In her work, photographer Agnieska Chabros often uses Nature to dress her models. We hadn’t thought of using shadows as a style element. Then we discovered other photographers dressing models with unexpected adornments from the natural world… … … … … Then of course, there is Brandon Stanciell, The Man Who Loved Flowers …and come to think of…
Read MoreHanging Paper Roll DIYs
We really like these very practical paper rolls jerry-rigged with heavy twine and a copper pipe or wood. The approach is a cheaper, simpler alternative to installing a paper-roll dispenser on a wall.
Read MoreOpulent Mobility Antidotes What We All Fear
When a friend of artist Laura Brody had a stroke, Laura began to take notice of assistive devices that are ‘almost insultingly ugly’ and impersonal. She set out to understand why AND transform them into objects of personal expression.
Read MoreWalking the Kumano Kodo Pilgrimage Path w Poetry
We thought these extraordinary photographs of walking Japan’s ancient deep forest pilgrimage path would be a fine wait to start the week. And of course we found poems to accompany them…
Read MoreOur Favorite PaperThin Pancakes (No Flour, Eggs, or Milk…)
One of the best snacks I’ve had was in the market in Nice: a thin chickpea-flour pancake served hot on pieces of paper to eat with your fingers, pulling off the chewy edges and the soft crepe like interior. This sublime creation is easy to duplicate at home, where the eggless, flourless, dairy-less crepe-like pancakes can go savory or sweet.
Read MoreDressing for Camouflage or Self-Expression w Rumi
Walking around the park recently, we saw a man leaning on a fence, minding his own business, wearing an astonishing hat: a baseball cap turned backwards and interleaved with fresh green branches. When we asked him how he came to make it, his answer got us thinking about just what our personal apparel really does for us…
Read MoreAlice Brock’s Painted Beach Stones DIY + Guerilla Action
Alice Brock is “Alice” of “Alice’s Restaurant,” Arlo Guthrie’s iconic anti-war song of the 60’s. We discovered that she forages stones on the beaches around Provincetown, draws on them and leaves them in unexpected places: a perfect guerilla practice for the end of summer.
Read MoreFolding, Height Adjustable Ironing Board Table…Desk…Table Base
Ironing boards, with their adjustable height stands and ability to fold away into a closet, are really an ideal dual-purpose surface. We started remembering beautiful vintage ironing boards we’d seen and envisioning their chic, useful possibilities.
Read MoreLife-Changing List: What You Didn’t Buy
Swiss-Miss, designer Tina Roth Eisenberg’s blog has provided us with consistently useful/interesting content for years. We especially love her new practice. She’s keeping a list of things the DIDN’T buy.
Read MoreWay Finding: ‘Head Toward One Place to Get to Another’
This compelling 2 minute short animation is about a unique, counterintuitive method of wayfinding —traveling from one point to another over a great distance — used by both the space program and the ancient inhabitants of remote islands of the South Pacific. The concept can apply to personal life paths as well.
Read MoreEnd-of-Summer Corn with Fried Egg + Parmigiano
My instant breakfast/lunch/supper dish for the end of summer corn season: cut-off-the-cob corn cooked briefly in a skillet, then an egg plopped in to fry along with it. Spoon the corn into a bowl, throw the egg on top and top grate Parmigiano over it. Protein, vegetables, starch, fat in one delish bowl. No recipe needed. Just check out the pictures…
Read MoreThis Shining Moment in the NOW
There’s a sweet hiatus between summer and fall in the few weeks after Labor Day when the sky promises to be blue forever and only a dozen, drifting, saffron leaves hint of soon-to-be barren branches. Before moving to a ramshackle farm tucked away on a tiny island in the Pacific Northwest last year, seasons were meaningless. Here, Nature knocks and you listen…
Read MoreClothes to Draw, Write, Paint On
At Kleidersachen, a German tumblr whose name name literally translates dresses things, sublime examples of out-there clothing and textiles had us transfixed, culling ideas right and left on a variety of themes, in awe, inspired. To start, we’re thinking about neutral apparel that can be drawn, painted, written on.
Read More‘Soy Yo’: A Joyous Anthem of Personal Liberation
Soy Yo is an astonishing visual anthem about a young girl’s small powerful acts of personal expression and liberation. As she encounters a morning’s worth of possible “girl prisons” —humiliations and messages of ‘less than’ —, she navigates her way through them with aplomb. She is our new role model, and the music our wakeup call.
Read MoreYoko Ono on Arguing or Fighting
After a recent, heart-rending, reverberating argument with a friend (everybody was RIGHT, everybody was WRONG), we wondered if the approaches Yoko Ono outlined in Acorn would have been better ways to go.
Read MoreMessage from Cosmos: ‘Expect Miracles Every Day’
Yesterday, a sign written by a stranger stopped me in my tracks. Its message and a question he asked me has become a daily practice.
Read MoreDavid Chang’s Unified Theory of Deliciousness w Recipes
For anyone wondering how an inspired chef thinks or how to think like one, David Chang’s The Unified Theory of Deliciousness in Wired is a must-read. Chang seeks to unearth the underlying base patterns that people respond to in a truly great dish, including the perfect level of salt.
Read More‘the world is full of signs and wonders’ (H is for Hawk)
We read straight H is for Hawk straight through, riveted by Helen McDonald’s tale of grappling with numbing grief by training a fierce goshawk, as gripping and unusual a tale of personal transformation as we have read. We find ourselves returning to McDonald’s superb insights frequently, deeply heartened by their beauty and perspective.
Read MoreDIY Live Edge Bath Table / Board
For a bath person, it is heaven to luxuriate with whatever you need close at hand: cocktail, herb tea, iPad, novel… A bath board that rests across the tub makes for a perfect surface to rest things on. Recently, we saw an easy-to-make iteration that David Sanford made for a friend…
Read MoreAsking “What would happen if?” Transforms a Roll of Yarn
Textile designer Stine Linneman had some old cones of yarn lying around her studio and wondered “What would happen if …I sliced them straight across?” The result is not simply a wondrous surprise…
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