Today’s blog post is sponsored by horse legs, goat fur, rams’ heads, a little alpaca, and an owl in a pear tree. Fine, no tree. It just sounded good. Moving on.

Guaranteed not to gallop away while you’re eating.

Still with me? Alrighty. Today we’re taking a look at the Room Furnishings section of the OM shop, and there are some seriously funky, fabulous finds in there. First up: A Limited Edition table by Argentine artist Carlos Bissolino. The Horse Table is a handcrafted piece with these really fantastic, equestrian-inspired legs you just have to see to believe. The whole piece is a phenomenal work of art.

Next up: The Wild Wooly Bench. Covered in genuine goat fur, this mid-century-inspired bench is just so cool it goes pretty much wherever it wants. Hallway, foot of the bed, hip living room: this one can fit in just about anywhere. The same goes for this super cool pair of vintage ram’s head bookends. Solid brass, this amazing pair is perfect on an office bookshelf holding up your Vonnegut collection, but just as much at home on your coffee table amid the style mags.

Like napping with an alpaca, only quieter.

Of course, the bookends also look cool with the other brass item in today’s pickings: Mr. Owl. If you’ve been following the OM blog, you know I absolutely love this little guy, and if I worked in the order department, I’d probably lie and tell everyone he’s already been sold because I really want him for my office.

Last, but most certainly not least today, we have the Suri Alpaca Fur Pillow. The one on the site is gorgeous in this fantastic caramel, but you can call the OM team and request other colors and sizes because we’re flexible like that.

Have a question? Email us, post to Facebook, or send us a letter if you can find a store that still sells stamps.

The post Funky Furnishings! Fab Finds! appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

Other posts you will like:

1. Flea Market Finds For Fabulous Furnishings
2. Fab Furnishings From La Feria!
3. La Feria: New Fab Fashion Finds!

I refuse to give up on watches just because I have an iPhone.

Well, we have about a month to go before graduation season starts. You know how this goes. One day, you’re just minding your business, re-reading all of my Object Mythology blog posts for fun, and the next thing you know, your robot maid drops off the mail on your coffee table. Fine, that’s far-fetched. Maybe you don’t re-read all of my posts, but I do. Anyway, the mail arrives, and in it you receive no fewer than four graduation announcements: your nephew is finishing high school, your boss’s youngest is graduating college, your hairdresser’s neighbor’s ex-husband’s kid is getting his law degree, you get the picture. Whoever these grads are, they’re people you care about enough (or feel socially pressured enough) to buy nice gifts for.

I know they’re cool because I checked with my stepson, and he’s 22, so we’re in the clear.

But today’s grads don’t seem to want Mont Blanc pens and leather briefcases. This is a generation raised on the “reduce, reuse, recycle” mantra for whom the concept of cars as status symbols is a repulsive notion. In short, today’s young adults are conscious consumers. So, unless you want to “go green” as in “give cash,” gift giving is a little more complicated than it used to be.

Unless (you knew this was coming, come on), that is, you shop at Object Mythology (OM). Here’s my top pick for that millennial who’s graduation is giving you such agita: The WeWood Watch Collection. Not only are the WeWood Watches adult and stylish enough for the workplace, they are statement pieces because these watches are actually made out of wood. Hypoallergenic and free from chemicals, these wooden works of wearable art are 100% wood, and a new tree is planted for each watch sold.

The post WeWood Watches: Unique Gifts For Conscious Consumers appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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Still my absolute fave. Gorgeous.

Can you believe it’s only ONE month until Mother’s Day? If the wonderful women in your life are anything like those who influenced my upbringing (and shouldn’t we honor ALL of them on Mother’s Day? Moms, aunts, that old lady who taught you to crochet?), knowing you only have a month to shop for a perfect gift means it’s time to get a move on!

Personally, I like using Pinterest for this. I shop online a lot (yes, especially right here at Object Mythology), and while I do, I pin the things I like to my “Gifting” Pinterest board along with the links. This works for me because most of the people I shop for aren’t on Pinterest, but if they were, I’d probably have to stop doing that and just use my WeHeartIt account and not tell anyone I’m there. Wait. Forget I said that.

Toasty warm and snuggly to boot!

I don’t know about you, but I find Mother’s Day to be a particularly tough shopping holiday. Moms always say, “Save your money!” but they all want a thoughtful gift. And since I’m over 12 and not a professional artist by any standards, making a gift is straight up out of the question.

