Incase you wonder where we have gone, we are over here at cauliflower.co.nz.  But we will be popping back from time to time.

Simplify, simplify . . .

A pair of little tea tables in the morning sun, awaiting their next coat of oil. Self employment really just means that life and work become one and the same

Why Create

Its the big question -  why create.  What is it that spurs us on to design and make beautiful things? Why does this drive bubble out of us?  Everyone will have their own point of view.  For me its an attempt to transfer that heart singing feeling you get when you see something that is just right, balanced and beautiful.  Using texture, pattern and colour I try to recreate that emotion and feeling.  I don't think I even get close, but I enjoy the attempt and the process.

Seeing

A good few years ago I used to draw things, especially with coloured chalks, and mostly trees. Time moves on and although sketching is still my preferred method of explaining an idea, and although I still love trees (they are a regular feature of our window displays at The Department), I haven't produced an actual picture for a long time.

Drawing is one of those arts that appears very simple and yet when you have a go turns out to be quite difficult. But given time, persistence and the right teacher, skills can be developed and lessons learnt and like riding a bike two of those lessons have stayed with me - seeing, and letting go.

It seems obvious that to draw something you copy what you see in front of you onto the paper, and yet so often I notice that what I see is actually the picture of that object that lives inside my head not what is actually there and so the first step becomes letting go, letting go of my preconceptions, my memories and past experiences, my idea of what the object is or ought to be and even my wish to make it that way and keep it fixed. All of it has to go, and only then can I see well enough to put the marks onto the paper.

"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."

Frida Kahlo

Small decisions

Do you ever realise that you have forgotten something really obvious? Like where to go shopping.

Being the generation that I am, and having grown up in a city with all the anonymity that that entails it I have always just shopped at a supermarket. I mean why wouldn't you, they have everything you need and the prices are cheaper than anywhere else.

And yet over the last few years I have noticed more and more news stories that make me question that obvious choice. Reports of the power supermarkets hold over their suppliers, how they can dictate the price they sell their goods at and even drive them out of business if they refuse to comply. Stories of new technology that allows food to be kept on the shelves longer because it still looks ok, or new varieties that travel well but have less nutrients than traditional ones.

So one day Nicola went to our local butcher. And because there was someone there to ask, she did so. And yes their chicken is free range, so is the pork and the eggs and the beef is grass fed. They could tell her where everything came from as well as the ingredients in the sausages - because of course they make them themselves.

So now we buy our meat from the butcher. Afterwards I may still go to the supermarket but now buy a lot, lot less there and can choose what I purchase rather than taking what they decide to offer me.

It is perhaps not so surprising that I had forgotten all of this - given the massive advertising budgets that large companies have and the influence they have in parliament  to change our laws even to force small producers out, but I still feel daft for having been conned for so long. But I take hope in the fact that others are not so gullible, and as a designer maker myself I see proof of this everytime someone chooses something I have made over something from some faceless factory.

So if there is a point to all my rambling it is this - never stop questioning what you are told because the little everyday choices we make quietly can have just as much effect as marching on parliament.

Buy local, buy handmade.

Comfort

Porridge. Is there anything better on a frosty Sunday morning than a bowl of porridge ?

Not just for your body but for your mind as well - Nicola has mentioned letting our right brains run free but to do so I find I need space in my head, space free of the television, of facebook and of all the rest.

And it turns out that in something as simple as stirring porridge, that my mind is given that freedom.

Recently I have been wondering exactly what is a blog for, how does it fit in too Coulter & Coulter, what do we want to achieve with it?  The conclusion I have reached is inspiration.  A place to share what inspires us, why we are inspired and the results of the inspiration.

What's been inspiring me is listening to David Trubridge  on the need to create. it triggered one of those light bulb moments (no pun intended there) for me.  And reading this conversation by Neil Gamine on genre  The two very different things seemed to feed into each other.  Then I got to thinking why do we focus so much on left brain, where does it all start? Is it the way we educate our children?  Do we really need to catagorise so much?  Maybe its time to let our right brains run free.

Winter Days

Its almost mid winter, the days are short and cold.  All I want to do is sit by the fire and knit.  Maybe listen to some radio or binge out catching up on tv I have missed.  This little guy fell out of my knitting needles today.

Available over here on Felt.

Its been too long...........

Well hello there.  Its been way too long since I have been back here.  I have been spending way to much time over  in The Department of Curiosities and Fine Things.   Looking around I see there is quite a bit of housework needs done.  But don't worry I will be back soon, I have lots to say.

The Japanese probably have a word for it

I took my youngest to have his hair cut the other day. The hairdresser chatted to my son for a minute or so and then started. He combed and snipped, combed and snipped, moving round from one side to the other and back. Every now and then he would pause, step back thoughtfully and then return to work.

It proceeded this way both of them relaxed and chatting for perhaps 15 minutes or so and then suddenly it was done - a boy had emerged from the haystack.

I love to watch professionals at work. From the hairdresser to the signwriter to the mechanic and seamstress there is an ease, a relaxed economy of motion in the way they move. It is something that can only come from having done something hundreds if not thousands of times and that confidence comes through in the way they stand, the way they move.

And when they have left  I can still feel an echo of their presence in the creation before me.

I find it difficult to put into words but there is something "just right" about what has been made that makes you think "I could do that".

But you couldn't - that magic would be missing.

Real

An old piece of furniture is a joyous thing.

Especially the ordinary items, those made in small factories or by people like you and me. Passed over and headed for landfill because they have no monetary value, their worth lies in their past and their purpose and even the echoes of long gone design trends re-interpreted by the maker.

