Charming Phaulet

I first met Paula Gonzalez from Phaulet this past March at a 2-day show that we were in together and right away noticed her warm smile and her beautiful jewelry.  We keep bumping into each other around town, and then I found her on Etsy the other day and asked if I could feature her on my blog! Her resin pendants and earrings with collaged images from old books are different and lovely- I think the pairing of the modern format and the classical or vintage imagery is really feminine and playful.  There are two sides to each pendant, with two different images that seem to tell a story when put together.  Phaulet recently got featured in the Georgia Straight in an article that describes how her concept and background from Columbia play an important role in her designs!

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Hold: for the Home

I'm excited to introduce you to a new local Vancouver Etsy shop called Hold! I think what first caught my eye when I stumbled on this shop were the great colours that Maria uses in her felted bowls! Modern and minimal but at the same time soft and cozy looking, I love the idea of giving these as gifts for those hard-to-gift people on my list, filled with nuts and a nutcracker at Christmas time.

I asked Maria to fill me in on some of the how and the why she started her shop. Here's what she wrote:
"I love the feeling of wool in my hands, and magical transformation of stitches into a felted fabric, sturdy and durable. It's a practice that allows me the equal satisfaction of working on a contained project from beginning to end. For the bowls, it takes several days to complete each one.
The process begins with colour selection, then wools are then crocheted into a floppy bowl. The bowl is then agitated in warm, soapy water, which causes the wool fibers to interlock more and more tightly. The result is a thick, felted fabric, a sturdy container. To complete, the bowls are blocked, dried, trimmed, then steamed one last time."

What a cool process and transformation the wool goes through to get to it's finished product! Thanks for the insight, Maria!

Shop: Hold

Fiona Ackerman opening at Diane Farris Gallery today!

My good friend Fiona Ackerman's solo exhibition at Diane Farris opens tonight between 6-8pm! Her abstract paintings are pretty amazing up close! There are so many layers and lovely sections that need to be seen in real life to be fully appreciated! Looking forward to going...

The Pumpkin Patch Economy

We had a great weekend in Vernon BC this past week visiting great friends and the highlight of our trip was going to the Davison Family Farm to pick pumpkins and buy fresh apples and pears. We picked the best day to go with the weather glorious and fall-like and, as you can see by the pictures, we even tried to squeek in some family photos- which got a little crazy after about the 3rd shot. We tasted their fresh squeezed apple juice, had a hot apple donut made on site and thought about how a farm like this one, owned and operated for almost a century by the Davison family, has re-invented themselves so they could stay alive and well all these years. The tractor ride with old apple crates as a train buggy drove everyone through the orchard to the pumpkin patch- for $3 a person, $6 if you picked a pumpkin too. With old grandpa Davison driving the tractor, and a line of 6 apple crates holding 4 people each, we figured they were probably making roughly over $100 a ride up to the pumpkin patch. Every 15 minutes from 10:15-5pm, well, you do the math, not too shabby for grandpa Davison.
Well, all I can say is that when you see a local place like that hopping full of people on a saturday, enjoying what the locals have to offer, all this global economy stuff feels a little far off in la-la land. I know it's going to affect the little guys- that being me as well. I've already had people reconsider their Christmas orders because they have more to consider economically. I can appreciate that. I believe in meaningful giving- not necessarily giving more, but giving well. Hand-made and local always means more to me- I appreciate the thought and care that goes into something made by hand as opposed to something mass produced. I can only hope others can appreciate that as much as I do.