Good Work: Silva/Bradshaw

I am in love with this jewelry from the design duo Silva/Bradshaw.

Artist/designers Matthew Bradshaw and Sergio Silva met while studying industrial design at Pratt.  They design some pretty gorgeous items and just last month they launched their jewelry line.  I love how their pieces are simple in form yet intricate and that the rings can also double as necklaces.  Either way, these are statement pieces.  I am also currently swooning over their Dyvel Table, which consists of two parallel glass surfaces held in tension by four wooden legs.  Spend some time on their site checking out their other amazing creations.

*via Co Design

Moment: The Joy of Building a Terrarium

Nearly a year ago, I wrote about my love for terrariums, these magical little contained environments.  This year for my birthday Dan gave me a certificate to go and build my very own terrarium at Sprout Home in Williamsburg.

There seem to be two main types of terrariums, one that is fern and moss based and one that is cacti based.  I went for the latter since they are supposedly a bit easier to care for and because I liked the variety of plants that Sprout had to choose from. Sprout carries a number of different vessels to house the terrariums.  I picked this one by a company called Roost which takes recycled glass and hand blows it without a mold. After layering some lava rocks for drainage, charcoal to prevent mold and a top layer of soil,  I picked out about six different types of cactus for mine.  I also brought some coral and a sea urchin shell that I collected from our various trips to add to the mix.  I am absolutely in love with it and think this might just be my favorite birthday present ever.  Big thanks to Leah, the terrarium expert at Sprout, for all the guidance in building this beauty!

Oh MY: Mast Brothers Chocolate

Some of you may remember this post I did a while back with the amazing photos that The Selby took as part of the advertising campaign for Cole, Rodd and Haan. Well folks, he has gone and done it again.  This time, The Selby takes us on a beautiful tour of one of my all time favorite chocolate houses, Mast Brothers Chocolate.  Rick and Michael Mast are the handsome duo behind these delicious chocolates that are handmade in Brooklyn .   These boys are true artisans and are one of the few “bean-to-bar” chocolatiers, which means they own the entire process of making their chocolate from sourcing the cocoa beans from Venezuela, Ecuador and Madagascar to roasting, grinding, molding and eventually packaging it all up.  The Selby does a wonderful job of illustrating the whole process from start to finish, so please check out the whole series here.

Not only is this some seriously delicious chocolate (my favorite is the Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Sea Salt), but every bar comes beautifully packaged in Italian wrapping paper; it’s like unwrapping a gift each time.

You can find their chocolate at any of these amazing little shops:

A Little of What You Fancy 19 Newtown Lane, East Hampton, NY 11937
Bedford Cheese Shop 229 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Bierkraft 191 Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Branford Green Grocer 1036 Main Street, Branford, CT 06405
Brooklyn Larder 228 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Dean & Deluca 560 Broadway, Manhattan, NY 10012
France 44 4351 France Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55410
Grab 438 7th Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Marlow & Sons 81 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Miette Confiserie 449 Octavia Boulevard, San Francisco, CA 94102
Murray’s Cheese 254 Bleecker Street, Manhattan, NY 10014
Park Slope Food Coop 782 Union Street, Brooklyn, NY 11215
Provisions 150 Beekman Street, Manhattan, NY 10038
Rubiner’s Cheesemongers    264 Main Road, Great Barrington, MA 01230
Spuyten Duyvil Grocery 218 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Stinky Bklyn 261 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Stone Barns 630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills, NY 10591
Urban Rustic 236 North 12th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211

World Building in a Crazy World

Many of you are probably familiar with Jonathan Harris.   He is, in my mind, a genius.  While he has created a number of fantastic projects, he seems to have gotten the most press for We Feel Fine, an interactive exploration of human emotion, which also just recently became the We Feel Fine book.  If you haven’t checked it out, do.

More recently, he created a series of vignettes titled World Building in a Crazy World, which are based on a talk he gave at UCLA as part of the Mobile Media Lecture Series.  When I first came across them, I was in a cozy hotel in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome wrapping up a two week vacation and mildly dreading heading back to NYC.  After reading them, my mind shifted; I wanted to dive back into the projects I was working on and see how I could make them better.  I became “less concerned with how the world is, and more with how the world could and should be.”  As Jonathan sees it, the series is about the current state of the digital world.  As I see it, the vignettes are about life and how to be more conscious of how we live it.

Think about his points.  Soak them in.   Apply them to your life where it feels right.  I did and I’m a better person because of it.

Oh MY: Leica + Hermes

Seriously, Leica?   Does it get anymore gorgeous than this?   This classic M7 35mm gets the special treatment with a silver chrome finish and thanks to Hermes, a choice of either orange or tan calfskin leather.   Orange please!  This beauty can be delivered to your doorstep in a linen-covered, silk-lined box for a mere £8,550 (about $14,250).

*via engadget

For the Love of Bento

The NYTimes has a great story about the gaining popularity of Bento Boxes.  One of the bento creators they feature is “Bentomom” who posts the photos of the bentos she makes for her kids on Flickr.  Her attention to detail is amazing and so cute.  You can see more of her clever creations here and the full NYTimes here.

moment: Ace Hotel PDX

On a recent trip to Portland, we made an evening out of a delicious dinner at Clyde Common and a late night photobooth session next door at The Ace Hotel.

Dinner:
-pork belly served on top of a fried green tomato, pocha beans and piccalilli
-roasted beets with potatoes, boiled eggs, pickled carrots and touch of fennel
-grilled flatiron steak accompanied by a smoked tomato relish
-roasted peach shortcake with a maple-bourbon ice cream and a dollop praline cream

Cocktail of choice:
East of Eden: Bombay Dry, lemon, elderflower liqueur, Gewurtzraminer reduction and an egg white served up

Summer perfection.

Storm King Art Center

Last week we had the opportunity to spend the day up at the Storm King Art Center.  Storm King is a sprawling 500 acre museum filled with sculptures by Alexander Calder, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Mark di Suvero, Richard Serra, Ursula von Rydingsvard and many others.  Imagine rolling hills, birds, wild flowers and the ability to wander and explore from all angles.  Regardless of the cloudy skies and sprinkles, it was a perfect way to spend a day.  We’ll no doubt be back again soon for a picnic and more wandering.