THE ECO STYLIST

Not Your Grandmother's Crafts

2011-01-17T11:56:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite trends in hand crafts and art is the idea of combining "old fashioned grandma crafts" with modern art. I like the contrast of modern ideas with older traditions to create something unique and beautiful. Joana Vasconcelos is one of my favorite modern artists of all time. A whole article about her work is to come later. One of her recent interesting exhibitions included, many crochet lace dressed animals. The little button eyes on the crab are so precious with tea stained vintage lace over deep red. Who knows, maybe I would pin this to my shoulder over a strapless gown for a special event?

This tree looks cozy in a gown of grey lace from Lula's blog...

Crochet rocks by Knitalette on their Etsy site Resurrection Fern, made with rocks and handmade crochet and knit doilies. This would make a lovely wedding gift.

A Crochet chair from an furniture exhibit I found on David Byrne's website blog. Love it!

A Woman Is a Woman

2011-01-14T16:17:00.000-08:00

For years, I've been so inspired by The Nouvelle Vague Era of film. A woman is a woman is one of my favorite films by Jean-Luc Godard. The primary character played by Anna Karina is a genius performance. Though she is not as well publicized as Brigitte Bardot and some other French actresses of the highest fame. I find her work and her looks very unique and exciting. She's an amazingly talented actress and a true style icon. Take a peek....

And one of my favorite costumes and scenes,

I Love Lula

2011-01-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

Ever since it was first published, I've been in love with Lula! I always find the most amazing inspiration, articles, art and photos in this publication. The hard to find Lula magazine is my all time favorite fashion mag right now. Issue eleven is out now with music artist Charlotte Gainsbourg in a beautiful white dress by Rodarte on the cover. The Spring Rodarte collection is amazing, by the way, so check it out. Articles with Kim Gordon and an amazing historical account of Anna Pavlova are my two favorites. The issue includes a lot of amazing art and talent. Peep this before it's gone!

If you can't get your hands on a print copy, check out the Lula Scrapbook blog online. Here is a small selection of some of my favorite photos, posted recently.

Au Revoir!

Welcome 2011!

2011-01-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited for the New Year and all of the new and exciting possibilities for the future. I hear so many amazing stories about one person or a small group of people making a huge difference by making a small difference in their own lives. Volunteer work and charity is increasing, despite the period of economic difficulty. Of course, we are not close to being out of the woods with the environment or stability of our future yet and many countries economies around the world are literally collapsing. I hope this new year brings more peace, by encouraging and forcing people to evolve with the new state of life on Earth.

One of my favorite things about these days is how many amazing, talented and real musicians are Because of technology changing at a faster rate than ever before, emerging artists and designers are able to become know without the help of large corporate record deals or contracts. One of my favorite little known folk singers plays under the, The Tallest Man On Earth. I happened upon this video one day on my favorite French music site, La Blogotheque. Iv'e really enjoyed his albums classic approach to music that has always been great with a modern ideology mixed in. Here are a couple of my favorite videos, performed live in various interesting locations.

Tallest Man on Earth - The Gardener - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

Tallest man on earth - These Days (Nico Cover) - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

2010-12-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays! XOXO

Love and peace in the New Year

Antique Boutique Hunting

2010-12-03T10:21:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone and Happy Holidays! Iv'e been so busy this season, I've hardly had time to do one of my most favorite things in the world, treasure hunting in boutiques. Recently, I did have a chance to visit Centralia Washington, where I found a few lovely shops. Here is a peek at my favorite things from the trip!

What an a amazing idea for a ceiling!

I love this pretty pink and white hanging chandelier.

A Garden Room

Vintage clothes galore!

What a precious little girls section of vintage clothing they have

Downtown Centralia Washington

Looks like we reached our limit for the day!

The Third and The Seventh a Film by Alex Roman

2010-11-29T11:19:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite things every morning is to wake up and find out the latest amazing, helpful or artistic "thing of the moment" that my housemate/love has found. Today he showed me this beautiful short film using CG technology in a very interesting and creative way to create a this fantasy world, based on famous architecture and nature. With the popularity of Avatar and other films using CG, I've been curious to see how it will evolve. I especially love the segment with the cherry blossoms reflected into a the pond. There are many details to notice in the film, including brief flash moments where you see the "bones" of each design in Autocad rendering form. The project took a year to create, which is amazing considering the amount of work that went into creating this. The artist who is responsible for the concept and images is Alex Roman. Since posting this a month ago, the video has been watched over 500,000 times. His website is currently down do to overload on the server, view it now here on Vimeo by clicking the play button below, but I suggest you watch it full screen to get the full effect.

