Pinterest Picks of the Week

As I mentioned in my last post, I've been spending quite a bit of time on Pinterest lately. One must practice constant vigilance in planning for their future house, defining their personal style, and finding fitness motivation, otherwise who knows what might happen. I figured I'd start sharing my favorite images each week because there really are some beautiful graphics on that site. Check out my Pinterest boards to see the original pins, and don't be surprised if you get sucked into the blackhole of DIYs and OOTDs.

The Tiny Transforming Apartment

Ariella and I renewed the lease on our amazing apartment last night(!), and signing on to the same space for a whole other year made me think a little decoration-tinkering might be in order—you know, to keep things fresh. So as I was Google-ing "how to transform your average NYC apartment" (because, as always, Pinterest has me wanting more), I stumbled across an interesting solution to the severe lack of space in NYC. "The Tiny Transforming Apartment That Packs Eight Rooms into 420 Square Feet" was designed by LifeEdited and is the brainchild of Graham Hill. Creative? Yes. Liveable? Perhaps, depending on your character and if you are the kind of person willing to pull out your bed every night and unpack your oven tops. I personally am not, but I love the concept of endless storage units. It is a firm belief of mine that one can never have too many places to put things. But the every-surface-is-a-closet situation doesn't leave much opportunity for wall hangings...I guess you can't win 'em all.

Would you live here?

Emoji-Nation

More fun with modernizing art! Ukrainian artist Nastya Nudnik pairs famous paintings with applicable social media-speak. My favorite is the Edward Hopper piece below, which reminds me of this Banksy-esque street art. Because isn't that feeling of no new Instagram followers the worst?

Hip Hop + Art = Fly Art

It's a surprisingly beautiful marriage you don't often see: the aggressive (if not occasionally witty) rap lyric mixed with the classical beauty of fine art. It's the type of stuff my mother would hate because she would detest the foul language and wouldn't understand the written references. I would suggest she listen to more Jay-Z, but I would also most definitely not suggest she listen to more Jay-Z. A classic catch-22.

Fly Art is a project "born out of boredom, frustration, and the internet" and inspired by other genius art hacks like Swoosh and The Carter Family Portrait Gallery. Class and taste aside, I think it's pretty on point for Millennials (excuse the obnoxious self-awareness) and hip-hop aficionados. The juxtaposition ends up breathing some cultural relevancy into the Old Masters and everything ancient is new again.

I've curated (if you will) a few of my favorite NSFW images below. If you can name the songs titles, you get 2 points. If you can name the paintings, you get 5. And if you can name both, let's date.

Spotted by Ariella.
Spotted by Danielle: Wearable Fly Art x Rad.

 

Gold Heads

As many of you know, I went to Wash U to pursue a sculpture major. I ended up switching to fashion because sculpture is something that, no matter what, I'll always be doing regardless of my job. Fashion, however, was something new to learn and would open many more doors than sculpture would. Since moving to New York, I've been searching for the right career path in fashion, but sculpture is something I've consistently kept up with. I rented some studio space in Brooklyn in a beautiful facility with a wonderful community, and I've been spending a lot of my free-time there. I've working on sculptures that are a smaller version of what I did in high school/college  because I just don't have the storage for any more 5 foot sculptures! The process of making these guys is a rather long-winded one, as I have to sculpt them, wait for them to dry, bisque fire them, apply the white glaze, fire them again, then wait until I have enough of them to fill the small kiln (which I have to rent out) to high-fire for the gold lacquer. So all in all it's taken several months to complete all of these.  

Being in studio is my happy place as I just sculpt while going back and forth between listening to NPR to catch up on world news and serious deep-thinking time. The only problem now is forcing myself out into the polar vortex to get there. I'm also trying to decide/figure out the whole "making money" thing as a sculptor- so let me know if you have any ideas! (There are a few more pictures over at my website)

 

Essentials

Check out Essentials by MIJLO. The sustainable backpack company (watch their kickstarter here) asked a few "global creatives" to photograph their most essential possessions accompanied by an equally essential bag. I love the idea and found it fascinating to see what people consider "essentials", ranging anywhere from their favorite lip balm to their laptop and keys. Below are a few of my favorites. But above is my own rendition of the project. I took it a step further, however, and asked myself, "If my apartment set on fire, what would I grab to take with me?" Pictured above are a few of my favorite things and, if you care to know, I'll explain why. Pictured from top left and moving clockwise:

1. The embroidered jacket I bought in Uzbekistan this past summer.
2. The heaviest book I own: a stunning collection of Gustav Klimt's work, given to me on my 22nd birthday by my grandparents.
3. A Hermès bracelet from my mother.
4. Below that is a textile wood block print from India from my grandfather.
5. Totally rad Alexander Wang sunglasses (with gold tips) from my mother this past Christmas.
6. A wooden shuttle I received in the small village outside Luang Prabang, Laos, where I learned to weave on a traditional loom while researching textiles in Southeast Asia. (One heckuva summer)
7. My favorite piece of jewelry, a Mawi necklace.
8. A wonderful gold bow made for me by my friend Jessie.
9. A bottle of Tom Ford's Noir de Noir (my absolute favorite perfumist).
10. A pair of boots I bought in Ibiza several summers ago, made from Moroccan carpets.
11. A vintage golden chain link cape my parents gave to me as a graduation present after my senior fashion show.  
12. Lastly, a leather bag I bought at Portobello Market in London. It's everything I've always wanted in a backpack, and it's lasted through a lot. 

