Next Door to Magic

Papercut madness

2010-07-10T12:30:00.000+01:00

Famille Summerbelle has conquered Paris, London and New York and now The World. Enjoy!

The Magician next door: Jenny

2010-07-09T19:32:00.002+01:00

Jenny has a cat named Blueskii and she lives in Jerusalem with her boyfriend. She's an illustrator and a toymaker - the magician next door. Her work is full of magic, wonder and delight and on her website Mytinydream.com, she advices people to be happy every day, and she sure makes that easier for people by creating her wonderful work of illustrations, tiny things and toys.

I asked Jenny a few neighborly questions:
Who are you?
"I am Jenny. I am living in Jerusalem, in Israel. I was born in Russia and at the age of 11 I came to Israel with my family. I finished my studies In Bezalel academy of art and design. I studied Illustration, and finished it with excellence!!"

When did you start to make toys?
"I just started making toys about 2 weeks ago, (usually I am making illustrations www.mytinydream.com ), I love the long process of making a toy, it starts with a small ball of fimo and after long time it became a creature with a full life, that I can even talk with! it is really amazing for me... then I am making few more tiny toys for the first toy I made and then it become a full tiny world with his own happening and future, that can become a story!"

Where do you find inspiration?
"My inspiration comes from my mind or my dreams, and sometimes from my hands...."

How do you make your toys?
"I make my toys of fimo and them coloring by acrylic."

Do you play with toys?
"I am not playing with toys a lot, but I love to look at them and sometimes talking to them a bit, or just taking them to a new places......."

What was your favorite toy as a kid?
"When I was a little little child my Mom took me to a kids shop, and told me to choose any toy I like,and I choose a bear with green pants, my mom told me years later that it was super ugly bear, but I actually remember him very well, and I also remember that I loved him very much!"

You can see more of Jenny's work here and check out her Etsy shop here.

Create: Found forest sticks

2010-07-07T16:43:00.001+01:00

I love these painted forest sticks that I found on Ginettesqulette's photostream on Flickr. This is a great idea and something that would be fun to do with kids.

Let's play: In the woods

2010-07-07T11:10:00.001+01:00

While traveling with my family through Hallormsstaðaskógur, the largest and dare I say only forest in Iceland, we came across a magical playground, with teepees made out of branches. They were built around birch trees and scattered around the play area, which made it look like a small village. I sort of expected Bilbo Baggins to come stepping out of one of them welcoming us to the Shire. The kids were instantly taken by the branched teepees and had fun playing the rest of the afternoon.

Fashion: Beautiful and classic

2010-06-02T18:24:00.003+01:00

My son doesn't usually care what he wears, just a long as it's comfy and easy to put one. But on occasions like birthdays, christmas, weddings etc., he has strong opinions on what to wear, he wants wear a suit. And since he's grown out of his last suit I've been on the lookout for a replacement, mostly I've come across plain black or dark blue suit, until I found these from the Norwegian label MeMini. I think they are absolutely beautiful and I just had to share.

MeMini makes high quality children's clothes with a classic vintage look. The collection for this summer is very romantic with soft colors, pale pink and blue, with baggy trousers and beautiful dresses and knits. You can see the whole collection right here and the MeMini shop is here.

These images are so beautiful and magical.

Kids room: Bark on wood

2010-05-27T16:22:00.002+01:00

This wall decor is made out of plywood by the icelandic design team Hugdetta (idea). It was made for a rehabilitation center for children. Hugdetta works a lot with lasercut plywood, and makes furniture, toys and playhouses out of plywood. You can see more of their work right here.

Toys:Strolling down Cardboard Street

2010-05-27T09:35:00.000+01:00

Being a huge cardboard box fan I'm smitten by these dollhouses from the Swedish toy designers Our Children's gorilla. They are simple, beautiful and clever, a perfect combination that makes up a good design. The only thing missing are cardboard cars and street, which can easily be made at home using old cereal boxes or whatever is lying around. But this is not the only good design from this fun Swedish company that got it's name from the the designers children's toy gorilla. Toy Gorilla's, robot hooks, revolution posters, swinging apes and flying whales are also among the wonderful and magical design of Our Children's Gorilla. All their products encourage creativity and imagination, my two favorite things. And if that's not enough, most of their products are friendly to the environment and are all made out of quality materials. Go see for yourself.

