part of my work in progress tea towel series

Okay, so I am a little late to the party on this, but none the less, here I am. Obsessed by handmade tea towels. I have been working on a couple ranges of designs over the last several months and have been really enjoying the medium. I guess they have felt rather like large paintings to me, with all of that enticing, sometimes daunting, white space. A place to create current observations and thoughts into “art”. But not only is there that, but you also get to actually use them as well as look at them jauntily hanging on your oven handle. I adore practical art like this.

One day, a couple of weeks ago, I was looking for common terms that people call tea towels on the internet, and came across a few really great articles about other tea towel obsessed people. I had no idea.

First up was an article on Etsy’s Handmade blog, the Storque, called Stylish Tea Towels: Become a Collector, featuring no less than 29 lovely designers from all over the world creating interesting and beautiful tea towels. Enclosed in this article is a link to a Decor8 article, A Mad tea {towel} party!. This one holds yet another level of interest as it was written about a gallery showing of tea towels curated by Nicolas Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio, which sadly doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I love this line from the gallery statement: “The humble tea towel is no longer merely relegated to the tasks of the kitchen. Reinvented, its form offers a unique challenge and serves as a new canvas for artists and designers.” This article prompted a very interesting series of posts about decorative arts and derivative art–I found it all very brave and honest and ultimately supportive.

And one more, by Chow, titled Upgrade Your Rags; Beautiful tea towels from eight top designers. Although not all handmade, they are still wonderful to peruse. I really like how they end the article, “We’ll leave it to you to decide if they’re cleanup tools or pieces of art.” Personally, I’m happy with the blend of both of these.

Here are some photos from the store and factory:

Entrance to the Heath Factory shop (that's my dad in the entry way!)

Mold casting room

Recently cast cup handles

Mold making

Vases and pitchers ready for trimming and glazing

Making large bowls with a jigger

And then there is the fact that you get to see NEW things in the works, like these beautiful demitasse cups and multi textured tiles:

New demitasse cups

New tiles

Not to mention, a peak in the historical cabinet:

Cabinet with historic wares

Also, everywhere there are beautiful still lifes:

Mold making tools

Beautiful tiles in the warehouse

Everyone working here seems so happy and engaged, both the craftspeople and the store staff, many of whom serve several roles. I really wish I could make it to the factory sale in November when they sell many of their one of a kind experiments. But, for a lovely opportunity anytime, here is just a peek of what you get to see in the factory store:

Sliver of the factory shop

I have needed to take a hiatus on my Japan reminiscing while getting ready for the Urban Craft Uprising Show, which is coming up next weekend, August 1 and 2 at the Seattle Center. This is my first time participating in this iconic show and I am really excited to be a part of it . The Northwest is full of wonderful crafters, but this show also attracts designers from afar as well, so it should be really fun to meet a variety of interesting, talented artists.

To me, crafting is one of those movements that is very personal and individual, but that potentially has large ramifications economically, environmentally and socially. It starts with loving to do something, most usually by hand, that is made for the benefit and pleasure of others. It takes both the maker and the buyer out of the impersonal world we have found ourselves in, at least for awhile. (How DID we find ourselves in phone trees to India to solve the simplest questions or opening up ever cheaper, overly packaged throwaway items from China?) It supports both our community and our collective knowing that we can indeed make lovely and simple things for ourselves. It is environmentally responsible (yay, let’s not ship things half way around the world and back and forth again) and actually creates fulfilling jobs. I really believe that all of these things can start to create change that makes a difference.

I have heard about the potential tough criticism at a craft show whispered between shoppers, “I could make that myself.” But, maybe it is a high honor to hear that. Maybe by example the person who says this will go home and bake their own bread or make their own pillow. Wouldn’t that be great?

Anyhow, thank you for supporting wonderful events like Urban Craft Uprising, and for buying handmade (i.e. socially and environmentally positive) goods. Seattle is a very supportive city to live in from the perspective of making a craft. I’ve had people buying my work that in the same breath say I love your work and I want to support local artists. There is a thoughtful awareness here that is wonderful to be around and very appreciated. I believe that events like this and the support they attract make a difference each time they happen and more than we give them credit for.

Stuffed characters at game shop

We just got back from Japan this past week and there is so much that I want to share and remember. Perhaps I will start with something I was really looking forward to–the cuteness that is everywhere in Japan. Much to my husband’s chagrin, I found that my daughter, her friends and I, had no limit to the cuteness we were happy to spend time looking at in all of its various forms.

Hello Kitty in black hard boiled egg outfit

As you probably know, adorable characters are ubiquitous in Japan. Hello Kitty is dressed up in every possible outfit, depending on what town you are in–from a geisha’s kimono in Kyoto to a black hard boiled egg that is supposed to add 7 years to your life in Hakone. In addition, many services, companies and buildings have charming mascots. Even the public service messages in the subways are done through charming illustrations. The appeal is not lost on Japanese men as well, as even the most straight looking salary man seems to have at least one cute thing (usually multiples) hanging from their cell phones or is wearing a tie with tiny Hello Kittys imbedded.

