Happy Trails

Hmm, haven't had one of these posts in a while... this beautiful sunset over the Masai Mara in Kenya, thanks to my very talented bro-in-law.



Enjoy the weekend, everyone!

Jo'burg Man

Recently while enjoying browsing through old Elle Decor magazines from South Africa, I found something I had fallen in love with the first time I saw it.



The artwork is a collaboration between photographers Dale Yudelman and Arlene Amaler-Raviv. For some reason I find it thoroughly arresting... anything I've found online says that the work is meant to explore the individual as s/he experiences the city in every day life.

Here it is again, with another from the same body of work. There is something about the hugeness of the man as he goes unnoticed through the landscape.






(Scanned in image from Elle Decoration Autumn Issue 2006, the apartment of Kamran Khavari.)

Inspiration

Overlooking Cape Town from the apartment of Kamran Khavari, as seen in Elle Decoration Autumn Issue 2006.

A Blog Community

Ah, today I am feeling the love. Gotta love tagging... See my victims' responses at

sfgirlbybay
pallazzo to do
and sprayglue

Go check it out... and read some of their posts, they are all super sites.

In the spirit of blogging, I was recently inspired by Skinny and Lena Corwin's spoon displays. Not sure mine are so beautifully displayed, but I had to share 'em.


The large salad serving spoons on the top and bottom are Carol Boyes spoons. I love Carol Boyes' work so much that my bridesmaids got sugar spoons from her collection when I got married. Each spoon has it's own identity, and I thought they'd be a wonderful way to celebrate each woman's uniqueness but also her being part of a group of my very, very bestest friends. The butter knife (I know, I know, cheating!!) is also Carol Boyes, and also the olive spoon (left, with holes). The knife and fork are from a wedding present from my grandparents-in-law. They were given a bone-handle and silver set for their wedding that they didn't use (they were given two sets) so they gave me and L ours for our wedding. It's always great to use those utensils so far from home and feel a connection over space and time. The little lady is hard to see, she is dressed as a typical South African woman would be, with her head wrapped. Lastly is my little meerkat sugar spoon. I don't use him anymore because he started to bend, but he is just darling.

Thanks everyone for being up for tagging! I did learn some interesting things about you!

Tagged!

Ah, seems I have been tagged... thanks Carolyn! So, I get to share some things about me you may not know...



I love to swim. I would swim all day, if I could...
this may not be too much of a surprise if you've seen the picture on my profile, but I'm a bit of a doggie person (ha! understatement!)...
I'm slightly obsessed with pattern, rhythm, shape in visuals (see my lovely fence, above)...
My signature baking "dish" is orange pound cake, a recipe from the Barefoot Contessa. It's seriously loads of work, but OH so worth it...
Chocolate is my downfall...
After growing up 5 hours away from the ocean and now having lived next to it for a few years, I don't think I could ever live far away from it again...
I recently got my first job as a graphic designer after making a career u-turn 2 years ago. Yipppeee! Still one more year of night-classes but this stuff is just too much fun!...
Tea is my favourite drink. Good ol' British breakfast and rooibos...
One of the most inspiring designers around, in my opinion, is Marian Bantjes.

Okay, who to tag? Because I'm kind of new to this, I'm afraid all my favourites are tagged already, but I'll send it along anyway.

skinny laminx
sprayglue
She wears shwe shwe
pallazzo to do
sfgirlbybay
angry chicken
oh joy!
feffakookan
Sakura Snow

Inspiration from the North

A fellow South African is very busy up North. She lives in Toronto and she designs fun, pretty, delicious stationery and patterns for other things. Her name is Carolyn and you can see more of her lovely things on her blog.





You can find more of her work on other sites:

www.ecojot.com
www.miragepaperco.com

I MUST get my hands on those birds!!

SA Design in the News

This week on bbc.co.uk, Johannesburg Fashion week was featured because it was staged in Soweto. The website said, "Johannesburg Fashion Week held its first show in the mostly black township of Soweto, challenging the stereotype that fashion is for affluent whites."



Funny, I always thought people who aren't affluent have more interesting fashion sense cos they can't just go to the mall and buy some expensive label. They can't just lean on what's at their fingertips... know what I mean? What do you think? Do you have to buy expensive labels to be fashionable?

Anyway, I've chosen my favourites from the photos on the bbc site for you... the guy is David Tlale, a SA designer who recently showed at Paris Fashion week.