Strawberry Guava Forever
March 29th, 2010 by swïnka
Hello Everyone! It’s been a horrible winter and a destructive spring in Connecticut. I was told that we will have another Noreaster next week. We just recovered from one two weeks ago where we didn’t have electricity for one week and cable for 10 days. It slowed my life in such a good way. I wasn’t checking my email and FB page like a maniac. I sketched to candle light. I didn’t eat that much, and felt camaraderie with my fellow neighbors who frankly I’ve never met before. I know it sounds weird but no one really talks to anyone in this town. We’re like New Yorkers with larger plots of land. Life was simple.
Anyway, I wanted to share an installation by Patrick Dougherty that made me yearn for a simpler life. It’s called Na Hale ‘owaiawi (Roughly translated from the Hawaiian language to mean: Wild Dwellings Built from Strawberry Guava). I wanted to post this in case I lose internet connection again. This is where I am if I do. Aloha.
Na Hale ‘owaiawi. The Contemporary Art Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2003. Photographer: Paul Kodama.
symbols endure
February 11th, 2010 by swïnka
Happy Valentine’s Day! It’s been three months since I had time and something to write about. A season has passed and as expected, life continues to change and move forward. What I have found out is that while change is evident, there are some things that endure, like survival, happiness, death, love.
Six months ago, I had a jewelry contest. The winner suggested I made a guldgubber. A WHAT? Well, that threw me into a tailspin. Original guldgubbers were made of gold foil that were most likely created by repoussé and chasing, but how was I to recreate this for mass production? Hammer all day?
With the help of my wonderful assistant Collette, we sculpted 5 symbols into wax and then casted them into silver. Seehorses [sea], a deer [land], a dragon [mythical], an owl [air] and two people. They are modern interpretations of a guldgubber but all of them have a story [will be up on my site soon]. This guldgubber has a story that everyone knows well. And, I thought it would be appropriate for Valentine’s Day.
scribe + pa/time = scrivener
October 27th, 2009 by swïnka
This blog is dedicated to writers. I haven’t blogged in a LONG time. It’s not that I don’t want to be here. Some people have daily things to say but I don’t. I want to mention things that really wow me or fill that itch I wanted to scratch. Now here’s something that will make you writers skip procrastinating to Starbucks for rainbow cookies and coffee for a month. Trust me, after you read about this, you’ll 1. buy it right now online or 2. go out and buy a mac and then buy it online or 3. don’t understand what the creative process is so you don’t give a rat’s ass.
So here it is: Scrivener. Your head is a mess. You have ideas in incubation. You hate your protagonist. Your protagonist hates you. You want to make a scene work. You’re lazy. You don’t want to write but you want to put something on a cork board. You want to catalogue your tooth brushing habits. You want to put everything down you know about Eric Northman [hee hee]. OK … I got you. So this program makes the messiest, laziest, adult ADDed, word addict, dialogue smith, culture slut writer have a sandbox to play in while helping them move along with the process. It’s fun, not work. You’re writing not procrastinating. It’s $40. Buy it!
When a Hard Stool is Good News
October 4th, 2009 by swïnka
It’s autumn. Tennis season for girls. Football season. Soccer Season. Hockey Season. All around season for spectator sports. Now, I know everyone just goes to WalMart to buy the folding plastic, Chinese made chairs … but why not just buy a simple, sturdy stool. Riki Watanabe made one that is beautiful and basically will last forever.
Wu Wunderbar
September 11th, 2009 by swïnka
Well, it’s fashion week. I am not a fashionista but I do appreciate the wardrobe arts very much. I saw Jason Wu’s dress and thought that it was so weird yet beautiful – so happy it is a young American designer.
Sneaky Sneakers
September 11th, 2009 by swïnka
I had to find something that I really, really was passionate about to post; hence, my absence. There was so much inbetweenness for the last week or so but this gets a thumbs up up up! Jean-Michel Basquiat on sneakers. Need I say more?
Reebok Affili'art Collection
Sou Sou nice
August 29th, 2009 by swïnka
I woke up this morning to a balmy 65˚, and if you are like me, you like to wear flip flop slippers in the house all year round. However, winter is Sou Sou cold in Connecticut, and the furry flip flops from L.L. Bean are only warm on the bottom. Solution: Sou Sou Tabi socks! They are available at MoMa’s design store but now you can just get them online in different colors and designs!
kiss the porcelain god
August 27th, 2009 by swïnka
Moooi is still my favorite design company led by Marcel Wanders. That they made a porcelain piggy makes them the überdesign company. Sometimes, I wish I lived in the Netherlands … it seems that they cultivate extraordinary tulips and designers.
Sugar Skull
August 21st, 2009 by swïnka
I love t-shirts. I love skulls. BUT there are so many t-shirts out there with skulls, like Ed Hardy’s Love Kills Slowly – which I love too. So I was on emptees website and found this Sugar Skull for Lizard Guts. Now, I would wear this for sure – I think it was the little flying skull bees that got me.
Sugar Skull
