Woven Planters & Textile Experiments

Ever since I laid eyes on Doug Johnston‘s rope bowls and planters, I’ve been more attuned to this type of textile coiling. The style lends itself beautifully to asymmetry and imperfect subtleties. Fast forward, and while perusing Mr Kitly, the Australian-based homewear site, I stumbled across work from a design studio based out of Brooklyn, called New Friends.

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Founded by Alexandra Segreti and Kelly Rakowski, with a joint interest in textiles and housewears, their products combine weaving and a collage to create unique combinations and one-off pieces. Beyond the planters, if you’re int he market for a rug, you can’t go wrong with one of these beauties.

July 28, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik

Friday Quick Links!

1. Great interview with Ken Done via The Design Files
2. Pattern made using a stencil technique in the 1920’s via Present & Correct
3. Pretty paper lanterns you can make via The House that Lars Built
4. Images made from tiny hand-punched perforated holes via The Jealous Curator
5. Judy Kaufman’s “Hello Pattern” via design-milk
6. Studio Swine turned human hair into combs and other home objects via Trendland
7. Get crafty with your old wine bottles via design*sponge
8. Love these botanical prints via Poppytalk
9.Digging Erik Olson’s latest portraits via Design Crush
10. DIY a fun rope necklace via Anthropologie
11. Customization by destruction via The Fox is Black
12. Fantastic ceramics by Studio Arhoj via The Artful Desperado

Contributed by Emily Gup

July 25, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik

Shades of Pink Around the Globe

In America, the color pink is often associated with youth culture. If you’re trying to be younger, or more feminine, or even more girly, you go for pink- it’s the defacto color of the female gender. Move across the Atlantic though, and you’ll find that pink serves as a cool, edgy accent. Vivid, florescent tips, paired with white or cream send an entirely different message- one that the French and the Swedes have embraced for a long time. Then, we have Karen Mainenti’s humorous painting that captures the conflict and dichotomy of color and the sexes. Here’s a quick round up of some favorite applications:

1. Hanro’s handmade dip-dyed paper torn window display in the Meat Packing District in Manhattan 2. A DIY maxi skirt on a pair & a spare 3. Very cool coasters from the Caribbean restaurant Glady’s in Crown Heights, Brooklyn 4. Youth retail display at ABC Carpet in Manhattan 5. A spectacular painting I took a photo of at my airbnb in Stockholm earlier this Spring 6. Revlon No.450 Gentlemen Prefer Pink by Karen Mainenti

July 24, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik

Geometry & Gina Rockenwagner

The art of quilting is a meticulous one. The craft celebrates the slow evolution of a growing jigsaw puzzle. I recently came across the work of Gina Rockenwagner and was amazed by her palettes and geometric formations.

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Each quilt is breathtaking in it’s crisp coziness. The range swings from 3D color stories to reflective prisms to hombre gradations. To shop Rockenwagner’s etsy shop, click here…you’ll be delighted by the menagerie of choice.

July 23, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik

Tuesday's Gallery Picks

Exploring perception and its impact on the human condition this Tuesday.

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1. Timothy Cummings’s exploration of dualities —insider/outsider, self/other, the collision of nostalgia and the present at Catherine Clark Gallery
2. Utilizing a wide range of materials, Erik Jones’ mixed media approach creates a hypnotic tension between the familiar and the fantastical at Hashimoto Contemporary
3. The paintings in this exhibition engage us in both the rich language of abstraction and in the mysteries of the human condition at Seager Gray Gallery
4. Thank You Paintings Exchange initiates a series of material, social, gestural, intellectual and monetary exchanges between artist and collector, with the commercial art gallery as site and passive participant at Denny Gallery
5. In Painter’s Nest the role of the artist is examined in various stagings and often the representation of the artist appears to reflect the beholder’s own imagination of an artist at Nils Staerk
6. Adrian Ghenie Golems explores Charles Darwin and the “texture of history” at Pace Gallery

July 22, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik

Focusing on the Female Form

Rachel Levit is an illustrative force you should all be aware of. Her drawings are simple, yet carry immense storytelling through line, pose and profile. Her repetition feels a bit like modern day hieroglyphics as she swings from professional realms. One day she’s producing artsy leggings and the next, an illustration for the New York Times. Have a look at her blog, you’ll find delight in the scroll.

July 21, 2014 | By: Shayna Kulik