patrick kyle

patrick kyle's stew maker

patrick kyle's shield bearer

When I first came across Patrick Kyle's work, I didn't quite know how I felt about them. I thought that the color schemes and compositions were amazing, but I think I was most taken aback with how you can discover something new each time you look at them. They are incredibly detailed and yet it's like you're not quite sure what you're looking at. In many ways, they remind of Hokusai's portaryals of Japanese ghost stories.

hokusai's kohada koheiji

hokusai's sara-yashiki

I can see both the stew maker and the shield bearer having complex back stories just like a traditional Japanese ghost story. For instance, kohada koheiji, which is about a man who is killed by his wife and her lover and as revenge comes to their room every night and peeks over the misquito netting that surrounds their bed. Or sara-yashiki, where a maid is bound and thrown into a well for breaking an expensive set of plates. Pleasant, I know, but extremely interesting.

featured: cynthia vardhan ceramics on etsy

small black and red dish

Ceramics have never really been an interest of mine, but I've realized that's because I've been looking in the wrong places. Growing up, the only ceramics I ever saw were flowery bowls and paisley patterned platters. Recently, however, I've been exploring the more modern side of pottery.

Cynthia Vardhan's ceramics are just that. I love the way that the patterns are almost so perfect that they seem mass produced and yet they have that handmade quality that makes each piece refreshingly unique. In so many ways they seem to blur the line between classic ideals and more modern aesthetics.

black and white bud vase

thundercloud vase

egg egg holder

My love for this egg holder comes with a story. When I was in high school, I brought two hard boiled eggs to lunch everyday, in a brown paper lunch bag. One day when I sat down at the lunch table, I discovered only one egg and an egg-sized hole at the bottom of the bag. While I wasn't particularly upset about only having one egg in my lunch, I was a little bit concerned about where the egg had gone off to. When I got back to my locker, the egg was smashed into the carpet so thoroughly that you couldn't even tell what it had once been. Unless you were one of my friends, who got endless enjoyment out of it.

egg egg holder at the A + R Store

Anyway, I ended up having to put the eggs in a plastic lunch bag so that any moisture they gave off didn't help them escape the paper bag again. This egg egg holder, which can by found at the A + R Store, definitely would have saved a lot of plastic while looking awesome at the same time.

this many card

Read more at Design*Sponge

Simple, interactive, and absolutely stunning, the "This Many Card" by W + K Studio lets you color in the appropriate amount of candles for whoever you're sending the card to. This would have come in handy a few months ago when I needed to buy a seventieth birthday card and discovered that sixty is as high as you can find in most stores.

pocky earrings

pocky earrings by mishibu

While I love the idea of the "geekery" section on etsy, I typcally wouldn't actually wear any of the items that are usually featured there. 

The beauty of these pocky earrings by mishibu, however, is that for many, they are just another pair of dangling earrings. In that way, you don't have to wear them with your favorite Zelda t-shirt, but could actually wear them with a cute summer dress or out to dinner with friends.

ice cream lamp

ice cream lamp at fredflare

I've had my eye on this giant ice cream lamp for I don't know how many years now. I've seen a few different variations of the idea but unlike some of the overly kitschy ones, I imagine that the standard vanilla gives of a warm light that would help any room feel cozy.

Anyway, I think this would be great in a way that only an over-sized frozen treat could manage.

featured: crafterall on etsy

auke bay

prince of wales island

the great lakes

I recently stumbled upon crafterall's intricate paper crafts on etsy and was instantly smitten. Cut-outs have been particularly popular lately but I love how these pieces take the concept a step further. The added dimension that the layers create, along with the vibrate colors, make these pieces come to life. And unlike many that focus on the grid systems of cities, the organic shapes of these bodies of water seem to almost undulate and grow.

long exposure flight paths

more at how to be a retronaut

hello, stud

1. riveted diamond posts at anthropologie 2. coal geo earrings by a merry mishap 3. mint tea mini hearts at fredflare 4.colored pencil ear studs by huiyi tan 5. recycled skateboard mini skinny stud earrings by all deck'd out 6. gold vintage seashell studs by diament jewelry

modern string art

string art on wood by hownowdesign

In the room that I slept in at my grandmother's house, there were two pieces of string art hanging on the wall. One, of a horse, was on black velvet and had a fringed mane that hung free. The other was a mustard and brown mushroom that my mother had made as a child. While I was never particularly drawn to them, I feel that their presence in my life is what is compelling me to like hownowdesign's modern take on string art.

