Trompe l'Oeil Gucci Needlepoint & Homesteading

Two things that don't quite go together, but that's how diverse our shop is.

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Needlepoint Pillows!

All our green ones, including four Bargello patterns, as an instant collection for you and your sofa.
$200,  In our shop.

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Lore Leudesdorff Bauhaus weaving, 1923; New-Friends weavings, 2012

Placemat size. How great would an entire table look? (forget the plates of food)

From the book Bauhaus by Magdalena Droste

Related, the beautiful small weavings of Kelly and Alexandra of New Friends:

Also, Gunta Stolzl, 1928:
http://warymeyers.blogspot.com/2012/08/gunta-stolzl-bauhaus-weaving-1928.html

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Truck Furniture

Truck Furniture's new book:

For years TRUCK has created simple, honest furniture in their workshop in Osaka, Japan. This book traces the nine-year journey of Tokuhiko Kise and Hiromi Karatsu, the couple behind TRUCK, as they set out to create a place of their own, where they could live and work comfortably with their large family of one daughter, five dogs and eight cats. Together they planned and constructed a house, a store, a workshop and, with the help of their friend, celebrity chef Kentaro, a cafe called Bird, and surrounded them with individually selected trees and plants.  Written by the couple themselves and lavishly illustrated with their own photographs, this is a book we hope you'll want to keep in your living room and return to many times. 

http://truck-furniture.co.jp/book/book01.html

Kinokuniya carries it and we're very psyched to get it.

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Gunta Stolzl Bauhaus Weaving, 1928

From the book 50 years Bauhaus, 1970, prepared by Herbert Bayer et al.
related at GuntaStolzl.org

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Beautility

The potter Toyozo Arakawa, in the first part of National Geographic's "Living Treasures of Japan" (1980). Starts at 2 minutes in, but for context you should watch it from the beginning. PBS aired this on an amazing "Japan week" in 1980 and I've never forgotten it. 

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A giant wrench for some giant nuts

Giant Billings iron wrench from the old Biddeford Textile Mill in Biddeford, Maine.
Perfect for your industrial designer friend who needs a present.
This and some other awesome things, just added to the shop.

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A Navajo Indian Woollen Blanket

How fantastic is this? 

70"x59", $3600 

From Sotheby's Art at Auction, 1973

Related:
The best moment ever on Antiques Roadshow:

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J.B. Blunk at Greens, San Francisco

Sculptor J.B. Blunk's amazing redwood masterwork in the cafe area of Greens restaurant in San Francisco, 1979. Although it could be 2011, since thankfully it looks exactly the same today as it did when it was built and opened by the San Francisco Zen Center in the late 70's. Where else can pull up an Aalto stool and have a coffee on a J.B. Blunk? Nowhere!


See also: Checks Please! Milton Glaser's Big Kitchen
From the ever-inspiring book The Interiors Book of Shops & Restaurants, 1981.

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Hot pants

Incredible embroidered shorts from the 1975 book American Denim.

I always think that's Cindy Sherman at the top.

also:

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The O.C.

Great old cast iron O.C White task lamps, from a yard sale. Pin It

Vintage Gregory Backpack

25 cents at a church sale. 

Nice removable fannypack (not allowed- Linda)/ bike bag. 

Made in San Diego, 1978

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The Point

Second hand needlepoints, always found for a dollar or two, and always making us ask "why would anyone get rid of this?" From top: the coolest tennis racquet cover ever, from a church sale. Obviously for a plumber, or a tennis pro with a wandering pipe; a nice colorful glasses case; a so sweet gift from a grandmother featuring an 8-bit sized Jack Russell; an old Union Jack pincushion; floating mushrooms; a funny Gucci purse, from an estate sale in Old Orchard Beach; two blue willow pillows; an old Princetonian eyeglasses case; a pink-and-metallic pillow from 1974; and Harry Nilsson's The Point, memorized by John from when he was a kid and now cued up on the toy turntable in our soon-to-arrive son's room (who needs "hickory-dickory-dock" when you have "Me and my Arrow".)

see also here and here

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Kachelofen

West German WESO ceramic tile stove, from a yard sale. When we finally got it's 440 pounds home and tried to bring it upstairs it crushed the first step, so the next 15 were not in the cards. But when we do finally install it it's going to heat our whole chalet, and we can even cook on it! (see pic). 

