Nosideup

The end and postcard seconds

2012-01-12T00:07:00.000-08:00

Dear everyone,
I am now ready to close the etsy Nosideup store.
I still have a It Bag to make, but I'm there.
Lots of you have asked for more postcards before I go, but unfortunately I've sold out of my best quality ones. Nonetheless, I have posted "seconds": 10 postcards for 5 dollars.
I hope that helps!
Thanks,
M.

Clousure

2011-12-21T01:54:00.000-08:00

I love the emaning of clousure in English. That way of finishing something physically and emotionally. The idea of letting go and moving on.
I'm closing the shop for the holidays, and I'll be back on the 3rd. Just in case. And then, on the 6th I'll proceed to closing it for good.

Thanks everyone for having been so fantastic and supportive. See you back for the last time in january.

PS: Energy doesn't die, it cycles. Here's where it's all going now. And it's damn active!

So... news!

2011-11-18T01:52:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about how to post this and I haven't come to a conclusion, so I'll just go for it.
You might have seen I've change my website quite a lot. This change answers a need to reflect my current work better. And here's the thing: the new site is less visual, less image-based.

I've been extraordinarily lucky to find a part time collaboration in Madrid (the current economic climate in Spain has 40% of recent graduates unemployed, so I am lucky). What I do combines very, very well most of my areas of expertise: I am an innovation and design manager/consultant (we haven't quite agreed on the name yet :) ). This needs me to be creative, but also requires trendhunting, research and analytical skills, intuition and I even throw in my more theoretical side. I'm seeing amazing people and customers, and I'm doing design thinking workshops, which I love doing.

This means that, as I threatened to do before summer, I feel that my priorities have shifted and the current up-keeping of the shop just doesn't pay off. You've seen the pics of the post office these days: it's hours and hours of waiting for a very, very small profit margin. It get to a point were the balance between joy and inconvenience just doesn't work out.

So my thoughts are that after the Christmas campaign I will choose to close the shop in order to focus on my local life. So get your Nosideup whilst you can!

All the best,

Post office rush

2011-11-11T03:16:00.001-08:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

Oh dear. This is what my local post office looks like these days. Please do bear with me and any delays there might have been...! (the queue continued outside the building)...

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.4

SPECIAL XMAS OFFER

2011-11-08T06:08:00.000-08:00

Dear, dear, dear. It's almost Christmas! I've had wonderful, wonderful, wonderful year. And I thought to myself... you know what? What comes around must go around. So here it is, a good karma for all offer. The bags are awesome and they should go to awesome houses. So I reduced them $6, so that you can make your xmas gifts fairtrade and organic this year. Namaste. And thanks.

À Paris!

2011-08-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Yay! I got a scholarship to learn (or rather, re-learn) French for three weeks (that's why the shop's closed). Alors, je suis à Paris!
Paris is ridiculously cute. It's beautiful even in the rain, and totally ideal: music live in the streets, loads of art, very cheap second hand books stores everywhere... goodness! If I only managed to improve my French dramatically.

The Pompidou has a rather fab show on contemporary India which has, as a side-activity, a huge photomaton that prints A3 or A2 b&w images. Mignon, non? (pic., not mine, from here).

Also, an article by me appeared in the fantastic Lecturas magazine, from Chile. For those of you that speak Spanish, it's here.

Also, as usual, you can find me pinning at Pinterest!

Sneak peak

2011-05-24T03:09:00.000-07:00

This was the final choice... my beloved Katherina!
And, as you can see, the bags are now ORGANIC FAIR TRADE!
This was really important to me.
These have been printed by the lovely people of I Dress Myself, who print with eco-friendly materials and techniques.
I am SO excited about these!
I'll put them up tin the shop asap!

At the Kusama opening

2011-05-11T01:33:00.001-07:00

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

Mr M. (the handsome fella unrecognizable in the pic) and I attended the opening of the Kusama retrospective at the Reina Sofía yesterday night and boy, was it fun! Walking around someone else's paranoia was nice for a change. It's going to be an itinerant show. Make sure you catch it at your nearest museum!

PS: First post from my dear new android phone. Excuse the inevitable messes!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.8

A little compilation

2011-05-01T12:40:00.000-07:00

... of all the stories of all the Hairdo ladies.

A lot of you have been asking about the written stories, so this is my way to appreciate the interest.
You can pick and mix here.

PS: Have you been to my pinterest, lately? There's wuite a lot going on! I love pinning!

Chocolate Mousse

2011-04-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

I had lovely Mica and lovely Josué for supper yesterday. I had heard rumors about the original chocolat mousse recipe being only chocolate and water. Molecular cooking and all.
So Mr. M and I tried. And guess what? It works. Brilliantly.
Go try. It's natural, vegan and almost healthy if you choose the right chocolate.

