L&G Storytime No.7: Modern Furniture, Its Design and Construction

Guess what time it is?....it's storytime!! YAY
Quite possibly the number one reason to appreciate vintage is the furniture. I mean who can deny the power of minimalism, the quirkiness of organic designs, the richness of Danish teak? Furniture design truly hit its stride and this book written by Mario Dal Fabbro in 1949 was put together in the exciting early years.
The book is an incredible mix of lightly dimensioned technical drawings of design classics like Saarinen’s Womb chair and the Eames’ LCM along with do-it-yourself style projects. The book covers everything from chairs, tables, and desks to built-ins and shelving systems. All the drawings are hand done and have a consistent quality to them that is consistent throughout the book. There’s something about them that is mesmerizing and makes you want to learn to draft the old fashioned way.
We were particularly captivated by all the tricky folding designs that are throughout the book. In addition to some traditional folding furniture archetypes, there are a bunch of clever designs we’ve never seen before. Like these folding beds:
Or this sideboard with a swivel out work surface:
Or this articulating side table:
All these swiveling and fold out actions is like could turn your house into a life-size pop-up book! They certainly don’t make things like they used to, which is why it’s so great to have vintage books remind and inspire us to take use a put a little bit of past in our present.

Ta ta for now!

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious

L&G Storytime No.6: And That's Ahhhhhmore

Ciao Bella!
Today, Dylan and I like to do a storytime...that's a little bit more personal: we'd like to share these great vintage Travel books, specifically about Italy. Italy holds a VERY dear place in both of our hearts....Yesterday was our 5th year annivasary and Rome was where we did a study abroad program together a year after we got together! We lived in a cute 300sqft apartment in the the Trestevere neighborhood and then traveled, explored, and ate our way around Italy, walked through numerous Roman ruins, got inspired by the glamorous Design shows in Milan, and witnessed a great historical event at the Vatican. Ahh...those were the days. These travel books reminds us of all the great things about the country and the culture.
Italy was where we found our common love for all things old & rustic. The dynamic of old & new was simply amazing...thousand year old buildings with spray painted tags, tiny Smart cars driving through narrow allies on cobble-stoned road, adorable old Italian couples and hip trendy young 20 year-olds all hanging out in a piazza after midnight.
In fact, we both took this silly Facebook "Where should you live?" quiz, and we BOTH got ITALY!! I took it first and asked Dylan to take it afterward. I was little concerned as he was taking the quiz, because if Dylan had gotten a different location, that would mean that our relationship was never going to work and we'd have to break up right away. Luckily, that's not going to happen. :D
Hanging out in the middle of a piazza is always fun. This is where people congregate no matter what time of the day it is. Our school studio was right in Campo Di Fiori. It's a food market during day, and a place to party at night. Old Italian men would sip their espresso and eat a cornettos (pastry) and just hang out. It was a perfect place to people watching.
I love the illustration from the travel book and the image of someone drying pasta. This is where we learn to appreciate all things handmade. We were amazed by the culture of handmade artisans across all spectrum. There were specialized shops for just pasta, cheese, bread, meat and even Tiramisu! But as designers, it was a total eye-opener to see other artisan shops for upholstery, welding, leather goods, instruments, clothes, shoes, and anything you can think of. You can go into any shop and see all the great old tools displayed and the actual artist making them with their own hands.
We also love coastal towns like these where houses and buildings are integrated right into the landscape. This was taken off the cost of Amalfi. It was like a playground for us as we went between buildings running on century old steps and cobble stoned roads, snapping photos non-stop, up, down, and all-around.
But the most amazing event was the on the day Dylan and I celebrated our first year anniversary in Rome...That was the day when Pope John Paul II died. All this happened only 3 days after we arrived in Rome. Trust me, this is not some sick joke. We ate at a horrible tourist trap restaurant that night, and when we left the restaurant, there were crowds of people mourning at all the churches around. We stopped and went in to see what was going on and heard some other English speaking person saying that they couldn't believe the Pope died! With the Vatican only 10 minutes away from our apartment, we walked there and experienced the historical event of a lifetime. Despite the fact that we were outsiders with little connection to the Pope and the religion, we were still overwhelmed with emotion being in the mist of it all. It was as if almost everyone in Rome and even Italy gathered at St. Peters holding a candle vigil and singing for the death of the Pope. It was beyond anything we'd imagine to expereince or see.Here are some photos from our trip. You can see more, here.
1. Shadow of clothes drying outside our apartment. 2. Ornate mosaic floor. 3. Rustic white buildings in Matera. 4. Colosseum at night. 5. Ornate iron window. 6. Eerie abandoned town of Nocera, Umbria. 7. Trestevere neighborhood (where we lived in Rome). 8. Ceiling of Capitoline Museum. 9. Natural hot spring at Saturnia, Tuscany 10. Giant broken statue at the Capitoline Museum. 11. A colorful old Fiat 500 and a Vespa. 12. Flea market in Rome.