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Kristin Baybars and the Ostrobogulous

Ostrobogulous Hedgiwig, by Kristin Baybars, 1964, London, England. We found him in an antiques shop in Maine and thought it would be perfect for the baby's room (although placed out of reach, lest I find myself asking a baby "why did you rip that tag off? It's been on there for 45 years!").
After a little Googling, we found these days Mrs. Baybars has a pretty nifty miniatures shop in London, whose front window (the pink building below) looks the spitting image of our own front window, what with the miniature house and boat, among many other things. 

Cheers to kindred spirits.

Further Googling revealed a photo of a couple other Ostrobogulouses (Ostroboguli?) from Design Journal, December 1969, uploaded and html'd- along with every page from every issue- by the good people at (VADS (Visual Arts Data Service). I'd never seen this resource before, but it's endless and incredible. 

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Fantastic Mr. Arctic Fox

Older Fjallraven (Swedish for Arctic Fox) jacket/parka from an estate sale, made in Finland. Fjallraven is a Swedish brand known for scoliosis-preventing backpacks, making things that last, and not exporting much to America, so this is a rare find and strangely poetic that it's in perfect condition. = From the Fjallraven website: "A product that is handed down through generations or sold second-hand has hardly any affect on the environment compared to buying a new product."

Words to live by.

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Navy Bean

Speaking of Mainers in World War II, this is a US Navy Officer's Briefcase, made by L.L. Bean for officers who were being trained as navigators to hold their maps, charts, instructions, cotton twine, hemp, etc... Designed by Warnie Bean, L.L.'s son. From his original shop drawings, the sides were "to be printed by the Freeport Press, 1/4" cuts to be made by S. Barker, and notches & marks (lining piece) by us". Zipper by Talon. May 26, 1943. Pin It

Knotical

Last year Linda and I went to a garage sale up in Falmouth, Maine. The garage was really a newly built barn, with pulleys and hanging canoes and kayaks, snowboards, skis, etc... of a very outdoorsy family. Mixed in with some newer furniture and knick knacks were some old camping equipment and these intricately knotted, awesome, immense macrame rope hangings. The man told me they were made by his late father while at sea as an officer in the Navy during World War II, during the down time, as knot practice. These are the type of beautiful, cool, handmade, one-of-a kind things we love finding, and as much as we would've liked to have kept the pair together, at 20 dollars each, both were unfortunately out of our budget, even for masterpieces of American maritime craft (it was a lean year). So we chose the more intricate one with the three baskets, and drove away, my face symbolically pressed forlornly against the back window. 

Then, as luck would have it, a few weeks ago the same family had another sale, and the other macrame was still there, draped over a canoe, apparently unwanted by anyone but us, and this time for 10 dollars- a nice reward for spending the past year on the widow's walk.

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Beautility

1970's Sweet-Orr jeans from an estate sale in Connecticut a few years ago. Lovingly and Bohemianly embroidered with flowers, a rainbow, "Catherine" (Cat) and the Yes and Chicago logos, all boro-ed on for jean-life-extension. A near perfect object, with personalization, signs of use, and the golden hat trick of  hippie handicraft, typography, and utility. 

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Tanner Krolle

$2, from the moving sale of a young British doctor and his wife. 

Tanner Krolle has a long history of making luxury leather suitcases and gladstone bags for the well-heeled English, especially those who drove Aston Martins (always optional was a custom-fit set of Tanner Krolle luggage). This particular suitcase was made in London for Harrods, and has that nice country-look of leather and canvas with big brass fittings, a plaid interior and long leather belting if you choose to strap it to your car boot. 

The young doctor said it was a wedding present, and he used it on their around-the-world honeymoon, and it was a good one, but now it just takes up too much space. 

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