Can I just say this Japanese cell phone ad is the best thing I’ve seen on YouTube in a while? Woodworker, Jessica Wickham put this up on her Facebook page this morning and I just HAD to share it with you. Can anyone translate the title?
All You Need Is Love
There's nothing you can do that can't be done.
DIY Love Headboard – Style Files
Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.
Pom Pom Flowers – Domesticistuff
Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game.
Love Match – Interior Design Houses
It's easy.
There's nothing you can make that can't be made.
Alexander Girard Heart - Curbly
No one you can save that can't be saved.
Tea Three Ways - Design Sponge
Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you in time – It's easy.
All you need is love, all you need is love,
All you need is love, love, love is all you need.
Heirloom Design At Home
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When I was a kid, I thought we were Danish. I am going to tell you about it, but before I explain that far-fetched childhood fantasy, I’d like to talk about heirloom design. I promise to circle back to being Danish.
Bringing Heirloom Design Home
I wrote an article that supported the stance that we are replacing items too often. Our culture has made it easy to create too much stuff with short life cycles. The article explored the concept of "heirloom design." I had heard Saul Griffith at a design conference outline how he was planning to give his soon-to-be-born son a Rolex and a Mont Blanc pen. When his kid was old enough, he would tell him that these would be the only watch and pen he could use for the next 100 years. Griffith's rationale was that, if something is thoughtfully designed and beautiful, it could be passed down through the generations.
I decided to bring the concept home. I explained heirloom design to my kids and asked them to take a look around the house and tell me what they would consider heirloom and hand-me-down worthy. Here's one:
"The artwork collection handed down from Grandma - Particularly, the Bjorn Wiinblad posters. They make Grandma, you, and us smile."
You can read about the other items they chose here.
What Do You Mean We Are Not Danish?
My dad was a mid-century designer. His hand printed, silkscreen wallpaper designs were hung on all of our walls. Interspersed among the flocks and metallics were portraits of happy relatives…or so I thought. These whimsical portraits were the artwork of Bjorn Wiinblad (left). I truly believed Wiinblad was one of my kin. Gazing up at an oversized Wiinblad poster was like getting a huge, smiling hug from an adoring relative - Not the pinch-your-cheek kind, but the kind of family member you admire for her sense of colorful quirkiness.
The Wiinblad posters and pottery that decorated my home also greeted visitors at my Aunt and Uncle's house. The posters were winking at me there too - we must all be related.
Eventually, I figured out that we had no Danish relatives (not a blond among us), and the inspired Wiinblad collection was actually a mutual admiration that my mom and aunt shared. They also collected Wiinblad cards, wrapping paper, china and ash trays.
My children have come to love this “designer's designer” too. The twinkling eyes of Wiinblad's portraits exude the themes of music, art, humor, and the joy of life. We have many Wiinblads in my home. The main image (above) is from a rare detailed ceramic plate that I got (won) on eBay a few years ago. When my best friend Cathy got married, we gave her the "Blue Lady."
As my little home-research discovered, heirloom designed objects don't have to be a Rolex or Mont Blanc, or even a Wiinblad to qualify as heirloom. But, they do have to be thoughtfully designed, beautiful and well taken care of.
If heirloom design goes hand and hand with slower consumption, do you think this is another one of those "green" concepts we should teach our kids? In your home, what would you consider to be heirloom designed? What would your kids choose?
Main image: Ted Fink
Anew: Clearing The Pipes
After a few days of family and self-imposed unplugged bliss (an absolutely scary state for a blogger) over the holidays, I've now been thrown in the other direction. I'm struggling to find my way back into the prolific writing groove that generally drives me. Maybe it was that exhaustive A-Z DIY Eco-Gift Guide which was so much fun to organize and write - but, it kind of sucked the blogging out of me for a few weeks. Could it be the fresh year awash with newness and all the connotations that accompany that?
Right now, I'm tip-toeing back into the blogosphere with a few new posts and a sprucing up of this blog (coming soon). I'm also moving forward with more careful intention. You can read about that here. This is new for me. I generally catapult myself on pure instinct - then "see where it all lands." The twists and turns have been exhilarating, and continue to allow me to keep singing my Econesting tune. While I could keep truckin' merrily along, I'm also taking in the larger landscape of what's next...
2 things on my mind right now:
1. It would be nice to monetize this blog. Any ideas?
2. I would like to collaborate more. Any ideas?
2 newsy-related items:
1. I will be profiled in the next issue of Where Women Create. This is an absolutely awe-inspiring honor to have 6-8 pages of magazine real estate devoted to…me. I promise to tell you more about that very soon.
2. If you are in the New York area and have any interest in starting your own blog, join me at Wing and Clover for a workshop: Blogging The Basics: A Niche and a Knack.
As the image above suggests, I'm clearing out and reconstructing for the new year. Will you be learning some new tunes - exercising your pipes differently in 2011?
Credit: Carl Kleiner via Design Love Fest (My dad was a trumpet and trombone player, and a master tinkerer. He would have loved eco-art - although it wasn't called that yet.)
DIY Eco-Gifts For The Musician On Your Holiday List
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts, your wisdom. If you don't live it, it won't come out of your horn." ~ Charlie Parker
I have a sweet spot for musicians. Not just because my son is one, but also because I love listening to music. It has the ability to reach right into your soul and lift your emotions.
I recently found a treasure trove of old sheet music in the piano bench. I plan to make this paper box garland to decorate the living spaces of all the passionate music lovers in my life.
DIY Music Paper Box Garland
Susan Wasinger, author of eco craft adds a festive touch to holiday decorations. She created an origami music box garland that is illuminated with LED string lights.
How to: Fold sheet music into a boxes and string the LED lights into the holes of the individual boxes.
To make a music folder, recycled record bowl and clock, concert ticket holder, woven guitar pick basket, personalized CD inserts, music cookie cutters, and a musical Christmas stocking CLICK HERE.
Photo Credit: Ben Scott