Erie Basin is the quintessential, antique jewelry store / gallery in a remote part of Brooklyn, Red Hook. I had my heart set on checking the store out in person on my last trip to New York. In my naivete, I thought I could jump on a train to get there. Thankfully, my brother has a car and we drove over from Williamsburg. I would have never made it there. I heard you can take the new Ikea ferry over from Manhattan. 

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When was the last time you received a hand written thank you card from a restaurant?  Let alone a James Beard Award Winning Chef, Dan Barber of Blue Hill Farms? ‘Wow’ is all I have to say. As if the quality of the meal wasn’t enough, they just about outdid themselves with this final gesture of gratitude. 

The card is so farm chic too. 

Give a gift because you want to and can. The age old saying: ‘it’s the thought that counts’ should mean more especially in the current economic landscape. I enjoy getting more for my money at all times and apply that even to gifts I can give to people. Some are one-of-a-kind objects on ebay, like vintage housewares. All of these ideas would make really nice impromptu gifts too. Here’s a list of items and ideas under $20 bucks that can come in handy when invited to those last minute holiday secret santa parties, or as a thoughtful hostess/host gift, or simply as a gift for the person who seems to have everything.

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A holiday wreath can be the true sign as to how seriously one takes the holiday season. Do you make one, reuse a store bought, or buy a fresh one?  I went all out this year by making one. It’s something that can be stored and used year after year and making one is one way to guarantee that it won’t be boring.

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Is it just by chance that House Industries, long time font preservers and typography developers would start making actual objects for the house / home?  I think not. A recent gallery show opening in Los Angeles at Subliminal Projects, Letters and Ligatures, showcased their font genius as well as their clean, fun, modern take on housewares and textiles.  

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pencil 

“Rock Out with your Sock Out” is the big idea behind Ashi-Dashi and the super fun socks they offer. This brand new site boasting food and pop culture inspired socks was started by Ken Macy, a fellow freelancer I met a few years ago in Los Angeles.

My favorites are, of course, the “meat”, a nicely marbled steak graphic, and the “kick the Habit” cigarette tube socks. Funny.

meat 

These would make great stocking stuffers, pun completely intended, and with the special promotional code for 20% off, it might be wise to stock up on a few pairs for yourself as well as gifts. These would put a smile on any face.

kick the habit

‘Ashi-Dashi’ literally means, ’stick out your feet’, in Japanese. I was just visiting Japan and sure wish I had these kooky socks every time I was asked to remove my shoes to go in a shrine or a restaurant.  

Like they always say in advertising, socks sell.

Shop Ashi-Dashi 

PROMO CODE: SOXONTHEBEACH

20% off

good for Friday 11.14.2008 !! 

all photos courtesy of Ashi-Dashi 

I finally had had enough of my Eames dining room table that had turned into nothing more than a stage for the dance of pseudo-organized stacks of papers, receipts, periodicals, and bills. These were constantly being rearranged and reorganized, but never getting put away. Basically, an open filing cabinet on display, 24 hours a day.

I headed down to Silica Three, a Danish and European second-hand furniture warehouse that a friend had caught wind of on Apartment Therapy as well as on Craigs List. Apparently, this is no secret since another friend had purchased a vanity here a few months back. This day, I was on a mission to “just look” and see what was available in the form of a credenza to organize or hide the method to my madness. 

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Sample sale info for Steven Alan NYC in Los Feliz.

It’s dangerously close to home for me and way less a pain than going downtown and having to hunt for parking.

Just when I should be thinking of others for the holidays, and not myself. I can literally go right after pilates next week at 8:30 am.

Thanks to my cousin, Joyce, for the tip and she doesn’t even live in LA!

Whitney Smith’s organic inspired items to adorn the table and home are warm and modern, which is no small design challenge. I first discovered this ceramic artist’s beautiful vessels and platters at Miette in San Francisco at the Ferry Building location and wanted to learn more about her. They have hints of Bauer and Japanese ceramics but are also completely unique with a cool antique vibe.

A couple years ago I was obsessed with hunting for vintage Indiana milk glass cake platters on ebay. They come in the common white, not-so-common black, and a few other milky colors, like light green and pink. These are borderline kitschy and part of a sensibility that is quite “grandma chic”. 

Whitney Smith’s cake stands are anything but, though you could gift one to a grandma and she would be the coolest grandma ever.

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This valuable information found it’s way to wallFlour, via the founder and brainchild behind UNIQUE Los Angeles, Sonja Rasula. 

