in etsy favourites, handmade, homewares July 1st, 2008 by piablog

I promise I did not forget. Here are my picks for this fine Monday…

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Above, a little patience in a bowl, from the very sweet Paloma’s Nest.

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this eight petal flower pinhole piece from heather smith jones. stunning.

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and i love these delicate slim lined pouring vessels from up in the air somewhere.

Well, I made it back onto my bike over the weekend, but not without trepidation. Thank you for your awesome ongoing encouragement, it has helped so so much. This morning I was on my way in to a meeting – in a taxi – and I can tell you, my heart was in my throat every time we passed someone on a bike. But this driver was a good one and was very cautious. Phew.

I have so much to share with you this week, but it is also a frantic week of productions so let’s see how I go. Right now I am moodboarding, tomorrow I will be sourcing, the next day cooking, the next day shooting, the next day… well, catching my breath I imagine. I will be back here every moment in between. See you then!

Oh yes, and as I always like to end, I hope you have enjoyed this installment of…

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wow.
Posted in artists June 27th, 2008 by piablog

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While last Friday I was smacked to the ground by a taxi, this Friday my hands have been drawn by the sensational Esti! What a wonderful day it is!! Yes these are my hands, enhanced and decorated by Esti. I am in awe of her drawings, and I feel pretty special that she has interpreted my hands in this way – look at the swimming fish in the detail. Wow.

I must admit, I was pretty reluctant to send an outline of my hands as when I drew them, I felt like I was giving away a piece of my soul. I am super conscious of my hands, for so many reasons. One being that my fingers are quite long and even though my mother always said how wonderful that was, I always felt like a bit of a freak. But even if I did give a piece of my soul away to Esti, she just gave it right back to me, and that piece is more beautiful and unique now than it ever was.

Click here to read and view Esti’s full post.

Thank you Esti, you have totally made my day.

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Well folks, I am about to jump on my bike again for the first time since I had the accident. I am pretty scared, to be truthful. I didn’t think it had affected me so much but apparently it has. But today there is no more procrastinating as I have so much work to do, I’ve sort of piled it all up into one day, the last day of the week, and now I have to race around and pick up samples and props for next weeks shoots. i feel like a bit of a baby, being so reluctant to get on the bike. But here goes nothin’. Wish me luck out there!!

an inspiration: weaving old into new…
Posted in handmade, homewares, trend June 27th, 2008 by piablog

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So where was I… oh yes, my obsession with the work of weavers! Another weaving studio which I am smitten with is that of Kelly Stewart and Kenny Nix – the lovely couple who have created the Gene Straus Design Weaving Studio. They have an extensive online gallery and I have been perusing it over the past few weeks, imagining them looming away, coming up with new ideas and fashioning loose threads into woven treasures. There is such a personal touch to their website – writing about how each piece was formed and what it was formed from – you see, Kelly and Kenny create rugs from tossed away clothing and scrap wool selvages. There is so much work to strip the fabrics into usable threads, let alone the amount of time and energy into creating the designs and starting the production, making each of their handwoven rugs unique yet so affordable.

What you see above has been made from old denim jeans which I think is just amazing. I imagine this rug on white wooden floorboards at an entrance way. In fact, I imagine alot of their designs in white spaces, creating warmth, depth and texture. Weaving old into new – I love it.

Click here to peruse their collection.

tonight’s twilight guest
Posted in amsterdam, nature June 27th, 2008 by piablog

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an inspiration: weaving culture into interiors
Posted in interiors, stores, sydney, tibet June 27th, 2008 by piablog

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“A TibetSydney hand-weave isn’t a rug; it’s a story. A story where one becomes part of the narrative… Here it becomes a calm controversy of textures, palette and meanings between the occidental and oriental, futurism and antiquity, noise and contemplation, skin and intellect…”

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I have found I have become so fascinated in the art of weaving – it is such an art, and just the sight of a loom makes me a little giddy. The TibetSydney showroom in Queens St, Woollahra is not only an inspiration for it’s weaved creations, but is also an interior masterpiece, created by famed architect Donavon Hill

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I first learnt about TibetSydney in Vogue Living, and I remember drooling over the images and carefully digesting every single word…

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And I remember thinking, how does something so ‘everyday’ like a rug, become so evocative, so rich and layered, so full of depth. And I thought – it is culture. It is influences. It is one’s personal experiences and attachments as an artist that is interweaved into each piece, creating and weaving stories into each creation.

This is something I hope to achieve in my own work, in whatever medium it takes. The idea of weaving one’s cultural experiences and intimate moments into an everyday artefact makes an interior sparkle with life.

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Click here to read the story narrative of the TibetSydney rugs, and the inspiration of the designs.