Here's Heath

Heath Nash is a seriously talented South African designer. (He may also be a serious, talented designer, who knows?) Here are a few of his designs I really, really like:


The White Flower Light. I will not worry about the dusting issue at this point ...


Coloured Flower Light. How can you not be happy looking at one of these?


I think this The Little Wire Stool is great. It is just about the right size for milking cows. Okay, maybe not.


The White Screen. I think this is beautiful. It has just enough Peek-through Potential to be interesting, I would say. Depending of course on where you use it.

(All pictures from PingMag. For how Heath works, see here).

A Bird and a Bag ...

I have just discovered the beautiful bags (and blog) of Wendren from The Wren Design. She is a South African graphic artist who designs and makes seriously cute bags. Here are some of my favourites:

What's not to love? It is red and big!

I just love this bird! It clips around your wrist (or onto your handbag).

My personal favourite. Shweshwe (the type of fabric) is so truly South African. This one would look great with jeans, and that adorable little pouch on it contains lavender from Franschhoek to keep the bag lovely and fragrant ...

The joys of shopping for groceries ...

I walked to the shops yesterday to get a few groceries - it is about a 30 min walk -and this is what I spotted on the way ...

Am I not a lucky girl?!

Tentacled moleskines

I love these moleskines with laser-etched covers by Modofly. Actually, the designs are by talented London artist, Dan Hillier.

( found via BoingBoing)

Lava lounging

I love the Lava seating system by Studio Vertijet. I will just lounge around and read all day long ...

And when I get bored I can play with my Dinky toys!

(Found via yatzer)

A Poet Discovered ...

I have recently discovered Kay Ryan, the new American poet laureate ...

(Eiger at Twilight, by lilcrazyfuzzy)


(Grand Canyon by zpowderhound)


(Grey glacier in Chile by Tim.Haughton)

BLANDEUR
If it please God,
let less happen.
Even out Earth's
rondure, flatten
Eiger, blanden
the Grand Canyon.
Make valleys
slightly higher,
widen fissures
to arable land,
remand your
terrible glaciers
and silence
their calving,
halving or doubling
all geographical features
toward the mean.
Unlean against our hearts.
Withdraw your grandeur
from these parts.
(from Say Uncle by Kay Ryan, Copyright © 2000 by Kay Ryan.)

A Villa in Positano

This 18th century Italian villa was updated by Lazzarini Pickering Architteti, in 2004. Although not quite my style, I like the colour in the interior. And the view!

Photos by Matteo Piazza. Found via Yatzer.

A Little List and a Happy Weekend!

(Collage by dadadreams.)

My Little List for this Week

1. I have never made jelly in a mould. Only in a regular old bowl. So, inspired by stephanie's post here, I am going to make a jelly in the mould I found at a carboot sale. And then I will eat it!
2. I will engage in a teeny bit of activism - nothing too serious, so don't get worried. Unless of course I am arrested. Then I will expect the usual cake with file from friends, to be delivered at Pollsmoor Prison. I started planning it after seeing something this week and then reading something. I hope to be able to record it and do a post on this blog. Le Husband has agreed to drive the getaway car!
3. Inspired by kendalee's beautiful journal pages (and bronwyn's and dawn's) I want to start a second journal. The '100 ideas' one is fun, and I will still do 2 or 3 entries a week, as I am quite interested in the creative process that happens when I think and plan and eventually execute each item (and some of them are really odd - like #39!), but I also want something that is a little more cohesive, based on my own ideas. And spend a little more time and effort on each page!
Report-back

1. I can report back that my guerilla artwork (inspired by this) has been placed. Yayy!!! It made me so happy, and I hope it will make someone else happy as well. It was placed in Cape Town on Wednesday 23 July 2008, at approximately 11.50 am. I liked the secretive aspect of it, it gave me quite an adrenaline rush. The idea of someone finding it, and perhaps taking it home, is awesome. Oh my goodness, what fun! Unfortunately I couldn't record the placing of it - I might have been marched off by security guards. The design of the second work is in progress. I have in mind quite a few venues for the placing of it, but it must remain, I fear, A Secret.

2. Remember the cookie-baking a couple of weeks ago? Well, the nextdoor kiddiewinkles came by to say thank you - and three cute little things they are too!

Have a lovely weekend - eat a little jelly, be a little naughty, make a little something, and as always, have lots of fun!

A dress pattern, and the Story behind it ...

This is one of my recent carbootsale finds:

I wonder about the story behind this pattern. The lady who was selling them had a whole box of patterns - ladies' dresses, skirts and suits, all neatly cut up and clearly used. I asked her if she had any uncut old patterns. I like the sheets for wrapping presents (and they are also great for journaling and collages). She scrabbled in the box and said - 'Oh, my dear, take this one. This one was never used ....'