Kids interior: Children's shelf

2010-04-18T11:36:00.000+01:00

I'm always on the lookout for good bookshelves for kids. Most children's books are beautifully illustrated and the cover is a work of art. A bookshelf where you can display the books is preferable just like this shelf I came across recently. It's called Children's shelf and is designed by Sigga Heimis which is an Icelandic designer that lives in Sweden and has done a lot of design work for IKEA. This is not an IKEA shelf though.

Kids room: The walls come to live

2010-04-17T20:19:00.001+01:00

It can be a challenge taking the wall design of the kids bedroom beyond the choice of what color of paint to use. Specially because the possibilities are endless and there is so much to choose from. Wallpaper, posters, artwork, wall-stickers and more.

Above you see an image of a wall decoration design by Haciendo el Indio. The wall-stickers are in soft pink colors and the birds, the figure, the bunny are all so very cute. I love the design of the whole room, the high ceilings and the soft colors in the bedroom, and the hard-wood floors.

Wallpaper with images of handmade birdhouse from Studio Ditte.

Another design from Haciendo el Indio.

The alphabet squad

2010-03-18T17:34:00.000Z

Sometimes simple ideas are the best one's. This alphabet poster was made for a fundraiser at a private school - simple idea that gives great results. Who wouldn't want to buy a class photo that looks like this one? I came across this image at TSJ photography blog, which is a blog by a mother of four and it's well worthing checking out since it's full of fun, creative and interesting things to do with kids. And it has tons of wonderful photographs of children.

The Magician next door: Ann Wood

2010-03-12T14:07:00.000Z

Image/Ann Wood

Fabric spiders, flying ships and paper horses running wild. Welcome to the world of Ann Wood, a Brooklyn based artist that makes magical things for a living and is our Magician next door.

"I work with mostly found, and salvaged materials, many of them vintage or antique garments,"says Ann that among other things has created owls out of used denim. Some of the dark owls with attitude that caught my attention, and put Ann on my radar. "There is a kind of affection and tenderness in the re-use and re-purposing of things that which was once personal and perhaps treasured possessions."

Everything she makes is like a fairy-tale, far from the typical one though, since her creations could both belong to the good and the bad forces that usually set the stage for a fairy-tale. Ann says she seek inspiration from her materials as well as from the idea of smallness, intricacies, miniatures, collections and repetition. She is likes the idea of haunted and enchanted places, things and creatures and the setting of a tiny stage.

You can see more of Ann Wood's work right here.

Let's play: From dusk till dawn

2010-02-22T15:12:00.001Z

A place for fire, storytelling and playing - the perfect stage for a kids world, where real life and imagination play equal parts. This big fireplace is located in Trondheim in Norway and my heart alway jumped a beat when I discovered it at the wonderful Playspaces blog. It's designed by Haugen/Zohar architects and was designed and build on a limited budget, and by recycling materials. It's cozy and cute and warm and magical, and who wouldn't wont to go inside and play or just sit down and listen. It's a bit like a mixture of a indian tent and snowhouse, and it also reminds me a little bit of a Hersey kiss to be quite honest.

There is more to life then meets the eye, and nobody understands that better then kids.

The structure in inspired by the Norwegian turf huts and old log construction. It's made out of 28 pieces of naturally impregnated core of pine that are placed with various spaces to assure chimney effect and natural light.

Kids room: The Enchanted Bedroom

2010-02-18T15:03:00.003Z

I dreamt of a fairy-tale bedroom when I was a kid. A place where the imagination could run wild. Actually I had a very nice bedroom with a fun bunker bed, but it didn't stop me from daydreaming. While picking the things for this post, I searched for things that had an Tim Burton and Alice in Wonderland-like aura. Mysterious, dark, weird and fun, and of course magical.

Image above from left:
1.A night stand by Josefine Hellström-Olsson
2. Shadow light by Tord Boontje
3. What it is It isn't - a chest of drawer by Ontwerpduo.
4. A papercut butterfly by Helen Musselwhite.
5. Forest canopy bed from Anthropologie.
6. A print of a white raven by Candace Jean.
7. Hedgehog pillow at Renegade Handmade.

Music: Because it's tiny and cute

2010-02-15T08:22:00.001Z

It's hard to resist the charm of U900, the japanese ukulele duo. The music, the cute voices and the crochet caracthers will steal your heart. Happy monday!

