From the galleries, Wexler and Minima:

this is 3d printed in nylon

this legitimizes my flash drive case... it's embarrassing, you'll see. 

these are bent pyrex rods, sadly you cannot sit on it.

mini (!)  wassily chair, the miniatures are fabricated using the same manufacturing processes as their full size counterparts.

the metal frame of the lamp conducts electricity through the LEDs, no wires just frame

and finally, this is makes all the pain and suffering of 3D modeling worthwhile:

One_Shot.MGX by Patrick Jouin from Emily Howe on Vimeo.

One_Shot.MGX by Patrick Jouin

Life in PHL

(I will be adding on some vacation stories in the next few days, lots of pictures to come)

Last week was ridiculous. It was one of those times where everything you were supposed to do for the past month (that you might have pushed to the side a bit..) all came crashing down at once. More specifically wednesday. I got attacked by wednesday. A paper on renaissance poetry did me in. But then things got better, it was almost 70 degrees on Friday. Thursday started off a trend of beautiful weather which could brighten the day of even the grouchiest of grouches. A leisurely field trip to old city led to a leisurely afternoon in the park, celebrating St. Patricks with cheap champagne instead of beer. High Life might be the champagne of beers, but nothing beats Andre. 


Saturday night Megan and I were treated to a slumber party with the most ridiculously wonderful, expensive, high-designed nightlights you have ever seen. Our friend James is working at Bahdeebahdu, a sculpture/design/lighting studio in Northeast Phila. (Free promotion for my friends: they're having an opening on April 14th, FRESHBLOOD, where you can see talented work of James and the others of the 'next generation' at the studio). The pictures above are from our visit, we were so lucky to get to spend the evening there. Sunday morning I scurried off the farm to spend the day at home with papà and the schipperke, and most importantly collect a bag of compost and some seeds. In few days I will be starting a mini nursery on the 19th floor, my chia pet needs some friends. Pictures will come soon! 


Oh yeah, and I made challah (holla!), this recipe can be found @ smitten kitchen, highly recommended. 

Vacationing Part I

Now that I have been home for a couple of days, it's high time that I share some stories of last week's Italian adventure (just enough time to catch up on all the work I didn't do and lose too many hours of sleep already!).

Carnevale: Santa, a flower, little red riding hood, and a wee zucchini.

This is super image heavy post so I am going to add a break, click READ MORE to see the rest! 

So excited to be staying a night at THIS ADORABLE HOTEL in stockholm. I've got all of 18 hours in the city, any suggestions? 

Megan posted this and tracked back to me, therefore I am going to post it and track to her!

annotating her notes in studio (by me)

and of course, via mhild

and with that note...

THINGS I BROUGHT ON THE PLANE:

proof that my mother and I are far too similar, she picked out the exact sock yarn I would have chosen for myself: georgia o'keeffe

and i started reading this, because it seemed relevant, and I wanted to.

This is going to sound a little ridiculous:


spring break in italy.
martha has run away from philadelphia yet again, back to italy. 


Thanks to some savvy traveler skill and the impossibility of purchasing one way international flights, I am back. And there is nothing like international travel to get you blogging again. Already my introspective, travel as a means of self discovery processor has turned on. In a day or two it will be joined by the cultural different machine, followed by the (hopefully) quick switch to thinking in italian again. 


So in the early stages of being in back in italy for the second time this year, I have got to thinking about just what brings me back. Why do I love Italy? It's taken enough time for me to admit this. After the first six months I would be hard pressed to say I loved Italy, far from it. But somewhere in my second stay here I warmed up to the idea. It's great to come back to a place that will feed you well no matter your dietary restrictions. Not mention some of my besties live here. 


Really though, what started me writing is something that gets to the crux of Italy, and just happens to be a trait of Philadelphia. Two of my favorite places, part of what I love about them is the embrace of the imperfections, the disfunction. Can any resident of philadelphia deny cursing out a pot hole, or lovingly mocking septa any chance they get? Of course not. It's our duty to make fun of the city of brotherly love. We know it will always love us back. Maybe it would be more appropriately named the city of little-brotherly love. Unconditional, because you have to, with a side of sibling rivalry. Well, I get similar feelings towards Italy. The italy I know is a proud dysfunctional mess. If you live there, you know this. The italian solution may not be to 'put a mural on it,' more along the lines of 'feed it a pizza,' but the idea is the same. It's a rite of passage to start making fun of Italian bureaucracy, civil services and Berlusconi. You know that when the country feels like it's falling apart there is always family to come home to. Why worry about, it's much more fun to joke about it instead.


Lastly my geographical comparison: Both places have very distinct regional differences. It is just as impossible to confuse Milan with Sicily as it is Rittenhouse to Fishtown.