Lovin' you, Lovin' me, Living etc

Lovin you, Lovin' me, Living etc

When I manage to get my mitts on a copy, I rather enjoy Living etc magazine, so am particularly thrilled to read their editor's blog and find that there's some mutual appreciation going on. Thanks for the nod of approval, Living Etc (and many thanks to Karin for letting me know about it).

Happy weekend, all. I'm making a Winter's resolution to stop moaning about the cold, dark weather and start enjoying all the fun skirt-stocking-boot-scarf combos this season offers.

Jan & Äya

Jan & Äya in Greenpoint, Brooklyn features beautiful things for your home, clothing for adults and children, and even yummy cakes. The shop is just opened, and you can see photos of the opening here.

Bad news for Capetonians - that's Greenpoint, Brooklyn in NEW YORK, not Cape Town. More's the pity, as I'd love to visit such a stylish shop, and see those New Yorkers snapping my teatowels up like hotcakes (I hope!).


Check out Elaine Perlov's blog to read more about Jan & Äya, as their website is still on its way.

I'm in the finals

Erm, Skinny laMinx is a finalist in the Design category of the 2008 SA Blog Awards! I've been thinking about it and I reckon it must be the photos of our kitty cats that gave me the edge, eh?

Anyway, now my blood is up and it's down to the wire, and I need your help. Click on the votey widgety thing in the sidebar and help me nail the other buggers.

And if you like my other blog better, you can vote for it too. Go team Skinny!

At home at Heath

At home at Heath
The people at Heath Ceramics very kindly sent me a photo of my teatowels in their factory store in Sausalito (love that name - reckon I need a Daschund called Sausalito). Don't they fit in well?

Craftzine

Craftzine

Wowee, the dial on my sitemeter was approaching maximum velocity over the weekend, after my papercuts scored a mention on Craftzine! Thanks, you crafty bunch, nice to meet all of you. (update: and it seems the mention on Design*Sponge helped a bit too - thanks for letting me know, Sam!)

While that was going on in digital world, I was in analogue mode, cutting away in extreme heat conditions at my studio. I took some photos as I went along, and I'll post a step-by-step tomorrow, so do pop in.

Jesse's book

Jesse's book

This is huge news: Jesse's graphic novel, I Don't Like Chocolate, is being launched on Friday night, along with an exhibition of her original drawings! If you live in Cape Town, you simply have to be there!

Get a sneak peek of Jesse's book cover here, and read some of the stories here. And then come and buy your very own on Friday night, just above What if the World on Albert Rd in Woodstock. See you there!

PS: If you can't make the launch, and you don't get to South African bookstores often, you can also buy Jesse's book online .

Hanging with Annie

Hanging with Annie

This is too sweet. Annie from Chicago, one of my most loyal customers, has sent me pics of the "garden" she's made with her lovely fabric flowers and a collection of Skinny laMinx teatowels, all on the wall of her quilting studio. Thanks so much, Annie! It looks fantastic.

Thanks, too, to Katelynjane of EtsyAlberta blog, for posting a little interview with me, which you can read by clicking here. Much appreciated!

Heath Ceramics order

Big week for me

Monday was a very, very exciting day for me, as I packed up and sent off my first order of teatowels to Heath Ceramics, to be sold in their factory store in Sausalito, California.

Even though the parcel is safely on its way, it seems just too extraordinary that my designs will soon be rubbing shoulders with the beautiful products from that venerable workshop. I keep pinching myself to make sure I'm awake, but actually, I couldn't have even dreamed this might happen when I started selling my things in April last year!

The Heath Ceramics website is well worth a visit, by the way. Read more about the history and ethos of this 55 year old company, take a very interesting tour of their production cycle, and check out their factory store and online shop too.

Meanwhile, I'll be over here, still pinching myself...

At the risk of being boring

I don't mean to be boring
At the risk of being a bore who never stops telling you where and when Skinny teatowels appear elsewhere, I just want to say a couple of quick thanks.


First, to the Whipup team for including my teatowels in their gift picks list ...

...and also to Tina of swissmiss for giving my cloths the nod. (Thanks too, to Jesse and deedeen for letting me know about these two).


Oh, and another online shop is stocking my teatowels now - check them out along with lots of other goodies at the marvellous CUT+PASTE shop.

SA Design on D*

SA design roundup on D*
Wow, check out Gary’s fantastic roundup of South African designers over at Design*Sponge today! The wirework in this photo is by one of our supersonic design stars, Heath Nash.

PS: For anyone who feels surprised that there aren't any Black designers featured in Gary's piece, please read his comment about this in the comments section.

studio show

Studio show
Next weekend, I'll be selling my wares with ceramist Tessa Gawith in her Muizenberg studio in on Saturday between 10am and 4pm.