Don't get cold: Warm underwear

2010-02-11T15:18:00.005Z

I was thrilled to discover these warm underwear for children from Ratdesign although I'm sitting here waiting for spring to arrive. It doesn't mean I would like to get rid of all the warm winter clothes. But who am I kidding anyway, in my part of the world we can use warm undies all year round, everyday in the winter and for camping trips in the summer. These are called Hlýjar which means warm.

The bright and bold colors of Ratdesing's underwear are welcoming twist to traditional kids wool underwear. They are designed by Ragnheidur Tryggvadottir in cooperation with Svanhildur Sigtryggsdóttir, who knits them in a machine but does the little crochet wool lace lining by hand.

The Icelandic designer Ragnheidur Tryggvadottir is Ratdesign and she's also designed a coat rack called The black sheep. As the name suggest is a metal cutout in the shape of a sheep head. You can check out Ratdesign on Facebook and a new homepage will be up soon, you can see it here.

Thank you Ratdesign.

The Magician next door: Helen Musselwhite

2010-02-10T12:09:00.000Z

Imagine a world made out of paper - a delicate world, full of wonders, creatures, fairy-tales and magic. A captivating world that fascinates you and mesmerizes. Luckily a world like that exists in the artwork of Helen Musselwhite, which is drawn to the texture and feel of paper. She is an artist living in Manchester, that works from home, where she cuts out different kinds of paper and puts together layers of her cutouts creating a whole new world in 3D full of live and imagination. She is the Magician next door.

"By the use of bold colour, strong graphic line and familiar images I create highly individual and visually appealing pieces of art that make an instant impact. My work has a distinctive hand crafted quality that pays respect to all forms of mid century design, folk and ethnic art, as well as current and future trends ."

"Influenced by the natural world each piece is manipulated to become an intriguing place, a glimpse into another world of fiction and fairytale."

Her beautiful glass domes are on display at the Rostra & Rooksmoor Gallery through February.

You can see more of Helen's work here.

Come sail away

2010-02-09T09:18:00.002Z

Come sail away with me on one of Mummysam's boats. They are small wonderful fiber sculptures made by Samantha Cotterill. Each one tells a story and each will take you away in one way or the orther, at least inspire your daydrems. They will be exhibited soon at Renegade. And check out Mummysam's blog right here.

Kids room: Happy nostalgic charm

2010-02-06T12:40:00.003Z

Mette Helena B. Rasmussen is a student at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, a painter and an interior stylist among other things. She can easily decorate a kids room and fill it with color and patterns without making it seem too cluttered. She does articles and interior styling for different interior design magazines in Denmark, Norway and Sweden among them are magazines like BoBedre og BoligLIV.

"I love colors and I believe that colors influence us in many way - and are therefore important in our homes. And I believe that children love colors!!! And because of that I'm not afraid to use all sorts of colors and patterns in children's rooms and I have fallen in love with retro vintage wall papers. I love the nostalgic charm and happy colors and patterns."

"I love my work because I use all my creativity and imagination. And I like to inspire people and make them happy with new interiors."

"My style for children's rooms is inspired by vintage from the 50's, 60's and 70's. But for "real homes", kitchen and so on my style is quite different. Since I had my own daughter - Villa Malou 3 years old today - I have been into making children's rooms all the time."

Did I mention that Mette Helena was an interior designer on the Danish TV show called Welcome Home, where she redocorated a lot of homes? You can see her TV work right here. And you can see more of her work here. - Thank you Mette Helena

Educational: Magic tree

2010-02-04T14:59:00.001Z

This little magical cardboard tree will start to bloom if you simply water the base of it. Crystals in all colors will come to live and cover the tree, turning it into a tiny colorful magical plant. How wonderfully cool and magical toy. You can buy this one here, at Cox & Cox or you can be adventurous and create one youself. All you need is table salt and a few ingredients available at the grocery store. That should be a wonderful inspiring science project. The instructions are right here.

Kids room: Handpainted tree

2010-02-03T10:10:00.001Z

I love this idea of the tree and the birdhouses above the bed. This is an image from Design Sponge: a sneek peek of Emily's Henson bungalow in Los Angeles. Emily Henson is a prop stylist and decorator, and she used to work as a Display Coordinator for Anthropologie where she once made a lot of birdhouses out of cardboard boxes for a window display. After the display was taken down she was reluctant to throw them out, so now they decorate her home.

Image from Design Sponge.

The idea of the birdhouses and the tree is simple and something you could easily do with your kids.