Compositing Breakdown (T&S) from Alex Roman on Vimeo.

2010-11-26T16:23:00.000-08:00

Brehan Todd Design and Paper Treasure at Crafty Wonderland 2010!

Please mark your calendars for this famously fun event! Paper Treasure Jewelry and I will be sharing a booth at Crafty Wonderland and will be there to meet you as you shop. We are super excited, can't wait to see you there and show you are newest designs for the holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:14:00.000-08:00

I am more thankful this year, than ever before for all of the wonderful friends, family and dogs who make me laugh and feel happy, together. I am also quite thankful to the person who invented pumpkin pie. Thank you, eternally. Oh, and don't forget , music, art, books, films, anything that educates people is.

P.S. Happy Birthday Mom, this beatiful song has been one of my favorites since it came out several years ago.

Bon Iver - Skinny Love - Une Soiree de Poche from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

New Brehan Todd Feature on Eco1start.com

2010-11-23T11:49:00.000-08:00

I could not be more excited to a be added as a featured artist on Eco1sart.com this month! Thank you so much for all of your support and dedicated promotion! Visit the site to see the interview, bio, feature and blog article, as well as beautiful handmade cuff bracelets by yours truly.

New Featured Artist Brehan Todd

Eco1stArt is proud to introduce our new featured artist Brehan Todd. Brehan creates captivating jewelry using vintage gemstones, pendants and crystals.

"I hope to contribute in some small way to make it the norm for everyone to adjust their lifestyle and choose products that benefit and promote life."

~ Brehan Todd

Handwritten Cuff by Brehan Todd for Eco1start.com

2010-10-31T11:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

Seth Aaron Henderson Fashion Show in Portland

2010-10-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Seth Aaron and Kerry Yu

China Bound III Fundraiser

Portland is now becoming quite the spotlight for Eco, and sustainable fashion. Last Saturday, I attended a lovely event to raise money and awareness for Portland designers and eco fashion at The Benson Hotel. The event included an awesome fashion show, raffle and silent auction for art and designs that were donated by artists, including Brehan Todd Design. The organizer of the event, Kerry Yu, of O'pearl Art Jewelry, spoke to the audience about the program, which raises money to send designers from Portland to travel to China and promote, educate and learn about sustainable fashion. Next, Kerry introduced Seth Aaron, winner from Project Runway, and a Portland native. His collection was presented after a feature of jewelry and clothing from other Portland designers, including Anne Bocci. Here is a glance at some of my favorite looks that evening.

One of the highlights of the event, Dawn Bush, of Narcisse had the most amazing vintage
carved resin, velvet bag, I had a moment when I saw it.

Seth Aaron

This camera and it's attachments were crazy!

Eco Fashion Talk by Sass Brown

2010-10-14T19:08:00.000-07:00

One of my most memorable experiences, studying at FIT was of Professor Sass Brown, the only teacher at FIT that was cool and young, that I landed in class with. She let me use vintage fabric and style in a unique way, and encouraged thinking outside of the walls. Her influence on me during those years is extremely important to me. Sass has been a professor at FIT for years, after working in the fashion industry and always seems to have her hands on the pulse of what's next. I'm thrilled to announce the launch of her new Eco fashion book and website. The website is full of resources for sustainable design. You'll find Eco 1st Art listed in the resource section of the blog and website that compliments the book, here is the link to the site,

http://www.ecofashiontalk.com/

2010-10-07T11:55:00.000-07:00

Something old, Something new....
Bonjour! I've been out enjoying the sunshine and sprinkles and making things like crazy, it's a lot of fun but also a lot of work! This is one of the most beautiful and inspiring times of year. I've always looked at Fall as sort of like, Spring, a time of evolution and making yourself new.

I started my Autumn with the horrifying experience of watching the television show "Hoarders" as a result of my curiosity. This made me immediately want to scrub every inch of the house with a toothbrush, while simultaneously going through everything I owned and purging like mad. then I calmed down and started looking through all of my stuff, piece by piece and evaluating whenever I had a few moments. I first began by getting rid of all things I own that need to move on, are not salvageable or useless. I felt great, but then I still had a lot of stuff in my studio and it's been an overwhelming process. So I became more discerning and had a conversation with myself about each item and if I was really using or appreciating it, that added more to the pile. I'll show you when it's done, hopefully soon? Then I went through photos and files on the computer, purged hundreds of photos and realized I had only cleared away a few percentage points of space on the hardrive. After that, I began looking at my music and it made me want to take a nap. After listening to mostly the same music and generally the same few genres of music, for the last few years, I was getting really bored and began hunting for new songs.

