A Love Letter to Totokaelo

While in Seattle, I had the opportunity to visit Totokaelo. Their beautiful website, chock full of drool-worthy clothes, shoes, and jewels, had me crushing from afar, so I had high hopes for the actual shop, located on 10th Ave. between Pike and Pine. It didn't disappoint. The beautiful, light-filled space, impeccably edited assortment of treasures, and warm, friendly staff made for one of the most positive shopping experiences I have ever had. Post-visit, Christine, the store director, followed up with a couple of really nice emails, and I was surprised at the details she remembered from our conversation. The level of customer service was really impressive and refreshing.  I ended up going twice in a three-day period, taking home a Raquel Allegra dress and two beautiful ceramic mugs that I am absolutely in love with.

The gorgeousness starts with the door:

It was hard to peel my eyes (and hands) away from the amazing home selection at the front of the shop. You can check out the selection of housewares  and decorative objects at Totokaelo Art-Object.

If you're in the area, you might as well stop by Oddfellows for the deliciously decadent Brioche French toast . . .

 . . . and you absolutely cannot skip a trip to the Elliott Bay Book Company. Be prepared to spend hours perusing the titles and reading the handwritten book reviews sandwiched between the thoughtfully selected tomes that line its  shelves. 

Thanks, Totokaelo! I hope to be back soon. In the meantime, I will be stalking your websites per usual. More Seattle highlights to come . . .

Tim Walker Book Now $4K on Amazon???

In the spring of 2008, I bought a copy of Tim Walker's delightful I Love Pictures, published by Hatje Cantz, for exactly $34.65 from Amazon.com. Just four years later, a Google search led me to an Amazon listing for the same title and I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw that used copies were going for up to $4,000 a pop. Hmm. I adore Tim Walker and I most certainly love his pictures, but I must (guiltily) admit I briefly contemplated turning a profit on my beloved out-of-print copy. With my move just a month away and lots of furniture and housewares to be bought, couldn't I be just as content with a copy of Pictures, which can be had for under $100? Sigh.

Book Obsession: Martha Graham by Merle Armitage

I came across the beautiful typography and design of this book about modern dance pioneer Martha Graham via Amass Blog's feature. Author and designer Merle Armitage (who was also an engineer, set designer, gourmet, art collector) said he often wrote books only so he could design them.  Designed in the 1930's, it's amazing how aesthetically appealing the book still is today. I definitely need to check out his other work.

Image: www.birdandbanner.com

Image: www.anothermag.com

A Wednesday in Wisconsin: Laurel Leaf Farm's Vintage Menagerie

Is anyone else having a crazy week (/month)? If, like me, you find yourself in major need of a distraction, these vintage treasures from Laurel Leaf Farm are just the thing to whisk you away from your worries. The family-run, Wisconsin-based antiques business has the most delightful wares, from old coffee grinders to obsolete farming tools. Hand-plucked from the remains of someone else's long forgotten past, these lovely, vibrant finds are ready for a new life.  Be forewarned, though -- they tend to get snatched up rather quickly, so act fast.

Vintage Wood Tennis Rackets, set of four, $60 @ Laurel Leaf Farm.

60s vintage yellow enamel teakettle, $20 @ Laurel Leaf Farm.

Vintage enamel collander, $34

1944 Leica Camera/Photography Manual, $45.

Photos: www.laurelleaffarm.com

Dream Design Book: Handcrafted Modern

It's been over a month since I last posted anything here and I didn't realize how negligent I'd become until a couple of people asked me if the blog was still active (!), so if I have any readers left, I owe you a biiiig apology.  I'm alive and well, but the past month has kept me busy with international travels (my trip to Saudi Arabia would require a whole post to summarize. . . or five), getting miserably sick upon my return, and, oh . . . turning 30.

I'm back and excited to bring you all some fun finds. First up is Handcrafted Modern, a design book I've been coveting. Written by SF-based photographer Leslie Williamson, it's chock full of all kinds of earthy-modern goodness and takes you on a dream journey through midcentury modern design masters' own abodes (Nakashima, Wright, the Eameses, Gropius, to name but a few). I've been hankering after honey-hued woodwork and organic shapes ever since I laid eyes on it.

The cover offers a peek at the gorgeous staircase in the home of woodworkers Wharton Esherick.

Kagan's living room furnishings included his own iconic chair.

The bathroom in J.B. Blunk's cabin-like hideaway, featuring a sink carved out of redwood.

Photos: 
1, 2) www.anthropologie.com
3) www.tmagazine.nytimes.com

A Book By It's Cover: Old Favorites, Dressed Up

I can't help it. I'm a total sucker for book covers. Though my shelves are already teeming with a stack of beauties from Coralie Bickford-Smith's Clothbound Series,  a selection of Harper Perennial's Fifty-Two Stories, a set of postcards featuring Penguin Classics vintage book jackets, and the Miroslav Sasek-designed  city series for children, I just can't say no whenever I see an old favorite dressed up in a gorgeous jacket. I dream of having a library room in some future home and attempt to justify these purchases by telling myself that they'll someday line the shelves in said imaginary library, and that the pretty covers will make reading old claasics an even more wonderful experience.

