“Naïve & Romantic” by Milou Ket is based on a romantic attitude- innocent and naïve. It is dreamlike and full of illusions. The emphasis is on painterly flowers in different interpretations. The colors are fresh and romantic. We see yellow, pink, salmon, shrimp, light blue, light green, light lavender and sea green. Yellow in this palette tends to be a bit greenish, almost with a fluorescent effect.

Naïve and Romantic sees the application of soft pastel colors. Coral and salmon shades freshen up  simple patterns  such as polka dots and stripes. Turquoise and lilac are combined in hand drawn checks, and hand painted patterns. Text, postcards, stamp motifs evoke memories Trees and tree trunks are used as decoration.

Dreamlike florals and blossoms are the most important subjects, in all possible variations, but especially watercolor looks and hand painted florals. Old-fashioned roses and birds are applied in new ways with a touch of golden details. Flowers of importance are roses and orchids. Oriental influences are present in blossoms, birds and flower patterns Old cupboards recycled and decorated with Japanese blossoms and 3-D branches add for a fairytale effect. Florals  and botanical motifs can also take on a refined effect. We see huge wallpaper with a flower photo print. Flowers, birds, butterflies, branches and botanical subjects like mushrooms. We see a 3-D flower motifs for pillows.

Shine, metallics and a touch of silver and gold are indispensable. Glass tiles,  Swarovski crystal effect and materials with the iridescent effects are  found in small details. F homey atmosphere is evoked by recycling and patchwork effects in the carpet. Multicolor effects are visible in stripes, and the fresh retro inspired combinations of pink and turquoise. Colorful patterns are mixed freely for a bohemian effect . Also here gold is important. Home accessories are pleated and folded for 3-D effects. Different shades of blue  are combined. We see how handcrafted designs play an important role in the prints. We see blots, spots and stains, but also ikat prints. Ombres, degrade looks, chipped paint add to the romance.

Milou Ket – Trend Forecasts, Home Colors, Product Development

My mom and grandmothers passed on their passion for the art of gracious living to me. They introduced me to the decorative and home arts early; teaching me to sew, rosemale and to knit and embroider.  I have a healthy respect for the crafts, but I am incomplete  awe of these embroidery pieces.  The world of craft and art merge into some spectacular needlework. I covet them all and I admit I have embroidery envy!

Amanda McCalvour

“I am interested in the vulnerability of thread, its ability to unravel, and its strength when it is sewn together. I am interested in the connections between process and materials and the way that they relate to images and spaces.”

I am blown away with these embroidery installations.  Toronto textile artist, Amanda McCavour moved from drawing fibers and cloth, to actually using them to make her work. Thinking that it would be even more interesting to make a drawing out of thread that might exist in air, she started to experiment with water soluable fabric. It turned out to be the perfect tool.

Drawing on her memories of  an old apartment, the life size installation, Stand in For Home allowed her to re-visit, remember and re-create a space that was once called home.

Amanda draws out her images on the fabric before sewing; drawing the outline and then blocking  in areas that will be different colors of thread.  She treats the embroidery like a drawing, moving from light to dark, like shading with thread.  McCavour sews with a sewing machine on the water soluable fabric.  Sewing so close together so that the thread image begins to hold itself together; she dissolves the base, leaving just the thread image behind.

Daniel Kornrumpf

Massachusetts artist Daniel Kornrumpf uses embroidery as a medium for his portraits. Making it even more out-of-the box, he does portraits of people he doesn’t know, but have posted photos of themselves online.

Michelle Ann Mathews

Photographer, artist and graphic designer Michelle Ann Matthews is clearly multi-talented. A photographer that has become intrigued by the mundane and anonymous spaces in the landscape she started photographing the “negative utopia” of the urban landscape- the  in between places, that beckon to the past and the future.

Recently, she became equally enamored with embroidery and its relationship to photography which has resulted in an embroidery series of her photos she titles Urban Fabric.

“ I am intrigued by embroidery’s relationship to human culture, while also looking at a way to change our reading of photography by rendering a photograph into a tactile object.”

Works in the embroidery series feature snapshots of night construction, a stack of crates at a building site, , a park by the  freeway and an abandoned Kmart.

At first from a distance these works read as photographs. It is only when you look closely do you see the thread. The Urban Fabric   materialize in tens of thousands of stitches, and the thread replaces the photographic pixel.

Cayce Zavaglia

Cayce’s work is a nod to the tradition of tapestry and her love of craft. Using wool yarn instead of oils, Zavaglia creates a dialogue between portraiture and process as well as proposing a new definition for the word “painting”.  Although the medium is crewel embroidery wool, the technique borrows more from the worlds of drawing and painting.

