12.23.2010

hella jongerius' 300 vases


Dutch designer Hella Jongerius is famous for her ability to merge her handmade aesthetic with mass-production techniques for companies like Vitra and Ikea. Even her new monograph, Hella Jongerius: Misfit, published by Phaidon this January, includes these handmade elements, with a stitched spine and zine-like pages, designed by Dutch graphic designer Irma Boom. 300 special edition copies will feature even more of Jongerius's touch: She's not only signing and numbering them, she's also creating 300 one-of-a-kind vases that will accompany the books.

In this video, we see the vases being produced in Royal Tichelaar Makkum ceramic factory in the Netherlands, which has been in operation since 1572. True to form, Jongerius interacts with the pieces at each stage, demanding slight imperfections in their shapes, leaving her fingerprints in the ceramic, and choosing the layers of glaze that makes every vase different. It's centuries of tradition combined with Jongerius's dedication to craft in a way that will make the vases' 300 future owners feel very unique indeed.

Found over on Good.

stella today

Stella, 12.23.10

Stella, 12.23.10

More photos here.

12.20.2010

our stella, 2 weeks old

Alert Stella

Our Stella is two weeks old today. Every 2 hours for the past 14 days we've cuddled together as I nurse her. I play with her feet and her toes curl around my fingers. I caress the top of her head and watch her eyes lazily droop closed. We gaze at each other, mine is a look of pure love, hers a look of wide-eyed wonder. It's a magical time, and it's that time again...

Sleeping Stella

I sure do love this girl.

top it off



Academy of Style Tunic, $40


Cowlneck Henley, $58


Selvedge chambray shirt, $98


Striped Jane tee, $39.50

sky gazing

In light of the total lunar eclipse tonight, I thought I'd post these lovely constellation cards that I've had my eye on for a few weeks.





[via of paper and things]

12.14.2010

blue bottle (brooklyn) + my sister = new york times


I'm so proud of my sister, Sarah, for moving to Brooklyn this fall to work at Blue Bottle and for making it into the New York Times within a month of her arrival! See the article all about the baking she's doing at Blue Bottle.
Finally, as of Tuesday, 160 Berry Street officially enters Phase 2. Last month, Sarah Cox, who kneaded and tempered her way through Rubicon and then Dynamo Doughnuts, packed up her life and drove across country, from San Francisco to New York, with her boyfriend, Josh Capone (now at Sho Shaun Hergatt), to start acclimating to a life of baking in a new (i.e., still under construction) kitchen. “My plan is to carry on Caitlin’s whole idea and execute it,” she says, “We’re going to do a lot of the same things we do in the Bay Area but use local products in those recipes, so we can represent this location, our neighbors and really have that community feel about the products.”
I seriously want one of those "Brooklyn Bootleg" S'mores...

12.12.2010

Introducing Stella Condesa deBree

Born on Monday, December 6th at 3:24 pm. She weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces of perfection.

My labor wasn't too long, as labors go. And it went as smoothly as we could have hoped. Contractions started at 9:30pm last Sunday night at about 10 minutes apart. I labored at home until morning, and then went into the hospital where we learned I was already six centimeters dilated and was then moved into a labor room where I focused my breathing through hours of waves of strong contractions. I progressed to 10 centimeters, and pushed for 2 hours until Stella made a squawking appearance. I surprised myself. I made it through. And I was able to make it through without an epidural.

I've been recovering from the labor, resting, feeding, eating the delicious food my mom is preparing for us, and just gazing at our little Stella all week. She is endlessly entertaining, infinitely beautiful, amazingly well-tempered (knock on wood), and our own little piece of heaven.

Here are some pictures of our girl:

Stella Condesa, born 12.6.10 @ 3:24pm
Just born, and me, her proud mama.

Stella taking a little nap
Taking a nap.

Stella 3 days old
Stella, three days old, with big, big eyes.

A few more photos are posted here.

12.03.2010

morocco & spain

I so loved this travel montage that Anne of posted yesterday that I had to repost. Doesn't it make you want to take more photos and go traveling about?

Morocco & Spain from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

12.02.2010

loving this look


So cute. But ohhhhh, so expensive.

Totokaelo.

(Via Seesaw)

just us two

Rememberance of Things Past
(just us two, when we were young)

My due date has come and gone without any sign of Stella making a move to enter the world. I don't blame her. It's cozy and warm in there, and comfortably cramped.

While I cannot wait for the labor to be over and to hold her in my arms, I am selfishly enjoying the time to myself and the last few days of being a twosome with Jordan. My days are quiet and relaxing. I'm doing my best to store up my energy and get enough rest.
With our kitchen now done and no work to attend to, I get to leisurely made us breakfast every day. And then we sit down, and eat it together at our new dining room table. And we talk about what our days hold. I pack Jordan's lunch, and send him off to work with kisses. Then I head out to run pre-baby, last minute errands. I take walks. Write notes and cards. Go to yoga. Visit with friends. I watch BBC miniseries. I rest. At some point in the afternoon, I return to our kitchen, turn on some music, and start preparing dinner. I'm relishing the process: deciding what to make, chopping, stirring, baking... Then Jordan comes home, and we sit down at our table and eat the food I've lovingly prepared. We talk about our days. We talk about Stella and about how everything is about the change. We savor
every word and every bite together, because there's the possibility it will be the last meal in our world of just us two.

11.29.2010

hoxton street monster supplies

Check out the fantastic 826 Valencia/pirate supply store-inspired Ministry of Stories & Hoxton Street Monster Supplies that just opened up in east London.


The Ministry follows the model of the 826 centres: a writing centre where kids aged 8-18 can get one-to-one tuition with professional writers and other volunteers; with the centres being housed behind fantastical shop fronts designed to fire the kids’ imaginations (and generate income for the writing centres).

In our case, the shop is Hoxton Street Monster Supplies – Purveyor of Quality Goods for Monsters of Every Kind.








You can pick from a whole range of Tinned Fears (each of which comes with a specially commissioned short story from authors including Nick Hornby and Zadie Smith), a selection of Human Preserves, and a variety of other really rather fine goods.






The Ministry is designed to feel really special: the space was architected brilliantly by Andrew Lock, Catherine Grieg and David Ogunmuyiw; with fantastic wall illustrations by the very lovely Heather Sloane.



More info over at We Made This.