Urban Lace - eco-chic jewellery

Urban Lace has launched a fantastic range of jewellery and belts made from all things - recycled from bicycle inner tubes! 

The five-year old label started in the garage of designer Barbi Touron in Portland Oregon.  She would cut out the inner tubes of bicycles into interesting shapes.  Urban Lace also has a shop on ETSY.

Bric-a-brac and gatherings of tchotchkes

Shadow box of delight

Well unfortunately I have a taste for gathering small objets - probably very similar to folks in the Victorian era.  Tchotchkes (pronounced "CHACH-kee") are small toys, gewgaws (Old English - a decorative trinket or bauble), knickknacks, baubles, lagniappes (Creole word, pronounced 'Lanny-yap" which means something given or obtained gratuitously or by way of good measure), trinkets or kitsch.

The word my family uses is bric-a-brac or referring to my collecting sensibilities - CLUTTER. I like the word bric-a-brac which is a french word referring to collections or curios.  Feathers, wax flowers under glass domes, eggshells and miniatures which adorned mantlepieces or displayed in curio cabinets.  Often they had glass doors to display the items protecting them from dust.

Sidney Gould's Bric-a-Brac shop - London 1979

Sidney Gould opened his bric-a-brac shop in the late 1950s. He sold up in 1988 and the site now houses a pizza shop.  This makes me sad when I think of all the bygone shops that have closed due to chains opening and developments.

Bric-a-brac cart on the streets of Buenos Aires, Argentina

The mantle display of very talented Simon Robinson of Alba Vintage, Lismore

My own display of bibbedy bobbedy trinkets in my office

Love the butterflies and frames in this setting

Silver & white china

Letters, frames and tiny mirrors - lovely

Beautiful baubles hanging from a chandelier

Medical curios framed

Angelic baubles, trinkets - adore the chandelier & bedhead

Printers tray containing printer stamps

Beautiful array of odds and ends

Cluster of aged mirrors

Wallpaper, bags, materials & inspiration board

This green hued cluster of pictures features lovely little collections

Birds, dolls, flowers & jugs set against a black wall and Victorian fireplace mantle

Printers tray complete with tschotchkes and trinkets gathered through a life

Lovely jubbly sparkly bottles in beautiful greens

Crystal, bottles & beautiful light

Some days when it all gets far to complicated to absorb any more information or images, it's nice to reflect on very simple little gatherings of objects.  Small clusters of bottles, flowers and bits & bobs.  Simple, reflective, peaceful.  If only life was always like this!

Gindora salutes: Dinosaur Designs

Louise Olsen, Stephen Ormandy and Liane Rossler met while studying drawing and painting at a Sydney art school in 1983. They formed the company Dinosaur Designs in 1985 and began selling handprinted fabrics and painted jewellery at Paddington Markets. 

 

Dinosaur Designs has become a brand to be recognized in Australia and worldwide.  The creativity that shapes their distinctive work in jewellery and homewares has ensured that they keep driving creative and exciting collections each season. Dinosaur Designs now stands as one of the most visible and successful design-based businesses in Australia, operating its own stores in Sydney, Melbourne and New York as well as exporting to more than twenty countries worldwide.

 All of their homewares, jewellery and designs are available through their online store.

Dinosaur Designs trophies

Blue Pavlova

Elegant spaces

I often think which interiors (or exteriors) I would feel comfortable in. I adore the verandah of this old Clayfield residence with the bamboo chairs!

Oh to have multiple residences with multiple rooms to experience and enjoy these surroundings!

Mental health break - lovely sparklies

Well dear friends today I'm having a TERRIBLE day. One of grumpy grumpiness and imperfections and annoyances all around. I've stopped momentarily to amuse myself with interesting collectibles I'd rather look at than an old computer screen. Out with hate and in with love!