And dress patterns also remind me of Sue Pam Grant's work. She is a fabulous South African artist (and playwright and actress - how talented can you get!) The images below are all from her Simplicty Miss Petite Size 8MP series of artworks (images are from the Bell-Roberts gallery website):

(Bathing Suit - Sue Pam Grant)

(To be Interlined - by Sue Pam Grant)

(Girl in Pocket / Ballet under Collar - by Sue Pam Grant)

For a description of her process, see here.

A Cloche for Mrs Pendlebury. From New York.

I was at school with Albertus. I always admired him from a distance, knowing that he would do something interesting with his life. And I was right - the rest of us became accountants and clerks and programmers and shop assistants, but Albertus became a milliner. In New York.

Albertus Quartus Swanepoel in his studio in NY (Photo by Steven Torres)

Studio in NY (Photo by Steven Torres)



Cloches above and below by Albertus Swanepoel for Proenza Schouler. (Photos by Don Ashby and Olivier Claisse)


A chocolate leather cap for Proenza Schouler (photo by Don Ashby and Olivier Claisse)


And a not very PC mink ski cap for Proenza Schouler (photo by Don Ashby and Olivier Claisse)

For an article and more pictures, see style.com

A Bit of Sparkle

I've always loved chandeliers. So I made my own one. It doesn't look like this ...

By Massucco Warner Miller (found via {this is glamorous})

or this ...

by Michael McHale (found via {this is glamorous})

Our space is quite small, so I only wanted a very small chandelier above our table (which is a 100-year old door, balanced on two trestles). I used a 1950's lampshade frame from the carboot sale, and hung an assortment of crystals and beads from it.

(seen at night in front of window with full moon shining...)

I now want to make another one, with the help of one of the wonderful wire artists in Cape Town - something like this perhaps!

Wire chandelier by Marie Cristophe - available here.

Beauty from Waste

I love it when people make something with stuff that would have been discarded otherwise. Especially when it turns out beautifully like this:

Made from factory-discarded bits of wood, by Amy Hunting, for her graduate project at the Denmark School of Design. (Found via Boing Boing)

On Haloumi and Birkenstocks

I've always associated haloumi with tofu, and both of those with hairy-legged individuals dressed in baggy cheesecloth and Birkenstocks. With socks. The other day I bought some haloumi. And yesterday I invented a delicious salad with it:

Salad leaves, some watercress, mint leaves and just a tiny bit of carrot and beetroot, julienned. Add three or four sliced strawberries, chopped almonds, lots of lemon juice and a teeny bit of olive oil. Top with three slices of haloumi, grilled until brown and bubbly.

I really should buy haloumi more often ... and perhaps get myself a pair of Birkenstocks, like this one from their Heidi Klum range, with a dragonfly in swarovski crystals ...

Simplicity

My house is quite cluttered. (So is my mind.) It is okay, I like it that way. But I do appreciate pared-down simplicity. Like this kitchen ...

(Photo by Richard Powers)

and this outdoor shower ...

(Photo by Richard Powers)

and this veranda ...

(Photo by Richard Powers)

And when my mind becomes too cluttered I meditate ...

(Photo by Anairam Traws)

The Interior life of Mrs Clarissa Pendlebury

She looked in the mirror. And felt quite, quite old.

She had a cigarette and a cup of coffee for breakfast, spilling ash all over the blue check tablecloth.

Oh! she had so much correspondence to finish, she felt quite faint just thinking about it ...

After lunch, which was late again (she would have to speak to Mary), she would visit Mrs Bruton to discuss her new black and grey herringbone suit, she thought, as she slowly descended the red-carpeted stairs. A matching cloche was what she had in mind.

She crossed the black-and-white tiled hallway ...

... and decided to change the flowers in the downstairs study. Really, one could simply not rely on the servants.

It was time to redecorate, she mused. She would start with the study. She quite liked the new style she had seen in the latest House and Garden. So modern ...

Her husband had brought her a single red rose the day before. She could not help wondering who got the remaining eleven. He did so believe in buying bulk.

Oh! she had to keep busy, she simply had to, she thought. She would do some gardening. Yes, she would give George instructions and the children could come down with her.

The parrot was looking quite peaky, poor darling. She sometimes had long conversations with it, quite often, actually. But not when the servants were near.

After dinner, which she had on her own, she sat in the library and read a bit, but her attention was not on the book, she was thinking about the party tomorrow night.

She went to bed quite late, and crept under the quilt. Her husband was not home.

Tomorrow, she thought. Tomorrow I will wear my new pink dress ...

(Images from 1920's issues of House and Garden, available from Conde Nast)