Purples...

Love this photographer and make up artist, here in Portland, Oregon!

You can check her website out here - 

http://christineshieldsphoto.com

This photo captured my attention first, in love with the rich purples :) Now I want clothes with ruffles and rich colors like these! Might have to go shopping.. ;)

Quotes on Design

I needed some inspiration, some justification that I am not crazy, that design does matter, beauty and elegance is important in life, and that there is no design without intelligent thinking.  So, in the midst of all the people who were surrounding me lately that have no understanding on what design is and why it is needed, I began to doubt myself on the subject and quickly needed an escape.

I was browsing the web and found a great website/graphic designer, who reminded me that great design and beauty does make me happy, and it is a wonderful escape from the mundane and boring which surrounds us sometimes. 

A great tool or reference for design students, or maybe just for some inspiration -  www.davidairey.com

On a side note, I simply loved this idea of wrapping paper, found on David Airey's blog.
You can read about it here - How to make universal wrapping paper

Here is a collection of quotes on design that gave me a little uplift today...

Remember to always be yourself. Unless you suck.

 - Joss Whedon

If you want me to give you a two-hour presentation, I am ready today. If you want only a five minute speech, it will take me two weeks to prepare.

 - Mark Twain

The sudden hunch, the creative leap of mind that "sees" in a flash how to solve a problem in a simple way, is something quite different from general intelligence.

 - Martin Gardner

Interesting things never happen to me. I happen to them.

 - Bernard Shaw

To create a memorable design you need to start with a thought that's worth remembering.

 - Thomas Manss

 The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.

 - David Ogilvy

There's a subtle reason that programmers always want to throw away the code and start over. The reason is that they think the old code is a mess. The reason that they think the old code is a mess is because of a cardinal, fundamental law of programming: It's harder to read code than to write it.

 - Joel Spolsky

A friend once insisted to me that the plural of "moron" is "focus group."

 - Ethan Marcotte

Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken.

 - Warren Buffett

I met with a potential client today and part of their opening gambit was how they were looking for revolutionary work delivered within a tight timescale and if the work could be done at a reduced rate, then they'd be able to send a load more work our way. ..They were saying that they wanted work that was fast, good and cheap. And if the work was fast, good and cheap enough, the reward would be the offer of more work that is fast, good and cheap. ...Let me be clear about this, these people are evil, and their work is poison.

 - Hoss Gifford

When is the last time you saw a Lamborghini sale?

 - Chris Campbell

I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

 - Maya Angelou

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months.

 - Oscar Wilde

Clients are the difference between design and art.

 - Michael Bierut

Life beats down and crushes the soul, and art reminds you that you have one.

 - Stella Adler

Art does not reproduce what we see; rather, it makes us see.

 - Paul Kleen

An ad should be an appetizer, not a buffet.

 - Lee Clow's Beard

For more quotes, you can visit - www.QuotesOnDesign.com

RESILIENCE

To spread the mission of Oncology Youth Connection (a nonprofit organization) to "Support young people challenged with cancer by providing a community of peers to inspire resilience during and after treatment."
You can purchase these bracelets on my Etsy site - berezki.etsy.com -  and a portion of the sales will be donated to this organization.
For more information on OYC, you can visit Oncology Youth Connection

THE FALL

I love this poem by Russell Edson - "The Fall"
Love its simplicity, a little weirdness and even a moral that goes along with it...

There was a man who found two leaves and came indoors holding them out saying to his parents that he was a tree.

To which they said then go into the yard and do not grow in the living room as your roots may ruin the carpet.

He said I was fooling I am not a tree and he dropped his leaves.

But his parents said look it is fall.

So, just in time for Fall, another jewelry piece....

Soho Boutique

Soho Boutique is now featuring my jewelry line, here in Portland, Oregon! Please visit, if you can :) They have such beautiful jewelry, all from local artists, gorgeous clothes and accessories too! So diverse and all so lovely...

http://www.facebook.com/SohoBoutique

JEWELRY GIVE AWAY!

Please visit -
http://familyfashionandfacts.blogspot.com/2011/07/berezki-jewelry-giveaway.html
 - I am giving away one of my jewelry pieces to a winner, please see details on the link above!
Thank you so much to Kelsey, at www.familyfashionandfacts.blogspot.com - such a beautiful and inspiring blog :)

Concertgebouw...

...a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, literally translates to "concert building", considered one of the finest concert halls in the world!
Architect was: Adolf Leonard van Gendt, began construction in 1883 and opened April 11, 1888.

I just love this architectural drawing of the building (above drawing done in 1883). 

 Concertgebouw in 1902 (above)

Concertgebouw in 2008 (above)

http://www.concertgebouw.nl 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concertgebouw

And so, for you to wear...

Sun and Drawings....

Finally we got a few days of sun here in Portland, Oregon!
This made me so happy I was finally able to do some more jewelry...I have been slacking during the greys...

I just love the wood and concrete together, such a perfect juxtaposition...

"The city, however, does not tell its past, but contains it like the lines of a hand" - Italo Calvino.

Hand drawings too always speak between the lines.  When you draw an architectural or engineering drawing by hand, not only does it give you the technical information of the building, but transfers your feelings, your memories on to that piece of paper as well....  

I might begin another jewelry collection with drawing transfers...if it is a technical drawing, even then the way the piece is crafted, a mood, a feeling, even a memory can get embedded into that piece...

When hours fly by...

...and nothing else matters...

.