Battery Charging time!

2011-04-19T09:31:00.000-07:00

Quick note: it's holidays in Spain and I'm off to no-internet land "charging batteries" for the rest of the week. Shop will be back on Monday! Be happy!

PS. Wax cloth is an amazing material with an amazing story. One of my last essays for my MA is on the identity issues raised by these textiles (See Yinka Shonibare's work for further info).

Bag help!

2011-03-31T01:29:00.000-07:00

Dear everyone,
i am on a mission to get the best quality, organic and handmade possible bags for my next round. Now, that might mean that I have to pick just one drawing ( to begin with!).
So, could you please help me pick one?
There is a poll in the Nosideup facebook page and you can also leave a comment here!

Thanks!

Hello again! News about the shop.

2011-03-05T14:28:00.001-08:00

Dear everyone (if there is still someone out there!)
How is 2011 treating you?
I hope your year is being as delightful as mine is being.
I am back for a reason.
I have had a lot of time to think and to re-think and then think a bit more.
The shop has been closed for about three months although I've been able to keep up with messages left here and there.
I am here to announce that the shop will be open again from the 15th of March. But. There is always a but. Unless I change my mind, I'll re-open the shop only to close it perpetually before summer. I would expect a similar course of events for this blog as well.
I am so, so thankful for everything Nosideup has brought to my life, for all the people I've met in the way, and for all the things I've learnt. It's been nothing but positive and extraordinary.
Nonetheless, I feel thet it is time for me to move on to new things, which would not flourish under the Nosideup brand, neither would it allow me enough time to make them progress, like Les Ulldes.
I'll sell the Ladies prints, but there will be no new models, I'll re-stock the postcards and I'll possibly print a few more totes for those that did not manage to get one the first time.
I am hoping this last go at Nosideup will be as fantastic as it trajectory. And i'll be delighted if you decide to join me in this adventure one last time!

Merry Xmas (even if it's a tad late)

2010-12-27T09:06:00.000-08:00

My dear everyone,
MERRY XMAS!
I've been spending time with Mr M's family.
We've played Dixit (awesome game for all ages), and The Werewolves of Miller's Hollow (adapting it to the village we were in).
In the meanwhile, I am writing three lenghty essays, all due after the holidays (one study of how African art has been used -and abused- in cubist exhibitions; another one on the earliest work of Louise Bourgeois; and another one on the use of hair as an outfit in art history).
All the very best for 2011 and see you soon!

Xmas gift guide

2010-12-11T02:00:00.000-08:00

Here's a little selection to which I keep on adding awesomeness every now and then...

I'm in Dujour!

2010-12-11T01:54:00.000-08:00

Hello most patient people in the universe!
Check what appeared in Dujour mag!
Here's a preview of Dujour. If you love it, you can subscribe here!
Thanks Brittni for the love!

The Indi Heroines are now up!

2010-11-28T05:13:00.000-08:00

Yes, it has taken me a while (Like everything these days) But here they are!

Cheating

2010-11-15T11:57:00.000-08:00

Dear all,
I've been cheating on this blog, badly and openly.
Ever since Pinterest came to my life (a life where I am an intern, a MA student and an Etsian), I've been flirting with it heavily.
To me its immediacy is absolutely brilliant. I always thought there should be a visual twitter and this is even better. It saves me from keeping tabs and tabs open in order to remember to post about something, so I really just pin it.
I am not saying this is it, but my blogging is definitely on the rocks.
Nonetheless, please do feel free to pass by and join in:
Hair in Art

Stuff I'm pinning for

Patterns and
textiles

2010-11-11T11:22:00.000-08:00

Ok. I don't know if you remember, but I had a slight "Oh dear, tumblring is the new blogging" which almost immediately turned into "Posterous is the new tumblr". None of those two went too far (including a late attempt to write fiction in tumbr).
Well. This is the new thing: Pinterest is the new tumblr. As in, Pinterest is rather amazing, clearly visual, with tons of interesting but selected people and very, very intuitive. To me, it's a much better Tumblr.
It's as easy as you just pin an image on your wall. It's one of those rituals translated from real life to virtual life that really, really works.
So, I'm really pleased to say I'm in.

Teaser

2010-11-09T08:50:00.001-08:00

Let me introduce you to Summer, Mindy, Margot, Juno, Clementine and Amèlie. The Indie Heroines.

Emily and Simon

2010-11-09T02:41:00.000-08:00

My biggest throretical piece during my Baccalaureate was a comparison between the images of teenagers of two artists: an adult that painted teens and a teen that drew comics. The painter was Simon Henwood and he was super nice to the 17 year old me.
The other day I found out about Emily Glaubinger and her work reminded me of Hemwood's a bit more on the postpostmodern side.
So I leave you in the good company of their creations...

