I met these guys from Fort Standards for the first time at the Feburary NYIGF in the AmDC booth, and was totally psyched that I got to trade for one of their charming merit badge necklaces.
...and since then...only being about 5 months later, they've designed & launched a BUNCH of new amazing products at this year's ICFF.
I was totally psyched to see these AMAZING Elevate tables made with crazy marble tops & white oak!! Mostly love the detail of the center notch and the clean construction of the triangle legs.
and of course me being a total sucker for terrariums...I have to love this: Terra-terrarium stand...that spins!
These classy Foundation tables are made with teak & stacked marble at the base. Clean, simple and cleverly constructed as well.
MAD Aluminum stool....just handsome.
I'm just so amazed by the scope of their work...and admire their sense for great details & general sensibility.
....Way to raise the bar on that one...and make all of us look bad!
As we mentioned few weeks before...we've been doing some re-hauling & re-organizing of our space for ourselves and for L&G studio...
Slowly but surely we're making some progress and have moved our bedroom into what was previously our office (or more like our storage)...
It's a smaller space, but I've been loving the idea to downsize our bedroom....keeping it minimal, airy, and peaceful....We painted our room with stock white paint...to replace the previously dingy dirty off white paint....and just changing that, the room felt instantly bigger, brighter and 100 times better!
We kept one side of the wall with the chalk wall from when we painted it for the office....since it'll still be useful for those occasional late night brainstorming sessions we do....plus I didn't' have the heart to erase the adorable messages & drawings by our friends' kids from Japan during the time they stayed with us!!
Then Dylan boxed in the window with soft toned pine boards with a added function as a shallow shelf....so we can incorporate some hanging plants & more plants!... LOVE!!
Then a little added color & pattern from a Ikea area rug for some warmth.Still got few more to add to the space...but overall we're gonna have it pretty paired down...with wood shelving made with cinder blocks and then have ropes & hanging rods to hang my accessories. I like the concept of "organized chaos" and love seeing selective pieces of clothes hung & displayed like that...it makes me appreciate what I have and gets me excited about wearing it...like the my new B&W sweater hanging on the mirror . A recent score at one of the vintage shops by Nationale & Stand Up Comedy in Portland.
This is a rare exception when I wished the whether is slightly colder so I can wear that more often! I've been practically living in it with it being so comfortable to wear!
still work in progress...can't wait to get it done!
I'm excited about Charlie Schuck's upcoming Object show happening on JUNE 17th!It's a beautifully well-curated & carefully hand selected collection of objects showcased in his own studio.
It's a mix of objects by local artists/designers such as Iacoli & McAllister, &c., Chadhaus, Emmet Smith, Free Time Industries, Far4, with unique one-of-a-kind vintage/antique found treasures....pretty much everything I love and can't resist looking.....
The much anticipated part two of my Back to the Land House post! The hardest part is not including every image of every interior of the book, but these are my top picks. These and more on Flickr.
Imagine a studio like this!
Or one of the many glorious geodesics.
Some inspiration for our kitchen!
I love the Japanese feeling of this space combined with the massive string art (the text caption is from the book...the way the whole thing is written...not sure what they're talking about most of the time)
These have me dreaming of an Adobe shack...
Circular windows!
I love these splendid pieces by Amsterdam-based artist, Maxime Ansiau, reinterpreting traditional plates by simply conjoining & repeating the artwork of the plates.
Could be an interesting experience to eat out of the 6 blended plates as a group!
I still can't get over rope jewelry!Check out these bold necklaces by Eleanor Bolton. These are a limited edition especially for Darkroom's Aztec Camera season.
Each are handmade & hand-dyed from 100% cotton rope .
So....we had to keep this hush hush until recently...and we can't wait to share this exciting news!! Our Chalk Piggies are available on Crewcuts online HERE for all the stylish & adorable kids! Like this lil' adorable girl!
We've been excited about this ever since one of the buyer from J.Crew first contacted us after purchasing a piggy after the holidays!
This is our first time working with a big company such as J.Crew and we were more than happy that everything went as planned and now they're actually in one of the Crewcut store in NY and online! 
This is totally what I envisioned where the piggies would end up... to be with stylish kids & parents and be part of both of their worlds!
I think I'll be visiting our piggies at the Crewcut store when I head to NY this coming August!
Can't wait!
