My loot from Renegade

I have a few more interviews to share but let's take a break from those so that I can share with you what I bought at the fair.

I have been looking forward to the day when I can finally own one of Emily's dolls. So cute!

Birdhouse Specimen Collection No. 1 by Lisa Congdon

Once Upon a Time Poster by Nora Aoyagi

Our 2 chihuahua's from kg + ab

Renegade: Interview with Jen Hewett

Name: Jen Hewett
Website: jenhewett.etsy.com

Describe your art: Print maker and crafter. It’s slightly girly without being poufy.

What is your favorite item that you’re selling at Renegade SF: That’s hard! It’s either the Michelle Obama paper dolls or the silk screen bags with the shoes on them.

Name artists that are also here today that you admire: Diana Fayt, love her stuff and also Mati Rose.

Where do you find inspiration: Pretty much everywhere. I’m out and about a lot and things catch my eye, colors catch my eye.

I was happy to see Jen's booth at Renegade. She is actually a friend of a friend, however I was not expecting to see her there. I instantly loved her stuff at first glance. Based on the note on her Etsy shop, it sounds like I wasn't the only one! She sold out of a lot of her prints during the fair. Congratulations Jen!

Renegade: Interview with kg + ab

The next few posts will be interviews from artists and crafters that I met at Renegade.

Name:
Katherine Grandey and Andy Byers of kg + ab

Website:
kgrandey.etsy.com

Describe your art:
It’s porcelain from vintage molds. Porcelain figurines and decal dinnerware.

What is your favorite item that you’re selling at Renegade SF:
I think the dinosaur nerds plate is my favorite.

Name artists that are also here today that you admire:
I love Loyalty & Blood, I also like Ryan Berkeley who does prints and our friend Jocelyn of Nous Savons who is from San Francisco.

Where are you based:
We’re from Brooklyn

I was instantly captured by kg + ab's booth when I walked by it the first time. Being the porcelain lover that I am, of course I had to stop and look around. My husband and I actually stopped by there a few times throughout the day. You know what the crazy thing is? We both bought this Porcelain Chihuahua head from them separately as a surprise to each other. So now we have 2!

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco

We had a wonderful sun shiny weekend here in San Francisco. I however, spent my Saturday indoors. Why do you ask? Well I didn't mind it one bit because this weekend, you guessed it, the Renegade Craft Fair came to San Francisco. I have been so flippin' excited about this for months!

Setting up booths early in the morning

Last year I was merely a spectator at the fair. I walked around, took pictures and bought a few items. This year I decided to up the ante a wee bit by volunteering to help 2 of my favorite local artist's, Diana Fayt and Lisa Congdon who shared a booth at the fair.

Diana Fayt's lovely wares

So many of my favorite artists were under one roof, it was the happiest place on earth! Mati Rose, Diana Fayt, Lisa Congdon, Emily Martin, 3 Fish Studios, Sarah Paloma and Small Stump.



In addition, I also did something different for myself, I went around and interviewed a few of the artists that were present.

I discovered so many other talented artists, print makers, jewelers and toy makers like the talented Tugboat Printshop husband and wife team, Sourdough handmade, Tiny Sparks Design and a few more that I will profile in upcoming posts. I literally had to walk around at least 5 or 6 times to take it all in because every time I walked by I kept seeing something new that I missed.

I can't wait to share the interviews with you, please check back soon!

Something's Pink

This past Friday, I went to the opening of Mati and Lisa's show at the Curiosity Shoppe. The show is entitled Little Pink Houses. The first thing I noticed while walking towards the store is how many people were hanging out right outside. As we squeezed our way into the store to see the installation, I ran into Mati in her lovely pink dress. By my feet was the ever cute Wilfredo wearing a pink necktie just for the occasion!

Wilfredo and Lisa

I expected lively paintings and cute pink houses. These 2 artists did not disappoint. The show is an explosion of color, whimsy and nature. If you are in San Francisco, you really must see it in person, the show will be up until July 31.