(Simon's-Emily's-Simon's-Emily's)

Glass owls

2010-11-06T04:12:00.000-07:00

By Happy Owl.

Les Ulldes

2010-11-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

What happens when a photographer, an enamelist and a designer get together?
Well, lovely little super affordable enamel candy-like jewellery happens.
You've got angels, princesses, meninas, little red ridding hoods and even Fridas (all three of us are massive fans of her).
Intrigued?
Drop me a line ;)

Musical chairs

2010-11-02T15:44:00.000-07:00

Fantastic chair made out of piano keys.
So balanced, so delicate yet bold.
By Ninestoriesfurniture.
Via Ok Great.

Madrid: So backward it's forward

2010-11-01T14:39:00.001-07:00

This has been the motto for today's promenade around town (it's a festive day).
We've seen a shop dedicated only to woven cushions with pics of pets on it.
A show on the old militars in the Sahara, where all the exhibits were made with a big foam board, home-printed pictures (some stolen from the net), a list of references made with word and push pins.
A lady buying art in the street asking for advice to the seller because she was buying "for a very surrealist person, you know".
And a lady coimng out of the movie by Banksy (in the pic above) saying "He had such a lovely voice" (his voice is distorted to preserve his identity).
Madrid, definitely a funny place.

24

2010-10-31T03:22:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,
I am alive and well, very alive. I am now 24, since yesterday. And Mr M is now 24 too, since the day before yesterday (I love having our birthdays together).
We had a Wes Anderson themed party at out micro flat and it was amazing to see out friends with fake mustaches, bathroom robes and scuba goggles (we don't have pics yet).
Besides that, the internship work and the MA at the Reina Sofia Museum are slowly increasing the pressure. That's without counting life, which keeps on happening. What I'm trying to say is: I am well but busy beyond myself. I guess I will eventually be able to balance virtual and real life, but so far I just had to let the virtual one go a little.
Needless to say, I miss the blogosphere a lot.

Kehinde Wiley

2010-10-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

You know I'm a sucker for patterns.
You know I like the world bold and colorful.
Then imagine my reaction in discovering Kehinde Wiley's art.
I know, I felt I died and went to heaven too.

Interview in Go Mag!

2010-10-21T13:41:00.000-07:00

Lovely Anna Tomás from Go Mag has published an interview with me today!
It is in Spanish so let google translate or your old second grade Spanish class help you out wit this one :)

Want a free bag?

2010-10-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

Thought you would....
For the first time in history, Doodlers Anonymous and Nosideup join efforts to spread some doodling love in the form of two bags... GRATIS!

Join in, be loved.

Boots, cellotape and tights

2010-10-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Or a misleading title for two things I found at my sister's blog, Aha!
The video uses some images I had thought of for a project on changing your own appearance with daily objects. And was really glad to see how it looked! And the bike, well, the bike just had to be passed on.
Happy Sunday!

Concrete floor tiles

2010-10-16T05:47:00.000-07:00

So, so beautiful and, bizarrely, kind of "antique". Reminds me of places I've never been to but always wanted to go to.
By IVANKA.
Via The Best Part.

Beautiful Kenzo

2010-10-16T05:39:00.000-07:00

Via.

Via.

Oogy

2010-10-16T05:37:00.000-07:00

or a tale of a survivor of cruelty.
One day we humans will look behind and not understand how we treated animals.
Still a long way to go.
Via a Bitt of Raw.

Folkmother

2010-10-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

You've probably seen these, but they are too good not to be repeated endlessly.
Via My Love for you is a Stampede of Horses.

Ceramic seeds

2010-10-14T11:51:00.001-07:00

Oh yes, yes they are. Seriously, I mean it.
By Ai Weiwei.
You can check them out at the Tate Modern.

Via Dezeen.

Metareality shoes

2010-10-12T15:05:00.000-07:00

As seen in Jezebel, by Kobi Levi

My Moleskine

2010-10-12T13:14:00.000-07:00

Floral designs with liquid watercolor and a very thin brush on brown moleskine.

Tape sculptures

2010-10-12T07:21:00.001-07:00

Urban poetry by Mark Jenkins.
Via arto.

Oh, oh, oh

2010-10-12T04:07:00.000-07:00

excerpt from "oh, oh, oh" from celia rowlson-hall on Vimeo.

Via the gorgeous What Alice Found.
Bizarre, enchanting, magical, ans strategic stereortype usage.

Digital Portraits

2010-10-07T13:57:00.000-07:00

... in the shape of clothing.
(Marcus, the boy brought up by wolves).
By Mashallah Design and Linda Kostowski.

The Duchess of Malfi

2010-10-05T07:13:00.000-07:00

By Johnny Kelly, the guy who did the Procrastination animated video.

