“All roads that you travel in life lead you to where you are now” is the mantra of All Roads, an Etsy shop featuring custom and handmade objects by Janelle Pietrzak and Robert Dougherty. Believing that you shouldn’t have regrets in life, that both good and bad experiences make you the person you are today, All Roads strives to explore whatever path their artwork chooses for them. A collective of two, Janelle designs the elaborate and incredible weavings that you see here, while Robert hand-forges the steel arrows. They also offer an assortment of small goods, such as bronze arrow keychains and necklaces made from vintage fishing lures.
If you’re interested in any of these weavings, One Kings Lane will be selling these pieces as part of their new Artisanal Division. (The sale kicks off at 6 p.m. PT today!) Be sure to check out more weavings here.
Various small goods made by All Roads, including necklaces made from vintage fishing lures, all atop a table made by Robert.
Janelle and Robert also live an incredibly inspiring lifestyle in Los Angeles where they frequent the desert and set up a new studio space. I highly recommend following them on Instagram!
{Images via All Roads}
By now we can all agree that neon is a trend not to be denied. The question is how to introduce these items into the home without looking too ’80s? These textiles from Melbourne, Australia-based Feliz show the perfect way to bridge the gap between neutral, natural tones and edgy, colorful punches. Grounded in natural organic cotton, each print is hand-screenprinted with fluorescent inks to achieve that bright-yet-somehow-still-neutral look we love so much.
I particularly love the styling of Feliz’s online catalog. By adding in solid white shams and keeping the surroundings simple and pure, each bed looks inviting, modern, and comfortable! As someone who typically only purchases white or neutral bedding, I can see mixing in these neon shams for a fun punch of color.
{images via Feliz}
Finnish textile and clothing design house Marimekko is known for its bold use of color, fun, cheerful prints, and, above all, their lackadaisical, joyful attitude. The Summer 2013 lookbook is no exception. This collection is chock full of colorful and graphic references to nature and the sunny days of summer. Each piece invites summer wholeheartedly and begs to be shared with friends and family.
Beyond the designs of the products and prints, this lookbook truly captures Marimekko’s happy and casual attitude. Some images are more fantastical than others, but they all cohesively tell the story of summer afternoons spent exploring the forest floor, settling down for a picnic, and jumping on the bed! Heck, why not spend an evening outdoors counting the stars and telling stories?
{images via Marimekko}
The second day of design school, I used an X-acto knife for the first time—and promptly had to call the campus paramedics. Ever since that moment, I have had incredible amounts of respect for artists who specialize in hand-cut paper. Karen O’Leary is no exception! Combining two of my favorite passions—travel and maps—each of her creations is cut by hand onto crisp white watercolor paper.
This mapcut of San Francisco is a prime example of the level of detail Karen can achieve. While she captures the dense grid of the city perfectly, what really blows my mind is the level of openness in the upper right corner. A truly delicate work, this piece reminds the viewer of just how much of an art form the geography of a city can be!
My personal favorite is, of course, the mapcut of Seattle. I can practically see my block …
{Images via Karen O’Leary}
I recently had the privilege of attending a lovely event in Raleigh, North Carolina, celebrating the launch of Clyde Oak. The garden design company makes and sells rustic gardening tools and accessories (like “urban farm” seed kits and gardening bags), as well as their own line of organic garden-based cocktail mixers called White Whale. The dinner was the brainchild of Clyde Oak founder Corey Mason and his wife Shelley (pictured below), and Mike and Megan Gilger, the husband-and-wife duo behind The Fresh Exchange blog and Wild Measure design studio. The Gilgers regularly host Simple Evening dinners in their home state of Michigan, collaborating with local chefs and artisans, and they decided to take the show on the road to create a farm-themed Simple Evening in Raleigh.
The party was held at Videri, an airy brick-walled bean-to-bar chocolate factory in downtown Raleigh, with farm-to-table fare by Chef Jake Wolf of Capital Club 16. All ingredients were sourced from Commonplace Cooperative farm, and the tables were handcrafted from reclaimed wood by Justin Johnson and Matthew Cronheim of Arrowhead Collective. The amazing Jenn Elliott Blake styled the table; in lieu of floral centerpieces, she planted herbs in an assortment of antique glass bottles, and for each place setting, she included a piece of slate with Clyde Oak’s motto (borrowed from a Woody Guthrie song) “This Land is Your Land” handwritten by Megan. Natural wood stumps were used as chairs and torn strips of denim strung above the table. A vintage American flag completed the look.
Before dinner, Corey’s friend and business partner Dave Staples (pictured below) mixed White Whale cocktails, each with tongue-in-cheek names like Auntie’s Old Fashioned, The Filthy Liar, and Your Older Brother. The cocktails were served with Jake’s fantastic hors d’oeuvres: crostini with classic Southern pimento cheese and another with sauerkraut and sausage. Everyone sat down at the communal table for a buffet-style meal, including German-inspired dishes like schnitzel sandwiches, spaetzle with wild mushrooms, cucumber dill salad, shaved carrot salad, and an all-American grilled cheese with farm-fresh kale. For dessert, everyone enjoyed Videri’s fabulous hand-made chocolates (and more cocktails!) and danced to tunes spun by local DJ Masokix.
The evening was certainly a labor of love, pulled together by a tight-knit group of friends and co-collaborators. I left inspired—to get my hands dirty, to start my own urban garden, and to take Raleigh’s creative, communal spirit back with me back into my day-to-day life.
{ Images by Mike Gilger }
