moving my blog to wordpress

hi there! in an attempt to gain a bit more creative control over the appearance of my blog (among other reasons), I've moved my blog over to wordpress! Here's the new address:

http://blog.elizajanecurtis.com/

I'll be posting over there from now on. See you there!

KOM: favorite argentine designer!

I've been a great admirer of KOMware designs since the first time I saw them (at CouCou in Palermo). There is a wide variety of patterns and colors and products but they all fit within a very tidy palette and style of clear colors and simple shapes in repeat patterns printed on a white ground. They're all hand-printed and constructed in Argentina, just outside of Buenos Aires. There are canvas bags (I bought one!) and lots of baby items: onesies (we bought two!) and t-shirts and leggings and also furniture with beautiful patterned cushions, which I would love to buy too. I've recently had the pleasure of meeting Pablo, the young genius behind this super fun line of products, and of course he is just as nice as his designs, and, well, I am so crazy about these designs, I have to share them! Here's the KOM flickr page which seems to have the most updated selection of new designs.

Trimarchi

man, I have been totally crazy these past few weeks, working on this and that and the other. Teaching, freelance work, endless errands, chores, etc. It all kind of blurs together. Except for one awesome thing that I did the other weekend: I joined my friends Tyler and Flavia of Nomad Ink for a trip to Mar del Plata, Argentina to attend the 8th annual Trimarchi design conference (TMDG for short).

Alex Trochut presenting at TMDG

It was awesome, Tyler and Flavia really took me under their wing and made me feel like part of the family. I got to help out with the Cross-Cultural Design Workshop that they presented, and they introduced me to about a million exciting and talented designers. They're based out of Curitiba, Brazil - and they introduced me to lots of other interesting Brazilian designers, such as their friends from Colletivo, who were one of the major presenters at the conference. Colletivo's presentation was really impressive and they were all totally nice and fun in person.

work by Brazilian design studio Colletivo

The whole trip was totally fun and a bit of sensory overload with so many interesting things to do and see and learn about.
A million thanks to Tyler and Flavia for really making it an awesome weekend!

Tyler and Flavia, aka Nomad Ink


Nomad Ink's Cross-Cultural Design Workshop


Atypica booth, Trimarchi


warm afternoon on the beach, Mar del Plata

a(n incomplete) designer's guide to buenos aires

every now and then friends ask me about art-and-design-related stuff to do and things to see in Buenos Aires. It's fun answering this question; the city is bountiful of eye candy. I've been sticking together a rough and of course incomplete list of memorable places and things to suggest to like-minded design enthusiasts, here's what i've got so far:

DESIGN SHOPS:

Papelera Palermo = Palermo Soho. beautiful space selling handmade and hand-printed papers, notebooks, art books, etc... retail store at Honduras 4945. they also have a workshop where they give classes (and make most of the stuff sold in the shop) at Cabrera 5227

CouCou = gurruchaga 1783. Palermo Soho. very cute little shop that carries lots of fun objects made by independent designers: home goods, stationery, jewelry, lots of cute tote-bags, baby clothes, etc. The owner Emi is very nice and friendly! She has a great eye, the store always looks super cute and she has a wonderful selection of interesting things!

Fabrolab = Nicaragua 4677. Palermo Soho. big space with some of everything.

Calma Chicha = Honduras 4925. Palermo. home & interior stuff, modern poppy vibe. i think they specialize in argentine-made goods.

Pic Nic = Nicaragua 6080. Palermo Hollywood. patterned wallpaper, pillows, etc.

Cualquier Verdura = Humberto 1º 517. San Telmo. a beautiful house where everything is for sale.

Wussman = Venezuela 570. San Telmo. art gallery in the front and a wonderful stationery shop with fine papers and gifts and a letterpress printing operation in the back and an art-books-store downstairs.

El Mercado de las Pulgas = Niceto Vega y Dorrego. Palermo Hollywood. Flea market with lots of modern home stuff.

La Pasionaria = Godoy Cruz 1541. Palermo Soho. wonderful warehouse filled with a jumble of vintage 20th century objects, , Palermo Soho. (open 4pm-8pm mon-fri, 11-8 sat)

Canasta = Delgado 1235. Colegiales. a tiny little gallery/bookstore/shop. minimal, eclectic and cute. open tues-sat 2pm-7pm.

CLOTHING:

Lupe = El Salvador 4657, Palermo Soho

and on the same block, Rapsodia. El Salvador 4757, Palermo Soho

AY Not Dead = Soler 4193, Palermo Soho

Pesqueria = armenia 1493. Palermo Soho.

Juana de Arco = El Salvador 4762. Palermo Soho.

Objeto = gurruchaga 1335. Palermo Soho.

Tramando = Rodriquez Peña 1973. Recoleta. interesting textiles and clothing by designer Martin Churba.

DAM = Honduras 4775. Palermo Soho. wacky stuff.

CAFES / RESTAURANTS / etc

Lepi Boulangerie = Roseti 1769. Chacarita. Cute bakery.

