Filed under: Toys and games, art, decoration | Tags: Alexander Girard, colorful, decoration, dolls, wooden items
These wooden dolls made of pinewood were originally created by Girard as decorations for his Santa Fe home. Fortunately though, design museum Vitra is reissuing models 1-11. These dolls with sometimes happy, sometimes melancholy faces are hand-painted and rather indended as home decoration than as actual toys, and with their modern design, they would surely look fabulous as room decoration, not just for the nursery! They also make perfect gifts, since they arrive in a printed, wooden box.
Available at Unica Home for $150.00 each.
Today is all about color, lots of color, and some groovy design, that catapults you right back into the 60s and 70s. Here they are, the colorful mugs, plates and the whole shebang of Jackie Shapiro’s French Bull tableware:
All items are made of high quality melamine that is dishwasher and heat safe and will neither fade, chip nor discolor. So you can be sure these items will continue to look brandnew, so you can enjoy the great designs for a long time. Great news, of course, as French Bull’s designs are so amazing, they definitely are a keeper! To make things even greater, they also have tableware for kids in equally great styles. These will surely be loved by kids and moms alike, because their designs are so much more appealing than the standard Disney character tableware, of which you grow tired aleady right after purchasing. Now that promises to be a great, colorful picknick and barbecue season!
Check out Cocoa Crayon for the collection, e.g. printed bowl $7, kids set $22, Cup $6, discontinued items are 20% off.
If you are looking for some flower-power vibe, these hippie-style stickers by Anna Wand are just perfect with all their vibrant colors, flower themes and peace symbols.
Available at Design 3000, and hopefully soon, the Anna Wand website will also be available in English (at least they say so), as you can also order directly from there.
Filed under: decoration | Tags: animal design, colorful, French design, kites, lampion, mobiles, Petit Pan
Petit Pan is a French company that is famous for its kites, but also produces a range of other items, such as mobiles, clothes and quilts. Now what makes their kites so special is that they are not so much for the competitive kind who wants functional stunt kites, but rather that they have incredibly beautiful design. I don’t know any other company that makes flying butterflies, dragonflies or fish so realistic or decorative. That being said, these beauties are not only great for a sunny day in fall, when the wind is right to fly a kite, they also look amazing on wall or ceiling. Personally, I find them way too precious to really use them outdoors. However, if you do want to use them outside and not just hang them up as decoration, go ahead, they are fully functional after all. Take a look at these beauties made of silk and bamboo, each available in many different colors:
And look, they even have amazing fish and seahorse lampions (and of course they are MUCH bigger than they seem here, not to say these fish are huge):
Available in the Petit Pan online shop, e.g. insect mobile 65.00 €, fish lampion 75.00 €, dragonfly kite 25.00 €.
Filed under: art, carpets | Tags: Alexander Girard, carpet, carpet tiles, colorful, FLOR, La Fonda del Sol
Today it’s gray and rainy outside, so what options do you have, but to take the sun inside, if it doesn’t want to shine for you outside? And who would be more apt to do just that than Alexander Girard? I have to say, I just love his colorful designs. If you haven’t heard of him before, I’ll just say really quickly that Girard is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, colorists of the 20th century, and is known mainly for his textile design, combining folk elements with rich, warm colors and modern design.
The La Fonda del Sol line by Girard was created for the, surprise surprise, La Fonda del Sol restaurant in 1960. Though this restaurant has long disappeared from New York, his designs remain and are just as stunning and happyiness inducing as always, with their vibrant colors and folk-inspired sun-prints. The whole La Fonda collection actually comprised a whole lot range of interior design, from wall-decor and table-ware to pillows and carpets. Unfortunately, the other items are not available at the moment, I would have loved to introduce you to the La Fonda pillows.
But luckily, FLOR has introduced a carpet tile collection based on his sunny design 
With their warm colors and friendly faces, the La Fonda del Sol prints certainly look great anywhere in the house, from living room to study, and they even perfect for a nursery or playroom. Not to mention these tiles are made of soft velours that is easy to clean should a mess occur, and can even be pulled up and rinsed in a sink, if disaster strikes. The pull-up feature is also great if you want to rearrange the tiles to give the room a new look, or if you will be moving to a new apartment and want to use them in your new place as well. Now you can have a carpet that adapts to your changing needs and brings great, timeless, mid-century art into your home as well!
The FLOR tiles come in packs of six, with large suns (one sun per tile) in the variants Azul (blue), Mandarina (orange) and Verde (green) and with small suns (nine suns per tile) in the multicolored Piqueño.
Available at FLOR, $159.99 for a six tile rug.
Filed under: art | Tags: art, colorful, Grégoire Ganter, Lea's Alphabets, modern
Though the following piece is actually designed for a modern playroom, I think it looks so amazing, you could just as well put it anywhere else in the house, and it matches really well with the LoJo Ball which I am reviewing just below. Hence, I suppose, as many adults would not mind hanging his pictures on the wall, here is a little review:
Lea’s Alphabets by Grégoire Ganter is a great example that shows how kids can have their room decorated in a fresh style, that is entertaining (many details and pictures to watch), educative (children can learn the alphabet, learn that there are different fonts, and associate objects with letters, just as in ‘normal’ alphabet imagery for kids) and timeless (his designs are not only for little one’s, but look also appeal to teenagers. But above all these advantages, his prints just look great! Take a look:
As you could see, there is a huge variety of themes available from the Lea’s Alphabets range, you can have and a-z print composed of just food, for example, or just using one specific color. Also, you may pick a one letter print, featuring a collage of many objects starting with that letter and many different fonts. Or perhaps, you just want a single letter-picture combination, maybe to have your child’s initial as the focal point of the nursery. His prints are also available as postcards, and you may even contact him for custom work, e.g. spelling out your son’s or daughter’s name. All big prints are available in several different sizes. They are limited editions of 100 pieces, signed and numbered on the back, and printed on matte, archival paper, so you will have to frame them properly, if you want to enjoy them for years to come.
Available on his website, a set of 26 a-z postcards for $52, small letter or alphabet print for $200, big prints for $500 (also in-between sizes available). And one last picture:
Filed under: Bags and accessories, Pillows and Blankets, Storage | Tags: colorful, Dutch design, felt, Mijnes, pillow
Is there any other word for these bags than beauuutiful?? Wow, these handmade bags with felt decoration by Dutch brand Mijnes are simply gorgeous! And not only do they have fantastic styles for moms, but for kids as well. I suppose there will be a wide competition on who gets what, as they have a big collection ranging from diaper bags to pillows and crib bags (and many more), all equally unique.
Unfortunately though, I need to slow your enthusiam, because all their amazing and detailed designs make the production of these items quite labor intensive, which shows in the price tag. But if you don’t mind shelling out 99€ for a crib bag, or 225€ for a diaper bag e.g., then they’re yours!
Available at the Mijnes website.