In the late seventies after a failed attempt to live out of a VW microbus, my Dad had the bright, romantic idea to drop the nomad lifestyle, move to the country, and live off the land. So he did the only sensible thing a twenty-something in that time period could think of, he bought a lone chicken coop on a couple of acres and decided to make it his home. So began years of trials and tribulations that are a prominent part of my family's folklore: a lost cow, brush fires, a roof-climbing goat named Jemima and the transformation of that chicken coop into a modest passive solar home worthy of his back to the land dream.
Like many similar utopian visions of that time, the romance inevitably wore off, practicality set in and we became city dwellers once again, but my Dad still shakes his head and says "I'm so glad I did that." I can't help but feel the same nostalgic romantic feeling from time to time myself. Should we drop everything and head for simple country life?? Could we cut it out in rural life? Scratch that. We'd probably go crazy, but it's fun to think about the possibilities.
While I try to dig up the few photos that were taken of my Dad's own chicken coop transformation, I thought I would share three amazing books that inspired him to take that plunge (and has got me thinking rustic myself). All Their Own, The Craftsman Builder, and Woodstock Handmade Houses
Below are some pic excerpts of some of the exteriors. Interiors (my fav) in part deux.
More scans on Flickr.
I'm just blown away by the creativity, thoughtfulness and resourcefulness that went into these homes. They were built over time and evolved organically with limited resources, but ultimate freedom...it's authentic rustic charm...not the kind you read about in real estate listings...it's genuine character. Geodesic dome on top of a cedar-shaked double-wide character!
(abv) Love the gesture of this structure's roof line...it was actually architect designed and built as his personal hippie home.
The above is built partially into the ground for heating/cooling. The slanted roof runs to the ground to head off the north winds another passive solar feature and one my Dad used on the chicken coop to ward off the Michigan winter winds.
Not exactly sure what's happening here, but I think this is his artist studio/workshop. I could definitely work there!
Sweet treehouse! Me want! The triangular window collage is such a cool feature. Not sure if that staircase is code...
Ok check out Flickr and stay tuned for Part Two.
Dylan speaking here,
It's on. It's totally on.
One month ago, I left my job at Henrybuilt ready to dive into L&G full time. Foolish move, bold step forward, game changer?? Time will tell. All I know is that it was time. The days of enduring 10 stressful hours at HB beginning with 7:30am meetings every day followed afterward by another 6-8 hours casting pigs, masking servers, growing L&G are over. It's time to be all in and it feels good.
Don't get me wrong, the years at HB were really formative and I'm so glad I got to work on such amazing work with such amazing people. They're creating something special there everyday and it's been so exciting to grow with the company and learn the value of producing good work. Thanks HB!
We started my first full day on the job with a company-wide meeting (Jean and I) bright and early where among other things, we set the priorities for L&G for the summer. These included:
- master plans establishing studio space in the dupe ("progress"),
- improving our accounting methods,
- exploring new markets,
- better production methods, and
- DEVELOPING NEW PRODUCTS.
You know, real business stuff! There's nothing like making a list to make something feel official :)
I've also gotten to roll up my sleeves and dig into some grunt work with some time down in the studio making piggies. Our talented friend Heath Bultman (new stuff and website coming from him soon) has been helping us fine tune production process and work on piggy 4.0. So good to have some professional input:
And then making the Cane & Able prototypes for the AMDC's USE ME show. Real hands-on woodworking, YES!
We're particularly looking forward to working on new projects like this. We've got a bunch of ideas stewing and can't wait to get them out to you the gracious public. More soon including our inspiration and process, I promise. I'm all in after all...
Featured work: Superior Servers.
annabelle Dutch / Featured work: Superior Servers.
I'm hoping that with any downtime before & after the Remodelista Market that we'd just eat our way through Portland....
I just saw on Remodelista mentioning Olympic Provisions where they make homemade cured meat & etc all that goodness:
All this also got me thinking that I should really try Tasty n Sons. My friend have been telling me about this place since they opened last year...and every time she talks about the all the dishes she tried for dinner & brunch there, we both would start to get hungry again.... all the while we're talking about this over dinner....
And THEN there's Le Pigeon ... for the past 4 years since I saw this place, I've made several attempts where it all failed since they're either closed for vacation or we just went at the wrong time. :(
would love to try their amazing looking dishes one of these days!!! 
On top of all this, even at the day of the Remodelista Market there will be food by Koi Fusion, Oregon Ice Works, coffee by Ristretto Roasters and Bakeshop by Kim Boyce!!
I'm getting a food coma just looking and thinking about all this food...
I'm thinking that I need to come up with some major plan to hit all these places, and perhaps even do back to back meals...
