dwell on design '11

so being a subscriber of dwell and fans of dwelly things,

we had to go and check out dwell on design.

One of the first things that we saw there was Brendan's chicken coop

(Here he is last year). Brendan wasn't there so Ken decided to be in the

picture instead.

Terri Planty terrerium.

Seeing more ping pong related stuff around lately.

A bunch of well dressed people looking into toilets. I could put a

silly caption here, like 'wow, look at the size of that one!', but

I won't, because I'm polite.

Nice wooden cabinet to store more wood.

Cute monkey dude and pillows at Bobby Berk Home booth.

Maybe if we keep blogging about these Caleb Siemon lamps,

they'll give us one.

Art performance/benefit

Fleet ceramics.

ecofabulous house.

We also met a super nice girl at Maude Press table.

It was great talking to you Amanda! Thanks for all the info!!

belated update

after the Stationery Show, we did some touristy things with my

parents who were visiting from Japan. One of which was

this:

Ken's version of this photo.

And after NY, we rode the train out to MA to see

our friends who live in this beautiful giant old house.

Some music playing ensued. Little baby Miya rocked the hardest.

Thank you Ann, Kimi, and Miya for your hospitality!!!

Can't wait to return the favor :)

japan trip '10

I've been meaning to post the photos from our Japan trip over the
Thanksgiving.. it's been a crazy busy month! Unfortunately, many of photos were
lost due to computer issues, but here are some that survived.

we had to go and check out the only place that sells our cards in
Japan.. no not Bulgari..

No interior shots, but we spent quite a long time there
looking at all the cool stuff.

we flew to Oita-ken, where my dad is from. The place is
famous for its Shochu. mmm... we grabbed a couple of bottles.

the town of Yufuin.

one of the reasons of our visit - to pay respect to our ancestors.

Usa Jingu - one of the oldest shrines in Japan.

gotta have the sweet hot sake outside the shrine.

at the inn. happy ken.

aaand of course the food was amazing where ever we went.

it was a crazy trip, we took four plane rides within Japan to go to
Sapporo, Oita, then back to Tokyo, but we had an amazing time.
Thank you otosan and okasan!!!!

heath bazaar

we checked out the bazaar at Heath Ceramics today..
well ok we've been waiting for days to go
because we want any excuse to be there
around all their beautiful stuff.

we also got to say hi to elinor of krank press.
she'll be at the printer's fair next week too! yay!

our usual partners in crime

the loot of the day. one for biz cards and
the other for.. hmm we don't know yet.

new york stationery show pt.3

After the stationery show, we stayed in town for a few days

and got to see our friends Jen & Joaquin, their adorable son Omar,

and our favorite chihuahua Alfie.

We also got to visit the gallery owned by Lee & Greg,

our booth neighbors at the stationery show.

Inside the gallery - Lee's drawings, paintings, and sculptures.

The cards are displayed so neatly. Greg and

Ken behind the counter.

Lee's jewelry.

Yes he can do it all.

Their sweet shiba Wasabi.

We went out to lunch with Lowry, another booth neighbor

who sells Shrinky Dinks. We kept each other from being bored

during the slow times at the show, and became secret BFF's

(as Greg likes to refer to us) by the end of the show.

It was so much fun hanging out with you guys!!! The time seemed

to go by so fast. We'll see you again soon!!

miehle

we went to Alpha Dies in east L.A. today and saw underneath
a mountain of empty cartons, the biggest Miehle press we've ever
seen. It would've been so impressive if it was working.
I would need a ladder just to feed papers!!

happy go farm

during our quick trip up north, we got to visit our friends
in Petaluma. They are super talented people who
among other things do organic farming.

Hiroshi feeding Melvin and Brutus

They have tons of veggies and fruits growing

on the way home we took a detour and went to
Muir dog beach in Marin.

... and this is just some of the veggies and home made preserves
they sent us home with. Thank you H&K!! We will see you
in LA soon.

store spotlight : little otsu

One of the very first stores that picked up our line is a great
little shop in the Mission district of San Francisco, called
Little Otsu.

their cool window display:

They carry tons of paper products by
artists and small companies like us, along with their
own line of products. We could spend hours there
just looking at all the cool stuff...It was a super quick trip to SF for us but so happy
that we got to stop in! Thank you always, Yvonne & Jeremy!
And it was nice meeting you Amara!!

bowne & co., stationers

One of our oldest and bestest retailers is Bowne & Co.,

Stationers of the South Street Seaport Museum in lower Manhattan.

Robert and Fela run the shop.

Robert showing us how to print on a beautiful old press.

Here he is, rolling the ink onto the form.

Ken pushing the platen into position to print.

The back of the shop is a treasure trove of vintage printing items,

where Robert does his beautiful letterpress work.

Fela is always gracious and charming!  She showed us around

the seaport area, and even recommended a great noodle place

near our hotel.  Thank you Fela!!!

One of the places in South Seaport that Fela recommended was

Jack's Coffee. A great coffee shop that sounds and smells like a 

coffee shop should, when you walk in the door. 

There's a great view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the site 

of the old Fulton fish market, which is just around the 

corner from Bowne & Co. and Jack's. 

No NY trip is complete without going to FAO Schwartz.

Here's Ken's 'big' moment!