We were thrilled to see that Dwell Magazine picked our Kitchen Tools tea towel in petrol as its Product of the Day. ferm LIVING tea towels are available now here. I'm going for the Family Tree and Love Birds designs at the moment. And, mom, I'm thinking blue for you. Let me know!
First, design world celebrity sightings... Christiana worked with Goil Amarnvivat earlier when he used some of our wall stickers on an episode of Trading Spaces. He was very sweet - totally remembered her and said that he's going to use some of our wallpaper this coming season!
He also told us to check out the booth he'd designed for the country of Singapore. It was STUNNING. The walls were literally covered with live orchids. Christiana was also quick to appreciate his use of Bertoia chairs - she's trying to convince me to get them for my dining room table...
Then, we got to meet Grace of design*sponge - here she is talking to Trine. I'm a big fan of her blog, so it was fun to put a face to the writing. Grace has been very supportive of fermLIVING and we appreciate it very much!
We saw a bunch of HGTVers (including one of the twins that I loved from last season's Design Star), some well known designers, and this guy. He may not be a celebrity, but his hair was dyed leopard (is that a hair color?) and that makes him a rock star in our book.
Aside from celebrity sightings, there was also some truly fantastic design to admire. I lived in Spain for a semester in college and have been collecting Lladros to commemorate special occasions since then. Lladro has released this new collection where they are repurposing old designs, modernizing them by doing them in all white, and then adding the small flowers. This group depicts the phases of love - first love, love in bloom and mature love. The mature love figurine has the most flowers of any Lladro piece. They were absolutely gorgeous.
I live in a house with 3 boys (4 if you include our male dog) and my husband always jokes that we should get a urinal. At least I hope he's joking. My answer has always been a firm no, but after spotting these minimalist urinals at the show, I'm taking it under consideration.
All in all, it was a great experience. We also spent time at the stationery show which was a big treat for a stationery junkie like me. Night Owl Papergoods were one of our favorites as well as everyone at Mixed Co. The ladies of Hello! Lucky were a lot of fun - they've invited Christiana to tour their studio, so perhaps you'll see that in the blog sometime soon.
And, of course, I got to spend some time in my favorite city with one of my favorite people. Thanks for sleeping in the pullout bed and for giving me that cute dress, Christiana. It almost makes up for the cocktail party.
We're big believers that if you can make it into the New York Times, you can make it anywhere! This is why we were ecstatic to see our wallpaper in the NYT Home & Garden section's article covering ICFF!
We just got back from an exuberant weekend in NYC at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. It was the first time either Aimee or I had attended the show. We both had so much fun and were thrilled to see everyone's reaction to ferm LIVING. We also took an excessive number of pictures, so will be posting about our time there over the next few days. But, first thing's first: a most clever booth!
Checking out some samples.
Hooray for new tea towels!
Designer extraordinaire, Trine, explaining design details.
Piles of pillows!
We were delighted to finally test all the new products in before we start selling them (next week!) They did not disappoint! Our biggest delight, though, was seeing Trine and her husband, Martin, and getting catch up with them over a couple lovely dinners. Trine's expecting a baby boy in August, so we were worried she might not make it over from Denmark for the show. But she did! And, she looked fabulous - right down to her divine flats she picked up at Barneys the day before. More about my attempt to budget shop at Barneys later...
It was so fun to wake up to our wallpaper on Daily Candy today! If only every morning could be so exciting, I wouldn't have needed to invest in my second alarm clock. The owner of Ladita, a new, organic boutique in Bernal Heights, just used our Kingflower pattern to rock out her racks of eco-conscious clothing!
If we hadn't mentioned this before, ferm LIVING's wallpapers are toxic free and environmentally friendly! Thus matching perfectly with Ladita's eco (and fashion) forward clothing and gifts. I can't wait to go check this place out!
We were thrilled to see that Dwell Magazine picked our Kitchen Tools tea towel in petrol as its Product of the Day. ferm LIVING tea towels are available now here. I'm going for the Family Tree and Love Birds designs at the moment. And, mom, I'm thinking blue for you. Let me know!
