One of the shops I miss most in New York is Michele Varian. She has an incredible mix of product: There are always interesting, quirky and beautiful pieces for home (including pillows by Michele herself) and lovely jewelry; most of the products are made by independent artists. 

New in her shop are these stunning porcelain containers handmade in Brooklyn by Beetle & Flor. I love the simplicity of the shape paired with the colors and patterns of the African napkin wrapped around each container with a simple leather tie. 

Safe for food like pastas and rice, these cylindrical boxes would also be amazing containers for bathroom accoutrements like cotton balls and swabs, makeup brushes. I would actually love to get one of the smaller sizes to put on my desk to corral pens, scissors, etc. 

Tonight is the first Process Series Trunk Show at the shop featuring Beetle & Flor and other designers, brought to you by Michele Varian and Etsy. Michele has curated the trunk shows which feature products from emerging designers and will exhibit photos, tools, and moulds, providing insight into the artists' processes. The work shown will illustrate how each designer takes their inspiration from nature and interprets it differently.  The trunk show opening tonight (with Prosecco!) will be up through Sunday.

Sometimes we need a mental health day, right? Or a day where we can look at beautiful things, not necessarily to buy, but to slow down, appreciate beauty, nature, and color, to be inspired or feel renewed. I could use a day like that, but in lieu of an entire day, I can't stop looking at this image displaying a rare selection of natural pearls on loan to London's Victoria & Albert Museum from the Qatar Museums Authority Collection for a joint exhibition.

Can you believe these are natural and not man-made? The colors are so gorgeous and the shapes are perfectly imperfect. In a way, I wish you could see pearls like this more often, but then of course, these wouldn't be as rare.

Pearls, an exhibition presented by the V&A and the Qatar Museums Authority, is on exhibit at the V&A through January 19, 2014.

If you can't make it to London, as I sadly cannot, there is a great deal of information on the museum's website including some history, and additional pictures of art and jewelry that are part of the exhibit. All of the jewelry pieces are fascinating either for their unique settings or the age of the gems, some as old as the Roman Empire.

The V&A does have jewelry, books, and more for sale in their museum shop, as well. 

H/T to W magazine for making me aware of this exhibit. 


image via w magazine

Xx a

I was sitting around all afternoon trying to figure out some vaguely back-to-school or office-related post I could write for today, but I just wasn't feeling it. Then I skimmed my Facebook feed and saw two pictures that a college friend posted. He has been in Montréal for a couple days, and today went to the botanical garden there. I was amazed by what he was seeing.

The feature exhibit, called Mosaicultures Internationales®, has returned to the city after a decade-long absence. Nearly 50 incredible living sculptures have been created by horticulturist-artists from 25 different countries under the umbrella theme "Land of Hope." The event started at the end of June and runs until September 29, 2013. The detail on these pieces is pretty astounding. I'll let the works speak for themselves:

I wish I had time to drive up to Montréal in September to see the rest of the exhibit and gardens in person. The artistry is really incredible, and I still have yet to make it to Montréal. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend!

images 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, & 8 via Espace pour la vie Montréal website here and here
images 5 and 6 courtesy JP Hormillosa 


Xx a

Post-its are so functional it's generally hard to imagine them any other way. (My husband and his former co-workers would beg to differ: when my husband returned from vacation once, he found every surface of his office covered in sticky notes. This was, of course, after they had filled someone else's office so full of blown-up balloons, the guy could barely get in.)

Luckily, others are more creative. 

In 2011, Brazilian footwear company Melissa and agency Casa Darwin paired up with Post-it maker 3M for a project that took 5 months to complete. Amazing designs made entirely of Post-Its adorned the outdoor exhibit space, Galeria Melissa, at their flagship in São Paulo.

350,000 Post-its were used, and unexpectedly, visitors left love messages on more than 30,000 of the notes.

New York-based designer Jon Newman recently completed a year-long challenge to himself to create a new project each week, called Daydreams & Nightschemes. Project #38, above, uses Post-its to illustrate his love of typography as a design element. His challenge was to create a font using the notes only, though he used a portable fan to help create the letters' shapes.

It takes a minute to really see the letters, some are easier than others to make out, but it's pretty genius. His other projects are equally impressive. 

Post-it's website also has an online tool for creating wall art of your own, if you're so inclined to try your virtual hand at it. 

images via couleurblind, laughing squid, melissa, daydreams & nightschemes


*I'm also a ridiculously big fan of Home Alone...

Xx a