For Mother’s Day, I like to infuse my gifts with some of the lessons my mom and the other strong women in my life have taught me: do unto others as you would have them do unto you, be frugal, enjoy life, be generous of spirit, respect art, support women’s rights and empower them, honor the earth. So it seems only fitting that I try to incorporate some upcycling, social responsibility, and found objects in my Mother’s Day gifting, and that’s fairly fortuitous, because I happen to know of a company that sells a lot of cool stuff that fits the bill. And so do you.

Personally, I think giving your mom a Baby Alpaca Infinity Scarf is a fantastic Mother’s Day gift. The infinity symbol is tremendously meaningful, and these uniquely hand-crafted yet luxurious scarves are hand-knit by Peruvian women in the Andes who’ve passed the secrets of their hand knitting down from woman to woman through the generations as part of their culture and heritage. If your mom is like mine and always has freezing cold feet, think about the I-Heart Hot Water Bottles. They’re perfect for warming up chilly hands and feet and wrapped in fabulously hand-knit baby alpaca covers.

The post Socially Responsible Gifting for Mother’s Day and Every Day! appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

Other posts you will like:

1. Object Mythology and You: Promoting Sustainability and Looking Good Doing It
2. Upcycled Elegance: From Buenos Aires Flea Markets to Your Powder Room
3. Snuggle Up With Baby Alpaca Scarves and Throws!

Love these upcycled, vintage bottles for earth-friendly gifts.

Gifting “found objects” such as the incredible Buenos Aires flea market finds the OM team brings home from their expeditions (On which they never take me, but maybe if you email Karen she will!) is a great way to “go green” and score a gold star with your gift recipients in one fell swoop. Instead of utilizing new materials and taxing finite resources, why not upcycle something unique and awesome with a great history as your gift? Plus, when you order a one-of-a-kind object from a Peruvian flea market, such as one of our Vintage Seltzer Bottles (perfect finishing touch for any powder room!), there’s no chance whatsoever that the heavy breather in the next cubicle will upstage you when it comes to showing the love to that Glorious Office Guardian of The Petty Cash and Assigner of Good Flight Times, your invaluable Administrative Assistant. And that, my friends, is important stuff.

How do you upcycle and preserve the earth in your gifting and wrapping? Do you wrap in cloth? Reuse boxes? Or just ask people to “pick a hand” and forgo the wrapping altogether? (Yeah, I can’t do that, either.) Until next time…

The post Upcycled Elegance: From Buenos Aires Flea Markets to Your Powder Room appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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1. Flea Market Finds For Fabulous Furnishings
2. Shopping Locally for Eclectic Elegance
3. Fab Furnishings From La Feria!

Somehow, they look like furry little miniature albino giraffes to me. Must be the necks. Anyway, cute, aren't they?

Social and environmental responsibility are intrinsic to the mission of Object Mythology. We don’t claim to be perfect by any means, but OM makes a concerted effort to do some good in the world with each and every transaction. We upcycle found objects and put them back out into the marketplace rather than taxing finite resources to create new products through industrialized means. We support global welfare by empowering disenfranchised or under-served women, giving them flexible, rewarding work that enables them to support their families and practice their cultural trade. And most of all, we sell alpaca.

Alpaca fiber is fleece shorn from alpacas, which are members of the camelid family along with llamas and camels. They look mini llamas, and they’re generally happy, pretty clean little pack animals. They’re shorn annually in a cruelty-free process that does not harm nor endanger the alpacas; actually, by most reports, they usually rather enjoy being freed of their heavy fleeces in time for the heat of the summer.

Alpaca is still an animal by-product, even if it’s gathered in a humane manner, so many vegans and vegetarians think twice about buying it. Here’s the key, though. Not only are alpacas not harmed during their shearing, but alpacas aren’t raised for eventual slaughter. These are not “food” animals that are shorn for a few seasons and then used for their meat the way most sheep are. Rather, alpaca fiber is a humanely obtained material that comes from non-endangered animals raised in natural environments (you won’t find them in little pens!).

If you’re a vegan or vegetarian, each animal-related purchase tends to be a carefully considered one. What do you think about buying alpaca as a vegetarian? As a vegan?

The post Buying Alpaca: A Buying Guide For Vegetarians appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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Whoever "they" are, they just don't make things like this anymore.

Check out this Vintage Seltzer Bottle, encased in metal and stamped “La Moderna.” Plucked from the markets of Buenos Aires, this limited edition bottle is a great little conversation piece for those of us looking to talk about something besides basketball. Really. Please, please, talk to me about something besides basketball. Anyone? Anyone? Beuller?

What I really dig about this piece is that it’s glass, encased in metal. The work that goes into producing something like this, particularly without modern methods, is truly something to think about. Plus, the fact that the glass is still intact after all this time is a real testament to the quality and craftsmanship that went into this piece’s creation. I love old-school craftsmanship. I value it when I see it in today’s products, but it’s becoming more and more of a rarity.

