not fair.  growing up in paris.  found here.

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SOOOOOO behind on posting!  sorry sorry sorry!  its been a little hard, as the days leading up to Christmas were really busy at the store, and then well, it was christmas!  So, Merry Christmas everyone!!!  I hope your holidays are brilliant!  I shall try to resume so normal posting schedule starting…NOW!

This SNAPSHOT is of another friend of mine, SATOMI JIN.  We met a couple years ago when I was looking to hire an artist to work with me and a mutual friend sent me her contact info and a raving recommendation about how brilliant she was…and….she was/is.  

The piece above, while small here, in actuality is nearly 13 FEET WIDE!  now, its not obvious here, but these orbs or organic shapes are comprised of, likely billions of teeny timy little hand-drawn pencil circles…clrcles about the size of the dot above your hand-written “i”.  I know it can’t be as impactful as in person, but I am floored by the notion of it. 

This piece of hers, a sewn patchwork grenade made out of lovely little pastel floral fabrics sealed the deal for me! I HAD to hire her!

Nippon Japan:

We no longer work together, but she and I are still friends and are supposed to be getting together  (we did in fact get together) for an afternoon date to Loganberry books next week (thank you Stephanie for the recommendation, i still cannot believe I had not known about this Cleveland gem!).

So, I am LOOOOONNNNNNGGGGGG overdue for another SNAPSHOTS installment, hope you enjoy this and look out for an upcoming post about Satomi’s equally talented husband, Matt:

SNAPSHOTS: Satomi Jin

Hometown: Kawaskaki, Japan

How did you end up in Cleveland?:  I got a job as a ceramics teacher at Ruffing Montessori School in Cleveland Heights. (this is danielle again, i just want to interject that Satomi has found herself here NOW because of this job, but originally met her husband, a native Clevelander while in college in Columbus, which initially led her from Japan to Ohio…she told me i could fill in any blanks if i wanted to)

Top things you miss about Japan?:  Food, My family, and shopping

What would you like us to know about your hometown?:  Kawasaki is located between Yokohama (Bay City) and Tokyo (Manhattan x 100).  But when I am there I usually go to Tokyo to hang out.

Take me on a tour from wake to slumber of a perfect idealized day in your hometown:  Go hiking in a mountain, got to day spa and go to a beach.  have delicious dinner and go to hot springs in the hotel

Favorite writers & artists from your country:  My favorite writer/artist is Kenji Miyaza.  He lived (to in his mid 30’s) in late 19th century - early 20th century.  He wrote very sophisticated cute short stories about animals and people and nature.  He was also a farmer, geologist, poet and painter.

Favorite shopping in and around Tokyo?:  In Tokyo, I love to go to Muji shops.  Simple, good quality, and very reasonable prices. (muji.com) I also love the biggest department store in Shinjuku called Isetan.  They are like a Barneys NY plus Nordstrom.  I don’t get to buy much, but very inspirational.  Kyoto and Takayama (it is in mountainous area, smaller version of Kyoto) are the other favorite cities to travel and shop.  They have beautiful traditional craft shops and antique shops and much more!

In general, what would you say are the biggest differences between life in USA versus life in Japan?  One of the big differences is everything you see in Japan is smaller and skinier.  Houses, highways, buses and cars and people.  It is very convenient to go anywhere, and do something. Transportation systems are super accurate and efficient. Every where you go you will get very good, detailed and thorough services (sometimes it is too much!).  Politcs, education systems, culture and history….they are all very different from US. But the climate in Japan is very similar to Cleveland!

Satomi gave me a Japanese catalog, Zappa catalog, for inspiration.  I can’t quite order out of it, i mean for one, its all in Japaneses and it happens to be an older issue that she bought at a store while living in Seattle a couple years ago…but i DO often refer back to it for inspiration.  It is so clean and simple and full of the most charming and practical items by such talented designers!  I found their website but it’s not nearly as pretty as the catalog!

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I am so excited about some of the stuff coming in to my store, ROOM SERVICE, for holidays!  Some items have already come in (and practically sold out: PANTONE MUGS) but most of my gift items are yet to come.  I will (hopefully) get around to putting together a holiday gift guide, with some of my favorite gift ideas (and NOT just ones bought through Room Service), but in the meantime, i have to share with you something I have ordered in specifically for the holiday shopping season.

Paige Russell…Her ceramics are incredible.  really clean.  really cool.  I for one am going to have to get the MONSTER TRUCK piece ($85)!  I think I am going to use it for makeup pencils in my bathroom!  I have limited quantities in stock, pieces can be special ordered.  From Paige’s collection RS has some of her ceramic jewelry, canisters and use-for-whatever-you-like monster truck and camper vessels. (prices ranging from $35-$85.

Paige Russell (f.k.a. Paige Stahl) was born and raised in British Columbia,Canada. She studied Fine Arts at Langara College in Vancouver and went on to earn a BFA in Product Design from Parsons School of Design in NYC.

