Calling all print & pattern addicts!

This blog is for you! I found it thru decor8 last friday and boy..., so glad I did, thanks to Holly!. As a true addict myself, I tell you..., anything about print & pattern, this is the place! She has them on wallpapers, cards, wraps, textiles, rug, mugs, and more. Go there and satisfy your addiction. Enjoy!

Emma Burlinson

Emma Louise Burlinson is a UK based ceramist. And I'm loving her ceramic tiles and stripe vases, the patterns, the subdued colors .. aaahh .. just divine!
She makes cards & necklaces, mugs, beakers, and more. Did you see that baby owl stoneware? TOO cute! I want to bring him home! :)

Jo Scholar

Who would've thought that a simple household object, like a doily, could create other beautiful decoration objects for various surface areas. Well, that was what Jo Scholar did for her degree show in 2004 at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. Jo played with light and shadow to create distorted images of the doily, and transformed the graphic images to metal by using photoetching technique. What is photoetching? click here to find out more. I love them embedded onto a wooden chair/table, like the pictures above, or onto cement flooring. Beauty.

me-me 5's

I'm so excited Cally tagged me last Sunday to do this. So I have to break my own rules, having only one post when I blog. :)

Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally?
I'd enjoy sipping a cup of coffee and indulging a creme brulee in a nice, cozy place by the river sidewalk, flipping through a beautiful magazine from abroad. And it has to be around sunset, and has a pleasant wheather.

Five bucks to spend right now; how would you spend it?
This one is easy... It has to be a magazine!

Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already?
definitely all my maternity clothings :), empty shoe boxes, broken toys (can't get rid of them now.., Natassja still insists to play with them), high heels from good ol' days (can't wear these anymore, since I've been carrying kids too often), and infant wear (not planning to have another one, 2 is a good number for me :) )

Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?
My magazines! :), pictures of honeymoon, family and kids, my ribbons collection, my Apple Mac, and my address book. These don't really sound like five items, they are more like five groups of my most precious things. :)

Five words you love?
scenery, eternal, pink, travel, comfort.

Five people I tag
These are the five ppl that I'm curious about their answers. No pressure, just feel free to play along if you'd like to, otherwise it's perfectly fine with me. really. :)
Sabine, Laura, Babelfish, Anabel, and Maditi.

Goodies from Sevilla, Spain

I've just received the package from Anabel today! We swapped things only to know more about each other cities. And boy, Sevilla is definitely a MUST-VISIT city. It's just full of historical buidings, beautiful paintings and romantic settings. I wish I lived there!
And guess what..., she made me the OWL brooch! I'm so happy! and her teacup brooch is just too cute, I have to hide it from Natassja! ;-) On top of that, she gave me lovely ribbons, trims, and a home furnishings magazine! You know what this means to a magazine-addict like me... It's heaven! :) Anabel, thank you so much for this wonderful package!

Jason Gaylor

Well, this is not a home/lifestyle related post, but for a brilliant-generous-humble-kind graphic designer like Jason Gaylor, I just have to talk about him here! I found him thru lola-news!, and he's just awesome! He created Fresh Foliage high-resolution Photoshop brushes for free! I can't believe he's doing this while he can actually make a fortune out of these impressive brushes!

As Jason explains on his Design Fruit blog: ".. whether it be print, web, or other media, feel free to use the brushes however you see fit. Free for the taking means free for the taking." All he asks is for him to see the works where his brushes are being used. He's so unbelievable!! Check out his other works and his interview with the Design Inspiration. To keep producing good works like these, Jason also welcomes donations. Above right is my sample work using Jason's brushes. What do you think? :)

Hey wait, I can make this post related for home use after all. ;-) Here are two other possible ways to use Jason's brushes, but of course, you need to have Adobe Photoshop to use the brushes (see the requirements on Jason's site).

• Once you create an image using the brushes, bring it to any large-format printers in your city for a poster size, frame it and ready for a display in your home. Of course, you could always print it at home if you prefer size A4 or smaller.
• Or, if you'd like to have something like this, just get the image of one foliage brush and have it done as a vynil graphic to any size/color you want, and voila, you have your very own wall tattoo! :)

These brushes are fun! Thanks, Jason!

NOTE: Jason has just uploaded new Graffiti brushes with certain restrictions apply. btw, if you can't seem to connect to his site, you might want to try again on different timing, 'coz there are too many ppl are loving his brushes! :)

Ceramic Decals by Karin Eriksson

Some of you might've known this already, but I just feel it's important to highlight it here for those art-ill ppl, like myself, to learn something new. It is Karin's second post on Whip Up, where she shared the process of using decals on her ceramics. She also posted some good links there, so click here to read more about it. It's a fun learning! Enjoy!