Cayce explains her technique: “Initially, working with an established range of wool colors proved frustrating. Unlike painting, I was unable to mix the colors by hand. Progressively, I created a system of sewing the threads in a sequence that would ultimately give the allusion of a certain color or tone. The direction in which the threads were sewn had to mimic the way lines are layered in a drawing to give the allusion of depth, volume, and form. Over time the stitches have become tighter and more complex, but ultimately more evocative of flesh, hair, and cloth.”

 Just in time for  holiday gift giving a flurry of design books have been released ; offering creatives and clients inspiration. Here are the top ten ( in no particular order) on my wish list:

1.

Live, Love and Decorateby Martyn Lawrence Bullard

With the release timed with the launch of Bullard’s fabric collection for Schumacher and his design center speaking tour, get a copy and have it signed as a gift for a fellow design pro. The book  shows off the author’s mastery of the dramatic and balance between contemporary and traditional.

2.

Celia Birtwell

Considered one of the most influential textile designer of  this generation, muse to David Hicks and friend of the Beatles, Jagger and Picasso this book , British print designer, Celia Birtwell, is celebrated in this new publication. Her beautiful hand painted prints have appeared on apparel for former husband, Ossie Clark, as well as on new collections for Topshop and John Lewis. This book is a wonderful addition to any surface designer’s bookshelf.

3.

The Impossible Collection of Fashion by Valerie Steele. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book!

From Poiret to Pucci, Doucet to Dior, Vionnet to Valentino, Valerie Steele,  chief curator of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT), selects the one hundred most iconic dresses of the twentieth century. This magnificent collection, while certainly subjective, is sure to receive gasps of pleasure as well as of surprise. Steele’s selection, hand-picked for this luxury volume presented in a linen clamshell case with a cutout metal plate, astounds in every regard. 
 

4.

Diana Vreeland: The Eye has to Travel

Having always  admired the legendary “High Priestess of Fashion,” Diana Vreeland’s impact on fashion and style was legendary. I am looking forward to getting a peek inside her rich life. With more than 350 illustrations, including original magazine spreads and many famous photographs, this intensely visual book shows fashion as it was being invented, and how Vreeland shaped American taste through her superb vision.

5.

For my Francophile fix- In The New French Interior by Penny Drue Baird, authority on all things French, moves beyond the traditional historic styles to explore the design elements that make up the fresh, clean look. To illustrate the style, Baird draws on ten of her own recent projects, apartment and house installations, and presents French precedents and influences through specially commissioned photography of Parisian interiors.

6.

My Midwestern roots draw me to Chicago Spaces published by Chicago Home and Garden and hopes to vanquish the notion that we only design conservatively. The book showcases spaces that the editors loved or spoke to them representing a broad range of styles.

7.

Sister Parish, American Style  by Martin Wood revisits her sumptuous and quirky interiors. Her trompe l’oeil sawgs and cascades come to mind.

8.

Katie Ridder: Rooms by Heather MacIssac is the designer’s first book showcasing her  eclectic cool  interiors.

9.

The New Bespokeby Frank Roop lets the reader into his head as he works through the entire creative process- from inspiration to installation.

10.

Influential design blogger Grace Bonney penned  Design*Sponge at Home,the ultimate design manual for her fans. This says it best- “ Thank you,” wrote a reader to Design*Sponge creator Grace Bonney, “for teaching me that houses don’t have to be frumpy and formal. They don’t have to be matchy-matchy or rigidly modern.”

OK… 2 more I can’t seem to do without…

11.

Patina Styleby the Giannettis

12.

The Way Homeby Jeffery Bihuber

I have always loved exploring the notions section. Since learning to sew, I have enjoyed the ritual of choosing the perfect thread, the ideal ribbon or emellishment that is the finishing touch. I guess that is why I have always been drawn to the dressmaker’s details and embraced them as my signature.  So when I was  last in Paris, I took some time to discover the wonderful notion stores and ateliers. Armed with Paris Made by Hand – a must -have for a designer traveling in Paris- I found Legeron.

Up three flights on a spiral staircase,  we discovered thousands of floral blossoms being nutured for haute couture. The atelier is on the premise and a peek through the doorway, you’ll see petals being shaped by hand, feathers being dyed and one-of-a-kind headpieces being fashioned.

The coral rose on the corner of the table is part of my purchase. Se it and  the others on my samples in the coming months.

Way too many choices for me!

Much to my delight after returning home I found Nicholas Kniel , purveyor of ribbons, buttons and  If you can’t get to Paris, check out his store, online shop or classes.

A small peek at what he is offering this Spring: