Eva, from Tinctory, makes the most exquisite pieces of jewellery. She repurposes vintage silk and uses natural dyes to create intricate smocked pendants, brooches, bracelets and necklaces – her inspiration being feathers, sand patterns, shells, and fallen leaves. I am completely enamoured by her style and techniques, and the end results are breathtaking…

Eva has an extensive collection, available on both etsy and big cartel, as well as a flickr account filled with beautiful images of the processes, and experiments. Words escape me…

………………………………

found via sam’s notebook, again. Sam, stop distracting me from my work now…

Marie’s crochet bags are super cute, don’t you think? I think one of these sweet little crochet bags would look pretty teamed with this peacock mini from nanidoo…

…which you could wear any season, love the scoop back.

I’ve been perusing big cartel while having my breakfast. There are heaps of great boutiques but it’s not the easiest site to search. Any tips or tricks?  I’d love to see big cartel do something similar to etsy, with a market place home page that changes regularly, I think it would be  much more appealing as both a buyer and a seller. And then us bloggers could do ‘big cartel favourites’ posts too.

Oh if only I had my homeware store still. I would be perusing these fab internet markets every day, in search of beautiful handmade and vintage stock. Perhaps one day I’ll open another one somewhere in the world. There are so many cute shops for lease in Amsterdam these days, no doubt because of the current economic climate. I often fancy myself setting up shop again in one of them. Although I adore shopping virtually, nothing beats a bricks & mortar shop, there is something so special about walking into one that just captures your imagination, like walking into a little world where you can buy and take home the things you fall in love with. I think now is the time you can negotiate a great lease deal and set up your dream shop. Some of my fondest memories are those of first setting up my shop  – having very little capital and finding cheap second hand shelving, filling old indian cabinets with handmade treasures, lugging a ridiculously heavy old iron claw foot bath into the storefront and filling it with handmade soaps. So much fun.

JJR have done it again. Above is just a little sneak peek of their  spring summer collection for 2010. To say I want everything from the collection is my modest confession – I want double of everything.

Click here to read Riley’s post about the collection and see some very exclusive photographs that won’t go on the JJR website or in their look book  – they are just. for you.

Thank you Riley!

xx

PS can you believe I looked at that title at least a dozen times and never saw the typo? terrible. I’ve changed it (it was “abolutely”). sorry about that guys, for me having a wrongly spelt title is possibly the worst offense in blog writing.

Last night I had a rare chance to visit my (blog)neighbours via my blogroll, and see what everyone is up to. It’s a rather favourite wander of mine, because there is always so much inspiration to be found at each of their places, and I come back to my (blog)house filled with light and joy. Just before I was about to head to bed, I decided to visit one more place and it was that of pacha design (you may recall I featured their awesome blog in my ‘blogs in the spotlight’ a couple of weeks ago). My heart soared when I spotted their post on fashion and textile artist J Morgan Puett’s artist colony in Pennsylvania called Mildred’s Lane. I have never seen a more inspiring property in all my life, take a look…

J Morgan Puett and her ex-partner and now good friend who she calls peabody, have spent ten years creating this magical place as an artists colony. They don’t believe in disposability so everything is used, re-used, and reworked – old nightgowns become tablecloths, bits of steel become coffee tables, and old linen is used as floor coverings. The staircase is made up of random steps, nothing is taken for granted and it takes a week to clean the place which is a cherished chore as it gives her a chance to rearrange her incredible collections. Old sheds have been turned into guest rooms in the most romantic and timeless of ways. There is not a space that has not been styled – J Morgan Puett even styles the inside of her fridge which is like a work of art with  gnarled wood and antique linen put to good use.

I’m completely enraptured. If I had magic red slippers I would click them right now 3 times to take me straight there. This is where I would like to be to rejuvenate my spirit in between projects.

…………………………………………………………….

All incredible photographs are by Simon Upton for  London Telegraph Magazine.

Be sure to visit J Morgan Puett’s website for a more inspiration.

Thank you Pacha Design for showing me the way to Mildred’s Lane.