Childhood favorites are perfect for revisiting on cold, rainy evenings or a gift to a special little someone (though I wonder, do children even read nowadays?) and the latest on my lust list is a a vibrantly outfitted clothbound edition of The Secret Garden. Clothbound Penguin Classics for Children (and nostalgic adults), $16.99 @ Anthropologie.

I've been trying very hard to resist Ms. Bickford-Smith's beautifully adorned F. Scott Fitzgerald series for the sake of my sagging bookshelves, but the gilded art-deco motifs are just too lovely to ignore. I won't allow myself to get the entire collection, so I've limited myself to just two and have been lingering over the (impossible) decision ever since. I think I'll go with The Beautiful and Damned and Flappers and Philosophers. They're hard to find, but I've had luck in the past with Amazon UK, and the shipping cost isn't too terrible.

Photos:

1) www.anthropologie.com
2) www.cb-smith.com

Postcards from the Past: Penguin Books' Iconic Covers

The other day I came across the loveliest set of postcards, which boast not scenes of picturesque seaside towns, ancient ruins or glittering skylines, but vintage book jackets. Penguin Books recently dug through its archives, selecting 100 of its most charming, distinctive covers, and printed them as postcards. Now if only the notes I scrawl on the back could promise to be as clever and full of intrigue as some of the titles they bear . . .

Thanks to the ever-inspiring Kempt for the tip.

Box of 100 postcards, $30.

Photo: www.getkempt.com

Books to Gift: Clothbound Beauties, Congolese Dandies, and Fancy Dictionaries

It seems that with every holiday gift I buy for someone else, I've also been picking up a little something (or two) for myself. This year, I've gone book crazy. Though my little bookshelf is already bursting with titles I decided I mustn't live without, and a pile stacked precariously on the radiator threatens to spill over at any moment, I couldn't resist picking up these lovely tomes.

I've decided that classics look best clothbound, in a manner befitting the era of their original printing. Penguin Classics continues to turn out lovely versions of some of the worlds most celebrated works. Designed by Coralie Bickford Smith, they're as pretty as they are transporting. I picked up The Picture of Dorian Gray, Great Expectations, Sense and Sensibility, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles. Since I read these several times over as a teen, I wanted them purely for sentimental value. Due to space constraints, perhaps I'll stack them under a bedside lamp in the new room (I'm pretty sure y'all are sick of hearing about things I'm going to do in said new room, and I haven't even moved in yet). They're usually $20 a pop at bookstores or specialty stores like Anthropologie, though they can often be found for less on Amazon.com.

 

I also got a few of these brightly colored paperbacks from the Harper Perennial Fifty-Two Stories collection. $10 each. They feature some of the lesser known (but totally amazing) short stories from literary greats such as Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, and Oscar Wilde.

And some to covet:

I came across this one on Paul Smith's very awesome blog. Gentlemen of Bacongo is a collection of photographs of some of the dapperest dandies you've ever seen, all of whom reside in the Brazzaville district of the same name in the Congo. $30.92 @ Amazon.com.

I'm in love with these colorful leather bound dictionaries. Hot pink, anyone? You can choose to have them monogrammed, too. $170 @ Ballard Designs. Pick from brown, pink, yellow, and gold. Sadly, the beautiful robin's egg blue is no longer available.

Photo credit:
1-3) www.anthropologie.com
4) www.amazon.com
5) www.fiftytwostories.com
6) www.paulsmith.co.uk
7) www.ballarddesigns.com

Sunday Linkage: Frauleins, Architectural Gingerbread Houses, A Visualization of Mad Men Withdrawal, and Field Journal Love

In which we take a break from shopping to gaze at pretty pictures and read about things that caught my fancy this week.   

I love a clever gingerbread house, and Apartment Therapy SF has a great roundup of inspiring edible architecture, which includes modern marvels rendered in graham cracker logs and sugar-coated shingles. 

 

 

While flipping through the December issue of Pilfered (guest edited by Yosi Sergant), I found a photo that perfectly captures how I felt after Mad Men's third season ended. Knowing I'll have to wait a year for my next fix is just too much.

Photo: unknown, via Pilfered

My favorite blog these days is A Field Journal. I can't get over the gorgeous photography and have been frequenting it in search of inspiring imagery with text and DIY project ideas to help chase away winter's dull drearies. A sampling:

 

 

 

 

Photos: www.afieldjournal.blogspot.com

The blogosphere is abuzz over fashion photog Ellen von Unwerth's new book, Fräulein, a 500-page cabaret-themed retrospective of her feisty femmes.  Dazed Digital has an interview and some photos from the forthcoming tome (her sixth). It's due out in January and according to Taschen's website, will retail for a dizzying $700.