Magical kindergarten in Tromso, Finland, by Norwegian architecture firm 70° N. 

Via contemporist via trendinsights.

These textile shop banners are common in Japan. Given how easy they are to install and how much more beautiful they are than typical signage, it seems strange that they haven’t been widely copied. They can easily be adapted for interior decor, too, not just exterior purposes. These two examples are from restaurants - the yellow one is in Matsumoto City and the blue is from a specialty eel restaurant in Tokyo’s Asakusa district. Their bottom corners are held down either with iron weights or simple hooks screwed into the sidewalk. The banners have the dual function of advertising the shop or restaurant as well as hiding bland areas of architecture or unsightly objects - here the blue fabric panel also serves to hide empty beer crates awaiting pickup. These could so easily be rigged up at home, for many purposes - as room dividers for interiors, or as space dividers outside for carports, patios or yards. Even plain or printed outdoor canvas would work, and the panels could just as easily be hung vertically - they don’t have to be pitched at an angle. We’re in the process of producing similar room dividers from vintage and sustainable textiles using this method, for those who don’t want to DIY.

Somehow this manages to actually de-doilify doilies, which is like achieving the impossible, and makes the fussy lace more reminiscent of bark or lichen or something from the bottom of the ocean. It’s another example of how re-purposing can actually improve on the original. While checking on the correct spelling of doily/doilie (you can use either), we learned from the ever-interesting Wikipedia that doily was originally the name of a fabric, from Doiley, a 17th century London draper. 

By Sweet Paul via ladylavona.

I’ve been trying to dismiss this as frivolous, but the self-deception hasn’t worked and I concede that I would copy this if I could afford the time and money. It would be great in our studio - both useful and perpetually interesting. Called Drawerment it’s by Czech designer Jaroslav Jurica and it’s constructed from vintage drawers. First seen here. 

Seen in the office of our feather pillow insert supplier. 

At least we’ve now won that many medals. The beaver “Amik” was the great minimalist mascot of the Montreal ‘76 Summer Olympics. This is our quilt made from 16 genuine vintage souvenir “Amik” scarves, with a backing of 100% pure white linen. See it here. 

It’s so hot in Vancouver today, these rooms are where we would prefer to be. The Jukkasjarvi Ice Hotel in Sweden is rebuilt every year, always to a different design but always from ice and always with blankets of reindeer hide. From here.

That’s the title of this art installation by Vancouver artist Geoffrey Farmer: EVERY SURFACE IN SOME WAY DECORATED, ALTERED, OR CHANGED FOREVER (EXCEPT THE FLOAT). It takes the form of a parade float in which the artist has taken the excessive, extravagant ornamentation of parade float design through to its natural conclusion. See Farmer’s work, which often incorporates old textiles and other discarded materials, here and here. One of the reasons we love this particular piece is that it looks so much like the rag house where we acquire our vintage textiles, the place where all old fabric goes to die or be reborn. The feeling is the same as in Geoffrey’s work - half cornucopia, half funeral. 

Things are different at ground level, once you’ve liberated yourself from the sitting in chairs thing. Most people like to lounge on the floor every once in a while to read, watch a movie, eat, loll or whatever else they like to do at ground level. For floor pillows we like Japanese indigo cotton because it’s tough, sturdy and it doesn’t fade. It’s tough enough that we are comfortable taking these pillows outside, and there’s no risk because the blue is so stable - the colour of real indigo actually matures and deepens over time, and the dyeing process strengthens the cotton fibres. We produced these using authentic collectible Japanese shibori made with proper Japanese polygonum indigo at the Aizenkobo workshop in Japan. Find them on our textile pillows page (click on our logo above) or in our Etsy shop (www.ouno.etsy.com).

From the dyer’s website:

“Aizenkobo is an indigo-dyeing workshop that has been in operation for three generations. Aizenkobo produces and promotes indigo handicraft work using the traditional Japanese method. Its “eggplant” blue is impossible to reproduce with artificial chemical pigments. Natural indigo has been considered a valuable blue dyeing material for centuries. It can be extracted from the fiber of several different plants.In Japan, the only useable indigo plant is polygonum, which is well-known for its outstanding deep color. Fermented polygonum, the dye pigment, is called “sukumo.” In addition to the “sukumo,” wheat husk powder, limestone powder, lye ash, and sake are also mixed into the vats to complete the liquid dye. Then for approximately a week, the dye naturally begins to ferment until it reaches its usable state. Indigo threads and materials–specifically cotton and linen–are generally soaked and dried 15 to 20 times. This is the only way to deepen the color. The dyed thread and materials are sun-dried, which is when the deep indigo blue appears most strongly on the fiber surface. Indigo also strengthens the material. Indigo dyeing is considered one of the most beautiful dyeing techiniques known to man. Indigo dyed materials soften with use, and the quality of the color’s richness increases with time.”