So we got some DOUBLE exciting news for L&G and for us!
We currently have some L&G goodies & hand selected vintage items at our friends' shop in Japan called Depot Cycle & Recycle. It's a charming family run bike & lifestyle shop in Ichikawa owned by THE MOST adorable, loving, & happy people we know!!
For the past month, We've been sending some fun things from L&G, R&L goods, and Piano Nobile goodies for their house & lifestyle area of the shop. They just sent me the photo of what it looks like and I'm already in love with all the things, the colors, and just the charming aesthetic of their shop!! I Especially love all these beautifully made ceramic ware.
Here is a photo of the lovely Minato Family. Seiya & Mami & their 3 adorable kids, Aika, Yume and Yuni!! ( I'd like to adopt all of them....yes please...) This is pretty much what they look like ALL the time....always happy and adorable....no joke.
The Minato family visited us in Seattle last summer at our duplex and between Dylan, Chika, Jared and I, we had such a blast with them hanging out around Seattle, Ballard and Guemes Island to show them the great NW.
It was especially fun experiencing everything through their eyes since pretty much wherever they go...birds would sing, people would smile, flowers would bloom, babies would laugh, and even total strangers would go up and talked to them and be compelled to be their BFFs...
It sounds like I'm making it up...but I am not exaggerating.
So in about a week, Dylan & I are actually going to Japan to visit them!!
We'll actually get to really see and experience what its really like to live like one of the happy Minatos!
We're especially excited to see Seiya & Mami shop in person and see L & G piggy banks, servers, and doily rugs!
I made couple of Mini-Mega Doilies (One 2.5 ft diameter and the other is 2ft diameter) for them since their space is limited, but I also think they might actually do well at that size in Japan since it can also be used seating pads for the floor or on a chair....I hope they do well!
At that size... it's actually pretty cute if I may say so myself! :)
I also made a little sewn look book for them of our work.
There's something so satisfying about the combination of thread & paper...
Here's what the inside looks like...
I can't explain how excited to see them & also visit Japan!! I'm getting butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it!
It's been a LONG time (7 years!) for me since I was last in Japan studying abroad there, and Dylan on the other hand has never been!
We've been talking about it for couple of years now, and it's also been a long time since the two of us have taken a long personal vacation that's not family or work related!
So it's about time!
....now on with planning the trip......Oh boy!! Where do we even begin or stop!?!
Viewing entries tagged
Megadoiley
I recently saw that someone added our servers to their Pinterest board and out of curiosity clicking a link on the side "Also from ladiesandgentlemenstudio" and then ended up seeing this page......
then kept scrolling....
whoa.....did NOT expect this...
All I gots to say is...I love Pinterest, not just for this reason!
FINALLY the book that we've all been waiting for!! (Or at least I have!)
I seem like only yesterday when we first met Meg and got the opportunity to be in her book!
We got our copy of Meg's "Crafting A Meaningful Home" book recently and was totally blown away by the quality of it all. The beautiful cover, all the lovely colorful photos, and 27 seven amazing project by all amazing designers/artists/crafters!
Here's a little sneak peak!!
Meg and her husband.
I'm on the first page! Crazy!
L&G's Mega-Doily!
R&L's wood burned coat of arms for the Dupe!
I just love this photo...
Here are all the project & the people in the book
About the book
As the second decade of the 21st century begins, we’re more compelled than ever to find refuge in our homes and personalize our living spaces with DIY projects that celebrate who we are and where we’ve been. In Crafting a Meaningful Home, Meg Mateo Ilasco shares 27 projects that tell personal stories and celebrate heritage, all easily created on a budget. Learn how to decoupage a plate with photos of a best friend; silkscreen upholstery with folk motifs; artfully display love notes; sew a teepee from a vintage quilt top; or create family silhouettes for a festive banner. Contributed by a hip cast of well known designers from across the country, the projects are, at once, nostalgic, sentimental, and modern. Clear instructions are easy to follow, even for beginning crafters.
You can get your copy here!
L&G's Mega Doily rug is featured on this month's Country Living Magazine! Woot woot!
We're offering a 10% discount for the month! Just enter the discount code when checking out!
