Fellow indie designer: Sick on Sin

Just a quick reminder that today is the LAST DAY to enter our Blog Contest. You have until 11:59pm EDT to blog and send us an email to let us know you've entered.

I had to feature a Canadian fellow indie this week since Canada Day is tomorrow. Sick on Sin is based out of Toronto and they've got some really cute stuff.

They've just released their Canada Friends magnet set, for what else? Canada Day!


$10 CAD for five 1" magnets -- looove the beaver :) (They've also got a 3-button pack with the Canada Friends on them for $6).

Sick on Sin has a bunch of t-shirts for men, women, kids and pets!

Some of my favourite graphics are:
Brian, from the Orneryboy comics (available on a Men's T-shirt, $26)


Foxy (available on a Girly T, $26)


and this sweet little Elephant (available on a Kid's T, $24)


Very cute stuff overall -- go look.

Colourful and functional!

The Sarut Group is a Brooklyn, NY based company that offers this expansive line of European-designed and really colourful products that even do stuff.

Like toast bread ($69):


Help you clean up ($45):


Or keep that moisture ring off your coffee table ($20 for 6):


All the products are pretty cheerful looking and worth checking out since you can buy online :)

Studio Dror

Some cool design by Studio Dror, found by Eric via the latest issue of Azure. (Azure is a Canadian magazine about design, architecture and art -- usually quite a good read!)

Studio Dror features the work of Dror Benshetrit, who seems to do quite a range of designing in products, architecture and graphics. Of course, as a product designer, I had to check out his product work first.

Of his designs, this design stands out the most for me is the Pick chair.
I like the little bit of a screened print on the back of the chair, and how it can hang on a wall and appear as art.



Remove it from the wall, and voila! you've got a chair.



It's unfortunate that the website doesn't give you more information about the different designs. I'd certainly like to know what the story behind the expanding herb pot is...



In any case, the website looks pretty slick and the whole portfolio is inspirational.

The art of collage

Michelle Caplan is a graphic designer and an artist whose mixed media and collage work has this great editorial style and feel to it.

Her works have a way of conveying a history -- like some personal story or hidden secret that the subject is almost telling you. I'm especially fond of the works that use the older photographs where the subjects are almost ghosts of a by-gone era.

Here's just a small sampling of work from her gallery:

Grace


Mrs. Willis and Mrs. Sears


Joe


Michelle also does commissions if you're looking for a very personalized gift for someone. She sells her artwork off her Etsy site, and for the next few days (til the end of June), she's got a 20% off sale on everything in her store. (I'm off to have a more thorough look now!)

Ch-ch-ch-changes

Nothing like song lyrics as a title to make you have a song stuck in your head.

As you may have noticed, things are looking a little different on the blog and on the rest of our site. More exciting than a few colour and photo changes are the new products!

We've got these pretty nifty coconut pendants -- they're made with an inlay of coconut (that are fair-trade even), and we've got both the white part, and the dark polished husk (each pendant is $75 US). Up close, both pendants have this flecked, fibrous texture to them which makes them that much more visually interesting.

The coconut white pendant:


The coconut shell pendant:


Make sure you also check out our new mother of pearl shades -- which if you received the last newsletter, you'll have a discount code for 15% off any of our mother of pearl pendants, and that includes these new ones, like this lime green pendant ($57 US):



We've also updated our selection of washi pendants -- so now the Goldfish washi from the teaser I posted earlier is available!

Today, however, I'm wearing this one with red plum blossoms ($75 US):


(And yes, choosing from lots of jewelry is one of the perks of having your own company!)

Fellow indie designer: A Planet 4 Creation

A few cell phones ago (I have a way with drowning/losing/killing cell phones), I had a Hello Kitty cell phone charm that was given to me as a gift from a friend's trip to Japan. It was a bit of a joke, but it turned out to be very handy when attempting to find a cell phone in the abyss that is often my purse.

Two cell phones later, I've replaced Hello Kitty with a vending machine Pooh bear in disguise, but fellow designer A Planet 4 Creation has some more sophisticated alternatives for my luggage and purse (and other situations where my childish cell phone finder should be hidden!).

