DYI and Inspired projects

If you are on the dahlhaus art facebook page, you will notice that I occasionally post links to artwork or dyi projects that have been inspired by my designs! I've been finding these images on pinterest when I look up my work or my designs (you can click on the images to find their sources).

I am a big dyi fan* and really am blown away that people are becoming inspired by my work**.  It shows me that this is a design that will stick for a while and could become a total 'classic'- and to me, that's amazing! Really, I think what most makers and designers can hope for in this over-saturated, image-based, everything's been done kind of world is to be able to come up with a recognizable and identifiable mark. 

This week has been good- although I kept getting steered off course.  This seems to happen a lot these days where I have a plan for the week and a wack of things that are very promising come up and push my plan off course.  The one thing I did manage to do was to meet up with this was have lunch with  Jessica Bell who is a Vancouver artist I've been wanting to meet for some time.  Her work caught my eye when I was part of the Cheaper Show in Vancouver, and ever since, I felt she would be someone I'd want to meet (but it took 3 years to happen).  I seriously can not wait to visit her studio in the coming weeks - we have a little trade in the works that I totally thrilled about. 

Tonight is our Studio building post-holiday party that our saint of a landlord is putting on for all the artists.  Have I told you how great our landlord is?  It really is not often you meet a guy who buys a building in the city, converts the building into artist studios, charges fair rent, helps people out with moving in, building and up-dating their studio, buys kilns for a ceramic co-op, maintains the kilns so they keep working good, and then puts together a building-wide holiday party every year or 2 to get everyone together.  Seriously, this man is a saint and needs to be nominated for an award. 



*although if you say to me at a craft show: 'I can make that!' I might challenge you to try! My work is harder to make then it looks ;)!
**Of course, I'm not keen on people copying my work for profit or sale, and would really appreciate a credit link on Pinterest or blogs. This seems to be happening less and less- with linking to the original source, which is a shame.  Artists and makers work really hard to create their work, and a little nod in their direction is a great way to say 'thanks'.

Spring Studio Sale

I do hope you have been enjoying finding out about some amazing ceramic artists from my time in Seattle! I'm taking a break to let you know about a spring studio sale that's happening with a select few of us in the building.  I have been part of this annual event before and it's been the perfect place to pick up a few locally made and designed gifts for birthdays, Mother's Day, and weddings that always seem to take us by storm over the next few months.  Anyways, I'll be joining one of the studios upstairs in our building and am hoping to have a bit of new work that I'm aiming to have out of the kiln by then.  Of course there will be a little bit of clearing out with some seconds and samples. If you are from Vancouver, please come by and say hello!

Saturday April 14, Sunday April 15 11-6 at 975 Vernon Drive, Vancouver

dahlhaus at Anthropologie Vancouver

So I guess I was under the impression my vases have been in Anthropologie Stores all over North America since November.  I was wrong.  They only just arrived in December- so no, they are not sold out in Arizona like my friend was thinking because she couldn't find any when she went to check in November, they just hadn't arrived yet. 
I did manage to get to the Vancouver Anthropologie store yesterday to buy a present for my sister-in-law, so I took a few photos of their display.  So pretty! There is one lonely grey striped vase left from one of the first orders back in July (with the original $40 price on it! As opposed to the new price of $58 in Canadian stores and $48 in US stores...).  It took me an hour to do my shopping, much to Dean's dismay, but there really is so much to look at.  And really, a lot of lovely stuff including Molly Hatch's new dishes that she designed for Anthro, which I now want a whole set of.  But if you are looking for a little dahlhaus over the holidays- please do snatch up a vase or 2.  I'm a little in love with the yellow myself.

Hope you have a great weekend! Someone has a birthday here in our house, so he's wanting a bit of a party to celebrate, and then I'll be a bit sporatic with blogging next week.  All my studio work is finished for the year but my good friends at the Mergatroid building are having a last kick at the can studio sale on Saturday if you are in town and need a last minute gift.  It's from 11-6 on Saturday upstairs in the Mergatroid building (On the corner of Vernon Drive and Parker Street off of Venables and Clark in Vancouver).

You are officially invited...

Here's a little glimpse of the main wall of my studio at last year's Eastside Culture Crawl on opening night!  With about 300 artist studios open in East Vancouver, it's an amazing annual cultural event!   I'll be spending the next few days working on the show, so please excuse my absence but if you are in Vancouver, come on down.  I'm at 965 Vernon Drive, on the ground floor at the end of the hall of the Mergatroid building.  Have a great weekend and don't forget to stop by! I'll post photos of the studio here next week!

Winter Wisps

Finding beauty in a sea of brown and gray twigs and branches during the dark, wet winters can sometimes be tough.  It finally stopped raining in time for the weekend so we took the boys on lots of walks, with me bringing along my camera for a nice change.  It's amazing what you find when you look for it- these feathery seed pods for example.  So delicate and lovely! Yet something you would totally miss because they are so small. 
I've been really introspective over the past few weeks.  Mulling over how 2010 went. Brooding over how this year is going to get planned out. Trying to decide which shows to apply for while I go through my year-end accounting and make my 2011 wholesale line sheet for new shops and galleries.  All the while, I'm slowly making my way back to the studio and trying to start the whole process of making once again.  Getting back in the groove after a crazy busy show season is a real challenge.  I'm trying to look for the beauty though.  The wisps of lovely things that are coming my way.  The amazing artists and makers I've been having time to meet with and talk with.  Some of who I am excited to share with you here on my blog... all in good time. 
Hope you have a great start to your week!  H.

studio shop

It's been in the works for a couple of weeks now, a group of designers and makers from our studio building wanting to get together to have an open studio event before summer gets started!  I'll be posting more details here this month, along with some little insights and interviews with some of these great artists and designers (more than just pictured above).  If you are in Vancouver June 26th and 27th, you'll be sure to want to come by the Mergatroid Building to kick start your summer off!