The other Vintage Seltzer Bottles in the new La Feria line are equally cool, each for a different reason. A couple of them are this gorgeous sea-glass green, and they make me think of walking along Jones Beach on Long Island as a kid, searching for shells and finding those rounded, smooth remnants of old 7up bottles, somehow turned into an incredible jewel of a found object, just like the bottles, over time.

What memories do La Feria’s found objects evoke for you? Share with us!

The post Fab Furnishings From La Feria! appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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Mine. Mine Mine Mine.

If you’ve been browsing around the Object Mythology site lately – you have, haven’t you? – you’ve seen the new La Feria line. I know, you don’t even have to say it: It’s awesome. The collection is incredibly diverse, and that makes it so much fun to look through. I cannot even imagine how fun it was to actually go and travel and find all these treasures. Note to self: Beg Karen to take me on the next shopping adventure.

Yours. See? I'm fair.

So, of course there’s fabulously trendy and cool jewelry in the La Feria line, hence my disproportionate excitement. Plus, a lot of it is one-of-a-kind and limited edition, which is just cool. It’s impossible for me to tell you all of the items I love from the collection in one post, but I will absolutely show you my fave: The Handmade Woven Leather Bracelet in black and turquoise. It’s not that often I find something that’s handmade, one-of-a-kind, and has that fantastic Tiffany & Co. blue/green tone I adore. Come on. Every woman loves that color. It goes with everything, just like this bracelet: can’t you just see it with your favorite LBD or, just as easily, with some fab jeans and (of course) an Infinity Scarf?

Or, you could mix up the greens a bit and complement your new bracelet by draping yourself in this one-of-a-kind, Hand-Woven Wool Scarf the OM team picked up in Uraguay. Personally, I can’t, because it’s wool, and I’m allergic. So I lose out on this scarf, but there’s plenty of fantastically hypoallergenic baby alpaca around here for me to choose from.

Take a gander at the La Feria line and share with us. What’s catching your eye this week?

The post La Feria: New Fab Fashion Finds! appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

Other posts you will like:

1. Flea Market Finds For Fabulous Furnishings
2. Object Mythology and You: Promoting Sustainability and Looking Good Doing It
3. Shopping Locally for Eclectic Elegance

Object Mythology operates in this cycle of social responsibility and positive social impact by working with artisans in the Peruvian Andes and in Argentina who produce much of OM’s merchandise. Initially, this partnership began when a Peruvian non-profit organization provided training to single women, enabling them to work from home, care and provide for their families and communities, and preserve (and pass down) the remarkable hand-knitting tradition they learned from their own mothers and grandmothers in the process. Today, well over one hundred artisans work to create the hand-knitted treasures you see around the Object Mythology website, and their skilled craftsmanship enables them to provide a better life for themselves and their families.

This is one of the things I dig most about Object Mythology. OM does not only sell found objects, upcycled materials, and gorgeous baby alpaca scarves, throw blankets, and gloves (among many, many other things) that are gleaned from a truly sustainable, eco-friendly resource, it does so much more. Karen and her team go out and do some true good in the world. They reach out and raise up those who are otherwise impoverished, and in buying from OM, you do too. You support these incredible artisans with each purchase. And if Emerson was right, and I usually find that he was, that means you help yourself with each purchase as well.

The post Who We Help And Why We Do It appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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I need this.

Now, in fairness, even if I could find a 1970s green vinyl swivel chair, vintage or retro, I wouldn’t buy it. What I would buy are the double cute, really and completely too cool, 100% vintage jewelry finds Karen has recently listed here on the OM site. In particular, I’m completely and a little obsessively infatuated with this Vintage Art Deco Pink Strand Necklace. This French flea market find just looks like something I’d find digging through my grandmother’s jewelry collection, and she was a seriously stylish dish in her day. Plus, it’s a one-of-a-kind item, and every woman deserves to own at least one piece of jewelry that no one has but her.

I love the ring that goes with this. Globe rings are too fab.

For those of you who can wear orange, first, I’m jealous. And second, check out this Vintage French Black Cat Bracelet And Ring Set. I absolutely guarantee it won’t cause you bad luck unless you wear it while walking under a ladder while also carrying an open umbrella indoors. Actually, if you ask me, there’s something very lucky about this set because I can’t believe this two-piece set is still together after all these years. For whoever snaps this one up, that’s some seriously good luck.

What’s catching your eye around the site this week? Which objects do you want to know more about?

The post Vintage is The New Retro: Chic Jewelry For That Unique Finishing Touch appeared first on Object Mythology Blog.

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