I like the idea of adding a little bling to my purse with maybe a cute little shoe:

Ooh, and they're on sale now for $10.50 (regularly $15 US).

What's also great is that Lilie offers a 'Charmer of the Month Club' where you can get yourself or someone you like a six or twelve month subscription. Each month you'll receive a new little charmer to add to your collection. It's always fun to receive stuff in the mail!
A Planet 4 Creation also has some pretty earrings and necklaces, along with some sets too.

Some reminders and surfing tools

Just a little reminder, that we've still got our blog contest going on until the end of the month. For details see this post. Basically, you just have to write a little post that links back to us, and tells us what you'd like to win from us. Easy-peasy lemon squeezy.

And just so this isn't a pictureless post, here's a teaser to what's coming up from us in the next little while:

No, you won't find those products on our site just yet. That's a preview to our next ad in Bust magazine. It'll be out on newstands July 25th, but we'll be sure to debut our new products before that. Make sure to join our newsletter to stay current on when exactly that is.


And on a completely different topic, here's a few of my favourite surfing tools -- stuff that seems to be used almost daily whilst surfing the interweb:

1) Pandora Internet Radio - it's based on the music genome project and many months ago, they actually talked about the music genome project on Daily Planet (what a great show! Too bad we don't have cable anymore). It's streaming radio, but based on your selection of artist or song, and then based on their database of songs/sounds, it gives you other songs that they think you might like based on the acoustic qualities of your selection. You have the option to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to their selection so that the more you use Pandora, hopefully the better the station you've created is.

2) Bloglines. If you read a LOT of blogs or even just a few, bloglines is a great way to get updates on all of them all at once, all out of the same window. And since you log into their site, you can access your Bloglines from any computer. You can pretty much subscribe to just about any blog (including this one), so long as they have a syndication feed.

3) Stumbleupon. Admittedly, I don't use stumbleupon all the time. It's a mozilla toolbar extension that you can download and you can choose categories you're interested in. When the urge strikes you, you just hit the "Stumble!" button in the toolbar, and it will take you to a random site that fits one of your interest categories. It's certainly a fun way to find new stuff.

4) Metacrawler. This is just for Eric ;) He's the only person I know who doesn't believe in googling anything. He swears by Metacrawler, and I'll admit that sometimes he finds some stuff better/faster than I do, and I'm a habitual googler. (One big plus for Google is that they have some neat stuff like Google Earth and Google Analytics though!)

Putting the fun in function

I've always had a soft spot for whimsical design -- hence why we own a $20+ "Mr. Suicide" bath plug, when the local Canadian Tire will gladly sell you a replacement bath plug for $2.

I re-discovered j-me: original design, via a link from not martha (who linked their clever lemon squeezer/juice catcher today). J-me is the work of two designers and brothers, Mark and Jamie.

In the past, I remembered seeing their key I've seen their his and hers key holders:

I like that they won't be accidentally falling off the wall (available for £12).

These simple coat hooks are good too -- especially if they actually encourage the photographee to actually hang up their coat, instead of say, leaving it on the furniture... (available for £5).


They've got a small range of products, but each have their functionality with a dash of fun.

Oh those crazy Finnish designers

The poor Finnish designers seem to get much less coverage than their other Scandinavian brethren (like the Swedish and the Danish for instance). There's a great Finnish design site though dubbed "The Treasures of the Wasteland" that's worth checking out if your Nokia cellphone isn't enough exposure to Finnish design for you.

Secco makes products that use materials that might otherwise be discarded, and their products are made on a relatively small scale. Their product categories (such as QWERTY, Nice Mice and PCBeasts all allude to the origins of the materials).

So here's a few selections from the Secco product line:
The Rub-a-Dub handbag made from a recycled car inner tube.


These Handy bracelets made from old cellphone buttons.


And this really cool silhouette of a saxamaphone player (which can either be a magnet or a pin).


Unfortunately, their online shop is currently being revamped :(, but it's still worth a look.

Benchmark furniture

Here's another Eric find: Benchmark Furniture -- a British company that makes furniture from sustainable-forest European hardwood.