So don't be surprised if you see a person lying on the side of the road in Portland at some point this weekend...most likely that will be me passed out from all the food that I'll be consuming....and there's no need to call 911....just stay calm and walk away....simply walk away....
We've been doing some MAJOR spring cleaning, purging, and re-organizing....and pretty much turning our house upside-down! This was the state of our house shuffling everything around before we had the L&G Spring Vintage Sale! EEEEK!!
Who would have thought that we had this much stuff! (...actually probably everyone else knew except US!) ....we were THIS close on becoming hoarders buried alive...
So part of the reason...besides the fact that we had hoarding issues....we also decided to do this purge so we can create a designated working space for L&G!!
This is especially important since Dylan is now OFFICIALLY working on L&G FULL TIME!!
We're gonna take L&G to the next level...make & design more things full time without killing each other!
It's been totally liberating to let go of the things we had. But mostly we're SO excited for all the new changes & the things we'll get to do for ourselves and for L&G!!
Here's what we got planned:
Turn what was previously our bedroom to L&G office:
-Expand our Dansk desk so can be usable on both sides
-Closet will become shipping & supplies area.
-Put a WHOLE wall of shelving with these CHEAP Ikea shelving system.
-Have desk lamps!
Turn what was previously our office/storage to a minimal & cozy bedroom:
-Colors: white, black, natural
-Materials: cheap pine sheets & cynder blocks for shelving, ropes & metal tubes for open hanging racks.
-plants & hanging plants!
Our main source of inspiration for our new spaces...The House Book 1974 by Terence Conran:
This book is one of our favorite go-to book for ideas when we need inspirations for our space...
Love the feel of this photo for our bedroom!!
It would be a total dream come true to have just simple open shelves like this in our office for books, stereo and things...
ahh....more storage ideas...
yah...I'd be perfectly happy if I can just live in this book...
A simple concept of cutting and folding some paper....but when carefully placed on the water....the result is more than mesmerizing & simply beautiful to watch.
Here's the video showing an array of shapes made by the artist, Etienne Cliquet:
Via Colossal
Check out these amazing handmade automatons by by Japanese artist, Kazu Harada.
Besides the fact that each one looks beautifully on its own, the mechanism & the action makes them even more wonderfully magical.
I can play with these all day and never get tired it.
Especially this Duck one!!
How does this work?? It's KIIIIILING me!!
After a long day of work doing our L&G Spring Sale, we had the pleasure to go to one of the Sprout dinners!
Sprout is a local Seattle non-profit organization where they organize dinners in support of local artists, designers, or performers and their creative endeavors through a voting process over a meal.
The idea:
Attendees pay $20 for a full deliciously homemade 3 course meal.
A list of 4-6 Artists/designers presents their project to the audience as they dine.
At the end of the meal, everyone votes for their favorite project.
Then the winner gets the money collected from the event to pursue their dream!!
I just love how simple and straight forward this format is in getting people from the community to participate and support something collectively.
It was a totally enriching experience to see and hear about all the interesting projects and help support someone and their ideas...and all the while eating amazing food and drinking wine & local brewed beer....pretty amazing.
What was served:
Home made pickled beets & string beans.
Toasted quinoa with goat cheese.
Simple penne pasta dish with saute chard & fresh tomatoes.
Rhubarb crisp with homemade caramel & ice cream....HEAVEN!!
I like it when Seattle makes awesomeness like this. :)
I already can't wait for the next event!
Watch this great video about Sprout:
More pics of our Spring Vintage Sale this weekend!!
We really letting go....
Hey there Seattle area readers. Scoot your butts over to Ballard this weekend for our first ever L&G Studio Vintage Sale.
May 21st-22nd. At the L&G studio/homestead at 2430 NW 62nd st, Seattle
Our addiction to raiding thrift stores and estate sales has gotten the best of us and before we end up on the show "Hoarding: Buried Alive" we thought we'd do some much overdue spring purging.
Our wonderful assortment includes (see more pics):
- Classic design brands (Dansk, Hornsea, Braun, Catherine Holm, Alessi, Stelton)
- Antique Curiosities (globes, housewares, tchotchkes, handmade ceramics)
- Obsolete technology (typewriters, reel to reel decks, film cameras)
- Vintage design, craft, and kids books
- L&G original seconds, samples, and one-offs
MAY 21st, SATURDAY: Come for the choice finds! MAY 22nd, SUNDAY: get 50% off (items will be discounted all day)!
It will be hard to see the treasures we fought so hard to find leave our hands, but we know they'll be going to appreciative new homes and that just makes us feel so warm and cozy.
Excited to see you there!