Alpha Pillowography Talk

 

 www.designer-daily.com Pillow Selection

Lately I've been inspired by fonts leading to a potential laundry list of do-it-yourself-er projects which will ultimately lead to all sorts of insanity in my little apartment.  BUT it may be worth it if it comes out as well as these wonderful functional and interesting pillows!  Now, where to find decent fabric to do them???

New Roosevelt Motto for the Year

 “Do what you can, 

with what you have, 

where you are.” 

― Theodore Roosevelt

Kenichi Ohmae Just Blew My World View with an "M"

The M-shape Society

However, in the emergence of the 'M-shape society', the middle class in a society gradually disappears. With the advance and consequence of globalization (for good or bad), the middle class is gradually assimilated into either side. The bulk of society is no longer the middle classes. The name is derived when you chart the class distribution a distinct M-shape is formed to denote the two extremes, with the middle class gradually shrinking and disappearing. Very few people in this middle class may be able to climb up the ladder and be able to be part of the upper class, while most from the middle class will gradually sink to the lower-income group.

Those who measured their intelligence purely on scholastic aptitudes would focus on developing an aptitude of memorizing and scoring for exams, neglecting other innate abilities they may have.... Because it takes years to acquire a disciplined mind or a mastery of any skill, those born between 1980 and the early 21st century may have lost the window of opportunity to develop talents best suited for their lives....A child without an education from 20th century schooling but who spent their childhood being self-directed, thinking, exploring and creating may end up with a huge advantage over a child who sees work not as creation but as hardship and who has been conditioned to see learning as memorization to score for a piece of degree.

While crony-ism and "the old boy's network" still exists, a new, more powerful form of networking is quickly forming, the Wisdom of Crowds made up of individuals, not unlike the individuals making up Wikipedia, who will form the face of 21st Century Revolution. These networks place a high premium on meritocracy, integrity, self-directedness, creativity and transparency. They will share and teach those like themselves, within their networks and virtual and face to face communities with or without money as their motivation.... This and other knowledge of forces transforming the way we understood the idea of money and society in the 20th century may determine how the will and directedness of the demographics shaping the M-society of today will lay the launchpad buy the advantages to catapult the next generation further higher on the ascending curve.

TOGO, the couch

Not many items that proclaim a generation as much as TOGO the couch have a chance at becoming permanent fixtures in my living room, but this couch is exceptional. Part minimal, part bold, part bean bag, part timeless - the TOGO is certainly a big picture sell.  You have to love a statement, and you have to balance it with all the other objects in a room.  However, most of all, you really should spend the time to learn to love it before buying since a purchase that packs this much punch should never be done in haste. But since it's been eight years now and counting, I'm going to assume that one day I'll walk into lignet rose tell the over eager salesman that I'll take the 4 part sofa set in a steel or light gray, swipe the card with my shades still on, and exit to go prepare to make this the center of my living room.

Barnacles: A New Desire to Love Them

The last time I contemplated barnacles, I think it had something to with "Barnacle Bill" and his seafood house or some other poorly marketed place or maybe Pirates of the Caribbean.... Yet this beautiful barnacle candle holder has completely rearranged my thought process for this poor sea creature who obviously has a lot more beauty to show us than the precariously foul naming conventions assert.  The color and the delicacy of these barnacles naturally enable them to be more worthy of a table's centerpiece than even the flowers which traditionally make the cut.  Bonus - you can leave them in the center for dinner because you can actually see over them!  

Buy at One Kings Lane

Wire Never Looked So Good

I found this artsy, golden circles on Smart Bargains which has become a go-to site for any textile or random Cole Haan shoes needs I may have.  I've found many a good find, and these 18k gold, wiry wonders of earrings are no exception. The best part about these was that they made me wonder if you could do them yourself - if you could take a basic stud a round washer (or equally cheap round object) and some gold, bronze, or silver wire and go to town.  It was just a thought, but the simplicity of these happy objects may be the perfect little project...

 

Lately, I've been more than distressed by the lack of inventive and untailored looks gracing the "formal attire" aisles.  I found this Tadashi Shoji dress to be my exception, a breath of fresh air from the taffeta wonders that can only be described as horrifically inadequate to the task of making a woman look more like a vision than a nightmare. The best part of this dress is the classy but sexy lace sections that allow for enough imagery without any of the issues of the less than lovely protruding onto the scene.

Oh Yes, New Year's Dress

Oh, yes!  This dress is the one - the DC or New York City awesome yet warm New Year's Dress that will fit the bill, make the cut, or wet your whistle.  (Feel free to pick your own ridiculous saying....). 

Shepard Fairey's Graphic World

You see the poster meets street art meets graphic wonderland.  The work of Shepard Fairey has been said to be simple manipulation or the best representation of iconic symbolic art of our generation.  I'm leaning toward the latter.

ms. rosamund pike

I'm so enamored with this actress after watching "An Education" and now am eagerly awaiting "Made in Dagenham."

Glass Objects

On occasion I realize how very much I love glass.  I love sparklingly clear, curved shapes that adore light and show off all the dandy contents as brilliantly as possible.  What better time than Christmas to enjoy them?


One Kings Lane - Apothecary Jars

Circle or Square? Scarf Happiness

How many times do people try to make you choose between the equally good ideas- red or blue? cash or credit? skim or whole? modern or traditional?

But aha!  Here is the scarf that evades this question ever so prettily.  This Sabina Les Silk Scarf triumphs the choice of circle-square, neutral-colorful, and shapes-graphics.  What could be better?  Ah, owning it....