Alternatively, the art work is also available online.

summer florals

I've always been a print kind of girl. I love prints so much that my wardrobe tends to be on the colorful side and lacking the basics. I'm quite excited about this season's floral patterns. I've been seeing it everywhere on dresses, scarves and skirts. Here's a sampling.

I am currently mostly enamored by floral patterns on a black background. I love this Silk floral dress from Built by Wendy.



How can you not love this Orangerie Dress from Mod Cloth? The cut, the colors, the pattern and the price. Just perfect.



I really love this scarf from Anthro. It comes in 3 different colors. I am usually opinionated when it comes to patterns but with this one, it's hard to choose.

A friend of mine owns a pair of Butter shoes and she says they definitely feel like Buttah. Butter shoes are designed in NYC and made in Italy.


Rompers seem to be everywhere these days. Reconstructed Romper from Reconstructed Clothing on Etsy.




Velvet Melodia Skirt from doe.

Craft Day

My friend Ruk and I spent last Saturday afternoon working on various projects that we have been putting off. It was a nice sunny weekend so we were almost tempted to just lay out in the sun and drink some wine. In the end, we got off our butts and crafted. I added doily applique to a lampshade and also managed to make a yoga mat bag. Ruk worked on her cross stitch project.

We used a glue gun to attach the doilies to the lampshade.

I managed to sneak in a yoga mat bag

Ruk's cross stitch in progress

Our trip down undah: Street Art

There's a multitude of street art in Melbourne and Sydney. I took a bunch of pictures of these colorful murals and thought that I'd share them here with you.

University of Sydney

A-Space on Cleveland Art Gallery

the silver (gold) lining

I just came back from the Union Design Festival (formerly Capsule) in Hayes Valley. There were lots of goods from independent artists, designers and crafters to be had. I will do a proper post for the festival but I just wanted to share the news that there is a new store opening in San Francisco in a few days.


Designers Adrienne Wiley of Frolick Jewelry and Liza Anongchanya of Ofina Jewelry have teamed up to open Covet, a boutique and design studio in the Inner Richmond. This is really great news and is a silver lining to all the not-so-great news we've been hearing lately about beloved independently owned stores and boutiques closing up shop in the city.

Today, I snapped up a necklace from Ofina. Her pieces are very simple and classic and priced very reasonably. I also own one of her lariats which I bought at last year's indie mart.

The 14k gold filled and bone necklace in the center is now mine :)

Please support local shops and designers, they play a huge part in making San Francisco the great city that it is.

Covet Grand Opening

Thursday, June 4 5-9PM

391 Arguello Blvd @ Clement St.

RSVP to covetsf@gmail.com

or call 415.751.1158

More information at covetsf.com

Our trip down undah: Sydney Markets and beaches

We spent a full week in Sydney. I really wanted to be there during the weekend so that we can experience the markets that Sydney is known for. We managed to visit 2 of them, the Glebe Markets and the sightly more posh Paddington Market.

I loved the Glebe Markets where there were a lot of independent designers and crafters. One thing that I noticed was that booth owners did not want anyone to take pictures of their wares. This was obviously a letdown for me. One person even asked us to delete any pictures we just took. Even though I was able to sneak a few pictures here and there, I don't think it's right for me to post them here so images for this post will be few and a bit generic.

I want to say though that I bought a very pretty necklace from lime lily. If you go to their site, you'll find a few images of their line.



One more thing that Sydney's not short of are beaches. I was amazed at how clean the beaches are. The water is almost always crystal clear and the sand so fine and white. We visited Bondi, Manly and Watsons Bay. It was so nice to just hang out at the beach for a few hours to relax. That's something that we rarely do here in Northern California.

Click on the image for a bigger view:

From Watsons Bay with a view of Sydney

A surfer at Manly Beach

A rock pool on the way to Manly from The Spit

Swimmers at Bondi