The contrasting colors are striking and the relatively simple shape is complicated by intersecting lines and added dimension. Needless to say, I think this would look great hanging on my wall. 

cupcakes

hot chocolate cupcakes by diary of a ladybird

Although I've considered myself to be a baker for many years now, I'll admit that fondant has always scared me. In fact, I've never used it to decorate anything. However, after seeing these beyond adorable cupcakes that look like a cup of hot chocolate, I think I may need to overcome that fear.

featured: tsurubride on etsy

silver elephant purse

gold hedgehog purse

teal alligator purse

While I tend to wear pretty plain clothes most of the time, I feel like accessories are where you should be able to have some fun. That's exactly why tsurubride's shop on etsy is so fantastic. These bags act as great conversation starters and are sure to get you excited about going out.

yumaki

I'm pretty sure that I can count the amount of toothbrushes I've purchased in my lifetime on one hand. I usually just settle for the free one that the dentist gives me, a purple one if I've given the choice. But after seeing the toothbrushes that Yumaki offers, I'm starting to think that it's not such a bad idea to invest in something that you use several times a day, everyday. It's no surprise to me that when a Scandinavian design company got together with a Japanese oral care factory, the results were this practical, and yet extremely stylish.

Vanilla

Not only are these toothbrushes sleek and colorful, they also have fun names that create a unique identity for each one. New designs are released each season, allowing you to change your toothbrush along with your wardrobe. I think my personal favorite is 'wisdom', followed closely by 'ska'.

Wisdom

Ska

But enough about the toothbrushes. I also really like the company. Their brushes are made out of recycled materials and they strongly encourage the recycling of their toothbrushes. So, for every three brushes that you send back to them, you get one free one. That alone makes me think about where are the other toothbrushes of the world end up.

lee price

In today's society, the way that we perceive ourselves is greatly affected by body image. I can say that I spend way too much time throughout the day thinking about how others are viewing me. And in my case, that thought process is strongly dependent on my food habits. I tend to feel great about myself in the morning before I eat anything, but after breakfast, even if it's a healthy one, I feel as if I'm ten pounds heavier. This is where the brilliance of Lee Price's figurative realist paintings come into play.

Jelly Doughnuts

They are beautiful and realistic in a way that I haven't seen since Chuck Close's early works and yet they say so much more. The bird's eye view makes it as if you're looking in on something that maybe you shouldn't be seeing, while at the same time creating an extreme amount of intimacy. Intimate not only because we're in her bedroom or bathroom but also because we're watching her binge on junk foods, something that society forces us to do in private. We've all had moments of feeling guilty about something we've eaten, but why? Lee Price questions this cultural relationship with food and in such a stunning way that it is hard to believe these are not photographs. 

Lemon Meringue

Refuge

More of her work can be seen at her website.

printed nails

Sometimes I like something so much I just have no words. All I can say about this nail design is that it is fracking amazing. Even the color of the nail polish is perfect.

Find out how to do it at More Design Please.

hi!

If I could choose one material to work exclusively with, it would be paper (hence the name papier-mâché). While I think there are endless projects I could tackle involving paper, I could never have made something as amazing as clothing company Giordano’s “Say Hi to the World!” concept. Who doesn't love a cardboard double-decker bus? It's amazing when so much detail can be conveyed with such minimal materials. I especially like the simplicity of the color scheme that fuses all of the images together and really makes all of these different places seem like they are part of one unified world. While the proportions may be a little bit off, this only seems to add to the whimsical world.

 

As seen on Paper Crave.

extra virgin olive oil

Antico Frantoio Muraglia 'Intenso' Extra Virgin Olive Oil

If you couldn't already tell from my previous posts and obvious obsession with housewares, I really enjoy cooking. Olive oil is one of the ingredients that I use daily and therefore it deserves to be in a gorgeous container, like this one from Dean & Deluca. Not only is the olive oil of the highest quality, but the traditional Puglian jar that it comes in would look great on any counter top. I'd even look forward to all of the ways I could reuse it once the olive oil is gone. 

brick by brick

Metaphorical Horizons by Lene Rønsholt Wille

I'm not sure what I love the most about this piece. Aside from the wonderful texture and pattern the legos create, I also love the way that it works within the space and the questions is rises about function and design. Above all it makes me wish that Lego would release modern lego sets that allowed you to recreate modern pieces of art work. I can already imagine the Donald Judd set!

Metaphorical Horizons by Lene Rønsholt Wille