Oui Oui = Nicaragua 6068. Palermo Hollywood. coffee shop, bakery, café

Arevalito = Arevalo 1478. Palermo Hollywood. Delicious, filling, homey vegetarian café. Good coffee too. And they serve food all day long (many other BsAs restaurants close down between 2pm and 8pm which often causes visiting yankees to become hungry and desperate during these hours!)

Olsen = Gorriti 5870. Palermo Hollywood. lofty scandinavian restaurant, good brunch and impressive design (from the menus to the plates to the architecture of the restaurant itself)

Milion = Parana 1048. Recoleta. Cool, fancy bar/restaurant in a converted mansion. It’s a beautiful space. It’s always nice to have a mojito in the upstairs bar. (the bar-top is glowing alabaster!)

Cusic = El Salvador 6016. Palermo Hollywood. Cute, quiet café with two nice gardens.

Home Hotel = Honduras 5860. really cute boutique hotel with a nice bar/restaurant in the back, lovely view of the garden and pool from the café, i think in nice weather you can eat in the garden. It’s a great spot for brunches or afternoon tea. They have different cool wallpaper in each room, it’s worth taking a peek around. And they have a wonderful spa if you want to drop a bit of cash on a massage or a day of pampering.

La Catedral = Sarmiento 4006 (corner of Medrano). Almagro. Scruffy, dark & atmospheric tango bar, upstairs in an immense dusty warehouse.

COFFEE SHOPS & BOOKSTORES etc

Eterna Cadencia = Honduras 5574. Palermo Hollywood.a beautiful space, bookstore and cafe.

El Boutique del Libro = Thames 1762. Palermo Soho. another cozy bookstore/cafe. A great place to take a break from wandering around Palermo, or to bring your laptop and get some work done while you drink coffee.

Helena = Nicaragua 4816. Palermo Soho. Cute coffee shop (no books)

Ateneo Grand Splendid = Santa Fe 1860. Recoleta. This is a really impressive bookstore, converted from an old movie theater, and the café is located on the stage!

ART & GALLERIES

Espacio Fundación Telefonica = Arenales 1540. Recoleta. Arts foundation with exhibitions in gallery spaces, also an extensive library of art books, workshops, events, etc.

Fundacion PROA = Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929. La Boca. Contemporary arts museum & gallery space

Hollywood in Cambodia = Thames 1885. Palermo Soho. Graffiti art gallery and bar. Open 5pm – 9pm

Jardin Oculto = Venezuela 926. San Telmo. Art gallery

713 ARTE CONTEMPORANEO = Defensa 713. San Telmo. Art gallery.
http://www.arte713.com

Centro Cultural Borges / Galerias Pacifico = Viamonte esquina San Martín. Centro. art museum (CC Borges) is located upstairs from a very luxe shopping mall (Galerias Pacifico) in a beautiful old building.

MISC:

Graffiti Mundo tour = sounds like fun! It’s a tour of walls, galleries and studios to learn about different artists in the Buenos aires graffiti scene.


A FEW INTERESTING LOCAL DESIGNERS AND ARTISTS:

KOMware

Ana Laura Perez

Patricia Tewel

Lala Ladcani

Marina de Caro (Bola de Nieve)

http://www.proyectopanda.com.ar/

Cristian Turdera

winter at home

it's cold here! while all my northern-hemisphere friends are hooting and hollering about their sweaty carefree summers, we're bundled up in sweaters, hovering over the gas heater and staying indoors, snuggling with the pups to keep warm. we did a ton of traveling during the summer and fall, and now we've used up all of our vacation time and travel budget so we'll be at home for the rest of the year, and right now it feels nice to be at home, nesting and working in the studio and knitting up a storm. I'm trying to knit a blanket to keep me warm on the couch, hopefully I might even finish it before summer comes! aside from knitting and watching tons of movies, these are fun things we've been up to recently:

• using my handsome new red silicone(!) mini-muffin tins to bake cupcakes and muffins. apple-carrot-chocolate chip muffins were the best so far.

• discovered a cute place called La Castorera right around the corner from our house (thank you Dirk for bringing us there), it's an upstairs space with a nice old-time vibe in the bar and they have bands and music and project movies on Wednesdays, I hope we'll be back there again soon.

• started yoga classes. they're small classes with a nice teacher named Ines who lives in our neighborhood. we use a lot of equipment: pillows and nylon straps and wood blocks and stuff. in that aspect it's different from any other yoga classes I've taken before, but we also did lots of normal yoga stuff. seems great so far, I love being in a small class and getting more personal instruction.

• had a fun dinner with Annie & Matt and friends at a cute and very informal "closed-door restaurant" in Almagro called "Donde Me Trajiste" (where have you brought me?). The food was really not exciting but the whole experience is fun, it's like being invited to dinner at a friend's house, the hosts serve you dinner in their own home. It's a pretty, historic PH house with a bit of a hippie onda, and they perform live music for you while you eat. The "house band" did some fun tango music and later a solo artist played some traditional Argentine folklorico music. Also they served us a delicious mystery cocktail which had pear and basil in it, appropriately called "Que le pusiste?" (what did you put in it?) because they wouldn't reveal what else was in it.

