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Collect & create
What I like
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07 Februari 2010 | 18:56:19
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Lately I've been preparing for -let's call it mysteriously- an event in the near future, and preparing in this case involves making lots of things, struggling with color profiles in photoshop (I like to use this opportunity to officially declare war to CMYK colors... ;)), but it also means making sure I have enough supplies to keep making ceramics. So lately I've been hunting and gathering as often as I could, and I found lots of new stuff: a lot for the shop, a bit for me and a lot for an exciting interior decorating project for a museum that I'm currently working on as well... So I have absolutely no reason to be bored, but in fact I do have reason to feel utterly tired!
Oh by the way I keep listening to this on repeat, the guy is pretty popular in the Netherlands but big chance readers from all other countries have never heard this before, so enjoy!
A set of really nice vintage fondue plates
A set of cup & saucers with little ducks
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Old school
What I like
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01 Februari 2010 | 21:18:51
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I love this school series by New York based prop stylist Stephanie Hanes that I found on her flickr page a while ago. These images bring back memories of primary school, though my 1980s classrooms never looked this fancy...
Oh, and now that we've taken this road to nostalgia anyway... Did you also have (or badly want) one of these dolls that you could put make up on as a kid? I was one from that category of 'badly wanters'...
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The person behind the shop
What I like
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23 Januari 2010 | 01:06:31
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Etsy shops are often very personal shops, and that's one of the things I like so much about them. I'm a pretty curious person, so I love to see little bits of the person behind the product: seeing all members of a family modeling for a clothes designer, seeing some of the house of the artist in the back of the product photo, reading a bit of how and why the artist has made the product in the description... It all makes your 'shopping experience' (which I think is such an awful expression, by the way) so much more personal than when you buy a factory product. Which on the other hand can also be a disadvantage: finding the hair of the artist's cat or dog or the smell of the seller's perfume or cigarettes on your product may not be the kind of personal experience you're looking for... (which by the way has absolutely never happened to me when buying on etsy, but several times when purchasing through Ebay or similar auction websites)
One of the shops whose products and pictures make me really curious about the person behind them is vintage shop The Pigeon Chest. It's not just the fun vintage dresses that the shop sells: I'd especially love to peek around that house full of fun vintage finds a bit!
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Tape dispenser lust
What I like
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19 Januari 2010 | 21:51:15
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Never thought one could have lust for something like a tape dispenser... But I do now! Ever since I discovered the joys of masking tape a while ago, I've been sticking it onto every parcel I send, and I've even ordered this book to get ideas of how to use the masking tape in many other creative ways. But it's such a shame to keep all those beautiful rolls of tape in a drawer like I currently have... So one of these nice and functional tape dispensers from Happy Tape is high on my wish list. (and I think I might need the large version!) Wouldn't this look like a little work of art on a very clean desk? (which I unfortunately don't have, something I'll show you in an upcoming post!)
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He laughs because he wants to, not because he has to
What I like
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17 Januari 2010 | 21:01:32
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It's always nice to take pictures of my sweet nephew Kasper. He still has this age that he doesn't feel he has to laugh or behave specifically in front of a camera, like we adults have sort of learnt. Instead, sometimes he tries to grab the camera, sometimes he looks at it very attentively and seriously, sometimes he just looks the other way and fully ignores me & my camera, and sometimes, like on this photo, all of a sudden he gives the camera his heartfelt smile...
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It's a small online world
What I like
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15 Januari 2010 | 23:22:03
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Sometimes our blog & flickr community can lead to unexpected online encounters... A while ago Anja and I started following one anothers flickr-updates because we shared a love for art, vintage and photography. I quickly fell in love with Anja's beautiful pictures, her house full of cool vintage finds and the fun and creative pictures she took of her son Berend. One day I was browsing through her pictures a bit when I saw a familiar face: Anja had taken a picture of one of my brother-in-law's best friends! I quickly learnt that my brother-in-law and Anja knew each other from back when he studied and lived in Groningen, where Anja still lives, and that his friend is a good friend of Anja as well. What a small world... And especially funny that this wasn't a very logical 'being-part-of-a-shared-subculture'-match: my brother-in-law is an accountant who isn't particularly interested in art, craft and vintage... (he always laughs at me and all my 'crap', he and my sister are convinced that sooner or later I won't be able to move inside my own house anymore because I'll be completely 'snowed in' with all my vintage finds! ;))
After I found out about our unexpected link, I was even more curious to learn a bit more about the person behind the great photos... And because I thought you might be as well, I asked Anja to do a little blog interview, with a lot of her beautiful pictures that I think illustrate the answers very well.
Can you tell a little bit about who you are and about your creative/professional background?
I'm Anja, I live in Groningen, the Netherlands, with my son Berend. I work in a children's hospital as a social worker and also as a freelance illustrator and photographer.
Can you tell something about the role art, photography & creativity play in your life? What inspires you?I like to draw and take a lot of pictures, that just makes me really happy. Every day life and all the small things that I see and do in daily life are the things that inspire me. But also looking at photos, blogs, books with beautiful images or typography, movies, music... And traveling, because it enables you to step outside your normal life and look at things with a fresh view.