At Mr M's

2010-10-04T12:11:00.001-07:00

Even though we do live together (and happily!), each of us has a blog and they are both really, really different. Nonetheless, today my work on Mary Sibande (pictured) is lovingly chilling at Mr M's.

PS: This might ring a bell, as it's been published in Hand/Eye too! And if you want to read the proper art theorist, long and hard version, you can pop in here.

Neon nature

2010-10-03T13:58:00.000-07:00

By Ginette Lapalme, found at her flickr.

Magnolias and coral

2010-10-03T11:50:00.001-07:00

This is a cross-stitch pattern from 1854 from a French magazin, Magasin des Demoiselles. I found it at the antique book fair and thought it was too beautiful to pass on it.

Scarf me up

2010-10-03T10:29:00.001-07:00

Click on image to see where they come from...
(I would so love the one with a patchwork of asian textiles and the massive cotton ones at the top)

Domenico Gnoli

2010-10-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

An Italian painter that painted hair...
I found this artist browsing through old catalogues in a book fair that's now up in Madrid.
Reminds me of Botero a bit, but with a mad attention to detail.
Good info in Spanish here.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

2010-10-01T15:16:00.001-07:00

Once again Mr M points me out to fabulous sutff.
Read about Franz Xaver Messerschmidt here.

paper.li

2010-09-29T03:29:00.000-07:00

You might now about this already, but just in case let me tell you about it.
I saw this for the first time when Le Marais made one.
A Paper.li is a newspaper with all the twitter messages that you receive or emit.
Ever since, they've been mushrooming all over the place.
So I also made one, which really helps me going through the twitter news, because it's waaay more visual.

Postcards!

2010-09-29T03:13:00.000-07:00

"Well, well, well.
The ladies are having a fun time.
I felt so sorry that quite a few of the limited edition prints were finished or about to finish, and I was missing the ladies in them. So I've gathered them all in a fabulous sort of postcard party!
These are 10 x 15 cms and have a hand-drawn back printed on them. The card I've used is 250 grs and can be drawn on for further customization!
They come lovingly packed and ready to be shipped all over the world. Who are you sending these ladies to? Where are they going to travel to?
So many stories will arise!"

I've been thinking of presenting the do's as postcards for a while and have finally got round to it.
In this way, you can now acquire a Nosideup hairdo portrait at so many different levels:

Own portrait $ 75
Limited edition prints $20
Printed Bags $15
Postcards $10

How do you like them?
Also, find Nosideup in facebook!

Scratch n Sniff Cinema

2010-09-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Aromas including rotting meat and dusty books that captured the scent of The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover. By Bompas and Parr.

SuTurno

2010-09-27T12:48:00.001-07:00

"Casas" is one of the most beautiful patterns I've ever come accross. (and don't get me started on the coloring!)
The artists behind it are Julia and Javi, aka SuTurno (check these other prints: WOW).
They design absolutely fab textiles for themselves and other big people in the fashion industry.
And they still have time to blog!
(and be lovely).
And despite doing all of this from Madrid, they'll send you their stuff anywhere.

Sweet little pony...

2010-09-25T13:57:00.000-07:00

... made out of sugar!

Going shopping with the ladies

2010-09-25T13:21:00.001-07:00

Here are all the totes!
They are almost all up in the shop :)

BIG NEWS: Guess who is making a comeback

2010-09-24T13:59:00.000-07:00

Oh yes.
They are what you think.
The Ladies (all of them) are making a comeback in unlimited edition totes.
Expect them in the shop tomorrow!

Nosideup in Facebook!

2010-09-24T01:26:00.001-07:00

Dear all of you,
As I preparing to enter my MA, I'm trying to build a stronger Nosideup.
I've drawn a few new do's; stamped some cards; included it in my portfolio, etc.
Now, I've decided to go ahead and create a page in Facebook (you can join it here or in the box on the top right).
Even though I already had a facebook blog page, I did not have that much possibility for interaction in that one. So, if you want to join me in facebook, please do! It'll be great to have a closer feel of who you are :)

PS: Stay posted because I've got exciting news later on!

Don't shoot the bear!

2010-09-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Another ad, another bear.

The football smoothie maker

2010-09-22T15:15:00.000-07:00

If you imagine yourself getting fitter through sport and drinking fruity smoothies, plus you are trying to waste less energy this may be for you.
Another great piece of madness by Dominic Wilcox.

Never say NO to a Panda

2010-09-22T15:00:00.000-07:00

Egyptian ad campaign for a cheese brand.
Via a Bombastic Element, thanks to Mr M.

Greeting cards!

2010-09-21T15:49:00.001-07:00

I've been experimenting with cutting and printing and stamping.
The first humble result are these greeting cards!
There are only 4 packs of them and each pack is merely 3 dollars!
See (and why not, get) them here!

