mobile phone captures

 

a couple of days a week I consult for bulthaup and I like to walk the 20 blocks home. it refreshes my spirit after sitting in front of a screen all day. these walks were so influential to me as I started Loop; walking to and from, watching the changing light in different seasons, helped me visualize what I wanted Loop to become, how I wanted my life to feel, and what I needed to do to make it happen. One foot in front of the other, with deep breaths and a full smile !

follow the wood brick road …

 

my favorite street in philadelphia, made of end-grain wood blocks.

construction sight

 

I’m loving the entrance to Anthropology on Rittenhouse Square, spied on an evening stroll -  ice cream in one hand, Loved One’s hand in the other hand, mind full of Loop, lungs full of summer, heart yearning and tugging then restful and calm, alternately.

World Ocean Day

 

I awoke this morning as usual, wishing I had more sleep and wishing the coffee would brew itself and magically appear at my desk. While waking up, a tweet caught my eye and gave a little more meaning to the day than was there before : Today is World Ocean Day [ thank you, Stephen Fry ].  I watched the trailer above, then surfed through various ocean-related websites. I found great info at The Ocean Conservancy about the problem of ocean debris and whole-heartedly suggest you read ‘The Rising Tide of Ocean Debris’ report based on the International Coastal Clean-Up 2008 [ I couldn’t bring myself to post a pic of the little seal tangled in the web that is their cover image ]. The top three key findings include :

1. A tidal wave of ocean debris is a major pollution problem of the 21st century.

2. Certain categories of debris show up more often in certain places.

3. Of the 43 items tracked during the Cleanup, the top three items of trash found in 2008 were cigarette butts, plastic bags, and food wrappers/containers.

I tend to get frustrated when I read about a pressing environmental issue, and yet feel like there is nothing I can do to make it better. Sign up for a clean up event in your area here.

Thanks as well to Ted Danson, for this calm and impactful call to action :

 

Hungry For Change?

the National Stationery Show

Last week, Loop caravanned to the Javits Center in New York City for the 2009 National Stationery Show. NSS is always such an undertaking for this small business, but it’s an important event … even in this recession, I felt it was necessary for Loop to present its portfolio of eco-goodness. All of the work that goes into getting there and all of the work that follows is worth it when I step back, exhale, and survey the sum of the parts.

I had never shown my work publically before I launched Loop at the NSS in 2007. Opening my portfolio and creating our first collection was so exhilarating; scary, wonderful, surreal, serene… hello, Unknown !  I tend to act first and think later when it comes to things I feel passionately about, and Loop was definitely an exercise in following my instincts. I remember printing samples of all our designs on my ink jet, lovingly perfecting all the details, and hoping something intelligent would come out when I introduced the drawings, paintings and Doodlespark collection to buyers, peers, and members of the press. 

In 2008, I was super emotional about our presentation.  Loop had a fantastic debut year, and I found myself worrying that we’d be a one-hit wonder [ cue A-Ha ]. As an artist, I put so much of myself into creating our work; as a business woman, I try to learn as much as I can about the industry and make the best choices possible. The combination can be heady sometimes, overwhelming, out of control, but when we hang the last sign at NSS, I always feel like its okay, its manageable, wonderful, alive and real.

This year, our third showing, found me enjoying the process much more. Even though we had many more issues leading up to the show – our printer ran our entire note card suite on the wrong paper stock, we had issues prototyping the binding of our new journals and jotters, and we were waiting on overnighted samples for key portions of our product line – I felt deep down inside that everything would turn out fine. [ thanks, ed ! ] I put aside my OCD, my nerves, my sleeplessness and focussed on the dream of the thing, the vision I have for Loop, the shining possibility that is born of the process.

