NY international gift fair

Went to my first New York International Gift fair today.

Pretty cool, saw lots of Jonathan Adler knocks offs (people copying his patterns and colors for other products like handbags, etc) tons of jewelery, and some awesome, awesome vintage inspired home decor like restoration hardware/pottery barn/gramma's basement/thrift store combined.


Super exhausted because I was walking in heels all day and hauling my computer! There was a showcase of sustainable products, and some awesome designery items in the lobby. I learned today that "Handmade Global design" meant ethnic crafts.


It was pretty well organized, but I would have appreciated more delineation between categories. Apparel was loosely grouped, but there were many stragglers in other areas. It might've been more efficient to have all the jewelry vendors in one hall, instead of spread out everywhere. Same as books, stationary, etc. The home decor hall was one of my favorites, though overall I felt the show was more decorative than functional.... but I guess gifts tend to be that way??

I saw little innovation, but much more of the same goods with different patterns and graphics on them.

sleeping.

painting

Hi all,

a painting inspired by beautiful Oregon scenery- a family hike back in 2009.

This was for a gift to T's family, one project I actually finished on time! I'm pretty pleased with the result, though would like to have touched up the left mountain more. I also realized I need to invest into some better lighting. I had a lot of trouble doing the sky- I was working off photo scrap, but get swept up in the optical illusions but from far away I was surprised to find that it works! I'd like to integrate some more geometrical element sin my next pieces... stripes! I love stripes.

For Chinese New years Timon and I headed Stateside, first to Portland, then the Bay Area (including a mini trip to Monterey!) and now I am in NYC for work.

We had a grand time.

sightings

This morning saw a teeny old lady in a puff coat, shuffling down the sidewalk. She had on a knit beanie and was resting her hands in a fuzzy pink muff complete with neck strap and plush poodle head. So cute.

We head off to America next week!!!!

4 days in portland, 4 days in the bay, and 2 days in NY (just me)

we've been training for a 5k race in salem. sore.

asian burger

A new cafe just opened selling milk tea, coffee, and some asian fusion
items.
I order their basic offer: what I call the "asian burger"
-Breaded fried porkchop with horseradish sauce, lettuce, grilled
onions, all sandwiched in between two perfectly formed patties of
rice- all smushed together- like when we were kids playing with our
food- but these were molded into perfect circles, and slightly
toasted. It comes wrapped in a styrofoam like sheet then wrapped in
paper. See below cell phone pic. The porkchop was extremely hot and
still dripping oil as I was taking this pic! At 28 rmb, it was
uniquely satisfying.
cons: The rice paddies totally crumbled, so halfway through I has
holding half a porkchop over rice and rather unattractively shoving my
face into the wrapper to take bites!
cheers

Day in the life: Picking plants

Today at work I picked plants. Fake plants. This was my bosses idea, I designed a few planters and then had our sourcing partner find us some plants. I had originally came up with a semi-clever idea that the plants were mounted on a base that doubled as a lid- so it could be a secret box! But upon receiving all the little guys, I realized they were actually quite a bit heavier and needed a bigger base, else be top heavy.

The sourcing staff usually finds factories that make the plants (or whatever we're looking for) sends them my drawings- which are a mix of photoshop hack jobs, napkin sketches, and technical drawings. "What kind of plant do you want?" Leafy, green and 8" wide! So then the team brings me samples from several vendors and I get to choose which one is suitable for our upcoming meeting in NY. Or sometimes I send my boss photos when the answer is less than obvious. Our team is pretty good at narrow material selections down- what's water resistant, less fragile, doesn't smell bad, or can be custom colored. And price. That is always the biggest challenge!

Since I don't know plant names in english or chinese I picked the longy one with the three flowers and spindly stems since it will be easiest to bundle and ship without damage, and is more mainstream than the bubble looking plant (which I personall think is cute, though the color looks sour)