A few years back, we had actually seen "Plank" in person as part of a touring exhibit on British design:


Plank (£475) is simplistic in appearance and a nice study in wood joinery. I'm not completely sold on the look, or its functionality since it rests such a large surface area on the ground for support, but if nothing else it is original and it would be fun to configure.

Also designed by the same designer (Thomas Heatherwick), is a piece I would love to examine in person:



The Twisted Cabinet (£2780) looks so intriguing to me, and I would love to see just how it is put together.

Benchmark's got plenty of other well-crafted pieces in their collection of wooden furniture.
(Ooh -- like this sideboard)



Check out their catalogue for more.

Fellow indie designer: Milkshake Crafts

In my wildest Oprah-esque fantasies, I'd like to have a big, giant, expansive library. The kind that has all my favourite books. In hardcover even. The kind of books that I'd normally take out of the public library because I'm not sure if I'd ever read them again, but I'd still like to have. And, the kind of books that make me look s-m-r-t ;) and learned.

If I had this lovely collection of books, then I'd want the full collection of Milkshake Crafts' bookplates ($12 US for 9) to go with them.

I'm particularly digging the chocolate floral:


and the lemon floral:


It helps that they have delicious names to go with them. Lisa's also got these pretty handmade! albums ($30 US) and journals ($10 US) too -- they're made with intricately textured paper and look much more personal than your mass-produced album or journal.

Bionic fish?

Okay, so you may have noticed that although the name of the blog is "we design. we blend. we blog.", all the posts so far have been authored by me: Vivian. So lest you think that there is too much of a feminine perspective, today's blog is an Eric find. :)

Hubcap Creatures by Ptolemy is some funky-ass art, and I'm not even sure where Eric found it exactly. All of these wacky, cool sculptures are made from recycled materials -- usually found hubcaps, which are left with all their dings and scratches to give each sculpture that extra little bit of history. They've got this robotic look to them, and while they look like fish or other creatures it's fun to be able to pick out the different objects with which they were made.

Alfonsino - 220 quid.


Red "Business in the front, party in the back" Mullet - 200 quid.


Fierce John Dory - 300 quid.

In the Zone

Whenever we're in the Byward Market here in Ottawa, we always make sure to stop by Zone to see what sort of new stock they've got. Zone is a great find for well-priced contemporary housewares, accessories and furniture -- they've also got a number of locations in Quebec but, if that's not convenient, I do believe you can order from them online.

For a while now, I've had my eye on their knock-off of the Wassily chair. (I'm pretty sure it's a knock-off because of the low low price tag of $245 CAD),

compared to the more considerably priced Knoll-stamped-and-approved Wassily at DWR:

Can you tell the difference between the two? (Besides better highlights in the product photography for the DWR chair ;) )

The Wassily is a classic chair, designed by Marcel Breuer in 1926 (I feel like I'm writing a paper on it...) Really though, it's draw for me is that it brings by fond/sleepy memories of the library of my first university where they had these beat-up tan-leather versions of the Wassily as part of their seating in the study halls.

Among other things we've bought at Zone are Umbra photo albums (see yesterday's Umbra post), our coffee table, and a microfibre upholstered bench. Their stock rotates quite often so there's no guarantee that something you see in the store today will be there in weeks to come, unfortunately. Luckily, their online store does stock some stuff on a regular basis.

Their selection of kitchenware makes me want to add some colourful accents to our kitchen. Like these little ice-cream-ready 'Tapas' bowls ($10 for 6!):


or this pretty leaf-plate ($11):

Definitely worth a look in the store if you're in Ottawa. Or at least go check out their site.

Canadian design at Umbra

Everyone knows Umbra for their enormous collection of picture frames (almost 300 different ones). Pretty much if you need a contemporary looking frame, they've got something for you.

What you might not have known is that a lot of their design comes out of their design studios in Toronto. Or, that they've also got a few nifty things besides photo frames.

I particularly like their Postino mailbox, $77 CAD (which thankfully we will be inheriting with our new place). It sure beats your standard, black-painted, rusted-out ol' mailbox.