A nice spread of rope themed goods. I love those magnifying glass wrapped with jute!
Okay...take deep breath...
So get this...our Mega Doily Rug got featured on Lucky Magazine! 
This is our very first time getting our designs featured in a printed magazine! Kind of a big deal for us, since all the past mentions of L&G were all viral, (which I'm more than grateful for all the kind mentions!), but for some reason getting an actual feature in an editorial magazine makes it feel so official!
I knew before that the rug would be featured on the March issue...but totally forgot that the issue comes out a month before....so all this still caught me by surprised when I found out that the issue came out this last weekend!
But on another SUPER exciting note for L&G is that I'll also be contributing to Meg Mateo Illasco's new book "Crafting a Meaningful Home" (STC Craft/Melanie Falick Books).
I had the honor to meet Meg in person last year at the Renegade Craft Fair when she was doing some book signing for her book, Craft Inc. Through some casual conversation and me getting her autographed book, we ended up talking about her new book. One thing lead to another and the next thing I know, both Chika and I were talking about projects to propose for her book and dates for a photoshoot in SF! I swear, no one was drunk when all this happened!
But this is even BIGGER deal! Don't get me wrong, blogs & magazines...I'm not making it sound like this a competition nor am I playing favorites, but I'm saying it's a bigger deal because I realized how much work goes into putting a book together from both ends. Turns out publishing a book isn't so easy...who would of thought, right?
There was so much back and forth of editing and re-editing that goes on and really made me wonder how people did this before the world wide inter-web came about...
In anyhow, the book will come out this Fall and we'll be able to share more in beginning of this summer!! I'm trying really hard not too say too much, but I'm totally excited knowing what I know and knowing how awesome this book is gonna be!
Stay tuned for more updates!!
So around last August we briefly mentioned that Meg Mateo Illasco is working on some home decor book....but we forgot to mention that both Chika & I are also gonna be her book!!
Ok, you totally want to hear the whole story, right?
Well...let me tell you! It was a total serendipitous thing.....
It all happened on lovely mid-July day in San Francisco when Chika & I traveled there to sell our goods at the Renegade Craft Fair......
But this particular day was more than any other craft show days we worked at. We had the pleasure to meet Meg for the first time that day when she was doing book signing for her book "Craft Inc."
I decided to get a copy of her book to have her autograph it since I'm a big fan of her work and I love the book and wanted to get it for a friend..but instead of acting like my normal self....I some how turned into a giant dork too shy to say much besides looking awkward and mumbling some less than significant words like "uh..your books is, uh, really cool...yeah...I like how you talk about business...and stuff...but for crafters....uh...that's pretty cool...yeah, totally."
Well...those weren't the exact words..but I'm sure it was pretty close. :P
But of course, Meg was totally cool and SUPER friendly and just started asking me what I do...and as it turned out, Meg actually knew about our work!! AWESOME!
On top of what was already an exciting interaction with Meg, things just escalated from there. Next thing I know she was in our booth checking out our stuff and chatting with us as if we're already friends (I love friends!)...and JUST when I was thinking that things can't get any awesome-er..Meg all of a sudden says to me "Hey, I'm working on a home decor book and is looking for people to submit some creative projects with a personal story, you guys wanna do it?"
I looked at her like a deer in the headlight....then looked at Chika who also had the same look as me......I looked back at Meg and thought "Could this be real?!"....then realized I should provide some sort of response since she asked me a question....then finally I responded with great confidence "......yesssss?????"
I totally thought it was too good to be true and thought maybe she just wanted to feel it out and so I was prepared that at some point we'll get an email from Meg saying that she found someone better with a better project or for whatever reason.....but everything fell into place....and we realized it was truly official when both Chika & I went back in SF 2 weeks after we met Meg, and found ourselves hanging out at Lisa Wong Jackson's lovely mid-century modern house doing a photo shoot with Meg, Lisa, Joy, and Joanna with Thayer Alllyson Gowdy the photographer for the book. Everything happened so fast I couldn't even register it all!!!