Voted most sportsmanlike for 7th grade volleyball, Russell was also named one of the “Top 20 young designers to watch out for” in the 2001 edition of Wallpaper magazine’s Design Directory. Her work has been featured in Interior Design, City, Bucks, and Inspired House magazines as well as the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum.

check out her site here.

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Sarah Vowell, one of my all-time favorite writers (and This American Life contributor) will be at the Cleveland Public Library this Sunday, Nov.16 2pm as part of their Writers and Readers Series.  

I am not going to miss this.  Sarah Vowell is the writer of: The Partly Cloudy Patriot and Assassination Vacation, two of the funniest and yet simultaneously most informative books I have ever read.  Her latest book, The Wordy Shipmates, sounds amazing and is on my list to read just as soon as I get through the last pile of books I have purchased.

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MADE IN THE 216 fall 08

MADE IN THE 216 Fall 08 was awesome!  Thank you all so much for supporting ROOM SERVICE and nearly 20 different Cleveland-based designers.

It is all kind of a blur to me still.  Friday was SO crazy and fun!!!  Saturday was a bit like friday but substitute alcohol with coffee.

It was really rewarding after months of planning the event to see how lovely everything looked in the space and how well received it was by everyone.

Many Many more products, great housewares and kitchen gadgets, jewelry and more to come for holiday at ROOM SERVICE, but I was so thrilled by some of the items at this event that you may see them at ROOM SERVICE a bit longer than just this weekend!  So if you missed the event, a portion of the products from that show will still be available.

Thank you to all designers that participated and if you or anyone you know designs anything and would like to be considered for the next MADE IN THE 216 event, which will be held in spring, submissions are accepted through EMAIL only…email info@roomservicecleveland.com and in the subject, write “216″.

To continue support of all the designers who participate in my events, I would like, even though I still sell many of them at the store, to support them by giving you MORE info on them via the designer’s websites or etsy sites…if i have them:

The Bubble Process 

WRATH ARCANE

Red i jewelry

super industrial love

Oceanne

Claire Teschel

Minno

Little Korboose

Small Screen Designs

BCTZ

Studio Dog Face

Buzz Buzz Designs

Rose Marincil

Matt Burke

Anni Nanni Purses

Laura Kushnick

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I started to title this post “design inspiration” but it did not seem to capture the true impact of this designer’s work on me; it is MUCH more than inspiration….although it is quite inspiring, it is also VERY aspirational, motivational and probably a few other “…al’s” that I just can’t think of right now….so i call it design INTOXICATION because that feels much more appropo.

Ilse Crawford is a Designer.  

Sheesh, again, somehow, to just say “Designer”, does not seem to really capture the scope of her work. Her work includes: product, interiors, brand identity and oh yeah, she was the editor that introduced the world to British Elle Decoration, one of my FAVORITE magazines.

I have admired her for awhile now, but seeing her in today’s New York Times, inspired this post.

Take a closer look by clicking here.  But enjoy these few pics in the meantime:

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Flickr NEVER ceases to amaze me!  My obsession this week with this site has now led me to these amazing pieces by Lars Willem Veldkampf…check the whole series here.

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I am currently a bit obsessed with Flickr.  I am not sure why it has taken me this long to really discover this site.  It may have a bit to do with a lack of time of late, but I mean, its a visual feast!  

While searching around in The Commons, I discovered a photostream of Autochrome images, an early color technique, which to me, yields a most romantic view.  

Here are a few examples:

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I am fairly new to flickr, I mean, I have had a flickr account but have honestly not spent much time on it, I have merely used it as a place to store pics of my store.  But I have dedicated a file in my bookmarks of all flickr users I have stumbled upon and admire; and after doing the MOSAIC OF ME project last week, I am finally finding a little time to meddle around in there.  

Today I have discovered a section of Flickr named, The Commons, which houses photos from different Institutions from around the world, for instance the Library of Congress and Smithsonian, amongst others. I decided to type a word into The Common’s search engine and put together a mosaic of images that came up from that.

My word was: SMILE

I must note the irony of all those smiles on the japanese-american women put in “camps” during WWII…and the fact that quite frankly, this search did NOT yield many photos  although I think these four are gems.

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I love this! :

Messy Magazine is a literary/art/music/photography/whatever-that-issue-needs-to-be-at-the-moment, magazine. The basis of the magazine revolves around theme inspired work, spanning fiction and non-fiction writing, reviews, previews, fashion, music and visual work.

CHECK IT OUT HERE.

only a few days until this first issue’s deadline….read all about it here, but check out this synopsis straight from their blog:

By reading this blog post you will now possess two new things. We atmessy magazine are handing you both the theme for our first issue and a deadline. You have exactly two weeks for contemplation and production. You have days to gather inspiration, compile it into any form that you wish, and focus on one day in particular….Monday.

Probably one of the most disliked days of the week. And that’s why we, at messy magazine, have decided our first theme should encompass the raw emotions of such a talked about day. And there you have it, our first theme; Mad at Monday.

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