Studio visit: Esther K
Local artist Susan Banchek aka Esther K is a talented jewelry-maker (below are pics of models wearing her dinah necklace, $120, and her jacqueline necklace, $60). Tonight, Arcadia Boutique hosts an Esther K trunk show from 6-9. Go and check out some of her jangly, brassy, gingko-leafy necklaces.
Bancheck is also an accomplished "vignetticist," i.e. one who effortlessly creates breathtaking vignettes. I learned this when I visited her breezy Pine Street studio, where her inspirations--New Orleans detritus, UK fashion and art magazines, ostrich and peacock feathers, and vintage fabrics--are artfully arranged.
Caroline Tiger
in Philadelphia designer
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Art Star Craft Bazaar '08
Sunday was hot (even hotter when you factored in a fantabulous Sex and the City viewing later that day!), but that didn't seem to effect the turnout at the bustling Art Star Craft Bazaar at Penn's Landing. Here are some creations from this year's crop of 132 vendors that caught my eye:
My favorite thing was probably the Urban prayer flags by Katherine Duncan of Flederhaus. The fabric is printed using a Gocco (rhymes with loco). Duncan makes custom flags through her etsy shop:
New designs with "fenced-in" borders by Linda Johnson of Little Flower Designs:
Adorable, wee "gnome bonnets" made by Giant Dwarf:
There's something so appealing about these ceramics by Yasha Butler:
Charming ceramic pieces by Naomi Cleary (pic of the Hawthorn Berries medium server from her etsy shop):
Statement-making acrylic necklaces by Brookadelphia:
Brookadelphia's work reminds me of a designer I liked in Melbourne, Corky St. Clair.
Caroline Tiger
in Philadelphia events, Philadelphia designer
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Sottsass Nine-O Chair from Emeco
The Hanover, PA company is releasing its latest collaboration next month at the Milan Furniture Fair. It's called Nine-O and is designed by the late Ettore Sottsass, who passed away December 31 at age 90. This was the last chair he designed.
From Emeco's press release, "Chris Redfern, the British architect who worked along side Mr. Sottsass for the past 12 years as his design associate at Sottsass Associati recalls, “Ettore always had orange cushions fixed onto his navy chairs at home in Milan and our idea started there. We wanted to make the new chair soft, friendly and of course colorful.”
Of course colorful, like Sottsass's iconic cherry-red Olivetti typewriter and his designs for the Memphis group, like the Casablanca sideboard. Both are on display in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Collab Gallery.
Emeco also provides this wonderfully chivalrous object-analysis from Sottsass, circa 1976: “A chair must be really important as an object, because my mother always told me to offer my chair to a lady."
Prices are $385 for the standard stacking chair to $1595 for the hand-polished swivel chair.
Caroline Tiger
in Furniture design
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Sneak peek: my place
There's a sneak peek of my very own apartment up today at Design*Sponge, thanks to Kevin at Design Philadelphia, who's guest-blogging this week. He has shown some truly inspirational interiors in the last few days, from fantastical Adam Wallcavage and his octopus chandelier to Something's Hiding In Here's woodsy loft.
While I do not have the design skills of these talented Philadelphians, I do highly appreciate them and their work, both here on my blog and in my home! Click here for the full flickr album with more pics of my place.
Studio visit: Printfresh
Welcome to Printfresh, a textile design studio run by Amy and Leo Voloshin, located in a former factory building in Old Kensington. (Note the high-design buzzer.) Amy studied textile design at RISD and moved to Philadelphia to work at Urban Outfitters. She and Leo launched Printfresh in late 2006. The studio sells original textile designs and embroideries to apparel and home-design companies.
This is the computer room, where Amy and her staff design new artwork and embroideries. Check out a short video of their design process here.
A wall 'o trends for summer '08:
The gigantic suitcase full of swatches that Printfresh's salesperson lugs around to apparel companies' offices in NYC two or three days a week.
Amy also sources vintage prints like the one below at flea markets and sells them as fodder for inspiration to apparel companies.
I was impressed by the ingenuity that went into this DIY table at the studio. It was found as a discarded wooden slab and transformed by using lace as a stencil. Materials: lace, white and pink paint, IKEA legs, and a piece of glass.
A patterned wall in the studio's "messy room," where all the sewing and screenprinting is done:
The studio's mascot, a dachsund-chihuahua mix named Joey.
Caroline Tiger
in Philadelphia designer, Textile design, studio visit
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Dream house
Start saving your pennies or just pre-order the catalog: Louis Kahn's Esherick House in Chestnut Hill, finished in 1961, is up for auction in May. The kitchen was custom-built by Wharton Esherick, uncle of Margaret, who commissioned the home from Kahn. If you've never visited the Wharton Esherick Museum in Malvern (written about by yours truly here), go now. It's amazing, and it won't cost you $2.3 million dollars (the estimate for the Escherick House).
Caroline Tiger
in Architecture
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Hi, baby, who are you wearing?
Baby: I'm wearing the Sprouts onesie designed by Philadelphia artist Jim Houser whose work was shown last January at super-chic Colette Gallery in Paris. Sprout also comes in tees for men and women and is one of many designs that are brand-new from Philly label, Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
Me: And the leg-warmers?
Baby: Gah.
[photo from Art in the Age]
Caroline Tiger
in Philadelphia artist
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