I've always had an independent music personality. I love many different kinds of music, but I have very specific taste. I'm actually a little surprised that I haven't been banished from society by now, for my unconventional music taste. My family looked at me like there was something very wrong with not liking The Beatles. It's not even that I don't respect the huge impact on music and popular culture, it's just not my taste. I find Paul very irritating and I think John Lennon by himself is much more noteworthy. People have almost ended friendships, however over the popular music I don't like. Last week I was (jokingly) called an old, out of touch, hippy for not really "getting" Lady Ga Ga. Not true, I thought, but then I realized, a little bit true?Perhaps? I need to spend some more time looking around for new and exciting things that are inspiring in real life? I watched all of Lady Ga Ga's videos with an open mind and heart. I still couldn't find any room to justify wasting all of the flesh of those animals, especially to make a completely unrelated "political statement". I'm not sure what cuts they used, but that dress probably cost a pretty penny to make. Maybe Gaga should support independent designers by using their work, instead of wasting perfectly good food, in a time of recession.

Anyhow, this is one of the songs I found that I like. The video is interesting and it references funny things from New Jersey/Philly area culture, like WaWa. It's mixed with an old Tracy Chapman song from the early 90's. Hopefully, you will like it, and I'm sorry in advance if you do not?

2010-09-27T11:31:00.000-07:00

New Narcisse Website
Narcisse updated their website recently and it's looks beautiful. You can now use their online shopping cart to purchase your goods directly at http://shopnarcisse.myshopify.com/

I'm in love with these post cards from Noa Noa at Narcisse this summer!

I almost forgot to mention, All the new fall line is in the shop, including new jewelry by Brehan Todd and Paper Treasure. And they have these shoes, which I was lucky enough to add to my collection this summer, crackly pewter mary janes, and they also come in brown. They are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn!

2010-09-26T15:14:00.000-07:00

WORLD'S SMALLEST STOP-MOTION ANIMATION FILM

Iv'e been experimenting with video on a Canon G9 for about two years and got really into it now and then. It's creative and fun but technically difficult. I'm not saying I'm good or anything, I just shoot people, insects, lizards and my dogs, I'm still in the learning phase. It's what I call a tiny hobby; something you enjoy but spend only a tiny amount of time on over a long period of time to learn more effectively and thoroughly.

The pros of small video are taking things to a whole new level and using interesting techniques and new technology. For whatever reason I don't enjoy most animated film? Particularly if it's the new high-def 3D films that look very computerized. There is nothing wrong with that style, I just don't get it, or like it personally? I'm more of an old fashioned, claymation kind of girl. One of my favorite movies of all time is the little film, as I like to call it, the 1964 classic,

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special, respectively)

I like the simplicity and genuine creativity of this style. The film "Dot" reminded me of the Rudolph style. I fell completely in love with this tiny movie with so much to see.

As you know, I love tiny things and this is the tiniest films of all! It makes me feel warm and cozy contemplate knitting and purging all of my belongings at the same time. Maybe I'll give up everything and knit myself a sleeping bag to lay by the fire in? On the other hand, Eva needs a new sweater for fall! The Queen insists on Mongolian Cashmere, hand raised by well paid, native workers and imported on a by http://www.flygreenjets.com/

Watch this movie it's very inspiring and happy! Note because of the format of my blog, the entire video, full screen won't fit. Click on the half video below and it will take you to the full video on youtube.

2010-09-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

An Afternoon at the Park...

I't's been a lovely season in Oregon this year. The Spring started a bit late, but turned into an amazing summer. I've been out enjoying the last days of nice weather outside, as much as possible. I forgot how doing something I loved as a child can still be just as rewarding. I've always love feeding animals and spending time with them. When I was small, my parents would take me to the park to feed the ducks and swans and it was one of my favorite hobbies. I hadn't done it in years but there is a beautiful park with several geese ponds nearby our house, so we went out last week, it was just as much fun as I remembered.

there were so many geese to feed

We made friends quickly

Eva thought Geese Soup was on the lunch menu so she waited in the car.

Most of the time they were friendly but they started nipping at my leggings!

We met a friend who was fishing the pond and telling old stories.

Joker and I took a little break on a bench.

Eva was all over the place looking for trouble.

