Harry and Sal's Design Blog: December 2007

HARRY: Well, with Christmas around the corner Sal and I will soon be taking a well earned break. I'll be heading to the beach for a few weeks with the family. Sal is taking some time off to enjoy Los Angeles and be with her lovely family. We'll still blog over the next week or so - just not as often.

Expect a newly rejuvenated Harry and Sal in the new year. More great finds. Lots of cool stuff. Amazing houses. And perhaps some interesting job news to announce!

Creating harryandsal has been such a pleasure. And watching our audience grow has been an absolute bonus. We wish you all a wonderful holiday and a spectacular 2008.

Harry and Sal
ps: found this bird card on etsy...

Labels: Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/21/2007 0 Comments

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The New York Times had a great piece today on trends of 07, about which ones will endure and which will pass. Personally I will not be sad to see the demise of the cowhide rug or the decorative antlers - but those were never my thing. Check out the slideshow to see which of your 07 purchases may be destined for the "oh that's so last year" raised eyebrow. Geometric designs and baroque mirrors beware! What trends of 07 will you be glad to see the back of? And is blue really the new black?

Labels: Sal, Style

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/20/2007 0 Comments

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SAL: As Harry would say, this is just a quick one :) One of my New Year's resolutions is to try and filter my life through more of a green, rather than a rose-tinted lens. We've talked about this before, I'm not an evangelist, but I do know that I personally want to make the changes in my own life to be more environmentally responsible about the resources I use and the products I consume. Did that sound preachy? I hope not! We still want to keep it beautiful of course and with that in mind - take a moment to enjoy blossom creations from Australia - stationery with a conscience.

Labels: Green, Sal, Stationery

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/18/2007 0 Comments

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SAL: I love those calendars from Harry - I just snapped up that desk calendar by Angela Capria on Etsy. So pretty. Anyway, in other news, I'm back from New York, having just evaded the big snowstorm. Sentimentalist that I am, I'm much looking forward to the holidays and one item definitely on my wishlist is this photograph from the sublime portfolio of Alicia Block. There's something about her series of beach scenes that reminds me of childhood vacations in France, although I have no idea where they were shot.

Labels: Art, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/17/2007 0 Comments

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HARRY: Wow - Christmas really is demanding this year. So I'm back after a few days of...wrapping? Goodness knows. Anyway here are more calendars, as promised. Nava has some very cool paper products. Sal and I spotted them at the new A+R store on Abbot Kinney. I love the twelve little notebooks (above) with a punched hole for each month. Very nice. They also do calendars (below). At Unica there's the classic Massimo Vignelli calendar he designed in 1966 (below). And if you're in need of a bit of stylish colour check out the desk calendar (top). They are designed by Angela Capria - who also does custom work (oddly, not the most beautiful website but good strong clean designs).

Labels: 2008, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/17/2007 0 Comments

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HARRY: First, I am seriously jealous that Sal is in NY. And then I realised - I'm over Christmas. Spent the morning dragging bulging bags through the local shopping centre. They've added a new floor and I kept getting lost. BAD signage. So I need a break from even thinking about the you know what. I'm into 2008 now. I've trawled for calendars and found some very cool ones. I love Cindy Jasawal's work. Check out her website...and the calendar above you can buy through etsy. Got to go deal with kids right now. More calendars to come!

Labels: 2008, Art, Calendar, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/12/2007 0 Comments

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SAL: Today's post comes winging its way to you from the fabulousness of New York City. I'm staying at the Soho Grand Hotel, which, with its industrial chicness, is too wonderful for words. They even give you a goldfish at check in, which I find, being so far from home, a great comfort - is that odd? Hmm, perhaps, but true nonetheless. Anyway, along the lines of Harry's giving for good this season, I wanted to highlight these delightful Xmas cards available through Sub-Studio. Not only are they cute, but all the proceeds from each sale go to benefit the Shama Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing educational opportunities for children of Madagascar. Thanks to Bloesem for this great find.

Labels: Christmas, Gifts, Sal, Stationery

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/12/2007 1 Comments

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HARRY: OK, I am now officially a bad mother - kid's are being neglected so I can write about lighting! I have to make this quick. Velocity has some great new light shades. Check out the lovely Norm O3 by Britt Mornum (above). It reminds me of crinolines. Lush. And I just came across Tord Boontje's amazing Second Shadow lamp (below)...has this been around for a while? I know Sal loves these kinds of lights. This I would like for Christmas! Speaking of which I found some very cool LED christmas lights - much kinder on the environment - at NECO.

Labels: Christmas, Harry, Lighting

posted by cerentha harris at 12/10/2007 0 Comments

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HARRY: This year my extended family has decided not to give presents to each other. Instead we have pooled the money and are donating it. The process of choosing a charity was interesting (we finally went with St Jude's in Tanzania run by Gemma Rice, an amazing Australian woman. It met our helping-kids-criteria and had an Aussie link which was important to us). While we were doing this I was reading Dave Eggers' What is the What - an amazing fictionalized account of a Sudanese man's plight. (And an excellent Christmas present for anyone trying to understand Africa). In the book Save the Children crops up as a powerful and positive force in the refugee camps. They've got the usual online shop (see the sweet baby's hat above). They also have a very smart Christmas gift program. You can buy a mozzie net, or a goat, or fresh water and are making that donation in a friend or family member's name. Last year our dear friends Ruth and David 'gave' us a beehive. This year maybe it will be a goat!