After checking out the site, It is my moral consumer and design junkie duty to spread the word about UNIQUE Los Angeles. Just in time for the holidays, the big sale event will be held the weekend of December 13th and 14th in downtown LA. The event is sponsored by Etsy, but feels less “crafty” and more urban than I would assume of the Renegade Craft Fair that first started in Chicago, IL. And less Readymade Magazine too. Crafts are making a huge come back but are less rough around the edges than they used to be. Being crafty today means letter pressing your own stationery and gift tags and making your own clothes that are runway ready.

Here’s a blurb about the sale to peak your interest and a sneak peek at some vendors that have already signed up to sell their goods. If you are an interested vendor, applications are due November 2nd, so hurry! 

“UNIQUE LOS ANGELES is an exciting two-day shopping event that showcases independent design talent at great prices. Just in time for the holiday shopping season, the event brings together over 150 of the best designers, artists and merchants. We believe in supporting the community, we thrive on individualism, and we hope to introduce independent design to the masses. Whether you’re a hipster, a soccer mom or a tween, at UNIQUE LOS ANGELES  there truly is something for everyone!Clothing & Accessories • Stationery • Jewelry • Housewares • Artwork • CeramicsGourmet Edibles • Plush Toys • Books • Photography • Screenprints • Plus more! “

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My pilates partner, Susann, tipped me off on a YSL retrospective show she saw in Montréal a couple months ago. Pilates has been one of the few forms of exercise I manage to stick to year after year. An added benefit of these sessions is learning about new things and top secret sources for taking good care of yourself, like the best facialists and restaurants to go to. I wanted to get my paws on the exhibit catalog, but could not stomach the international shipping fee off of the Montréal Museum of Fine Arts site, about $20 bucks a book.  eek.  I happened to find the book on Amazon and what a deal it was.  

After some online research, I could not find any information about the show traveling to other cities and in my head I knew there was no museum in Los Angeles that would house the exhibit. 

Good news! The exhibit is coming to the West Coast at the Deyoung Museum in San Francisco, that also had the exhibit about a year ago of Vivienne Westwood. Another incentive to visit this gastronomical city again in the next couple months. In a perfect world, I would be attending the opening night gala event.

The YSL exhibit will be on display for its stateside debut November 1, 2008- April 5, 2009.  It is the luxury house’s 40th anniversary and its first show in 25 years, since the one from the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, only retrospective show of a living designer back in 1983.  

DeYoung Museum

50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive

Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA 94118

The show is put together in collaboration with the designer’s former partner, the Pierre Bergé Foundation.  Yves St Laurent passed away June 1, 2008, earlier this year. Please see my tribute to him in a previous entry.

S is for Scandinavian F is for Function…Ok, so where’s the least likely place to see a beautifully curated and thorough exhibit of Scandinavian Modern furniture, ceramics, and glassware? If your answer was the Greyhound station, close but I was recently pleasantly surprised by a large 2 case exhibit at the SFO airport in the international terminal, Scandinavian Modernism:  In Pursuit of Function and Beauty.  OooOoooOoooo!  The title alone, says worlds about the design era, which spanned almost 50 years, starting in the late 20’s through the late 60’s. What does the ‘O’ in SFO stand for anyways?

X chair 1960 // Peter Hvidt 

I was merely flying back to LA on a quick 24-hour trip, but had flown Virgin Atlantic which is based out of this terminal. What luck! The design gods were looking down on me. 

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Last week I ventured over to the Sunset Junction, Farmer’s Market on Saturday morning for the first time. The actual produce farmers’ stalls number about 10-12 total and there’s an equal amount of food stalls and crafters. Not super impressive for the home chef, but easy to get to and get through without the hassle of the Hollywood Farmer’s.

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If you are a sucker for design-y hotels like I am, Hotel Healdsburg will satisfy your needs. Whenever I’m at a loss of places to stay, I look on Tablet Hotels and see what’s in the area of where I am headed.  We were torn between staying at Farmhouse Inn, Indian Springs Resort (Calistoga), and this place. The tricky part here was we needed a room that could accommodate 4 people and we went with the convenience of being in a small town and not as isolated, like our other options. 

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I am finally getting around to writing up my visit to the Modernica factory in downtown Los Angeles.  Between hosting mulit-course food tasting parties, working fulltime, and keeping up with every new food destination popping up in town, writing about the things I love sometimes have to wait. I figured since I am still on my sugar high from Scoops, I should get to it right now.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to get a lowdown as to how things are done, by the co-owner and founder of Modernica, Frank Novak.  What ensued for the next couple hours was not a heated debate about design authenticity, but more a discussion of what two enthusiasts of good design had to share with one another. My guess is that I was invited down there by my honest display of confusion that I proclaimed in my article regarding the Eames Demetrios letter in Dwell magazine last month.  As for making sense of my messy note taking while walking and talking, well I hope what I recap is accurate.

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