All this talk about travel makes me want to just take off and go somewhere different! Hope some of you are planning to go somewhere fun!
Ciao!

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious

L&G Storytime No.4: Parlez Vous Francais? Oui!

Bonjour à nos amis! Today’s Poppytalk Storytime centers around the graphic treasures of the 1960 French language book Parlons Francais.

You don’t want to end up like Brett and Germane, so follow us and Parlons Francais and brush up on your French!

What better motivation to learn a foreign language than the promise of an incredible, neat illustration waiting for you on the next page? Learn some words and you can impress pretty much anyone! We learned some French terms and now use them on a daily bases! We like to walk the corner market “Sept-Onze” (or more commonly known to Americans as 7-Eleven) and pick up a croissant and a slurpeé using our superior French speaking skills. We come off so cultured.

Parlon Francais is a set of 8 mini-books that are full of charming illustrations that make the leafing through them a delight. The best part is that each book has pages that can be removed and played on a record player for pronunciation.

Here are a few lessons along with some darling visual aids for you (read and repeat aloud…you want to learn French don’t you?): “Comment allez-vous?” - How are you?
“l'oiseau est dans l'arbre” - The bird is in the tree.
“L’Oiseau et Le Chat” - The bird and the cat.
"La Famille" - Family
"Nous allons en vacances" - We go on vacation.
"Mes chaussures sont de très petites" - My shoes are very small.
“Je voudrais un grand ballon rouge, s’il vous plait” - I would like a large red balloon please.
“Regardez-vous les animaux” - Look at the animals

Now you know all these phrases, your homework is use them and we'll gurantee that you'll impress someone...unless that person happens to be French. Au revoir! You can see more images, here.

Jean & Dylan
Ladies & Gentelemen

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious

Happy Lunar New Year!

It's the first day of Lunar New Year starting today until February 13th. Dylan and I did a special guest blog for Poppytalk on some fun photos & findings we got in Chinatown. Check out Poppytalk to read more!
If you're in Seattle, there will be outdoor new year celebration this Sunday, January 31st. Click here for details. A good excuse to get some dim sum before hand!

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious

Cooking with L&G on Poppytalk

I did a cooking post for Poppytalk today on a Greek-themed meal we made the other day using some recipes from the NY Times Magazine. My favorite is the bright pink fuschia colored beet tzatziki...and no....it's not just because of the color...it actually taste good, too! But that fuschia....it's just mesmerizing and pretty to look at...so bright...and pink....

Read the post here for the recipes and more!

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious

L&G on Poppytalk!

Jan from Poppytalk blog posted a couple of things from L&G on Feb 28th!! How exciting! Thanks Jan!
I'm starting to sell on PHM (Poppy Handmade Market) store starting March 11th. There's tons of great things, which got me totally tempted. But I pulled myself back from buying things.....for now.

Ladies and Gentlemen Home: For the love of all things vintage, clever, designed, and/or delicious