ZARA HOME

Everybody knows ZARA in Singapore. Ever since the Spanish-brand entered Singapore market few years back, ZARA has become one of the hottest retailers in the region. But I never knew that ZARA has its very own HOME collections back in Spain, until Anabel told me. * This felt blogger has great taste! Thanks, Anabel! *

ZARA HOME offers furnishings for every rooms, from furniture to lamps to bar soaps. Check out their stunning catalogue pictures, it's just like flipping elle decoration uk mag. :) ZARA HOME can be found in Europe, Mexico, and Middle East. I wonder why they're not anywhere in Asia yet.... We need a store like this here. Come on folks, bring it in! ;-)

Manish Arora

Well, I'm not a fashionista myself, but with rich and vibrant colors and textures like Manish Arora's collections, I'd make a room for these gorgeous. If I could ever afford it, that is! ;-)

I first saw him on the Elle Decoration UK March 2006 edition. Then I saw him again in local newspaper last week, The Straits Times, April 14, 2006 for his coverage at India Fashion Festival, which has just ended recently. He has way too many amazing pieces that I have to talk about. :)

Manish Arora is India's most sought-after fashion designer. The 33-year-old designer graduated from the National Institute of Fashion Technology, New Delhi in 1994, and established his label "Manish Arora" in 1997, and "Fish Fry" in 2001. His collections are available at selected retailers worldwide from India to U.A.E., France, Italy, Monaco, Spain, Turkey, Russia, U.S.A, and more. He has been known to dress the riches and famous stars. With the fine detailings, gorgeous patterns, and rich colors like these, you'd understand why. :) Check out his collections at London Fashion Week 2006, here. They are marvelous!

Credits: The top picture was taken from The Straits Times, April 14, 2006. The bottom picture was taken by Clara Molden/The Times, UK.

Happy Easter!

Here's a picture taken at Natassja's school Easter party. Kids have more fun nowadays, huh?... excursions, parties... ugh, I envy them.. :)

I'll be away for a short Easter break with family. To feed your blog reading needs, I've just added more links on the sidebar, please check them out. ;-)

See you all next week! Happy Easter, everybody!

Ketna Patel

Some of you might have seen Ketna Patel's Asia Pop on selected local magazines before, but hey, why not tell the world that we have a real talent here in Singapore. ;-)

Ketna Patel is an African-born Indian artist, who was raised in Kenya, educated in London where she obtained degrees in Architecture and Interior Design. She moved to Singapore 11 years ago after being invited to work with the architectural design team of the Esplanade Art Centre project. Today, Ketna is focused on developing Asian art that reflects the diversity and richness of contemporary Asia. Her Asia Pop artworks are actually the large derivatives of collages that have been screened onto canvas and then hand-coated in resin. Her other works include woodcuts, photo collages, paper collages, paintings, and commissioned artworks.

You can obviously see the diversity and richness of her art. That's what I love the most about her. I hope you all enjoy her works as much as I do. :)

Launch Design Partner

Henrik Jansson from Launch Design Partner contacted me on their projects other than the skuggflora, which was posted here earlier this year.

Launch Design Partner works with some of the finest product designers in Sweden as their agent, producing and marketing these designers products. Other than skuggflora, my favorites would be the Lust by Anna Kraitz and the Cityscape rugs by Malin Palm.

For true swedish style, you've got to check out their items here, or at these retailers.

Studiobility

Found studiobility on one of MoCo Loco IMM Cologne 2006 flickr photos.

Gudrun Lilja Gunnlaugsdottir and Jon Asgeir Hreinsson are the two brilliant designers behind Studiobility, a graphic and product design company based in Iceland. They have the most beautiful sideboard and side tables I've ever seen! Made with plywood, the laser cut pieces randomly put together creating the wonderful pattern that won my vote.

Click here to see the rest of their furniture collection, and check out their graphics works, too.

Vintage Wallpapers

I'm loving these vintage wallpapers. I just can't imagine how colorful life was, back in the early sixties to the eighties. Jeremy Moore is definitely a very fortunate person, who had experienced all the excitement living in these colors for so many years. E.W. Moore & Son was established in 1906 by Jeremy's great-grandparents. Their limited stocks of vintage wallcoverings are popular with film, TV and media industries. I surely can understand why. Just like what the company says about their pieces, they are fabulous vintage wallcoverings! ;-)

Anna Chandler

As promised yesterday, here's the other amazing product that is carried by Danielle. Anna Chandler's plaques and tiles are inspired by her travels around the world and her Tasmanian garden. You can obviously see her love of colors, beauty, and great detailings on most of her works. I just love her lamps and antique fragments collections. Her site is using frames, so I couldn't help much on linking direct to the pages. So start clicking, don't miss her new arrivals listed on the bottom menu bar.

The wall plaques will be available in Singapore around May this year. Care to know more? Email me, and I'll forward your message to Danielle.

Coffee with Danielle..

I've just met with one of iG readers, Danielle, for a cup of coffee at one of Coffee Bean outlets. And boy, am I so glad to have met her! She is one terrific lady from Australia, who's happened to be the agent for MOZI Designs in Singapore.

I was told that MOZI items will be available soon at selected retailers in Singapore, so watch out for these lovelies on the magazines! I'm pretty sure they'll become stylists' favorites in home decor magazines.

Danielle showed me the latest designs from MOZI, but too bad I can't find them on their website. Nevertheless, I'm just so excited that MOZI's items will finally be here! Thanks to Danielle. :)

O'yes, one last thing... Danielle carries another brillliant product from her homeland, Australia, which I'd post about it tomorrow. :) Sorry folks, I've promised myself, only one post per day (well, not really everyday though. Ha!), otherwise my life could go crazy here. ;-)

Picture Walk

I was inspired by Shari's and Poppy's picture walks sometime ago, and had been wanting to do it for the longest time. I used to have picture walks before I had kids, so I'm really happy that I've done it this morning. :)

I woke up at 6.30am and had a short walk around my neighborhood. I'm so grateful to live around wonderful surroundings in this colorful city of Singapore. It makes it easier to find interesting things to be photographed. And of course, I thank my husband and in-laws, who are happened to be here this weekend, for looking after the kids for 2 hours.

I'm not sure when I could have my next picture walk. But for now, I'd like to share few pictures from Singapore with all of you. Enjoy!