The Alhondiga

2010-09-20T18:27:00.000-07:00

The Alhondiga in Bilbao is a beautiful space designed by P. Starck (of course). I'm not his biggest fan but I liked this design. The different columns and the swimming pool on the ceiling (you can see the pople swimming above you) were lovely.

Lovely strange jewellery and I-still-don't-know-what fashion

2010-09-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

I opened my Google Reader (which I suspect can do much more than I know) and saw a few new posts in Today and Tomorrow. The first one up was on Imme van der Haak's jewellery. Her work is Fan. Tas Tic. And I could so relate it to a recent post on Mette Klarskov Larsen. I had it all in my head, so I happily scrolled down. And the following post was on Jeremy Scott's summer 2011 fashion collection (which, by now, has been around a few blogs).

Now, I didn't know what to make of these. I already posted a similarish idea seen on a bag by LV. I do get the idea of trash and fashion. The doubt is whether the rubbishness refers to fashion (as a critique or as a joke) or to women. That's where I think this can get a bit dubious. I mean what goes inside the black bag/dress is the trash/lady. And then there are the shabby hair rollers ( a bit Gaga-esque), which I have not much against, but they still have this negative side to them. And the animal paw shoes (I've liked versions of this idea in the past, but as a combination with the other concepts... There is a meat dress somewhere in the show if you watch the video. Again, it's been done before and recently with different tones). Don't forget the message on the bag (here? Where?). Or the men's underwear.

Maybe it's all about the crisis of capitalism, of excessive consumption. A comment on recycling and global warming.

But then there's the mad-woman wedding dress. And there is where you wonder if the designer is saying women are mad to follow fashion (a statement that's becoming popular as far as I've seen in interviews with designers), or mad if they get married. Or, plainly, just mad.
I cannot make up my mind. What do you think, smart and witty and political? Or silly, offensive and diminishing?

Small again

2010-09-20T02:47:00.001-07:00

Yes, I am trying to collect all the small and cute and envy-inducing apartments I find on the blogosphere.
Here's one found at The Sevety Tree.

The quest for the perfect cup continues

2010-09-18T08:23:00.001-07:00

(if you type cup or mug in the search box I suspect you'll find several attempts at spoting "the one").
Find these ones here.
Via Bliss.

Meet a fabulous lady... Melisser Elliott

2010-09-17T11:02:00.000-07:00

Melisser is not only a cruelty free cosmetics blogger (that's a long definition). What's more, she's not only a very generous and fantastic lady (she's replied to my queries so quickly and lovingly). What Melisser really is is a vegan make-up genius that has managed to construct a reliable, ridiculously precise list of what we vegan ladies (and men) can wear on our faces. And I mean, reliable to the point of being more exact than what most companies PRs will send you.

For instance, did you know that M.A.C.'s matte lipsticks are vegan? I definitely didn't. So squeacking of joy, I bought two colors. Then I saw "Carmine" written on their box, I though, oh, dear, missinformation. So I told her I had actually read the box and that sadly they weren't. You know what she did? She informed me that M.A.C. uses a generic box for their products (a bit like when you buy chocolates, the box will have writen down the ingredients for all of them at once, and you'll never kow if the dark chocolate ones are vegan or not). And! She fowarded me a reply to a letter she sent M.A.C. about it with the lab analysis of what's vegan. I mean, she is a super star. Thanks a lot, Melisser!

Exit through the gift shop

2010-09-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Banksy's film. Can't wait!

DRUMROLL, PLEASE!

2010-09-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Right, here we go!
Before I reveal the winners, I'd like to thank with all my heart every single one of you that have entered the giveaway. You've been great to "meet".
I really want to say a big, big, big THANK YOU to all the bloggers that have spread the voice about it, very especially to Brittni (PapernStitch), Erin (Design for Mankind) and Caroline (I am a greedy girl). They've always backed me up and I cannot express how grateful I am to them.

So, the Pencil Portrait goes to... 27 TANYA

And the Hair Portrait goes to... 64 INDIANNA

Congrats ladies and I hope you are as excited as I am about this!

I wanted to especially remark that the winners have been selected at random. There have been some really intimate reasons for which you guys would like either portrait, and I've been very, very moved to receive and read them every day.
For this reason, I am going to offer a 30% OFF in either kind of custom portrait (pencil or hair) to everyone who entered the giveaway. This means that the hair portrait would be only 52,5 dollars ; and the pencil portrait would be only 87,5 dollars. I hope that this makes up for having only two winners and allows everyone to have one. All you need to do is email me with your blogger name (as you've signed below). You can order as many as you like at this price, until the 31st of December.
Thanks again!

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED

2010-09-15T12:07:00.001-07:00

Winners coming up (I'm SO excited)...

Reminder: Double awesome givaway finishes today

2010-09-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

For those of you who always have time to make everything just fit into your schedule: the doubly awesome givaways are going to finish tonight (european time)!
Don't miss it!

(Maarten Baas' Grandfather Clock: what you see on the clock sphere is an animation!)

E. V. Day

2010-09-14T05:16:00.000-07:00

Loads of work, very expressive, very coherent (although in a rather terrible site).

Women in images

2010-09-13T01:53:00.000-07:00

Dear everyone,

I've been watchin a lot of Target Women lately, and found it very funny. I've also found Killing us softly (3), a more profound anlysis of women on the media, specially in ads. If you did not know any of these two documentaries, please go ahead and watch them: they are hilarious, intelligent and infuriating.

For instance, do you remotely feel that this ad (by Sisley -who actually makes women clothes!) could suggest she is just fast food? (notice her passivity toward being locked in a fridge, a suermarket fridge), the re-branded food (all readable brands are "fast-food") and the position of the beholder.

And, er, this one:

Not to mention the one at the top by alledgedly (there's been controversy over the fakeness of the ad) the same company (women as sick addicts for consumism, notice the makeup and look). Not enough? there's more "interesting" ads by these people here and here.

I've always been interested in reading images, but when I saw the following pics from a fashion show , I just couldn't get my head around them. I've heard of super skinny models (some say that extreme thinnes is to make them look infantile, or masculine, or minimal, quiet). But these?! These?! I understand fashion is art and at some level it may go beyond what's flattering but what do these tell you about women?

Bald, bearded (scarcely bearded, as well), skeletal, pale. Words like cancer, chemotherapy, hormons, disease, apocalypse come to mind. And at the end of the day, I do not want my jeans to remind me of any of that, do I.

Riding a horsey

2010-09-10T23:50:00.001-07:00

So cool, su fun, so naive, so stylish. So damn awesome I'd cry.

Best thing? It's a clip-on accessory sort of thing. You don't need to buy a new bike. I see. You're crying of joy yourself, now. There, there.

By Eungi Kim. Via NQB.

Little Worries

2010-09-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Very intricate, bizarre and moving illustrations by Little Worries. Found at the surprisingly awesome blog by my sister Lulilins. (What, you suddenly get a younger sister. Her role in your life is making it suck. Then she grows, goes to Art school and becomes a swan of style and talent. No older sister is ready for that).

POST IT!

2010-09-09T01:20:00.001-07:00

I've just seen my latest activity in Facebook and realized I've been recommending post-its to people. Random me. So, just to culminate this sticky stationary spree, I'm offering a short list of super awesome post-its for your daily posty needs (clicking on images should link to their shops).

Plus! Magnetic origami page markers (I just thought they were too awesome not to share).

New girls in town

2010-09-08T12:46:00.000-07:00

Dear everyone,
these are Liza, Nicola and Paloma (bottom to top) .
They have just moved to my Etsy shop.
Be nice to them (as you see some of them have not had that much of a good day), maybe invite them to your home?

Sara Applebaum

2010-09-08T10:37:00.001-07:00

Bold soft sculptures. Via the fab My love for you is a stampede of horses.

New! Victorian Hair Jewellery

2010-09-07T11:49:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to show you what I've been up to...

These postcard-sized beauties are original watercolor illustrations of Victorian Hair Jewellery.

How do you like them?

You can now find them and read their story at the shop!

Inspiring ladies

2010-09-06T05:42:00.000-07:00

This is, to me what fashion should be about. Personality. And tons of it! These ladies live for their clothes, but are not mere fashion victims. I was once talking to my art theory teacher (that's the feminist lady I've mentioned before) about fashion and design and jewellery. She mentioned a quote that said something like "but once you remove all that, we are just naked". Liking clothes it's not a sin. Being strong and intelligent does not mean you can't care about what's in your wardrobe. Your clothes tell stories, and you can be the narrator. Otherwise, you are just naked.

See the article of the photo here.

PS: There are two giveaways going on, remember?

September, bring it on

2010-09-06T05:38:00.000-07:00

New treasury. I love having treasuries more available these days.

The gay ghost

2010-09-05T05:32:00.001-07:00

New story (this time a true story) at Knowing she would:

"When we moved into the little flat, we had this joke: there’s a ghost floor. A bit a la Hogwarts, you know. Sometimes you’d pass the second floor and find your self in it again. Just sometimes. That was funny. Ha ha. We always agreed on when this would happen, we were probably just more tired than usual. Ha ha."

Image from here.

Anna Von Mertens

2010-09-05T04:25:00.000-07:00

This textile and conceptual (and plastic) work portrays the auras of well known figures , via The best part. Especially interesting the process of belief that if involved. See more here.

PS: Don't forget the giveaways!