What a dreamy afternoon

New Art Posted on Eco 1st art.com

2010-09-16T11:36:00.000-07:00

Party Hat Diabolique by Lisa Kokan

I've been enjoying a lot of the new artwork added to Eco1st art.com, a new Eco website featuring artists from around the world. Lisa Kokan makes amazing found, mixed-media collage. I love this new clown head piece made of buttons and random objects. There are several other new button sculptures listed as well.

Felted Jacket by Elena Garcia

This gorgeous jacket is hand made from felted wool and silk, gathered and manipulated and seamed into a kimono silhouette.

Recycled rubber jewelry by Kathleen Nowak Tucci

Recently this Italian designer had her manipulated rubber jewelry on the cover of Italian Vogue.

Harland Miller Desk by Anna James

Here is the story behind this desk,

"There is a lovely history attached to this piece -
My good friend London artist and writer Harland Miller gave this piece to me when the artist started working on her collection. It had been in his studio for some time and he wrote his first novel at this desk- "Slow Down Arthur, Stick To Thirty." The inspiration for this piece came from a favourite Kandinsky painting that the artist loves. She especially likes the creation of furniture into a multidimensional painting - it becomes a work that you can use and view almost like a sculpture."

Marble Pendant Lamp by Georgios Ignatiou

Speaking of sculptures, this lamp is so dreamy, and it's a great spot to keep your marbles.

I love these strappy sandals by Collen Cordero

2010-09-15T10:36:00.000-07:00

Fall Fete at Narcisse This Saturday...
I cannot wait to attend the Anniversary party at Narcisse this Saturday night. It's their second anniversary and the unveiling of the Fall Noa Noa line, new jewelry from Paper Treasure and me. There will be local beverages and entertainment galore! The party starts at 8:00 pm, see you there!

Here's a peak at the new designs I've made for the Narcisse events,

2010-09-14T12:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.shelterpop.com/2010/09/13/red-front-door/

Langhorne Slim A Musician That Lives in Portland

2010-09-12T16:28:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe summer is almost over, it's been so lovely here! It's still sunny and in the seventies but the leaves are just beginning to turn yellow, and it will be fall before we know it.

This video reminds me of summer time and the beautiful days in Portland. It's written and performed beautifully by one of my favorite bands, Langhorne Slim. I used to watch them play in small , random clubs in New York when I was in college with a friend of mine who was his school mate. They were always amazing live and put out several excellent records. Recently they have become more well known, and by chance moved to Portland, Oregon. They tour often and should not be missed. This is a personal video performance favorite of mine in Bermuda,

Goodbye summer....

2010-09-07T14:34:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited about this new shipping option from Ebay, reusable boxes made from 100% FSC-certified material, uses minimal tape and is printed with water based inks ! Technically, all boxes are reusable for something but Ebay has now created a new box that you reuse until it barely contains the properties of a solid. I can think of all kinds of ideas! I've been selling old stuff on Ebay since I started college, to earn extra money. Living in New York city meant no storage for extra things like your own stuff, let alone extra boxes. I used the Priority mail shipping boxes, provided free at the post to send my orders out. They cost nothing and were dependable. I felt good about selling old things to new homes, but I felt bad about not being able to easily use recycled boxes. Apparently, I'm not the only one who felt this way and Ebay finally wised up to the times. I look to the magazine Fast Company Magazine for new updates in business know how, without putting me to sleep. They just published a fabulous article about these new, Eco boxes that is excellent as usual.
"The box idea was the grand prize winner at eBay's annual Innovation Expo, a celebration of creative ideas from eBay employees. Designed for "simple green shipping," eBay believes that a single box reused five times could save nearly 4,000 trees, 2.4 million gallons of water, and conserve enough energy to juice up 49 homes for a year." Bravo!

"EBay will send out a pilot run of 100,000 boxes in October to all sellers who request them. Recipients can log on to a special website to report on the status of their boxes (and track them as they move from place to place), and after a few months, eBay will evaluate the program and figure out how to proceed."

As a bonus, they are also much cuter than the red, white and blue boxes. Stacked on top of each other they look like a tree with different perspective. They have the popular, modern look similar to the twitter logo trend.

New Ebay Recycle box

Follow this link to read the full article,
http://www.fastcompany.com/1686645/ebay-launches-reusable-box-shipping-program

2010-09-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Eva won't lift a paw today, it's as if she
knows it's labor day?

2010-09-04T11:59:00.000-07:00

David Paglia-photo

Preparing for fall.....

2010-09-03T09:36:00.000-07:00

If there is one thing in the world Eva loves, it's fluffy pillows and blankets. This morning before we got out of bed, we played hide in the pillows....one of her favorite games.