Teresa, in Hoboken, entered Apartment Therapy's Small Cool 2008 contest. We think her choice of our Sparrow in Gold, makes her an obvious winner! Very cool apartment, Teresa!!!
And here are my favorite cool things from ICFF this year. Above is Newraven's glass tiles. So pretty! And, below are beautiful felt things. Aimee, do you remember the name of the women who made these? We're hoping to sell them (mostly because I desperately want some slippers for myself and don't know where to buy them...) when we launch our new shop this fall. Very cozy!!!
Here are Juki Flatfold Chairs by Aimee Less - origami inspired and so pretty!
I'd love to have one of these to take outside to my steps to sit on while I read the paper! If these are as comfortable as they look, maybe I'd make it beyond just the Style section...
While we were at ICFF, there was another big hospitality show going on in Vegas. Alessandro at Sitcom used some ferm LIVING wallpaper to brighten up his booth there.
The lights were super cheap Ikea and come in 3 different heights. You just need to peel off the fabric covers from the plastic laminate and then glue the wallpaper to the plastic laminate using a spray glue or similar. Pretty easy and so pretty! Thanks, Alessandro!
And, because I can never get enough of checking out the Kingflower at the Hard Rock Hotel... Here are some fun pictures I just found on their website. Love it!
Just wanted to share some pretty pictures of my favorite time of year in New York. I played a little hooky during ICFF to breath in as much of the city as I could before heading back to SF. What an amazing island!
While I was in NYC, I spent a lot of time just strolling around. I can never figure out where to look because there's always so much going on. Plenty of times, though, I caught myself looking up at the sparkling tops of my favorite buildings!
The intricate and glittering building tops certainly draw a lot of well deserved attention.
I think the same theory must apply to the inside of buildings too, right? That's what I told my friends Jack and Josh who are considering the Wilderness in Gold for their fantastic loft space in (near?) the Meat Packing District. Why not draw a little more attention to the walls with something that glitters? Plus, I think everyone agreed, it is time to lose the chartreuse...
I'm hoping they decide to wallpaper all the way down their long hall too. I think it would look amazing! You hearing me, Jack??
MoMA threw a great ICFF opening party on Saturday night. Aimee and I figured since we didn't know anyone there, what was the point of being fashionably late? So we arrived at 7 on the dot so as not to miss out on one minute of sipping...
these!!! This Gin Rickey my new favorite cocktail. By far. Gin, lime, soda water and a sprig of rosemary = bliss in a glass. 
We felt a bit badly drinking in front of Trine, who can't drink for three more months. But, since her husband, Martin, wasn't holding back, we figured it wasn't a problem. And, trine was a great sport!
Here we are waiting for Martin to come back with more Gin Rickeys...
We just got back from an exuberant weekend in NYC at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair. It was the first time either Aimee or I had attended the show. We both had so much fun and were thrilled to see everyone's reaction to ferm LIVING. We also took an excessive number of pictures, so will be posting about our time there over the next few days. But, first thing's first: a most clever booth!
Checking out some samples.
Hooray for new tea towels!
Designer extraordinaire, Trine, explaining design details.
Piles of pillows!
It was so fun to wake up to our wallpaper on Daily Candy today! If only every morning could be so exciting, I wouldn't have needed to invest in my second alarm clock. The owner of Ladita, a new, organic boutique in Bernal Heights, just used our Kingflower pattern to rock out her racks of eco-conscious clothing!
If we hadn't mentioned this before, ferm LIVING's wallpapers are toxic free and environmentally friendly! Thus matching perfectly with Ladita's eco (and fashion) forward clothing and gifts. I can't wait to go check this place out!
Tad and Martha just got married (okay, they got married almost a year ago, but it seems like yesterday...) and guess which clever friend gifted off the registry? They actually put up their gold sparrow together pre-wedding day and still decided to walk down the aisle. So it couldn't have been too difficult to hang, right? And, it looks fantastic!
They also added a sitting sparrow to the hallway (very cute!).
Tad's dad got him some berry trees for his birthday, which also brings an unexpected detail to their hallway. Excellent work, guys! It was so fun to hang out with you two in Chicago. Hope to see you in SF sometime soon!