The book will consist of of 25+ other well-known designers/artists/crafters each with a DIY home decor project that has their personal stories or memories. We were thrilled when Meg told us all the awesome people like Joy from Oh Joy!, Lauren & Derek of The Curiosity Shoppe, Lisa Congdon, Lisa of Good on Paper, Cathy Callahan of Cathy of California, Tootie of ReForm School and more were all contributing to the book!
With a power group like that, I don't even have to know what sort of projects they are doing for me to just KNOW that this book will amazing!
Here's some photos from the shoot. I want to live in Lisa's house!
Lisa & Virginia (Meg's lovely assistant) in their matching striped shirt watching the photo shoot take place.
Below are the projects that got shot that day....
My Mega-Doily Rug....Oh how I wish my living room looked like that....it looks much better than my long skinny coffee table sitting on top of it...
For Chikabird, we made a Coat of Arms for the Dupe with all the graphic icons that represented us and then we wood burned them!
Joy's beautiful gold leaf glass lamp
Joanna's lovely stamped door curtain
An here's everyone sitting down for a nice lunch break. It's amazing how exhausting styling a shoot is! There were lots of moving objects back and forth going on, standing back to look at it, framing the shot with our hands, tilting our heads, squinting, and then repeat....
Yum yum almond croissants from my FAVORITE SF bakery, Tartine!!
I still couldn't really believe that this whole book thing is actually happening even after several months in when we already done the photo shoot and submitted the instructions and story...for some reason I just feared (and was trying to prepare myself) that there would still be a chance that we could get edited out.....for simply looking stupid in our photos or something like that...but they decided to keep our project! Even though I wouldn't argue one bit that I probably do look a little stupid in the photos... :P
I'm just more than excited the fact that not only will this be our FIRST time getting published in a book...it's gonna be in a book by Meg along with an amazing group of people that we've always found inspiring, too!
There's just too much awesomeness all around! Can't stand it!
The real book is plan to launch this early fall!
Stay tuned!
If you're not sick of this yet....Here's Mega Doily featured on Craft Magazine! Woo Hoo!
Besides our recent exciting mentions on D*S of our Mega-Doily rug and on Apartment Therapy, they've also been making its way around the blog-o-sphere on all sorts of blogs...oh! what a great world that is....
Just when I was starting to feel a little too depressed in this cold and rainy city....there's a beam of sunshine coming out of my computer screen with little blog people smiling and waving at me.... :D
Okay, maybe that's a little creepy...
In any case, thank you all my blog friends and confidant!!
found us on fffound!
The Coveted (of all things stylish)
Petite Pomme (lovely lifestyle blog)
Crochet Today (On the Crochet Today Magazine's blog)
Making Chicken Salad 
(adorable vintage inspired blog)Sodapop Design (a German blog!)
and few others...Crochet Spot
Chicpea Studio
CaseyBaudin
Erin Everafter
Loverswin
Urban Flea
So as you know, last Dec, Dylan and I were part of JOIN: Design Seattle show. It was at this show that the first Ladies & Gentlemen Studio pieces was born...our Alpha Brass lamps and Mega Doily rug. 
We're proud and honored to part of this new up & coming design collective along with other awesome Seattle designers like:
Iacoli&Mcallister and 
Gray pants. We are combining all of our forces to build a stronger design community in Seattle showcasing North American Designs through JOIN:Design Seattle. We are excited to present our next event, and our first juried show:
JOIN and Ouch My Eye are seeking submissions for Ctrl+Alt+Design slated for June 12th, 2009. The juried show will primarily focus on showcasing work by emerging American designers working in the areas of furniture, lighting, soft goods and home accessories. You can get more details about the show and apply, here. This is a good excuse to turn that napkin sketch into a real thing. It's free, so you just gotta make it happen!
We're looking forward to see all the submissions! Remember the Deadline is MAY, 8, 2009. So feel free to apply and spread the word to any desingers out there, too!
Check out JOIN Flickr site to see photos of our past shows.
Please contact Jamie Iacoli with any questions at:
press [at] joinDesignSeattle [dot] com.
Check out our duplex blog, thirty-thirtytwo for some before and afters in our living room and kitchen and flickr for some more shots and details of the current affair of things in our new home. It's shaping up nicely, but still so much work to do.