I'd better get cracking - lots to organise!

CHOW

My teatowels are on CHOW.com! Click here to see their lovely teatowel feature, called "upgrade your rags".

It's kind of breathtaking to have my work featured alongside Marimekko, Lotta Jansdottir, Atelier LZC and other flippin' superstars of the teatowel universe.

What a week for publicity! I'm utterly reeling from it all, and many thanks are in order. First, to Michele of CHOW for including me in her feature, then also to Grace and to Bowie and to Jan for the sales spike due to the Design*Sponge, Print & Pattern and Poppytalk listings. (I hope I didn't leave anyone out. If I did, let me know pls). Thank you.

I think I need a cup of tea to bring me back to earth.

Kris colour stripes Skinny

There's been lots of excitement on the blogs lately about the beautiful italian blog called Kris's Color Stripes . In fact, I just did a link there from the Elle Decoration SA blog on Friday .

So I was really thrilled - actually honoured - when Kris colour striped her brand new Skinny laMinx teatowels over the weekend!

What beautiful photos. Thanks, Kris!

Quickly...

Just two quick, but heartfelt "thank-yous" before the weekend:

First, to Ez of Creature Comforts, who is running a holiday gift guide. She very kindly gave me a free ad in the Under $20 section, where you'll also find Suzy*Jack, One Good Bumblebee, Shim&Sons and others. Thanks, Ez!



Then, a big thanks to Jessica of Funky Finds for featuring Skinny laMinx on her blog yesterday. I'm very honoured to be there, and to be her first South African Etsy seller. Yeah!

Have a great weekend. I'll be supervising a painter while trying to make head or tail of our new studio space. Ack!

Black Birds in the mirror

Big thanks to South of the Sahara for providing me with this photo. It's from a story in a recent issue of Elle Decoration SA, showing a lovely apartment in Killarney. Look! There's one of my Black Bird screenprints in the mirror!

I've been told that the owners of this place actually have a whole bunch of my cutouts hanging on the wall. I should have swapped them for a roll of their wallpaper. Isn't it lovely?

O.live and Moyo

Nope, the title of this post is not a description of the contents of my lunchbox, these are the names of local shops that have recently started stocking Skinny laMinx teatowels.

First up, the fabulously glam O.live, which has just opened a new store down at the newly revitalised bottom end of Kloof Street.

O.live has taken some of my more restrained colours.Don't they look nice here?

And last week, my studio turned into a bit of a factory as I packaged up a large order into three boxes for the Moyo stores in Stellenbosch, Johannesburg and Durban.

It's funny - I feel like I've done things backwards: starting out by supplying far-off stores like Threepotatofour before approaching shops in my own neighbourhood. But although it's taken a while and a roundabout route, I'm thrilled to finally be going local!

Urban Outfitters

Well, I'd say this is officially cool. My Borrowed Spoons teatowels are on the Urban Outfitters blog. Not too surprisingly, it's their very first post about a teatowel.

Thanks so much for letting me know, HappyMarch!

I hope it's auspicious that my spoons are right next to the Craft Inc. book, which I ordered last month after seeing it reviewed by Lena Corwin and on Print&Pattern . Can't wait for it to get here!

PS: Anyone else battling to view content on the Urban Outfitters site?

Spotted in H&L

I loved the cover of the October House and Leisure magazine. The inside of the mag is good too.

I was delighted to see a feature on the lovely Cape Town apartment of our friends, Chris and Robyn, and even more thrilled to spot some of my artwork on their walls.


Here's the entrance hall.

Just to the left of the jug, you can see two of my little silhouette portraits of Paul, well-placed right next to one of his sculptures (and rather flatteringly, hung alongside photos by Terry Kurgan.)

There's more in the bedroom.

The little blue pic just next to the bedside lamp is one of the Dandelion paintings on wood that I showed at the Drawing Room 3 show last year. See a clearer version and the rest of these paintings here.

It really is a thrill to see people living with my work!

One potato, two potato...

Threepotatofour is a charming new online shop selling fab vintage and contemporary homewares. These are some of my favourites. Those apple mugs are my best!

Into the mix of great vintage finds, the owners have sourced wares from independent designers, like Sukie, Shinzi Katoh, Snowdon Wood and, ahem....

... me, with a limited edition exclusive of Eep! in an autumn shade!

To learn more about the story behind threepotatofour, read the shop review at sfgirlbybay.

Thanks, everyone!

A quick thanks to everyone who's had such nice things to say about my Borrowed Spoons, and also for all the great publicity from other bloggers - Bloesem, Poppytalk, Print & Pattern, Another Shade of Grey, Decor8, Zee Homebug, design undercover and hopingforhappyaccidents too.

And if I left anyone out, a big thanks to you!