Shopping:Keeping warm

2010-02-03T09:31:00.003Z

It's still snowing in my part of the world so my mind is on warm sweaters. I particularly like these Icelandic wool sweaters from the Farmers Market that are a redesigned versions of the traditional Icelandic sweater. The designers and the couple, Bergthora Gudnadottir and Joel Palsson have their kids help them out with the children sweaters by trying them on to see if they are comfortable and soft enough. They are mostly sold in Iceland, but there is an online store in New York that also sells them, right here.

Let's play: In the Funky Forest

2010-01-29T10:30:00.004Z

Funky Forest is a wild and crazy digital interactive ecosystem, created by visual and motion graphics designer Emily Gobeille and interactive designer and artist Theodore Watson. In the Funky Forest you can manage the resources to influence the environment around you. Streams of water flowing on the floor can be diverted to make the different parts of the forest grow. If a tree does not receive enough water it withers away but by pressing your body into the forest you can create a new tree based on your shape.

Sonic life forms inhabit the forest who depend upon a thriving ecosystem to survive.

Funky forest was originally created for the Cinekid festival but has the forest has grown since then and now it has seasons. You can experience winter, summer, spring or fall in the fun, imaginative and magical world of the forest and it's been set up in Moomah, the wonderful family cafe hangout activity place in New York city.

Emily has also created the Carnival Cruise and Interactive aquarium for Arnold R&D and is installed in store front windows in 6 cities across the US. Also another project she's done for kids is called the Here to there and is a poster series for kids and is the first pair in a series of experimental posters for children that combine science, nature, algorith and design, to feed their imagination and curiosity. She's also done some motion graphics for Nickelodeon. You can see more of her work here.

Animation: Alma

2010-01-28T12:08:00.003Z

Alma is an animated short by Rodrigo Blass, that is both very cute and creepy. It's been collecting awards at film festivals which comes as no surprise since it's brilliantly done. It's been screened at Childrens film festivals, but I warn you before you show it to you kids. This one might give them nightmares or they wont play with their dolls anymore. You can watch the film here online for a limited time. I don't know how long though, so don't wait to see it, it might be gone tomorrow.

The film is titled Alma, which I assume is the name of the girl in the film, but it also means soul - which is very fitting. Voila! here comes Alma. I recommend watching in full screen.

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Alma is Rodrigo Blass' first animated film as a director, but he's worked as an animator for ten years.
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Kids room: A touch of Sweden

2010-01-27T22:06:00.004Z

I'm pretty sure Swedish designers hold the world record in beautiful design for kids. Almost every designer in Sweden has at some point designed something for kids. Swedish design is similar to other Scandinavian design, it's characterized by clean lines, functionality and sophisticated form. But in Swedish design you can also see a reference to Swedish folklore, like in the design of Moa Jantze and Basander Lundin. And moose are also quite common in Swedish design.

While going through a lot of work and projects by Swedish designers I noticed that a lot of the objects are black, which I really like, it's can by a happy relief from the standard flashy colors.

Image above: Meadow, a rug by Asshoff & Brodgård, White leather bracelet by Elin Basander André, Bruno, teddy bear by Karin Mannerstål, Story cabinet from Heirloom, Polkadot star, light by Karin Mannerstål, Peek, wardrobe by JBA design, Mini kitchen from Micki, A swedish tale, a rocking chair by Elin Bassander André, Rabbit storage box from Heirloom, Animail friends, cutlery by Karin Mannerstål, Älgfia, a board game by PS TOYS, Moose playing cards from Pluto Produkter, Hoppetosa, Pippi's ship from Micki, Swing rocking chair by Moa Jantze.
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Toys: Meet Lady Clapham

2010-01-26T22:06:00.002Z

Lady Clapham is a doll made for the Cockerell family in the 1690s. A lot of dolls where made in the 17th centry, although very few have survived due to wear and tear. But Lady Clapham is in excellent condition which I'm sorry indicates that she was admired by adults rather then played with by children. I'm afraid she will never be played with since now she is a part of the collection at the Victoria & Albert museum.

In her wardrobe are both formal and informal dresses, just like the ones a wealthy women would have owned around that time. She has coats, underdresses, a corset, gloves, a purse, shoes, socks, a scarf, dresses and even a mask. Everything is beautifully handmade and I can just imagine how much work have gone into her corset and gloves.

You can see her whole wardrobe here and I do recommend taking a tour around the site. I'm definitely going to meet Lady Clapham the next time I'm in London and admire her. She is so much more beautiful than the mass produces plastic dolls made today.