Manolo for the Home

Aren’t these prints cute? I know, cute isn’t for everyone, but if you have the right sort of aesthetic already in your home or you aspire to adorableness, then cute could be for *you*. For wall-ready adorableness I’m currently digging on EightHourDay, creators of, among other things, letterpress and screen print art featuring vintage-look designs in bright, eye-catching colors.

Did I mention that they’re cute? Because they are!

Eighthourday is a Minneapolis design boutique and a husband and wife team. You can find selected prints on Etsy, where the price is definitely right (though you’ll have to find your own frames). Their Flickr page is definitely worth a look. Fair warning: It’s not ’stuff for the home’ but rather plain old good design.

The whole empty frames thing has been much derided as lazy or ghetto or less-than-creative, but I still like it and think it can be a whole lot of fun if hung in something other than a grid. The look works especially well if you have some nice frames that will stand out on their on. Conversely, you can play around with frame orientation until you find art that you like that also fits into your budget.

Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing, but I think that in this case more is more. The empty frames being so colorful doesn’t hurt one bit. (via)

This pic strikes me as belonging to the waiting-on-art camp. The perfect silhouette? Artwork scrawled on construction paper by tiny hands? The perfect print, perhaps? (via)

Empty frames framed by other frames? It’s a little odd, but all right. I like how the gold frames find a friend in the little lamp with the golden shade. (via)

You don’t need to go crazy, especially if your empty frames are larger and particularly striking, like these.

Of course, it’s not like you have to commit to keeping all your frames empty forever. Mixing empty frames and frames containing some kind of image is the moderate (and now quite popular) way to incorporate empty frames into decor. (via)

Nothing new, patchwork furniture is often the purview of crafters with leftover fabric scraps and quilt-happy grannies. But is it chic? Can it ever be? Squint Limited thinks so and churns out colorful bespoke chesterfields, lampshade, and even dressers, all wrapped in a mix of contemporary and vintage fabrics. Oh, and period furniture styles that just pop when upholstered with bright, cheeky prints and bold colors.

Squint Limited’s pieces are made in England and upholstered traditionally, with tied springs and hand stitched seams. Each design is priced individually depending on the final mix of fabrics used, and a selection of sofa shapes can be made as bed settees. In other words, this ain’t your granny’s couch, and you’re going to pay more than she did for one. But, oh, aren’t they divine?

Sitting at my cheeky new computer desk flanked on either side by a cup of mint tea and a big box of chocolates is one of my favorite places to be, which is why you’ll frequently find me clicking through photograph after photograph of interiors or art or pieces of furniture (or wedding dresses and brides, natch) while The Beard cooks dinner. Secret: I don’t like cooking, though I will gladly bake you a cake. Last night, I found these images, which I was convinced were of canvases ready to be hung on bare walls — something I am lacking these days.

But no, they are scarves! Silk scarves! Not quite the purview of Manolo for the Home, but still artful enough that I just had to take a day to feature them. French contemporary artist Maryse Casol has created a timeless collection of square silk scarves using the colors of fauvism, so perhaps they are art and they are scarves.

Made in Lyon, France by a 120-year-old company and hand rolled by the best couturieres in the “silk capital of Europe,” you can bet your bippy that you’re getting an accessory that will stand the test of time. Pricey? Oh, a bit. But in this scarf-lover’s opinion, sometimes a beautiful bit of something about the neck is all it takes to transform a person in the best way possible.

Pretty!

After a weekend spent trying to fit all of our stuff into the nooks and crannies of a rather small Cape, I am loving *LOVING* this clever board game storage idea dreamed up by the lovely lady behind Infarrantly Creative. She needed a little color for her game room and a way to get said games out of the way. Inspiration hit, and a few short hours with a table saw later and WHAM. Art, or something close enough to it for most folks.

Clever, yeah? And easy to DIY if you’re a fan of board games who doesn’t even have a game room. Even better if you happen to have vintage versions of classic games! But, you say, how are you supposed to get the boards out of the frames when you and the fam want to sit down to a round of Monopoly or Chutes & Ladders? The short answer is you don’t!

