Aug 2011 NYIGF Wrap up!

Here's a recap of the JOIN at the NYIGF for the 3rd time!
This time with us being in the lobby outside of the Accent on Design area turned out to be a MUCH more pleasant of a space to be in...especially when the sun is out! Just look at how everything glows!

Above: New server colors and cake servers from L&G, and colorful big Silicone ring by fruitsuper....and NO they're NOT eraser rings!
Here we got Chelsea H. from plainMADE getting a little sun tanning sesh at the Javits....
Photos above by Grain
New frame light colors from Iacoli & McAllister.

Also this time being next to AmDC made it 100 times more fun, too!

photo by Steph Mantis
Here are some highlights from AmDC's booth:
Bracelets made with mix marble cuts celebrating the colors & patterns of the various types of stone. By Chen Chen & Kai Tsien Williams.
Chika & I got to trade with Patrick Kim for one of his clever wooden tons and these lovely cutting boards with a simple rubber band at the end to keep it from slipping around.  Clever AND thoughtful...
Beautiful & sleek glass vessels from Felicia Ferrone based out of Chicago.
Playful two-headed animal necklaces in various metals by Steph Mantis! (and yes... exclamation mark is required when referring to Steph!)
 ...and of course, we wouldn't feel complete at the NYIGF until we have some sort of birthday celebration! and this year is no exception...
Here's Chika with her doughnut birthday cake composed by me and Christa (of blkPINE bags). This is second time celebrating Chika's bday at the Javits and we went all out and made a doughnut tower with yummy doughnuts from Doughnut Plant....surrounded with coconut macaroons, strawberry Pocky sticks, and flower pom pom with napkins provided by the Javits.

Yes...I know...only a master mind & a true artist can create such master piece such as this. Christa and I took MAD pride in carefully piling the doughnuts up and sprucing it all up...and all the grease spots on the box only shows how much thought went into this...

Getting Our Hunger On for Portland!

Hello! This is Jean!
Chika & I are getting ready to head down to Portland pretty soon to catch some cocktail hour at the ACE with all the vendors that will be at the Remodelista Market.
But besides all the excitement of the market itself, I'm also really excited about getting some awesome food in Portland!
I'm hoping with any downtime before & after the Remodelista Market that we'd just eat our way through Portland....

I saw this Remodelista post mentioning Olympic Provisions where they make homemade cured meat & etc all that goodness...this is why it got me started thinking about food!!
All this also got me thinking that I really want to 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 were 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...

Squid Sighting + Awesome Connection + AWESOME WORK

I tend to overuse the word "awesome", but in this situation I mean it in the full ALL CAPS FOLLOWED BY 17 EXCLAMATION POINTS DEFINITION OF THE WORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, since I've front loaded this post with high expectations - I'll just start with the AWESOMENESS!(x17)

Synn Labs is a group of folks in LA who are becoming increasingly well known for making Rube Goldberg sequences for music videos and commercials. Their other projects include installations and sculpture that blend  art, engineering, tech, and cool kid aesthetics. I apologize for the white wash of terms I just listed - but since I can barely understand the tech involved in most of their pieces - I'm just going to leave it at that, post some videos, and trust you to follow the link to their site if you want greater depth.

The video that (I think) started it all:


Synn Lab's most recent video for Google:


What's not to love?

Here come the awesome connections:

1. Deservingly, Synn Labs has been getting a  lot of work, a lot of "buzz", and was recently featured in Fast Company Magazine.

2. I went to school with Hector and Doug from Synn Labs. I know that doesn't give me cool points, but we're friends on Facebook.

3. We're friends on Facebook - so when Hector posted their article in Fast Company - I read it, admired their work, felt very happy for them, and spent a little time watching awesome videos.

4. I got an email last night from a lovely customer who purchased one of our Squid Jackets for her boyfriend last July. She just wanted me to know that her BF was wearing our Squid Jacket in a recent article in FAST COMPANY Magazine!

5. Her BF is Hector, and he's wearing our Squid Jacket!

Small world!

Rebranded and ready for market!

Chikabird Inc. is now R&L Goods!

Isn't 2010 exciting?

LiT's Holiday Bazaar TODAY!

Isabelle of Piano Nobile will be doing a Holiday Bazaar at LiT Shades, Today Thursday November 19th, starting at 5pm with refreshments.

As you know, Chika & I have started a wonderful collaboration with Isabelle in creating some new printed notebooks and card cases since this summer. They will be available at the LiT shopl!
We're also currently working on some even more exciting stuff.....which we'll have to wait to share the full detail in a later post...so, stay tuned! I know....the anticipation...

1906 E Prospect St - Capitol Hill

Save 30% on gifts for the home byKaarskoker, La Rousse, LiT Shades and Piano Nobile

Store hours 10am - 8pm

Bleach Fun!

New Chikabird bleached hoodies and track jackets! We got inspired by our friend, Dave, who used this process. We just love how every print is different with subtle variations.
We'll be selling them at the LA & SF Renegade show!

The process is pretty simple, but the result looks more than ordinary. The possibility to play with layers makes it super fun. It's easy to do and the materials needed it is so minimal that you can literally do it in couple hours. Here's a step-by-step instruction, so you can try it, too!
Step 1: Make a stencil with waterproof sheet. We used a medium weight Mylar here.
Step 2: Mix 50/50 bleach & water in a spray bottle.
Step 3: Spray back of Mylar with light adhesive spray to keep stencil secure.
Step 4: Use a the mist setting on spray bottle and try to spray evenly over the areas you want to cover. Dab any extra residue on the surface with a rag.
Step 5: Wait and watch the magic happen! You can see the color change immediately. It's so much fun to watch.
Step 6: Peel off stencil when you've achieved the result you want. The time can vary since you can play with something really subtle with less time, or let it sit longer with more contrast.
Step 7: Wash it in the washing machine right after to set the bleach so it doesn't continue the bleaching process. Ta-da, you're done!!

The best part about this process is that you can really play around with the bleaching time, layering, and even different texture. I like to overlap the stencil so it just adds another layer of visual interest.

Oh and look!! It's Hammer pants! Get it?.....it's a Hammer...with pants??
That was a little funny accident where the fold was....
Have fun!

Hostess with the mostess!

Is that still cute? Let's pretend it still is, and move onto more interesting topics.

Such as: Herman Yu's studio opening party! Where the most interesting folks in Seattle design and beyond mingled with... us? What a space! What a spread! As you can see in the pics, Herman's new studio feels like the waiting room to heaven. Flooded with light, open and airy, homemade Vietnamese food, and a sweet loft. I swear the egg roll and mango salad platters kept refilling themselves.

We're lucky enough to know Herman through her incredible work and locational coincidences (she and my fella were studio neighbors). We've Wii bowled together! A really cool lady, who's so warm and generous (and modest!), and great fun to chat with. I won't embarass her by gushing about her work, I'll just say she creates the most beautiful images you will ever see in your life. That's all.