Singhild's gift

2010-09-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

My dear beautiful Ms S asked me for a tote with one of my ladies do's on it. Given that my life has been incredibly busy it has taken me more than a year to sit down and do it. Do you guys think I shoud add them to the shop (this one is a hand-drawn original)?

PS: excuse the quality of the picture: I had to raise myself on my toes to show the bag and I was unstable :)

TWO! THIS GIVAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

2010-09-01T09:26:00.000-07:00

THIS GIVAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

My dear darling everyone,

September is here and that means that by now this blog is over TWO years old. It feels like a lifetime!

Thanks to everyon who is reading this: the faithful, the stumblers, and the irregulars. I am extremely blessed to ahve you all here.

In order to express my gratitude properly (you know what's coming...) I'm going to organize a giveaway. I am calling it giveaway but it's actually a MASSIVEGIVEAWAY. Or rather, TWO (get the relation there?).

PRICE A:

A hair portrait. Wait. Your hair portrait. This means I'll draw your hairdo, you hair, your neck. With very much love. This will be now offered and it's worth 75 dollars.

PRICE B:

A face portrait made with pencils. And yes, that'd be YOUR face (or whoever's you chose). This is also offered in the shop and it's worth 125 dollars.

All you have to do is comment in this post BEFORE THE 15th of SEPTEMBER and saying why would you like your portrait made (either of them). The two winners will be chosen at random :)

Best of luck!

THIS GIVAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Next time you go to the cinema: Bechdel Test

2010-08-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Mr E.

eBoy

2010-08-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

New story at Knowing she would...

"He’d had it. That was IT. What he had done this time was e-nough. ENOUGH. He was rationally telling himself that he could not possibly throw his boyfriend out for having eaten half a yoghurt and leaving the other half by the loo. But he knew as well, and the boyfriend knew as well that this whole thing wasn’t about the bloody yoghurt anyways. It was about picking his nose, it was about coming back too late to watch a movie, it was about that horrid bar in the corner he loved so much."

What do you think?

Definition

2010-08-28T08:41:00.000-07:00

Thanks, Mr M. Via.

You will meet a tall dark stranger

2010-08-27T13:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I went to watch the latest Woody Allen movie with Mr M and Mr E (BF and BFF respectively). I hadn't enjoyed a movie by Mr Allen in a long while (since Match Point) and this was rather fab. (I'm still wondering about the cliches. They basically sustained the movie, even though they were very well cut. The one character that was quite unbelievable was Dia, I think. But tell me what you felt if you watched it.)
Then we all three strolled around Madrid and the ending summer and ended up sitting in front of the reina Sofia Museum, with Mr E reading our hands (very adequate after the movie). Mr E lived in India when he was a UWC student and he learnt then how to do it. The most striking thing he said to us was about the lines changing. He suggested we scan our hands and compare the lines in six months. He assured us they would be different. If there really is something to be read in our palms, it's something that is also written and edited, slowly. Doesn't that make you think?

PS:I was looking for the English speaking poster to illustrate this post and surprise! It looks terribly different to the Spanish speaking one. I deffinitely prefer the later .

Johanna Richter

2010-08-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

This beautiful home swing reminds me a lot of a massive wooden necklace I have. Jewellery for the house, there's a thought... See more of her work here.

Mette Klarskov Larsen

2010-08-23T04:42:00.000-07:00

See more of her jewellery here.

PS: Tomorrow I'll be off to Bilbao with Mr M (his treat, isn't he awesome?). I'll be back blogging on the 27th. Be good!

Jose Joaquin Figueroa (and more)

2010-08-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Saw Figueroa's work in an exhibition on Euro-American photographers. You can find his work here. I remember seeing African necklaces made with coca-cola lids and barbie heads in a museum in Jo'burg. We were learning about material culture, about appropiation, adaptation, reflexing, surviving, recycling. Ringed many bells, then.

Reminds me of many other body and branding projects such as this by Anna Halldin-Maule:

or this other one by LaChapelle:

or this very controverisal one (the pigs were alledgedly sedated and tattooed and then lived pampered until their natural lives when their skins were used) by Wim Delvoye:

CHIHUAHUA IN A SCARF

2010-08-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

You can get it here.

The vegan dog

2010-08-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

"The first thing I did when I moved to England was calling the animal shelter. Really. As soon as I got a place, an English place, a place with a garden, even if I only had the lower floor, I still had the garden. So, as soon as i had a garden I went to the shelter and realized my life-long dream: giving a dog a home. I cannot even start describing how long I’ve wanted, needed, a dog for."

New short story here. Might not be what you think... Tell me how you liked it!

Helen Levitt

2010-08-14T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've been road-tripping with my family from Madrid, where they picked us up to Manuel's land, Palencia, to my place, near Tarragona, then to my dad's hometown in Valencia, back to my parents'. The last day in Madrid we had a chance to see an exhibition of Helen Levitt's photographs and, my dear, what a pleasure they were. Not only did they bring you back a whole bunch of decades, but they also had a sense of narrative, of mistery, of humanity. I REALLY enjoyed them.
If you don't know her work, try and catch a catalogue (easily available online) to browse through.

