Page Goolrick’s dinner party goody bags garnered a lot of improvisations on the idea of “gifts for guests”, from great Comments to Lydia Wills’ innovative reversal of the traditional wedding (or any) gift. Constance Old, who was one of the lucky few to have actually been at Page’s dinner party, turned her goody bag into…
Read Moreartful improvised receipt storage (via maria robledo)
We found this wonderful image on Maria Robledo’s Instagram. Ohhh, what a great method of storing receipts (emptying pockets or bag then-and-there.) Thrown into a space between books —some amazing ones at that— they take on a curious beauty. We have a box in an easily-accessible file cabinet that we throw them into to collate…
Read Morekitchen-testing chilewich floor mats
Having admired sleek, modern Chilewich floor mats, we decided to do a test to see if they would really clean easily despite our abuse.
Read Morequilts as memory-keepers
Our friend Linnae recently introduced us to Pat Ludwig, a “self-taught quilter” who blogs all of her projects so you can see the full process of making a quilt start-to-finish. Patwig’s quilts are made exclusively from old fabric scraps, including khaki and denim pants, childhood dresses, curtains, neckties, bedsheets, and even seat cushions. Her two most recent…
Read More“candy wrapper-style” chain weavings for d-i-y projects
Harriet Bell alerted us to this beautiful candy wrapper chair and the story of how she found it…one thing leading to another in the course of a few minutes: Our friend Peter Davis just returned from San Miguel de Allende; knowing that I love handbags made from Mexican candy wrappers, he brought me three! One…
Read Morewhat a plastic bag can become…
Laura Anne Marsden is a textile designer who created a technique for transforming waste plastic bags into lace. She uses a combination of traditional hand-stitch and needle lace-making, along with various processes to change the properties and appearance of the plastic bags (Although her technique remains secret, we imagine cutting the bags into thin strips…
Read Morecreative reuse: paint a salvaged table
Constance Old recently sent us a compelling email: “After our comments exchange on your post about “American Pickers” I had a feeling I might see this table again that location agent Andrea Raisfeld plucked from my car and reworked.” And sure enough, the little table appeared completely transformed on Andrea and her husband Bill Abranowicz‘s blog A…
Read Morecrispina ffrench’s re-imagined sweaters
Constance Old recently alerted us to Crispina ffrench’s work: “Crispina ffrench is an artist/crafter who makes terrific “improvised’ work. She is author of a recent book called The Sweater Chop Shop: Sewing One-of-a-Kind Creations from Recycled Sweaters which teaches how to cut and felt cast-off sweaters to make them into cool new things: like mufflers,…
Read Morethe benefits of wandering (+ multi-use notecards)
Constance Old sent this account of her unexpected walkabout through Philadelphia, when she followed one thing after another, after another, after another…to discover a neighborhood full of food and cool people doing their thing. It reminded us how hunger and curiosity can cause the road to open up in the most unexpected way. And how…
Read Moredesign as resourcefulness and self-reliance
We were hoping that Constance Old would guest curate for ‘the improvised life’…here is her first (great) post: “Emily Campbell works as Director of Design for a British think tank called “RSA” (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) which is committed to research and projects devoted to social progress. (http://www.thersa.org/home) She…
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