I don’t mean to romanticize this, don’t get me wrong !  It’s a trade show, for goodness sake ! It’s packing boxes that fill my living room for weeks, its shleping everything down two flights of stairs into the car, hoping it will fit, driving to NY, unloading in hot sun or pouring rain, working 9 – 7 getting the booth just right, standing, smiling, meeting, greeting for 9 hours a day, taking it all down, mad packing and dashing to the car, driving back, and cramming everything into the basement in a reasonable fashion so that the whole process can be repeated the following Spring. Deep breath. And then the email follow-up, the sample-sending, the hoping-the-seeds-will-grow into new business season begins. [ I have to say, I COULD NOT do this without the genuine support and pitch-in-with-a-smile love from my mom and my husband, booth mate / booth architect extraordinaire ! ]

So, Spirit of NSS past, present and future, thanks for visiting me this morning !  My intent was to simply share some images from our foray…. From top to bottom, above : pics of our new wrap and jotters, our new organic fabrics [ launching officially SOOON ], the new doodlespark pairings, our new blank journals and jotters, the Loop oasis amid the green plastic NSS carpeting, the view from 17D [ thanks, edwin ! ], a superb Starbucks artist, and my mom and me smiling on the first morning…. check the tote, made from our new organic Inari fabric by my amazing mother-in-law !

[ ps : so sorry for the lousy quality of the pictures .. love those fluorescent lights ! ]

I really need to get out of my booth more next year to take pictures of some of the amazing work presented by my peers. In lieu of photos, I’ll make a quick list of some of my favorite exhibitors, here :

   

THANK YOU to all of the bloggers, reporters and other designers who so sweetly shared Loop with their readers.  Here’s a list of some of the great post-show mentions Loop was a part of :

sunshine from friends

good morning !  a bit groggy today after a working weekend. the french press has yet to kick in and my mind is beginning to overflow with to-do’s to be done.  today loop is having a huge photo shoot of old work and NEW and my very dear friend Betty is letting us use her house as the backdrop. nothing like friends to make Tasks seems like Teatime ….

In the spirit of spreading sunshine, two of my designer-friends are featured back-to-back on The Bright Side Project currently, as part of the BSP’s eco-luxe month… 100% organic sateen pillows from Daisy Janie are up for grabs here in response to the following question : Who is your favorite indie designer, and what is your favorite item they sell? [ The responses to this will be fun to sift through ! ] Artist and indie-business power house, Jan DiCintio’s new Urbana collection of organic fabrics are delicious in all their color ways : check out Avalon, Metro + Parkside for inspiration.

Also featured is the inimitable work of Cathe Huynh-Sison from Feterie… 10 sheets of eco-luxe wrapping paper are being given away here in response to this question : What is the first present you can remember buying or making for someone you love? Cathe is a multi-tasking multi-talented wonder [ following her on Twitter makes me feel lazy ! ] She has a great eye for color and her wraps will make any present – or other paper project – come alive.

All of this sunshine is just what my Monday morning needed – now, to work !

Sewing Green is so …..

 

The incredibly talented, smart, funny and sweet Betz White will be at Spool this weekend as part of a month-long promotion for her new Book, Sewing Green. It should be a gorgeous weekend, so grap an iced drink [ in a reusable cup ! ] and shimmy over to the beautiful Spool and meet the author, drool over the colorful fabrics that line the shop’s walls, and learn from a sewing / felting master about how to transform everyday materials into stylish new accessories, bags, home decor items and more.  [ sign up for her Bag Making Workshop ] Philly gets its ‘green’ from more than our football colors, right ?!

Technorati Tags: Betz White,Sewing Green,Spool

tridimensional

 

[ Tunnel – 2007 : wood, PVC, beeswax at the Insituto Itau Cultural ]

Enter the world of Henrique Oliveira, found here at designboom. His new exhibition for the Rice Gallery in Houston grabbed me by the hand and led me into the history of his Tapumes projects – incredible outgrowths sculpted, painted and assembled in situ from bits of discarded wood found on the streets of Sao Paolo.

Dubbed ‘tridimensionals’, these constructions explode the notion of flat surface, of  brush stroke, instead giving life and form to a gesture until it literally lifts off the wall. I love how the painted strips of wood in some instances resemble muscle and tissue or other organic life forms, creeping in through the crevices of orthogonal architecture, or instead creating new spaces of their own.