The pieces and rulebooks are all stored in the back of the frame, so they’re right there when you take the whole works off of the wall. Love it, love it, love it!

South London interdisciplinary designer Margarita Lorenzo is my new favorite human being, and it’s all because of her pillows. What’s not to like? Handmade throw pillows that use sustainable fabrics, feature kitschy vintage patterns, and are hand sewn so each is unique are her signature product.

Aren’t they just too adorable? They’re also a wee bit expensive, but those are the prices you tend to see when you’re looking for goods not made in some big, honkin’ factory. Find them at Chocolate Creative, Lorenzo’s shop, or see more on her Flickr page or in her blog.

A block of apartments in Chartres, France — a lovely, lovely place — might have looked like any other, were it not for four months of what must have been strenuous painting.

Aren’t they fun? Various areas are done in differing styles so you get a little taste of everything. I sadly don’t know anything about these apartments other than their locale, but more pics can’t be seen here.

There’s a long tradition of looking to nature for inspiration in art and design, and no wonder. Once upon a time, there was nothing but pure imagination and what you could see around you in the great outdoors. Nowadays we have a lot more to look at, but nature continues to inspire those who create.

The tree bed from Shawn Lovell Metalworks is a wee bit pricey at $15,000, but how delightful to sleep and dream in the comforting arms of a break in the woods. There’s even a nest for passing birds overhead!

For those who wish to dry their duds the old fashioned way, Insitu has stylized tree clothes lines, suitable for indoor or outdoor use. The colors are great, though the $600 price tag leaves a lot to be desired.

These look like slim vases, but they’re actually quite tall. Jean-Marie Massaud’s Missed Tree Flower Pot has a sturdy steel base so you can be quite sure you won’t be left shouting timber as your beautiful pot crashes the ground.

My daughter, for whatever reason, has been the recipient of rocking horses suitable for infancy, toddlerhood, and beyond, yet I would give them all up if she could have a rocking Vespa instead. Unfortunately, these are not available en masse for any amount of money, as this, the sole specimen, was created by a loving (and decidedly skilled) Italian grandfather for one very lucky little boy. Gorgeous, no? I’m jealous beyond description!

(Via Motoblog.it)

Manolo for the Home is one of the younger blogs in the Manolosphere — did I just write that? — so I don’t get nearly as many reader e-mails with leads on cool stuff to feature as I do over at Manolo for the Brides. A recent communiqué from Sterlingspider brought this to mind, so before I tell you what she wrote me about I wanted to remind you that I want your tips! Bring ‘em on!

So what was the lovely Sterlingspider so excited about? Sternocera aequisignata. That’s right, a beetle. But not just any beetle! This beetle, eaten in Thailand, happens to have a exquisite wing case that is as durable as it is beautiful and has attracted the notice of artists and craftspeople, particularly contemporary Belgian artist Jan Fabre. In 2003, Fabre used the used the glowing beetle carapaces to create an awe inspiring mosaic that covers the vault ceiling and chandelier of the Hall of Mirrors in the Royal Palace in Brussels.

Called Heaven of Delight, a nod to Bosch’s Garden of Earthly Delights, the ethereal green ceiling was made from 1.6 million beetle shells, glued by hand to the vault, niches, and formerly gold chandelier. As you might imagine, Fabre didn’t work alone, but instead employed 30 assistants who worked with him full-time for four months to complete. One glance at the detail tells you why…

I can’t imagine that I’d guess what the ceiling and chandelier are made from; most likely I’d wager it was something like green opal. But Fabre knew what he was doing when he chose his unusual medium. As he told the New York Times:

He is convinced that this skin will last far longer than paint: ”The wing cases of the jewel beetles are made of chitin, one of the hardest, most imperishable materials we know. They consist of wafer-thin platelets that capture, reflect and transform light. Oil paint fades; the carapace will keep its original colors.”

As an aside, Fabre is no stranger to using materials sourced from animals. In the course of his work, he has covered columns in marbled ham, as well as bones and other sorts of beetles before settling on the sternocera aequisignata for this very large work.

Curious about sternocera aequisignata? Here’s the little edible jewel up close.