Last week or so you may have noticed that I featured the blog of the very beautiful 100% organic cotton children’s wear line called Periwinklebloom in the ‘blogs in the spotlight’(see sidebar). This week I’m delighted to share with you Periwinklebloom’s Autumn ‘09 collection which has just launched. The concept behind this collection is about layering, and ‘kind’ design, with an introduction of ‘waste-not wares’ -  making use of organic cotton and vintage scraps. The collection was shot in an antiques warehouse by photographer Greg Rannells, and I adore everything about it – not only the new designs but the styling, the location, the props and of course, the gorgeous models. Tyler, who is the creator of Periwinklebloom recently told me that she kept my book in mind as her muse for the shoot. Wowsers, what a compliment.  I love how inspiration is a revolving, ever-evolving door…

So here is a sneak peek of Periwinklebloom’s Autumn ‘09 collection but be sure to check out the full range right here. Each garment is 100% organic cotton, homegrown and hand-sewn in the United States.

Beautiful, non? Oh, I love it. Thank you,  Periwinklebloom.

photographs copyright Peter Stigter

Do you remember a little while ago I mentioned I was working on something fun for an upcoming event and I needed lots of kids clothes? Here is the post for a quick recap if you need it.

The event was the last catwalk show of the Amsterdam Fashion Week. It was a special show called “A Tribute To Orange Babies” created by the incredibly talented team of agents, photographers, stylists, make-up artists and models at the styling agency I am represented by – House of Orange – in celebration of its charity department called Orange Babies which has been successfully raising funds and awareness for children in Africa for the past 10 years. The show was held last Sunday at 9pm.

And boy, was it a hit!

The tent was packed. It appeared everyone who was ‘anyone’ of the Amsterdam fashion scene was there. I even had someone remark to me that this was the place to be right now. Wow!

So what was a non-fashiony gal like me to wear to such an event? It was the first time I had even been to a fashion show. I wore my skinny black organic cotton jeans, tall(ish)black heels, a simple shoe-string strapped white singlet tucked in. And. Well, that’s it! I decided to go without accessories – that was to be my fashion statement for the night. While some of you may shriek that I went accessory-less, I promise you I did do my hair, and I wore makeup – two extraordinarily special things for me to do for any event.

The night was a great success and I walked out inspired ever more by what one can do with recycled things. You all know how passionate I am about this topic.

Anyway, each styling team for each runway creation was stunning. Some of my faves were:

The deconstruction of tailoring, by Nick Foss and Rene Vandebeld: of which 10 or so rather dazzling specimens of the opposite sex walked out in gorgeous reconstructed/deconstructed men’s suits. Beautiful.

Silhouettes, construction bound and found by Caroline Fuchs, Maarten Spruyt, and Kevin Power: 8 human-like creatures dressed in recycled baskets as hats and shoes, old lamp shades as skirts, macrame plant hangers as headpieces, recycled plastic bodices, pampas grass, old pillows… an amazing collection of recycled wares made into art fashion. It was dreamy.

photographs copyright Peter Stigter

Little Time, Little Money: a non-stop runway of models in perfectly styled second hand clothes. Totally inspiring.

Yvette and I rather loved that front number – aren’t the colours beautiful together? also the hair. and makeup – it was all gorgeous. Photograph Peter Stigter

At the end of the show there were credits on the screen, and I was chuffed to see my name up there in lights! So what did I do exactly? Well, it has nothing to do with the catwalk, but everything to do with making something fun for Orange Babies. I’ll show you in the next post…

Some of you may already know that as a stylist, I am represented by an agency. What does this mean exactly? well, it means that my agency holds my styling portfolio and if you want to book me for an upcoming project, you can contact them and they will organise everything.

Anyway, not only does my agency – which is called House of Orange – represent me, they represent hair and makeup artists, fashion stylists, models and photographers. They also have their own charity which is called Orange Babies and throughout the year they hold different fashion events here in Holland to raise money to help HIV infected women and their babies in Africa.

I will be helping out with one of the upcoming events next month and as part of the project we would like to send clothes to the children in Africa. We need HEAPS of children’s clothes and I was hoping some of you might have some to offer? We need clothes for children between 0-12 years, and we need them by the first of July which is only 1 week away! So, if you live in Europe and have some clothes you can offer, please send them to House of Orange at this address…

I hope to show + tell you more about the project once we get started on it next month, it is going to be alot of fun! For now, we need childrens clothes so please, send send send!

If you don’t have children’s clothes you can also send a donation or offer to be a sponsor for the event – for more information, please contact joanne.

xx