Mameshiba

Here is an interesting cuteness case study–a ridiculously cute set of characters called Mameshiba that are a combination of a bean and a shiba puppy. Looking these up after getting back, I learned from the blog shibuya246.com (a wonderful blog on Japan’s latest trends) that this was a venture by the large advertising agency, Dentsu, to create their own brand from the creation and promotion of these cute characters themselves as opposed to the idea of applying a character to an existing brand. They even have their own set of quirky and hilarious tv advertisements.

Click here to see the Mameshiba ads on YouTube

Honestly having all of this cute cheeriness around all of the time really made me feel happy.

These cats are everywhere in Japan--utilities?

Public service message subway poster

Truck mascot

Construction fence frogs

"Pumpkin" by Yayoi Kusama

Tomorrow we leave for Japan for 3 weeks and I am so excited to immerse myself in Japanese art and culture. The sensibility in Japan is so inspiring and I am very curious to see how it seeps into my work over the following years.

I came across “Pumpkin” by Yayoi Kusama in a travel magazine years ago now, but have held onto it like a dream. The beautiful island of art, Naoshima, that it is located on is rather out of the way and involves a dedication beyond a casual stop by. It took a lot of figuring to get it onto our agenda, but there it is.

Recently, a friend we are going with to Japan sent us a link to one of the “Where art thou?” articles from the New York Times outlining a newly composed list by an eclectic group of experts to share their personal travel meccas. The selections are described as “These are places that can change the way we see and the way we think, places worth getting on a plane for, particularly now, when travelers are seeking out edifying experiences more than ever.” We were thrilled to see that all 3 listings from Japan are on our roster to visit. The town of Kanazawa, the Ghibli Museum and the home of “Pumpkin” at Benesse Art Site Naoshima.

Earth from Apollo 17, 7 December 1972

Last Friday, The School of Visual Concepts, along with the AIGA, for the 3rd consecutive year sponsored the workshop, 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth. The inspiration for this free event was the AIGA 2003 Design Conference held in Vancouver, Canada. Attending this conference was a large, and not always entirely welcome (why aren’t we talking about DESIGN?), wake up call for many designers–myself included. But, for me, always interested in environmental issues, these series of presentations started to connect pieces of my world together in ways that I continue to draw upon.

Larry Asher and Linda Hunt of SVC have done an amazing job of following through with many of these initial concepts. They have pulled together some of the most interesting and talented people and companies in the Northwest making progress in the world of design concurrent with environmental issues.

So, here’s the interesting thing. These are the registration nos. for SVC’s 101 Things workshops over the 3
consecutive years:
2007 – 232
2008 – 183
2009 – 85
As a designer who is working to get more and more involved in environmental issues and trying to glean all of the information that I can about them, I was completely stunned by this information. But what we follow becomes our world, and it isn’t necessarily everybody else’s world.

One of the presenters last week, Marty McDonald, founder of Egg, mentioned that a Pew study of the American public showed that global warming had dropped as an issue of concern to citizens from #1 to #12 in the space of a year. As Larry says, “Apparently we have more worrisome fish to fry, or at least fish that are more immediate and personal for many people.”

Is it that economic issues have taken precedence? Or is it one of many other things: Are we again hearing so many overwhelming statistics, that it is creating apathy? Do we feel like President Obama has it covered and we can move on to other things? Do designers in Seattle already feel that they have as much information as they can currently use on this subject? In environmentally minded Seattle, where we can now compost food leftovers that include meat (!) through the city, is it just that the series has run its natural course?

One incongruent fact is that when Valerie Casey of IDEO and founder of The Designers Accord spoke at the AIGA in Seattle earlier this year, there was a sold out audience. If any of these other things are true, why would that be the case? Is it because she is more of a celebrity designer?

If you have thoughts about this or have ideas on this subject, please leave a comment. I’d love to pass some feedback from designers (and other interested parties) to SVC as they have given so much to the design community in Seattle.

The School of Visual Concepts also maintains the blog, 101 Things Designers Can Do to Save the Earth.

I love the art that kids make, the honest and raw interpretations that are the envy of many adult artists. Last week, I was especially moved by an art show that my daughter’s seventh grade class (taught by Trina Smith at the Seattle Girls School) exhibited at Seattle Center as part of their Pay It Forward Activist Fair. To see many of the injustices and hopes that are part of our world through these girl’s eyes was both scary and inspiring. The subjects tackled were broad, spanning environmental and social issues such as climate change, water, transportation, education, poverty, e-waste, and foster care. This piece, by Kiki Benirschke, provided the unofficial title of the installation for me. Somehow, when kids make astute observations and wish for things, one seems to want them even more.

But last week, I read about the artist Aurora Robson and somehow when I see work as beautiful and thoughtful as hers, which is created from a combination of tossed out bottles, junk mail and childhood nightmares, it makes me (ironically?) feel like everything is going to be ok.

Greenola by Aurora Robson, 2007, Ink & Junkmail Collage, 12" x 16"

Sputnik by Aurora Robson, 2006, Discarded plastic bottles, rivets, tinted polycrylic, & monofilament, approx. 60" x 60" x 96"

My tablemats and coasters with happy Swedish tea towels and pewter cups at MOMO in Seattle. Lei Ann is a wonderfully personable and artful retailer carrying a fun and eclectic cross cultural mix of gifts and clothing in the International District.

Jewelry display using my coaster as backdrop

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