A beautiful night...

over here in Boston. The evening is warm, but there's a cool breeze blowing (thank goodness the heat and humidity of the past two days is gone!) and there is the sweet smell of flowers in the air. So let's have some fun!

First, let's get us a soundtrack:



Now, let's go shopping!!

If you're like me, your work schedule may have interfered with your blog reading schedule, so you probably missed the fun that was happening over at rikrak, where South Africa won the other world cup, the handmade world cup!

I'm not sure on how it all worked, if you'd like to know more just click here. What I do know that there were a bunch of South African etsy artists and crafters that participated. Let's take a look.



First off is Zoe Design, with these beautiful rings made from old teaspoons and other antique materials. I'd LOVE the first one.







These handbags are made by the same person, but you'll find them in another shop on etsy.







I've fallen for this cutey at MayBeMe





In Scootah's shop we find all the pillows and other sewn goodies on sale! I'm diggin' the ceramics...











koenigottokars has a lot of interesting stuff in her shop but these the wire heart and map envelopes spoke to me.





I absolutely love the work Kathy Mellor has in her store.











I've been a fan of Jezze's work for the longest time, and here's why:









I'm blown away by etsy newcomer, africhic. I've heard a lot about them at Style Guide Cape Town, so its nice to see what I can get my hands on from the States!





And lastly, and while speaking of jewelery here is the Lovely Ones' handiwork.









Now, let's take a breath! There were two collections that took part, so let's save the second one for tomorrow, or next week! Let's not tire ourselves out :)

PS: that lovely collage of the art is from the rikrak studio blog.

Summer Weekends

After a wonderful weekend... good friends, delicious food, some gardening. So from around the house and garden: lavender drying (from my lavender bush! Hope I get a second harvest... but what to do with the resulting haul?) and peonies... not from my garden but I love them none the less. They have the most delicious fragrance!









And, after a home cooked dinner of pasta carbonara, how can life be any better?

For Your Friday

from Friends of Type

Amaridian

And while we are catching up on southern African art out and about on the web, I'm glad mint (great blog!) got to see some of Amaridian's wonderful wares at ICFF.





That's a chandelier by Willowlamp and wire-wall art by ZenZulu. I hope to have more info on Amaridian soon but in the mean time here is more about Willowlamp and Zenzulu....

I absolutley love Willowlamp and have blogged about them here and here, and would dearly love one of their chandeliers... oh, maybe one of their small collection, I'm afraid I don't have ceilings high enough!








Can you imagine that Faraway Tree chandelier over your dining room table? What a conversation piece!

Zenzulu are reknown for their mix of traditional African crafts with a modern sensibility. I love, love, love the handiwork on those bowls...





They have their original range (bowls, etc) but also jewelry, utility pieces and Christmas products (my Christmas tree, although the traditional Fir, is always decorated African style, so these get my vote!)

Bruce Stafford

Another nice place to see southern African talent popping up is desire to inspire. They recently showed the work of Bruce Stafford. Luv-erly.









See more of the architects work here.