Do you have favorite photo subjects and if so, which ones?
Subjects such as color, light, graphical sketches, typography... I like to take pictures that are serene and simple, but with a twist.
What ingredients do you think are necessary for a good photo?
That's a difficult one... It's a combination of many different aspects, but which ones always depends. It may be something in the way the light falls, a combination of colors, a cut out... A good picture must provoke a feeling with me: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
What kind of house do you live in? Can you describe your decorating style?I live in an appartment that was built in the 1950s. The rooms are pretty light because of the large windows everywhere, the floors are made of oakwood. I think the apartment already has a real good 'vibe' from itself, even without the furniture.
I decorated the rooms pretty calm and serene, with soft colors on the wall and a lot of blues. I have a lot of pretty colorful collections, but I also like to be surrounded by a certain calm. I like my home to be cozy, but without a stimulus overkill.
I see a lot of vintage items and little collections in your home. Where do you find those things and which items are your favorites?I really like vintage children's books, such as the ones from the golden books series. I also collect toys made of tin, board games from the 1950s and 1960s, Bambi/deer statuettes, old paintings and frames, stamps, nice paperwares, graphic signs... I like the colors, patterns and typography that you find on stuff from the midcentury era.
I like to go to flea markets and second hand stores, but sometimes friends also give me fun vintage stuff as a present.
You have a five-year-old son, Berend. How does living with a five-year-old influence the way you live in & decorate your home?I think my home hasn't really changed since Berend was born, it's always been a practical home to live in and not a museum. Of course there are toys everywhere when you live with a kid, and our dinosaur collection has increased rather dramatically... And of course a lot of walls are filled with Berend's drawings and paintings!
What are your creative ambitions for the (near) future?
Taking more pictures and who knows starting a web shop... Lately I've been doing a lot of swaps with bloggers and through flickr, which is a lot of fun to do, so I hope to keep doing that!
Thanks Anja for answering these questions and sharing your pictures! I just had to show this one last picture (and not just because of the colorful buntings)... Anja said that in her opinion a good picture is one that provokes a feeling with the person who looks at it. Well, this one below definitely does, doesn't it?
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A swap with Dana
What I like
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14 Januari 2010 | 19:12:22
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I did a little swap with Dana, and she sent me some lovely handmade gifts. Look how happy the entrance of my kitchen looks with Dana's colorful garland... (even though there still are some dishes in the sink!)
By the way I'm preparing a really nice interview for tomorrow... so stay tuned! ;)
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The avant-la-lettre Uggs
What I like
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12 Januari 2010 | 12:14:14
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I've never been fanatically pro or con Uggs, like some people obviously seem to be: they were just one of those many trends that left me completely indifferent. But these avant-la-lettre 1980s vintage 'Uggs' that I thrifted last week make me very happy: they're so warm and comfortable, just perfect for these days of the year. We've been having snow for weeks now, which isn't very common for the Netherlands (or maybe I just forgot it is?), but on these boots I think I can live with that...
This weekend I already sort of conquered my fear of riding my bike in the snow (maybe you remember my post a little while ago about me behaving like a 90-year-old when it's snowing!): we had been to a concert on saturday night, and when we arrived back home (after one of those 90-year-old-slow-bike-rides) I learnt I had lost my frontdoor keys somewhere during the night... I was lucky Helmut was with me, so we could enter our house, but the next morning I hurried back on my bike to see if my keys were somewhere along the road that we had been riding. I was in such a hurry that I completely forgot about my riding-in-the-snow-fear, and even more lucky was that I did find my keys back, on the pavement in front of one of the bars where we'd been...
(Which in fact all has nothing to do with the subject of this blog post, the new boots, but I thought I'd mention it anyway ;))
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Happy thriftday to me
What I like
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10 Januari 2010 | 23:20:17
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Usually when I go to a thrift shop I'm on the lookout for nice vintage finds... But I don't say no to a brand new Marimekko Pakkanen mug for 25 cents either!
I have to say the find did intrigue me though. Marimekko isn't very well-known in the Netherlands and it's hard to find, cause it's only being sold in a few shops in the larger cities. Besides, it definitely isn't cheap. So you wouldn't expect someone to buy this and then give it to a thrift shop within a year (this is a pretty new design). Which makes me come to the conclusion that someone probably received this as a gift, but didn't really like it (which is terribly hard to imagine to me... But okay, maybe it was given to one of those 'it-doesn't-fit-with-the-rest-of-my-Wedgwood-tableware-so-I-don't-want-it'-folks?). So I hope no one reading here thinks: hey, I recently gave this to my friend in Den Bosch and put so much effort in finding the right gift... Though then it may be a comfort to know that it has now found a home where it will be cherished and appreciated a big lot!
By the way I also found some pretty cool 1980s 'avant-la-lettre-Uggs' that same day (which I in fact think are much better than Uggs, which I've never worn... I might show them some time later!), as well as some vintage tableware ready to redecorate, so what a happy thriftday it was! |
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