Now for these guys:

What would YOU pack?

How-To: Repurpose New Year's Eve Decorations

Hello! Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday full of food, family, and resolutions just waiting to be broken! Just kidding. I have complete faith in you all. One of my resolutions this year is to read more books and watch less TV. So guess what I did last night? I read a book while watching a movie! Baby steps, right? (I started "Hotel Rwanda" but then I was like WAIT WHAT AM I DOING so before I lost all hope in humanity I switched to the "First Wive's Club" and paged through "Where'd You Go, Bernadette?" by Maria Semple. Blissful ignorance prevails!! How great is this scene from the movie, though? It had me dancing around my apartment and wishing I was a middle aged divorcée.)

But before we get too far ahead of ourselves, I wanted to revisit New Year's Eve because that is one of my highest rated holidays. Why? GOLD. Gold everywhere. And sequins. Gold sequins are practically the uniform of New Year's Eve and people will give you the stink eye if you choose not to participate. Therefore my roommate and I decided to throw a party. However, throwing a New Year's Eve party is tricky. There's a lot of pressure for NYE. Everyone has this vision of being at the perfect party in the perfect party dress and receiving the perfect midnight kiss. So everyone kind of waits around for an invitation to said party, but no one is throwing one because they assume everyone else already has plans. So until one brave friend steps up to the plate and bites the bullet (thanks Julia!) there aren't many house parties on NYE (but if you're looking for club parties, New York City is a goldmine).

In light of that, we decided to do the logical thing and host a New Year's Eve Eve party on the 30th. And it was a hit! It was titled "Penultimate: A Beer In Review". We ran out of food and alcohol so that's a sure sign it was well attended, right? Either that or we are terrible party planners. My sister Selina was visiting from Singapore so she, Ariella and I made the trip over to Party City and stared in awe at the millions of options for decorations. Literally some of the most inane things can be sold if you slap "Happy New Years!" on it. We decided to stick with a more modest selection of gold tinsel and gold solo cups  (see below) which should replace the red ones at all college parties in my humble opinion.

After a wonderful night with close friends and even closer strangers, we awoke to an apartment that looked like King Midas had projectile vomited on. (For clarification, that is not a negative description). But, alas, one cannot live in such a state. So what were we to do? Throw out all the gold decorations? What a waste! I decided to find a way to recycle them. My bedroom door was in need of a little sprucing up, so I took the gold tinsel and did a little Sweet Nothing number to it. See below for my DIY on re-loving your New Year's decorations. 

Gift Guide Part IV: For Your Friends Who Are So Wide Ranging And Diverse, You Don't Really Know How To Sum Them Up In A Few Phrases.

1. Tattly One Year Subscription $60 Because these are the best temporary tattoos ever and to receive 8 of them in the mail every month would be like Christmas once a month.
2. Anthropologie Tiled Fado Guitar $3,600. If there was ever a Tiled Fado Guitar to spend $3,600 on, this would be it.
3. Topman White Canvas Backpack $100 For your stylin' guy friends. Or for your stylin' girlfriends. This is pretty unisex, I think. I'd wear it.
4. Duncan Shotten Rainbow Pencils $Kickstarter For your artsy friends. Because then at the end of a long drawing session you can have little rainbows spread all around and it will bring joy and happiness.
5. Mudpuppy Ceramic Skull Planter $42 I would tell you who I'd give this to, but then I'd have to kill you. #secrets
6. Free People Galloon Lace Halter Bra $38 For your friends that don't wear real bras.
7. Darling Magazine Subscription $20 The most perfect magazine for the most perfect friends.
8. West Elm Square Lacquer Tray $24 Can't go wrong with gold monogrammed things amiright?
9. Tina Zellmer Asia Map This beautiful map for your Southeast Asia-wanderlusting friends.
10. Marc by Marc Jacobs Eye Stud Earrings $48 Precious and (again) *designer*.
11. J. Crew Back Up Battery for iPhone $40 Because New York City drains iPhone batteries like it's its job.
12. Dwell Studio Draper Stripe Major Throw $198 For your friends who have long commutes and an obssesion with stripes.
13. Rothshank Wheel Thrown Beyonce Mug $39 No explanation needed for this one. But bonus points if you accompany it with her new visual album (duh).
14. Natural Quilts $50. These hand block printed and natural dyed quilts will brighten up any room.
15. Diptyque Orange Chai Candle $32 Because orange is a happy color and chais are yummy.
16. Wolfum Floral Pop Teepee $325 Who wouldn't want this in their apartment??

How To: Glitter Cards

I've had quite a few birthdays and house warming parties to attend recently (I'm so popular) and my go-to has been doing a little watercolor and ink illustration of the receiver (everyone loves a portrait of themselves). But if you want something a little more simple but with some sparkle factor, here's a great way to pull together a card when you remember last minute or just don't want to spend $10 on stationary.