[ Tapumes – 2005 : wood at Casa Cultura Da America Latina, Basilia ]

[ Tapumes – 2006 : wood + PVC at Paralela, Sao Paolo ]

Art Prints for Great Causes

 

Loop eco-luxe art prints are now available exclusively through Goods for Goodness Sake, an online storefront where Shopping Meets Philanthropy.  I couldn’t explain it any better than founders Cathe Huynh-Sison and Lara Frankovitch do here :

Goods for Goodness' Sake is a new way of shopping built on the belief that sharing just a little good fortune can go a long way. When you shop on GFGS, you support the charity of your choice with every purchase. As if that wasn't enough, you also support a group of very talented small business owners. Shop responsibly.

I know Cathe from last years’ National Stationery Show; our booths were across from each other. Cathe made four days of standing on your feet seem fun.  Her infectiously cheery personality and insider buzz on the  biz was a gift from the trade show gods.  Visit Cathe at Feterie and read her blog, Paper Cuts !

 

I don’t know Lara from Tiny Tales beyond our e-mail volley during the site set-up process, but I love her fill-in-the-blank Daycare Sheets – little notes a babysitter can leave Mom to report on what happened while she was away… And the opening slideshow on her website is very entertaining :

Introducing co.d.ex

There is an incredible project underway that I am excited to share with you ! As you know, Doodlespark is a collaboration between my mom and me; instead of writing letters, we send drawings back and forth to each other, each of us adding and changing the artwork over time. We've communicated this way for almost 15 years now, and it has enriched our relationship and our growth as artists immeasurably.

I recently decided to expand this idea of sharing drawings as a way to communicate by inviting a group of friends from college / life / work to join in a large group drawing exchange. I sent the original invite on Facebook to fellow architecture studio mates as well as friends in other disciplines completely un-art-related, and asked them in turn to invite a friend. The idea would be that we'd keep in touch in a different way; we'd use the mailing of the drawing as way to stitch us together creatively, to catch up visually, to push the limits of creative play.

co.d.ex was born ! [ co = collaborative, d = drawing, ex = exchange ]. Participants are invited to sketch, erase, paint, collage, write, re-work and add panels to the original drawing, then send it on to the next person on the list. This list is a secret to all involved - I drew names out of a bowl - and the progress of the drawing is recorded on a blog. Each participant has been invited as a Contributor to the blog, with the hope that they'll photograph, scan, photocopy or by other means document their portion of the drawing.

Have a look ! I am so anxious to see how this turns out on such a large scale; co.d.ex has about 2 dozen participants, and if each person takes a week to add their bit, it will be at least 6 months until we're done ... !

Looptimistic

This week has been full of sunshine here at Loop - regardless of the Philadelphia fluctuation in temperature, the clouds, the rain, the come-what-may. We're so happy that we were included in The Bright Side Project that we're still glowing from Wednesday's post.

The BSP is a fantastic site dedicated to spreading good news - something we all hunger for, especially given Recent Events in said financial system. Each day, BSP posts about an artist or designer whose products are offered up as a daily giveaway; all you have to do to enter is post a commment that answers a specific question chosen by the designer or by BSP. Instant sunshine !

I have been captivated by the nearly 150 responses to Loop's post... the stories people are sharing are incredible - funny, moving, outrageous, wild - I don't know how I'll choose the 'winner' ! There's still time to win, so turn your face towards the sun here ... : )

lose myself in Leeuwen

I recently walked through the Web to find the illustration of Denise Van Leeuwen and became enchanted with her portraits.... Her spare use of color and charcoal line combine to tell intruiging stories - or rather, tint the air with a story about to be told. learn more about the artist here.

ode to postal service

Stunning images of security envelope patterns from around the world.... a stream started by josephking on flickr with contributions from pattern-lovers everywhere. how mesmerizing... quiet works of art shuttled in our everyday correspondences revealed here for proper study.