simply charming

Browsing Poppytalk always brings good things... if by "good" I mean a long list of things I suddenly adore and wish I could surround myself with!

Did you know that there is a place called Omiyage, a Canadian source for Japanese craft and fabric?! The self-described love child of Marisa Edghill and Elias de Souza, "omiyage" means Japanese souvenir, but it's so much more than a souvenir... it's "a way of life," say these two.

And (drumroll)... they offer a $5 flat rate shipping, anywhere in Canada! For those of us who live outside of the larger urban centres in this country, this is quite a boon - the fabric! The tape! The adorable rubber stamps! The $5 shipping!

Now if only they had sewing patterns, too...!

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Five-Star Bee Hotels

I am a pretty big fan of bee houses. And these ones made by Wudwerx in Scotland are just lovely.

The Tallest Bee Hotel - by Wudwerx

Large Bee Hotel - by Wudwerx

Wudwerx's toast bird feeder is also pretty great (and hilarious).

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Nice Ax

The New York Times's Design Notebook blog has an interesting article about Canadian (now NYC) designer, Peter Buchanan-Smith... aka "the ax guy". His company is called Best Made Company, and yup, they make axes. Good looking axes.

But he has clearly struck a nerve. At a time when entire neighborhoods (like Williamsburg, Brooklyn, or the Outer Mission in San Francisco) are being remodeled by young entrepreneurs selling limited-edition handcrafted products like handmade cheeses, or exhuming old ones, like Edison light bulbs, or teaching their peers how to butcher the deer they bagged over the weekend — that is, selling products and skills that hark back to a pre-megabrand, pre-globalism world — someone like Mr. Buchanan-Smith can become a mini-star, the designer-turned-merchant, a Martha Stewart for this millennium.

Read the full article on the New York Times site.

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Little Drifters!

Booooooom.com is partnering with the Vancouver Sun to inspire a lil' bit of cuteness and summertime goodness.

Be a part of the Little Drifters project by creating a tiny boat using natural materials like twigs, leaves, grass, feathers or whatever you like.

Then head down to Trout Lake Park on Saturday July 24th at 1pm to launch your creations!

Send your photos of your boat launch in to Booooooom.

You don't need to be in Vancouver to participate: they'd love to get photos of mini-boats from elsewhere, too!

Read more about Little Drifters on Booooooom.com.

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Fabulous French Knots

I've never seen this technique before and I think it looks pretty cool.... Fourteen Countess embroidered French knots on cloth of the same colour to create a subtle but savvy monogram.

Very patient work! But pretty great results.

Read more about the project on Fourteen Countess' blog.

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Mini Vancouver

Severe cuteness alert.

Much like the fake model photography (blogged about before), this video of Vancouver makes the city look oh-so-tiny and oh-soooooo-adorable.



The video was created by dangerous68 (his YouTube name), who's also made a Mini LA. He created the film using time-lapse photography shot with a tilt shift lens, inspired by the work of Keith Loutit.  Check out Keith Loutit's website or Facebook page to see a whole bunch more cute-ified locations he's filmed for his  Small Worlds Project.

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Josef Frank

"The home does not have to be planned out in detail, just put together by pieces its inhabitants love."

- Josef Frank (via ScandinavianDesign.com)

Google's all dressed up today, to celebrate the125th birthday of Josef Frank, an Austrian/Swedish architect and designer of furniture and textiles.

Google homepage on July 15, 2010

I don't know much about Josef Frank (and his Wikipedia entry is pretty limited), but I like what I see. Reconfirming that I have a weakness for eccentric Scandinavian fabric design...

"Brazil" pattern on the walls (1943-45)

"Terrazzo" Fabric (1944)

"Green Birds" fabric (1944)

I also like what I read about Frank -- this is from ScandinavianDesign.com:

Josef Frank's, life could be wonderfully characterized as on always in motion. Moving with ease from architecture and furniture design to glassware, lighting and metalwork--his was an eclecticism fueled by curiosity. and nothing captures this roaming imagination better than his textiles...celebratory and vibrant, they redefined Swedish modernism.

Read more about Joseph Frank on Huffington Post and Hoo-Hoo House - and  see some more images on Apartment Therapy, Bonluxat and Swedish site Svenskttenn, as well as Google Images.

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