Being a visual person the shape of things intrigue me.  Even when an item seems just "not right" somehow it is just a reminder that a real person made this.

I suppose modern furniture has been made by somebody but when I wander around a big store it just seems so impersonal and soulless. The whole experience just seems more about the store's profit than the item itself.

Or perhaps I am just getting old . . .

Our Cat Scan

 Ranna the cat has appointed herself as the quality controller for Coulter and Coulter.  All furniture is cat scanned to ensure its up to standards.  When I am printing she perches on the stool and watches very closely.  When I am sewing her perch moves to the window sill in order to make sure I am doing it correctly.  Then in the evenings she spends a lot of time wandering over the keyboard of my laptop, trying to post inspirational cat messages on Facebook.

Still Water

The hall table - a repository for the cars keys, the mail, the phone, notes to your partner even. Like a filter it collects all of the debris of modern life as we pass to and fro, in and out of the house.

But there is more. As the first thing we see on leaving or arriving home it is a comfort - a place to shrug off the outside world before moving on to relax.

There is art here as well. As you or your visitors enter,  the hall table subtly signals who you really are. Whether the message is " sit up straight" or " kick off your shoes and chill" what really matters is that it is you who decides. And of course, after a day spent working for the man, what better therapy can there be than to be reminded, welcomed even to who you really are.

Yes, the humble hall table - still water indeed.

The table in the pic is in the shop just now. Made from reclaimed pallet wood it is $140.

Modern dining

I have a confession to make. Rarely do we eat at our dining table nowadays. No instead we collapse in front of the telly to eat, watching "Friends" perhaps or even ( oh the shame . . . ) "Bath Crashers".

Mind you in our defense our dining table is quite often covered in freshly printed fabric or tables with maps on top waiting to dry. And judging by the number of orphaned dining tables I see in op-shops, perhaps we are not the only ones.

Times change. And in my hands so do dining tables. They often have a beautiful silhouette and with a bit of tidying, some alteration and the addition of a retro fabric top a beautiful hall table or desk results.

Todays motto - reuse, recycle, re-imagine !

Playing with my new toys

 I have recently bought a couple of beautiful new printing tools.  The first a vintage French printing block and the second a little French printing roller.

 The printing roller was originally used for marking out embroidery patterns.  But I think it will make fantastic edgings for my pillowcases.  Below is my trial prints  I love the pattern with the little rose buds on best I think.

 The big print block was fun to use too, but my arm is aching with the weight of it.  I added in the little orange flowers, one of the blocks Peter made for me.  Love the idea of having a vintage print and the new print together.

Indigo

If light could be dark. If a bulb could put out black light, then the colour of that light would be indigo.

Blacker than black, indigo is the colour of the shadows. Those morning shadows that world emerges from so softly, so quietly.

For indigo does not speak. It is an absence of everything even sound.

It just is . . . as we should be.


(The photo is an indigo stained cabinet top. )

 

Inspiration

Inspiration. What is it ? Where does it come from ?

Well in my case it is often just  a glimmer of an idea, more a feeling really, set off by an object or sometimes just a shape. Like this desk - Nicola picked up a lovely rimu headboard and laid flat the shape just said "desk". But not just any desk. Add a drawer and  and some legs and a desk with more than a hint of the "Jetsons" or the "Thunderbirds" is revealed.

It all just came together in a lively simplicity. Plain oiled and waxed rimu, widely angled legs and slightly curved top giving life to the piece.

Lovely. You can see it for yourself if you like, I'll have it at the Havelock North Craft and Design Market tomorrow. I believe there may be chocolate cake too if you are early :-)

Fossicking Road Trip Time

The stack of furniture waiting to be recreated in the garage was getting to an unknown low level, I could actually see the way through to Peters work bench.  Time for Peter and I to set of on a fossicking road trip.  So one foggy morning this week off we went.

 First stop our favourite road trip cafe for a late breakfast in the warm.  I am sure you can guess which cafe it was.

Peter and the dog seemed to be competing for the seat closest to the fire.  I think the dog won.  

Peter had cheese and herb omelettes and as usual I went for the very healthy option of pancakes with berries and maple syrup with yogurt!  I so love the colour combination and feel very inspired by that combination of off white with highlights of dark, dark red and vintage blue.

If you only knew how many photos I have with Peter's grinning face appearing in them, I could almost start a whole blog for them.  I was concentrating so hard on the food did not notice him at all.

Another colour inspiration shot.

As it was its a good job we did stop for a late breakfast as the shop we wanted to visit was just opening up as we arrived.

Here you go have a closer look inside, its full of fantastic bits and pieces from all eras.  There was a sofa I would seriously like.

I think if you know Hawkes Bay you will recognise where we were headed.

 I think I must be influenced by cold winter colours, I seem to be really focusing on whites, grey greens and blues, with hints of red to warm things up.

 I can't wait to get printing and trying to combine these colours in my work.

The aim of the trip was not really to find photo inspiration.  But to find furniture inspiration.

In fact we found some great inspirational bits and pieces, I can't wait to see what appears out of the Reclectica workshop.

Peter seems to be very happy with his new pair of drawers.

Its time to come on down and keep warm

What a busy week getting organised for the Mid Winter Warm Up Craft market, in Napier on Friday evening and Saturday day time.  We have a great line up of stalls some new, some old and some all time favs.  Of course Reclectica and Coulter & Coulter will be there.   So much to do so little time. As they say in the creative crafting world, sleep is overrated.  Hope to see you there, I will be the one with matchsticks holding up her eyelids.

A little birdie

Look what I spotted yesterday at the Craft and Design Market.  This little nest hidden up in among the vines.    I wonder if the eggs and chicks were there right through the summer markets.