• had a great bike-riding Saturday, rode over to Chacarita and bought tons of fresh veggies & super awesome cheeses at the organic farmer's market El Galpon and then took a break at home, warmed up and did a bit of knitting, then biked over to MALBA, the modern art museum, and looked at the art. Mike had never been to MALBA before! they had a good exhibit of Argentine art from the 1990's, I liked a lot of the work although it did seem weird (given the title of the show) that most of the pieces I liked were made in 2003-2008. Had submarinos (hot milk with a bar of chocolate: you drop the chocolate in and mix it up until it turns into hot chocolate) and pain-au-chocolat and a game of cards in the museum cafe. Perplexingly, a museum guard knocked on the glass wall and scolded us for playing cards in the museum cafe! wtf? we ignored him and kept playing until our submarinos were gone and biked back home, then cooked a delicious pot of hot & sour soup with our farmers-market veggies.

• knitting and more knitting. i made this hat for a craft swap, and now i am working on a slightly-more-subdued version of this blanket (using solid-colored blocks rather than striped blocks, if that makes any sense). I'll upload a picture soon.

• I've been making some new designs for wedding invitations. I've gotten lots of inquiries about custom work for weddings, but I find that mostly people like to "shop" from a variety of available options, rather than inventing something totally new from scratch. So I'm putting together a repertoire of wedding invitations, I'll keep adding more as I have time.

• starting a new website/blog to post pattern and textile designs. This is still in the idea phase, and it's a collaborative project with my friend Julia. the idea is we'll both post pattern/textile designs, sketches, etc. For years I've been wanting to assemble/develop a real portfolio of textile and repeat designs so hopefully this will be an incentive to start pulling them together and developing more work in this vein. I'll post a link as soon as we have something to share!

sneak peek!

more nice publicity for Morris & Essex...

On Monday Design*Sponge ran a little set of photos of our house. It's part of a weekly series called Sneak Peeks where they show photos of different artists' and designers' homes and spaces. I'm a regular reader of Design*Sponge, it always perks me up to look through Grace's daily picks of interesting and inspiring designs. So I was really honored to be asked to send in pictures of my home!!
It's also exciting because I really totally love this apartment, I feel so much at-home here, it's like a physical manifestation of my colorful, convoluted, cluttered and drafty mental space, I still feel really lucky we found this place!... so I am psyched to be able to show off our fabulous apartment to the world... But most of the interiors they feature are so very clean and tidy and smooth and look like they belong on glossy magazine pages... so I was a little apprehensive about whether our, uh, rustic apartment would fit into the series.
To do the photo shoot, I decided I could really use professional photography help and our friend Stephen put me in contact with his friend Caitlin, who turned out to be very nice and absolutely professional and talented. I made some cute new curtains for the kitchen, bought lots of flowers, Mike and I cleaned the heck out of the apartment. At the last minute, frustrated by a few unsightly objects and stacks of clutter that I couldn't find homes for, I did hide piles of junk into the oven and the bathtub.
In all, it was a ton of fun doing the photo shoot and the pictures came out looking beautiful. Caitlin has a great eye and knows what she's doing.
In truth, the apartment was furnished when we moved in so we aren't really responsible for most of the design decisions here. The only thing that's ours is the art on the walls. It's a little weird reading all the nice comments directed towards me, since most of the credit should go to Adrian and Laura, our landlords who furnished the place with all these fun colorful flea-market odds and ends.

ffffound.com

i'm obsessed with this website. i discovered it a few months ago when a photo of my cards was posted on ffffound.com and suddenly i got a bunch of orders that said "i saw your cards on ffffound.com!" so I went to check it out. it's totally simple and great.

anyway. i really like it and i can't stop looking at it and i wish i could have an invite so i could login and post stuff too. but it's invitation only and i don't have an invite. so I just look at the pictures... i especially like that this site reminds me how much i dig typography... on the other hand, there are an awful lot of naked ladies on here, and I can't honestly complain that i don't like looking at naked ladies, they're nice, but there's no naked men or anything, just naked women. it kind of makes me feel like i'm in a college freshman boys' dorm room, which is not a feeling that i'm into. but i still love looking at all the pictures.

i'm working on...

making a new portfolio of my design work. i've been putting this off for a while but i'm finally making it happen. it's a ton of work!!!

oooh! pretty.

I just fell in love with these beautiful patterns from a danish textile company called kragh rosenberg. I love all the purple and blue and white, and the tiny dots, and i love the Bargello-looking zigzag pillow pattern. I found them on designsponge.

yay! design*sponge post

almost every morning when I start my work day, I check my email and then I take a peek at design sponge, a daily design blog where there's always some new and fun pictures to look at. because the site has become such a pleasant part of my daily routine, i feel really excited and proud that Grace featured my new website and stationery on Wednesday! Click here to read that post.

And while I'm at it

this is my new favorite thing to look at. a blog by a designer named Abby Clawson Low. i also really like her design work.

i love the visual balance of white and colors on this blog, and i love her taste in old thrift-shop things and art.

design admiration

i forget how i came across this stuff on the internet, but i really like this picture, and here are some cute elephants too.

both designed by Angel D'Amico who also has nice prints and shirts available for sale at her shop on etsy.com.