These Nestle nesting tables are quite nice too, though at $715 CAD, might be a bit pricey until you consider they're solid oak and made with beautifully put together finger joints (not ugly visible fasteners) -- and there's three of them!


Finally, the Rolly Storage mirror, $220 CAD offers a convenient, hidden place to stash the keys, mail, stuff that you gotta hide because people are coming over right now!


So, if you're looking for some good ol' Canadian design (eh!), go and check out Umbra and their full collection of goods.

Sk8r grrl

Beck Hickey is the designer of some pretty kick-ass bags. They're for the girl in me who never was co-ordinated enough to be on a skateboard. They're great because each one is unique and made from recycled skateboards featuring original artwork from some pretty cool artists.

They're not cheap, but the way I tend to justify these things is by saying that when I'm not using them, then I'll display them as the most original art ever.






Take a gander at Beck(y) Bags here -- bags start at a cool $200 US.

Fellow indie designers to the rescue

A few weeks ago, I decided to experiment and try and new hair dresser. (Okay, so this is the start of a girly post). One thing should be said about hair dressers: if you don't like the hairstyle that the stylist has, it's a baaad sign. Not to say that her hair was horrible, but it certainly wasn't quite my style.

To make a long story short, I came out of the salon with a nice 'do, but the kind that takes experts to maintain. Especially since she left me with bangs... and I have a cowlick that rejects bangs.

So what to do?

That's when fellow indie designers: Bonnin Designs and Sprout Studio would come in handy to help tame my stick-up bangs (because plain black bobby pins aren't exactly chic).

Bonnin Designs has these pretty baubles (Two for $10US, in a choice of four different colours):




And Sprout Studio has this ($10US for the yellow flower):



and this ($8US for the vintage green flowers):



Both fellow indies offer a stylish and refreshing change from the usual hair accessories found in the mall or at the drugstore. Check out the full product selections of Bonnin Designs (especially Shari's new summer line) and Sprout Studio (love Jenifer's pretty ceramics). They've both got vastly different but very cool stuff!

Beyond Ikea

Now that we're settled into our [cough] thirties, Eric and I have found that for the most part, the Ikea furniture doesn't quite cut it anymore. Is it our maturing tastes? Is it a reduction in quality in how Ikea products are made? Or is it simply the ubiquity of Ikea and how anyone we know can name our bookshelf (Billy), our stools (Benjamin) and our dresser (Malm) by name?

While you can't beat Ikea for price (one reason why it's so hard for small companies/designers to design/manufacture furniture), often we come out empty-handed (... sad on a busy Saturday) because there's something not quite right for us.

Enter: EQ3. EQ3 is like the older sibling to Ikea. They still have a fair price point (though it tends to be a little higher than Ikea), a decent quality of products and while their furniture has names, the names aren't so common that people automatically can name the page of the catalogue that it came from ;) EQ3 is actually part of the Palliser Furniture company -- a Canadian company, eh! I particularly love that their upholstered furniture comes in a dizzying array of fabric textures and colours.

Our picks from EQ3?
Hugo (starting at $799 CAD): has been ordered and will be moving into our new home with us.



These Slotted pillows ($110 CAD): could join Hugo in the living room.



and Matt (starting at $549 CAD): may make his home with us in an upstairs bedroom.



Yay for contemporary furniture design at a good price! Look for an EQ3 near you, here.

Cuddly Rigor Mortis

If you're looking for a collection of quirky designer-made goods, you've got to check out Pixelgirlshop if you haven't already. (We've got some of our goods there too!) While perusing Pixelgirl's new site design, I had to stop by the 'Plushes & Toys' section and the Cuddly Rigor Mortis dolls just spoke to me with the pleather-y goodness.

With a quick search I found Kristin Tercek's own Cuddly Rigor Mortis site. Here, she's got her collection of plush -- some of which I hadn't seen anywhere else.

My favourite: Woofman (available for $50US + shipping).



Followed closely by Frank (available for $40US + shipping).



Kristin also has her limited edition plushes available on her Etsy site.