Appreciate or Emulate

If you have seen yesterday's Finding Everywhere you will know there are many ways with the Japanese art of Shibori.
Here are just some of my favourite examples of how it can be all tied up in your life too:

There are shibori workshops happening all around
here are just some I have come across
Megan Morton's The School - Sydney, Joanna Fowles Make Your Own Shibori Scarf
Harvest Workroom - Melbourne, Shibori Silk Scarf Hand Dying 
Koskela - Sydney, Shibori Dying with Indigo

I also found these great DIY kits put together by some of the masters
Joanna Fowles make your own shibori scarf kit
Shibori's Dye da Vida - Indigo dye kit with 2 wooden shapes
Noon Design Studio's Indigo kit with shibori wrapper

P.S In case you missed the INXS emulating Bob Dylan reference and thought I may just have gone a little rhyming mad I share it with you here. INXS Mediate

Found Friday

There is definitely a theme this week.
Continuing on from the pastels of this weeks Finding Everywhere look at these pretties I found.
I do love a nanna coat-hanger!

I also wanted to share with you some other, more virtual, finds discovered this week on my pastel journey.

The beautiful blog and work of textile designer Hermine Vandijck. Her exploration of colour and texture are truly inspiring.

Lastly the amazing work of French design duo Isabelle Gilles and Yann Poncelet that are Colonel.
One look at their online folio of work and shop and I wanted it ALL!

I hope you discover lots of colour this weekend! Happy finding.

Patina Inspiration

I recently went to Cockatoo Island in Sydney to see the installations there as part of the Sydney Biennale. It was a gorgeous day and while we didn't see as much of the art as we would like (little people sometimes have other ideas than standing still) it was a great day with family and friends.

The art was inspiring but, and not to discount it in any way, for me I was so inspired by the beautiful patina of the sensitively restored convict buildings up on top of the hill.

The layering of materials, texture and the overlay of colours with chipped away paint in various shades revealing weathered stone, tin and brick inspire me no end.

Here is my day in images.

Rock My World - Bathrooms

The bathroom from yesterday's Cliff Face House post is hard to beat but these two bathrooms featuring  stone and pebbles also caught my eye this week.

Below is Casa San Miguel De Allende in Mexico designed be David Howell architecture and Interior Design. The pebble wall is made all the more special by the ceiling height - impressive, and the stone basins, the larger of which reminds me of an agricultural trough, are unique and tactile.

Reminiscent of the Cliff Face House from yesterday this Swedish villa bathroom was designed by Wingardhs design studio (image via interiorarcade.com) and the entire house has been carved into the solid rock of the hillside with a big chunk featured in the bathroom - another great example of a building having a solid connection to it's place and a bathing space having a real sense of being in nature.

Rocky My World - Kitchens

A kitchen is the heart of a home and these kitchens have a whole lot of heart.

I love the rustic charm of the stone but I also love the raw timber and the grand scale of them. The modern furniture and lighting in the first is a beautiful contrast (images 1 and 2) and I love the modern lines of the cabinetry in the second (images 3 and 4). These touches stop the stone from being too country twee and make the kitchens modern but still cosy, tactile and charming.

They make me want to cook up a huge roast with all the trimmings for all of my family and friends followed by apple and rhubarb crumble and homemade vanilla custard.

Now my heart just needs to find a french country farm house kitchen of its own.

Source of images
1 & 2 via pufikhomes.com

3 via e-magdeco.com 

4 via decordir.com

Rock My World - Faking it with felt

Bringing the 'rock' into your life is not always easy or soft and cosy, especially indoors - but there is a way - fake it with felt.

Here are some of my favourite felted rocks - big small and floor.

First are stone 'cushions' and seat/lounges from Livingstones. They look like great fun but I can also imagine curling up and lazying like a lizard in the sun on the larger ones.

Below, outdoor felted boulder cushions by designer Ronél Jordaan. They are resin covered for protection. At first I found these strange, why would you not just have the real thing? I then thought through all the logistic and environmental issues and realised they are quite the practical, and aesthetically pleasing, solution. She also makes indoor cushions
and rugs.

