Loving right now

I'm still drowning in book stuff (no really, there's paper everywhere!) but I thought I would pop in to share a few links.

*Beautiful papercut images (shown above) from artist Kako Ueda.

*I Spy, a self-published book featuring the photography of artist Kerry Pitt-Hart. I love her photography of collections and this trend toward self-publishing is really cool. Shown above is, Without You I'm Nothing, one of her photographs available for sale in her etsy shop.

* 49 Sensational Skirts, a new book from fiber artist and skirt maker extraordinaire, Alison Willoughby. Thanks to Diane for the tip-off! I had no idea she was writing a book.

*And finally, Gourmet, one of my favorite magazines, has updated it's website featuring the same gorgeous photography and clever storytelling we have come to expect from the print issues.

Out of the Ordinary: Spectacular Craft at the Victoria and Albert

One of the highlights of my London trip was this exhibit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. If you live in London or happen to be going there, you must go see this! Out of the Ordinary features fine artists using traditional craft materials and techniques in their work.

Below are two of my favorite artists from the exhibit:

On first glance, Susan Collis' work may not seem like it belongs but if you look closely, her art reveals some truly amazing craft. The paint-spatters on the smock to the left are painstakingly embroidered while paint drops on the wooden stepladder are actually inlaid mother of pearl, diamonds and opals.

Chicago based artist Anne Wilson works with lace, hair, pins and thread. Her installation Topologies is a long board featuring different manipulations of these materials.

If you look at the installation as a whole, this work resembles a topographical map while up close, little clumps and clusters of lace, pins and thread resemble bacteria or micro-organisms. It is completely mesmerizing. As if this work isn't amazing enough on it's own, Wilson made a video accompanying this piece called Errant Behaviours, in which these materials come to life with animation.

Out of the Ordinary will be open until February 18th. If you can't make it, the exhibition book is also available for sale on their website.

Macaron frenzy

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you probably know about strange attraction to French macarons, not the big heavy coconut laden cookies but the airy meringues filled with sweet jams or pastry cream. They're pretty hard to come by in New York so I was excited when I heard that Parisian pastry shop Ladurée recently opened a branch in London's Harrods. Most of Harrods is flashy in that Vegas showgirl sort of way but Laduree is pretty, sophisticated and oh-so french. It's so pretty in fact, that we based a concept on it a few years back at Anthropologie.

I ordered two boxes of them and had them gift wrapped, even though they were for me! The gift boxes were so pretty I couldn't resist! I think my favorite flavor was lemon, followed by salted caramel and rose.

Here are a few links to more information about macarons:

An introduction to French macarons

Macaron Flickr group

Some delicious macaron recipes

Back to Brooklyn

photo of a delicious mocha consumed at Brooklyn Label on Saturday morning

It's good to be back in Brooklyn! London was really fun and lovely. It was actually so similar to New York that I experienced minimal culture shock and I found the city to be very easy to navigate.

Unfortunately, it rained the whole time I was there and I was busy during most of the day so I took very few pictures, but I did get to buy some fabric at Liberty, eat lots of macarons at Ladurée in Harrods and gorge myself on Indian food. Also, I saw an amazing exhibit at the V&A. I'm going to post about macarons and the exhibit a little later today.

See you soon!

Thanks for all of the tips and recommendations for my trip! I definitely want to go to the Victoria and Albert Museum and I have always wanted to see the stores Labour and Wait, Caravan and V.V. Rouleaux.

My flight is tomorrow and I have about a thousand things to do before then so I am checking out for the week.

I'll be back with lots of pictures and hopefully, a lot more time to blog!