Friday 18 April 2014

Wednesday 9 April 2014

BRIDGES OF THE USA

so the very large gap in previous blog post was partly due to an amazing four week trip to the united states and canada (where it was FREEZING!). as part of that trip, we spent some time in san francisco and new york. i'll admit, new york was my favourite (closely followed by a snow covered/freezing over lake louise), but looking back through my photos, i noticed that there were a lot of pictures of those cities significant bridges.


i think that partly the interest is as a tourist (seeing these super famous icons for the first time) but i think it is more than that. the architectural style of each bridge is distinct and directly represents the time that they were constructed, alluding to the history of those places and the time that has passed. Those pointed arches and the detailing in the towers is such a quick and visual time reference and causes the mind to imagine what the city would have been like at that time, and to imagine what those bridges have seen in the city timeline.


lastly i think the fascination is about the engineering. for their time, these bridges were a marvel and a masterpiece - can you imagine the brooklyn bridge being built in 1885 and still standing in 2013 - amazing! i don't think my brain could fathom the engineering now with all the assistance that computers could give, let alone at the times these bridges were built!

Wednesday 2 April 2014

EASTER STYLING & A CHANGE OF SEASON

soooo... i know it has been a while but i am back! and hopefully a little more regularly now! today is my first day of working for myself (really excited and totally freaking out). i am hoping this new change will really give me some decent chunks of time to work on my designs and work through the best method for printing and making. so as of today, wednesday's are 'owl & bridge' work days. hooray!! i will be adding new things up on my blog as they develop as i will be too excited not to share.

anyway, enough of that...on the weekend west elm, pottery barn, pottery barn kids and williams sonoma in sydney had an easter styling event where four different stylists spent half an hour styling an easter table for one of the stores. some of my favourites (sibella court, megan morton) were there, along with a couple of people i hadn't seen the work of before (cameron kimber, marco meneguzzi). here are a couple of iphone snaps i took on the day.

SIBELLA COURT FOR WEST ELM

i really like sibella's mismatch style that is brought together by colour a consistency in colour. also the different textures of timber, ceramic, glass, enamel create an dynamic tablescape and keeps you interested after the first glance. Sibella and her team dyed the eggs themselves using a martha stewart 'how to', but her brief to the team was 'to keep all the ones martha would have rejected'! Also as a must, greenery! Books were a clever trick to change up the heights which can create a flow to the table. she did put a rug on the table as a tablecloth which looked good, but i don't think i would be that game.

Sibella's encouragement was to use the things already in your house. walk around and find a whole lot of things and then pick and edit from that to create your tablescape. you will always have left overs but that is how styling works - you always gather more than you need so you can pick and choose and edit.





MARCO MENEGUZZI FOR POTTERY BARN

i hadn't come across marco's work before, but what i did like about this tablescape was that it wasn't overly spring. so many things around easter are to do with spring, which is totally understandable given that it is spring in the northern hemisphere at this time but we are in the southern hemisphere! i like that this one suits more the autumn climate at the easter time of year - it looks like an autumn table because of the colours without taking away the eggs and chickens etc. which symbolise new life. it is also very american and county in style which is not traditionally my thing, but it works here and is effective in grasping both the climate and the celebration.