Playing writer

2010-08-11T15:45:00.000-07:00

You might have noticed I do not tend to write much here. You might also know I do have a text and theory section in my site for non-fiction writings. Well, now I am letting you know I am going to give creative writing a try. When I draw a hair portrait, I always write a little something for it. And long, long time ago I used to write more than draw. So here it is, Knowing she would.

This is a bit of my first story, Rice Milk.

"I woke up at night because I heard rattling noises in the kitchen. As soon as I heard them, I realized how pointlessly scared I had been the other times some random noise had woken me up. This wasn’t a poster falling off the wall, or the neighbour’s dog going for a midnight snack. There was someone in the kitchen and that was it..."

Read the rest here.

And please let me know what you think :)

Summer skin

2010-08-11T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is pretty much what my back looks like after a sun stroke and two sun burns.

You can guess what I wore each day :)

I should have known that after an unpredictable sun stroke your skin is not magically immune to the sun.

Living Small

2010-08-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.

Mr M passed this article to me about the relationship between spending and happiness. Well, we all know that money does not make you happy, but I honestly thought that what you can do with money can. This is a recurring thing I find again and again, especially being a designer. I am meant to make stuff for people to want more stuff. But do i really want it to be like this? Of course I always try to make things that matter at another level (that's why rituals in living are so important to me), but at the end of the day you are producing more material bodies that will lay somewhere at somebody's place.

I showed you this two small apartments a while ago because I just moved into a small flat myself (39 square meters to share with Mr M). Whilst this has been an economic decision (in Europe you just cannot afford to live any bigger in a city without a very serious income or getting into loans and debt), it's interesting to see people taking a conscious step in this direction. Again a contradictory position to me, I like the idea but at the same time I'm pretty sure I'd go too big before too small if money wasn't the issue. That said, the tiny flat has definitely improved the way we live in some ways (even though we've never lived in massive spaces before): we need to be tidier and cleaner, more aware of what surrounds us, smarter, more essentialist. Everything has at least one function and a spot. I could say it's more flexible, in a way, because it needs to be.

This video appeared in RowdyKittens, a blog of a lady who did make the choice of living as small as possible.

What do you think about this? Could you downsize? Have you ever needed to?

Maruja Mallo

2010-08-04T04:38:00.000-07:00

Maruja Mallo is one of the most important painteds of the Spanish avant-garde, but no one seems to know much about her work. Actually, when her biography pops up here or there, the writers seem to prioritize the fact that she knew intelectual celebrities that were her contemporaries, like Dali or Lorca, rather than her quite unique insight as a woman artist to the time she was living. Actually, her wiki page doesn't even show any of her paintings. She was a Republican, and had to be exiled, whilst her art was exhibited all over the world. By the time she was able to come back to Spain, she was mostly unknown there, and remains to be so.

Paul Smith's Wallpaper for blind people

2010-08-04T04:28:00.000-07:00

Mr Smith's vintage floral wallpaper has "a strip of brail running through the middle at Dado rail height" that reads "Pink roses". This project was made for Wallpaper with help from the Royal National Institute of Blind People.

Bodybell campaign

2010-08-04T02:48:00.000-07:00

Bodybell is a Spanish chain of perfumery shops. Now, so far so good. As many other companies, they've decided to appeal to the solidarity of their shoppers and create a collection of t-shirts which will help a NGO dedicated to refugees. I am not going to get into this whole shopping solidarity thing, I am just going to translate what the shirts say:

-No one has erotic dreams with a "nice" person
-That your mum thinks you are hansome does not mean you are
-Love at first chat does not exist
-The pretty one envies the luck of the ugly one.... hahaha, right.

When I go in a beauty store, I hope not to feel intimidated or god forbid, uglier. I like stores that rather than selling you their most expensive lipstick and then try to tell you you need some corrector too because you look terrible; listen to what you ask for and accomodate a more wholistic need.

I might not have a sense of humour, but these sound rather offensive to me.
How do you feel about them?

Connie Jan

2010-08-04T01:37:00.000-07:00

"The pieces are about construction on the body via plastic surgery. Some pieces are finished and others continue transformation as the body responds to surgery over time and addictions may develop".

Via mar de color rosa.

Julia

2010-08-04T01:13:00.001-07:00

I was going to write about something else, but Mr M and I just got the news of the passign away of one of our best, most special, most intelligent, most wild teachers we've ever had. She had one of the most complicated and adventurous lives I've ever heard of, and was a really strong woman. Julia, from here, we'll miss you a hell of a lot. You were a wonderful person.