George Nakashima and the Magnificent Mira Yarnall

I have always preferred that raw, natural look of wood pieces. I'm not one to paint an old wood table cerulean or shalaque an amazing piece of driftwood. Unfortunately for me, the prices of these magnificent, rugged finds are soaring from the sudden influx of that ever-so-careless, out-doorsy style (common with anthropologie fans). Just look on eBay! Driftwood coffee tables are selling like hot cakes for anywhere from $200-$1100. Good think I'm near a beach, eh?

The contrast between mama nature's beauty and man's modern design has been tried many a time but few designers have managed to both capture the design and preserve the woodwork simultaneously. There is, However, one designer I know who can do both these things and do it well: George Nakashima. Now working with his daughter Mira Yarnall, the two have come up with some stunning pieces.

As the daughter of the woodworker extraordinaire, Mira has grown up around some pretty unique, one-of-a-kind structures, yet little has been said about Mira and her career. Ever since my dad mentioned George's designs four years ago, I'd been a Nakashima devotee. I only found out he even had a daughter a few months ago so I was psyched to find this interview with her! 

"The woodworker's responsibility is to the tree itself," says George Nakashima in Design Boom's  interview. "[The tree] has been sacrificed to live again in the woodworker's hands." Now if that isn't some potent passion, I don't know what is.

Rachel Berwick: au naturel

Its truly amazing how many links lead to incredible artists that don't get nearly enough recognition. I stumbled across Rachel Berwick's magnificence via flickr (the mother ship hermetic genius). 

I've always considered myself to be an "indoor cat" seeing as my relationship with technology brings out my most maternal caution and affection but I was captivated by Berwick's work. Her pieces will make you want to go to the rain forest- or at least google it to remind you how incredible it is. Her work is essentially focused on wildlife and fossils preserved in cast crystal and amber- obviously. She has covered plenty of exotic species like maypure parrots, passenger pigeons, tasmanian tigers (where did those guys come from?) and the infamous tortoise, "lonesome george," of the galapagos islands. Check it out folks.

www.rachelberwick. om

Janaina Tschape and the mermaids

wow- so it has been a while, ya?

so many ideas and creative works have come up- not even on design alone, but paintings, crafty compositions...the whole bit. but who can't help loving those little sites and articles that no one else seems to know of? i must admit- i usually like to relish in the excitement of my independent discoveries but sometime i just need to promote. there is a ridiculous amount of talent out there but my most recent art crush is janaina tschape. she's a german/brazilian artist/video photographer that was recently featured in elle decor with her husband brent jenkins of Sikkema & Jenkins design. what a pair. 

this picture here is from her exhibit in 2004 where she designed underwater costumes for professional mermaids from Florida's weeki wachee springs tourist attraction. the mermaids wore these insanely elaborate get-ups while swimming underwater....(read the article). pretty amazing stuff.

any who....check out more of her amazing work here

art walk

So as I was cruising the exciting streets of the south loop the other day and I started to notice little bits of art sprinkled all over the place. On lamp poles, on stop signs, on construction walls, on the street itself- everywhere. Street art has become an underground secret society. There are actually names that are recognized for street art- quite a change from the train car graffiti I saw in my younger years. It used to be viewed as a bunch of offensive scribbles by no-good hooligans but now it is indeed an art form. 

I've seen sites and stores like urban outfitters that sell these kind of stencils. They add a unique flair to the room that's definitely something you'd see in the city.

Bird Stencil

Tree Stencil

Chandelier

StyleHive Stencils

New Niche

This is the first post for my new home decor blog, Niche.

My story:

I grew up in several different homes since we moved quite a bit so I constantly got to see my mother turn an ordinary white-wall ranch into a family retreat. In addition to her creative inspiration, my father is an architect so he would always tell me about the details like what kind of stone the house was made of or the difference between a column and a pillar...that sort of thing. When I was little I still remember looking over my dad's shoulder when he'd work on his blue prints which I always found to be interesting.

In 2004 I attended Columbia College majoring in magazine journalism and then teamed that up with interior design. After college I knew I wanted to stay in Chicago and find a place that says who I am. When I got my new space in River North, I've had to be pretty creative with only 500 sq ft. to work with. Now I'm doing some freelance writing for a few online mags and I also want to start something of my own so I came up with Niche- an online blog dedicated to interior decorating ideas for small spaces, particularly in the city.  

Hopefully I'll get a blog in every day that offers you something interesting, inspiring, and innovative. 

Namaste