Hiroko Takahashi

I am very excited about Hiroko Takahashi's work. I've read so many articles lamenting the disappearance of traditional Japanese culture and here is superb example of how to keep cultural history alive while maintaining relevance to the present day.

Takahashi has taken the classic kimono and using the katazome dyeing technique, dating from the Meiji period, has updated the garment with bold colors and patterns. The versatile furoshiki is also available and can be used as a bag, for gift wrap, wall hanging, scarf, tablecloth... Make sure to check out her sleeve bags too.

Check out the article from the JC Report. All items are available online at Hirocoledge.

Nomenus Quarterly: Catharine Stuart + Dries Van Noten

As promised, here is another post from Nomenus Quarterly. These wonderfully delicate but vibrant watercolors of Dries Van Noten's 2008 collection were painted by Catharine Stuart.

Sruli Recht Exclusive: Ísbjörn/ Icebear

I am so pleased and honored to bring you an exclusive post about a new product from Sruli Recht's studio.

Sruli Recht and Birkiland present Ísbjörn/ Icebear. This is a limited edition project of 10 rugs. Made from 15 Icelandic sheepskin, they have been cut up and sewn to mimic the diagrammatic posters that old butchers used to inform customers of what part of the animal they were buying to consume. This is a project that makes use of waste materials since the sheepskin used for these rugs are a by-product of the meat industry in Iceland.

"[W]hen you look inside a fur jacket and between the lining, the first thing you notice is this luxurious, high priced garment is made up of hundreds of tiny scraps of skin sewn together. Though it looks like one pelt on the outside, a fur garment is made of scrap and waste." A wonderful play on and commentary about the luxury fur industry "this product plays with this exact idea of waste products sold as luxury products."

As always, I'm so excited to talk about anything coming out of this studio. Inventive, witty, gorgeously designed, conceptually rich - needless to say I'm a huge fan.

Packed and ready to ship, look for Ísbjörn/ Icebear coming soon to Birkiland.

Dear friends

I apologize for my time away from this blog. It's been a whirlwind month! I promise many more wonderful posts soon! Thanks again for reading.

xo

Sruli Recht + FormFast: Cutting Table No.1

Absolute ingenuity. Clever as always and subtly subversive, Sruli Recht has collaborated with FormFast to produce Cutting Table No. 1. A lightweight, economical, efficiently collapsible, storage friendly table with replaceable parts. Calling all students and designers on a budget: this is a dream come true.

Read more here and here. Buy it here.

Life with Bird: A/W 08 Womens Collection

As promised, here is another post about Life with Bird. I have to say I had a tough time choosing which images to post since I love the entire collection. But here are a few of my favorites.

Landscape: Patricia Urquiola for Rosenthal

A beautiful tableware collection by Spanish designer Patricia Urquiola for Rosenthal. Check out the article at cool hunting. Is it also available online at unica home.

Nomenus Quarterly: Mike & Doug Starn

Nomenus Quarterly is a stunning publication by Erik Madigan Heck. Here is a description taken from the site and as you'll see I'm continuing to post about interdisciplinary work (because that's really where it's at!):

"Nomenus Quarterly is a collaborative publication and platform, working with artists of all mediums and disciplines within the worlds of fine-arts and fashion... Nomenus was conceived initially as a location where commercial artists could be viewed in a more personal and intimate manner, focusing on the physical act of creation, and utilizing a more classical cannon of aesthetics. All works presented in Nomenus are created for each edition, or are previously unpublished".

I've chosen to feature works from the archive and work my way to the most recent issue. Since I've shown photographs from the first issue available online in my Maison D'Esprit post I'm posting images from a fascinating interview with artists Mike & Doug Starn.

The Starn brothers are identical twins and have been working within the space of photography, sculpture and painting. Conceptually their work has focused on exploring the representation of the cycle of time, change and age (Stephen Wirtz Gallery).

The images I've posted are from a body of work that deals with capturing snowflakes called alleverythingthatisyou. By reading the interview, you will get a sense of how long the process was to just technically make this series happen. It took five years before this body of work materialized; three years were spent experimenting and building the camera that made this possible.

I love these photographs because of the seeming permanence they give to a completely impermanent phenomenon. They are delicate, beautiful and presented in a way where they are jewel like. This last quality was an interesting entry point into fashion I thought. As I looked at the images I chose to post, I started thinking about how much they look like little jewels and started referencing even something as specific as Tiffany's style of presenting jewelry.

Please visit the publication online to discover more and look out for more posts about Nomenus very soon.

Tsumori Chisato: S/S 08 Collection

I could have posted every single outfit from Tsumori Chisato's S/S 08 Collection. She is one of my favorite designers.

See more from this wonderful collection at Elle.com.

Linda Farrow Sunglasses for Raf Simons at oki-ni

Coming soon to oki-ni...