Below is a woolen felt Pebble carpet that can be made in custom sizes and colours by designer Ksenia Stanishevski of 2Form. Imagine the massaging quality of this underfoot.

There are more beautiful cushions small and large in a range of colours via fivetimesone.com

It seems rocks or pebbles are a favourite subject for felters as there is a huge range of mini felted stones available via Etsy - here are just some I would love to hold and display. I think they would look beautiful in carved wooden bowls on a coffee table, adding a cosy winter touch - they are also kid friendly, tactile and reasonable.

If you can't take it fake it and if you can't make it buy it. Felt rocks!

Rock My World - Crochet

It is hard to improve on nature but if anything is going to, in my opinion, crochet will.

The crocheted pebbles below are by Margaret Ooman, whose work and lovely nature images you can see more of via her lovely blog Resurrection Fern.

Sadly her etsy shop is currently closed but there are other talented and like minded souls out there doing similar. So if like me you covet these but as yet lack the skills to pull it off yourself there is a way to make them yours. Below is a favourite from etsy store Monicaj. If you have the skills (please teach me - I will bake) here is a tutorial via craft blog purlbee.com to do the same.

Rock My World Day - Zen Step

I came across this image below via www.dwell.com the website for the magazine. It features articles on all things design including houses.

This image is from a home north of Copenhagen. On seeing it I was impressed by the sense of grounded-ness this would give you in your home - especially to walk over it with barefeet several times a day.

I have always had rocks or stones in my home - small ones from my travels and some larger ones but never on this beautiful scale and as not as part of the 'furniture'.

The architects included this stepping stone as a nod to zen architecture. “In most traditional wooden houses and temples in Japan, the house is lifted above the garden, and the transition is always marked by a sculptural stepping stone”.

It is another element in the layers of meaning and feeling in the design of this house whose name "hygge", which has no real direct equivalent in English, in Danish describes the warm, cozy feeling that develops when friends gather in a room withsome open flames (candlelight, fireplace), alcohol, and plenty of time to enjoy the experience. I want a bit of hygge!

You can see the whole house and read the full article here. While the design doesn't necessarily translate to an Australian aesthetic, being all white Nordic appropriate for the cold winters, the use of space and atmosphere are nice to visit.

The Warm Fuzzy Cuddlies

I am inspired by different textures in fabric, nature, installations and furnishings. I think texture is what takes a room or a space beyond a two dimensional experience and let's us inhabit it in a particular way. Be it a smooth cool bathroom with gloss tiles, polished concrete and stone for a fresh summer shower or a woollen knitted blanket, velvet cushion, brushed linen couch in fleece pyjamas for a winter nap.

We are tactile beings and visual texture in a space makes it special to look and the relationship with that texture makes it special to live in.

Subsequently I am on the look out for what I call textural treats all the time. You can see some of the textures that have caught my eye via my pin board Textural Treats. Some of them are things that I was drawn to and am compelled to touch - given the opportunity, others are purely visual but convey a texture I find desirable in some way.

Today I hit the texture jackpot. I did what I often do and followed a link to an image I found on pinterest that was interesting in some way but like Alice down the rabbit hole it lead me to something else - very unexpected but amazing none the less.

I came across the work of Eunsuk Hur, rather late it seems as there have been no updates since 2009 and I found a lot of blog posts and commentary on her work. Both images are via www.pleatfarm.com architecture blog. The first image shown is from a series called Nomadic Wonderland. The textiles are adaptable from wearable pieces to interior pieces and can be reconfigured in a number of ways. How practical this is I wonder but how beautiful there is no doubt. The other image is from the For Fashion range and you can see more via her website it is among many incredible pieces with each more breathtaking than the last, I struggled with showing just two.
I would love to see what Hur's working on now as these are some of the most beautiful textural treats I have ever seen.

While we are talking all things texture the other amazing textural treat I had this week was an introduction to the felt wall coverings
of UK based Anne Kyyrö Quinn, they are incredibly detailed, tactile and reflect light in interesting ways. She also makes lampshades, cushions and ottomans which sadly are not featured on her website but I some found products via architonic.com

I am definitely now feeling all warm and fuzzy.