Friday, March 23, 2012
Matt Sewell and V&A
New range of wooden birds and owl by Matt Sewell for V&A shop. Each bird is handmade and painted by Matt himself for V&A spring/summer 2012 collection. He drew the inspiration for his birds from V&A’s museum collection. For example: The Little Owl was based on an etching from the earliest hand-colored book of English birds, The Natural History of Birds by Eleazar Albin (1731-8).
{Clockwise: Little Owl, Nuthatch and Strawberry Thief}
To view previous posts on his work click here.
Freebie: Desktop Wallpapers
Today's freebie are these lovely desktop wallpapers by Nicole Lecht an illustrator and the author of the blog called Freshly Blended. The purple owl and strawberry owl wallpapers can be downloaded for free from her blog.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
Magda Boreysza: Fox and Comet
Magda Boreysza is a freelance artist currently living in Edinburgh, Scotland. She graduated from The Edinburgh College of Art in 2007 with the a first class degree in visual communication. Her blog - Fox and Comet - had a recent update on these delightful ceramic plates featuring hand painted animal portraits. Some of the plates are available in her store and the owl plates can be purchased from The Red Door Gallery.
She is also a comic artist and makes incredible murals. Take a peek at her portfolio here.
Macrame
Macrame was all the rage in the 60s and 70s. Every house had at least one pot planter in the patio or an owl wall hanging in the living room. I have seen my grandma carry a macrame bag with her knitting supplies and my mom has a magazine hanger. I find it really cool and think it deserves a come back. Do you?
The owls and trees macrame creations are by Makramilka. To know more about her work or to buy, visit her website (it's in Hungarian).
Amy Harris: Owl and Seagulls
Six foot Owl installation created for Playgroup Festival 2011 by Amy Harris an illustrator and set designer, based in London.
I couldn't resist sharing the incredible group of sixty seagulls.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Yang Du: AW12 Collection
Yang Du’s collection for AW12 featured designs inspired by the animal kingdom - black and white owls, flamingos with blue beaks, green-eyed owls, giraffe or hippopotamus backpacks, purple red and yellow tigers, colourful zebras, crocodile-faced scarf, and blue hippopotamus beanie. I love the vibrant colors and the playful style of the dresses.
{images from here and here}
Emily Elizabeth: Jewelry
Jewelry designer Emily Elizabeth Kolins has always been drawn to artistic outlets of expression throughout her life. After gaining degree in Bachelor of Arts in English with a minor in Art from Hunter College, she worked with a fine jewelry designer. It is here where she realized that designing jewelry is her true love and made it into her full time career.
In 2006 she officially launched her first collection and rapidly caught attention because of her unique, artistic and affordable pieces. I picked out some of my favorite pieces among owl necklace, owl & pussycat bobby pin set to share here. You can view more of her elegant designs on her website.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
Aimée Baldwin: Vegan Taxidermy
Aimée Baldwin is a self-taught sculptor and artist from north Berkeley who sculpts these lovely paper birds aka Vegan taxidermy. Her birds are not taxidermy in traditional sense of the word, Baldwin creations - owls, shorebirds, corvids, raptors and extinct birds - are all made entirely without animal parts.
Artist says: "I have always been drawn towards making creatures, I couldn't resist making birds" when she found old-style European crepe paper. The paper mimicked the organic textures found in nature and literally gave "wings" to her stunning creations. She developed her own construction techniques for creating these delicate and detailed bird sculptures using this paper and basic craft materials.
To Oprah Magazine: After drafting numerous sketches, Baldwin carves each bird's torso from rigid foam before gluing dozens of crepe paper feathers in place. (The only prefabricated parts of her sculptures are the glass eyes.) This painstaking process dovetails with Baldwin's creative philosophy: "I want to make things that exist outside of our 'cheap and now' culture—things that won't be discarded in a few weeks when people tire of them." Her birds in her Etsy store range from $550 to $3600.