Handmade Art

Mandu Budan is a Canadian artist who works primarily in acrylic. Painting abstracts of 'the landscape, emphasizing and rearranging the elements to show the beauty of the landscape in unexpected ways'. I think they are fabulous.

Rainbow choker

Using colourful antique glass beads and hand-dyed silk German jewellery designer Ursula Hofmann creates these spectacular pieces.

Summer has arrived!

In my hunt for some garden furniture I came across these - from Fermob. They are made from recycled metal and come in 20 amazing colours. Which one to choose?

Material things...paper

How great are these - Chris Galmour creates life size sculptures entirely from cardboard!

Celebrating traditions.....smocking

My mom makes lovely smocked dresses for my nieces but here is modern twist on smocking which I could not resist. Jewellery handmade from recycled silk by Czech designer Eva of Tinctory. A fantastic modern twist on a traditional craft - just love it!

Modern birds

Handmade for the birds...

#1 is my favourite – by a great new online shop The Modern Gardener - their handmade architectural birdhouse is made from certified sustainable teak.

#2 is by Amy Adams of Perch! Designs and handmade in Brooklyn NY (but also available through The Modern Gardener)

#3 is a terracotta ball with white glaze and handmade in the UK by Green&Blue.

Celebrating traditions......quilting

I love upholstery - but this is such a cool idea combining traditional upholstery with a modern form of quilting - now that is clever. The idea is that of Lisa Whatmough - who has set up shop in East London and has called it 'Squint' (thats the last thing I want to do - my eyes were popping out of my head!).

Each piece is meticulously made in England and traditionally upholstered, with tied springs and hand stitched seams. Aren't they gorgeous?

Material things....paper

How charming pop-up graphics on disposable paper placemats. Made from 100% recycled paper each design incorporates an area which doubles as a name card - how clever! These are by San Francisco based Publique Living.

Gocco

Ok so I know I am a little late in discovering this cool gadget - but that does not mean I want one any less! Gocco is a self-contained compact color printing system invented in 1977 by Noboru Hayama. Gocco became immensely popular in Japan and it is estimated that one-third of Japanese households own one. They use them to design and print their own New Year's cards - isn't that a lovely idea.

Sadly in December 2005, Gocco’s parent company, Riso Kagaku Corporation, announced it would end production. An Internet campaign has now started to find a new home for the product as so many new designers are now using them to create beautiful handprinted stationery: Like these by modern printed matter (a) and Sarah Parrott (b).

If you want to see how it works have a look here.

Material things...stuck on ceramics!

Aren't these lovely - they are the work of Heather Knight of Element clay studio. She calls them mini sculptures.

For all you campers out there

With such cool gear I think even I might be tempted into going camping! Check out Anorak's great online store.

Material things....ceramics

Aren't these beautiful - both the ceramics and the photography. They are by Japanese (now living in Brisbane) ceramic artist Kenji Uranishi.

Can you see this?

A style test - how cool is your vision? These are really great and they are available online at blue art studio.