Labels: Christmas, Gifts, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/10/2007 0 Comments

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HARRY: I recently got an email about Tonic - a website that is devoted to selling cool design t-shirts and sending the proceeds to Africa. I've always been a bit cynical about fashion forays into saving the world. These people look like they've got it right. Check out the Net Tee. A shirt covered in butterflies in the shape of Africa. The sale of each Tee buys 3 mosquito nets. It's worth having a look at the website, which is cleverly designed, even if you don't buy a shirt. I think they'd make great Christmas presents.

Labels: Christmas, Gifts, Harry, Style

posted by cerentha harris at 12/09/2007 1 Comments

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SAL: I wrote about Swedish designer Isabelle Norman Sallstrom's delightful personalized prints a while ago and I had to revisit. I just bought a selection for gifts for the holidays and the quality of the prints is outstanding. I'm so pleased. You can choose your motif, colors and text for something totally unique for your child.

Labels: Christmas, Gifts, Kids, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/08/2007 0 Comments

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SAL: Today we started tackling Oliver's nursery. The built in shelves we had originally put in the room have served us well, but ultimately it's a small room. Lola is now ten months old and if the two of them are to share, we need to make changes. I've been surfing around for some inspiration. Newly branded Apartment Therapy's nursery section, ohdeedoh, has some fabulous nursery tours which are a great starting point for ideas. I really liked Piccolini's warm tones (above). Also the Flickr Modern Nursery group has some wonderfully inspired rooms. I'm torn between just replacing everything, linens included and go for a whole new theme - or try and find something that will work with what we already have. The latter is the more affordable and likely option. Amenity Home has a great new nursery range of linens, it's kind of retro looking with animal prints in browns and oranges, very different. Our color scheme currently has a lot of bright colors - having recently purchased these delightful sheet sets from Ikea's children's range - so ultimately I'm thinking perhaps neutral for the walls and floor, then brighten it up with the art and accessories. Please - any ideas let me know!

Labels: Kids, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/06/2007 0 Comments

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HARRY: I'm heading over to West Hollywood soon to check out Jonathan Adler's store. He's got a cool new candelabra and some rather lovely inky black vases. He's also just paired up with the C. Jere studio to reproduce their spiky brass sea urchin sculptures (above). They literally pop off the wall. I'd never heard of C. Jere and can't find much on him (her?)...does anyone know about this clearly talented sculptor? Artisan House has a lot of C. Jere's work...and it's quite a bit cheaper than the urchin at Adler's! I love the piece below. It's called Flight. There's a lot to look at on the site. Just the C. Jere collection has 25 pages. You can also find some C. Jere pieces on the very cool Wrightnow site - an online gallery.

Labels: Art, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/05/2007 1 Comments

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HARRY: I'm on a terrible hotel connection so this will be brief. Just got back from a very inspiring tour of Venice's architectural gems with architect David Thompson of Assemblage. Yes, I'm in Los Angeles. Just for the week. Slipped away from Sydney with the husband. A very pleasurable work trip! David, who is designing Sal and Stephen's house, was kind enough to take me around Venice for a piece I'm working on. We saw some great houses...including one of my favourites - Steven Ehrlich's own home with its luscious steel cladding (above). I'll blog more about it when I can get online more easily. Also found some cool new design stores...more to come very soon!

Labels: Architecture, Harry

posted by cerentha harris at 12/04/2007 0 Comments

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SAL: Today's post comes winging its way to you from Austin, Texas where I have hitched along for the ride with my husband on a work trip. We have friends here so I have been hopelessly spoiled with all manner of culinary indulgences. I love Austin so far. I like the accessible scale of the place and I like the TexMex cuisine (although the whole BBQ thing is a bit heavy on the meat for me!) It's been a flying visit so I haven't had a chance to check out some of the cool finds from Grace's Austin city guide, which I would recommend you check out before you visit. That will have to wait for the next time.

In the meantime, another great jewelry find from a woman I met at Harry's LA party on Saturday night (yes she's back, if only for a fleeting visit). I have been to Hilary Druxman's store on Montana in Santa Monica a while back, but haven't checked out her collections for a while. Very simple, classic pieces. Beautiful, enjoy. Thanks Michelle!

Labels: Jewelry, Sal

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/04/2007 0 Comments

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I asked a few of my most tasteful girlfriends recently to suggest some of their favorite jewelry designers to share with you all. Beth pointed me in the direction of Susan Fleming (below). Her website profiles her work incorporating different Japanese paper, which is pretty, but I've recently seen Beth wearing some of Susan's more recent pieces with semi-precious gemstones which are even more lovely. Look forward to seeing some of those of on Susan's website soon.

A couple of folks recommended Becky Kelso (below) - semi-precious gemstones in classic settings- stunning! You can't buy anything at her own website, but online jewelry boutique Ylang | 23 (thanks Mickie!) has a small selection. Ylang |23 has an interesting range of designers well-worth checking out.

Liseanne Frankfurt now has her own store on - yes you guessed it Abbot Kinney. Unfortunately you can't view any of her pieces online, but you can download a PDF of her catalogue. Her chunky, burnished silvers and gold aren't cheap, but they are exquisite.

And lastly, my own personal favorite, Sonya Ooten. My husband has a habit of going to Sonya for birthdays and holiday gifts and I consider myself a very lucky woman! Her designs are beautifully delicate and you can personalize each piece to use the gemstones that mean something to you.

Labels: Christmas, Gifts, Jewelry, Sal, Style

posted by Sal Taylor Kydd at 12/01/2007 1 Comments

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