Leetle tiny porcelain sculptures

I'm in love with these pocket-sized porcelain sculptures made by Ukranian artists Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontev.  They range in size from 4 to 40 centimeters, and the detail is incredible.

These would definitely be wish list items, if only I knew how to purchase them.  In the meantime, I simply enjoy looking at these diminutive works of modern art.

via Dose

tags:  Modern Art Porcelain Anya Stasenko and Slava Leontev

If you meet the Buddha on the road . . . buy him!

We could all use a little more calmness, mindfulness, awareness and loving detachment in our lives, now, couldn't we? What could be a better way to remind ourselves of this than a wonderful Buddha head, such as this one from CB2?


Or perhaps a porcelain "Buddha Bath" sculpture is more to your liking, like this one by Estúdio Manus (available at the TOUCH Design shop).

via [bb-blog].

But here is my personal favorite:


If this Buddha Cat from Mud and Metal doesn't make you smile, you may have forgotten how!

tags:
Buddha
Estúdio Manus
TOUCH Design
CB2
Mud and Metal

Blog of the Week: decorate.i-blog

What's cooler than finding out that you're on the blog roll of a Greek blog? The Greek blog itself, with post after post of the most amazing finds! For example, here is an adorable children's foot-cushion, called "Barnslig," which is available at Ikea in the UK. (I'm not sure about the USA; I haven't taken the time to look.)

I discovered the Greek blog via sitemeter, which I use to track traffic to my blog: where people are coming from, what they look at, where they go next, etc. (I try not to obsessively use it as an "approval meter upon which to base my self-esteem," with varying degrees of success).

In any case, I found someone had visited me by clicking a link from a page at the address http://decorate.i-blog.gr/, which turned out to be a wonderful design-y blog entirely in Greek! And there on the blog roll, a link to my own humble Eclectic Detective. I'd like to thank the blogger, Vicky, for including me. (The whole international aspect of blogging--getting to know bloggers from South Africa and Marrakesh, being visited by readers from Australia, Indonesia and the Ukraine--blows my mind.)

In any case, here a couple of the other waaaaay cool finds on what I only know to call decorate.i-blog:
















The coloured thorn beakers above are an example of the curious, delightful, and intricately textural ceramics by Ikuko Iwamoto. (I also like her authentic but ultimately impractical pint cup (below).



















Another of Vicky's brilliant finds is the Splash Bottle Drying Rack, designed by Scott Henderson and available at Skip*Hop.























For more wonderful finds, I refer you with great pleasure to the decorate.i-blog. I only envy you to pieces if it happens that you can read Greek!

tags:
decorate.i-blog
Ikea
Barnslig Cushion
Ikuko Iwamoto
Splash Drying Rack
Scott Henderson
Skip*Hop

Objets du Jour: Clio Tableware

Handmade ceramic cheese platter. Waaaaay cool.
























"Improved Crockery" dinnerware. Tres chic.
























"Seconds" teapots. Ah, the irony. No, not irony. What do I mean? Literalcy. Literality. Literalness. Yes, my spellchecker tells me the latter is correct. (However, I prefer "literality.")

This type of literality is part of a design trend. I'll track down some other examples for you one of these days.

All available at Clio.

tags:
tableware
Clio
design trends

Objets du Jour - Graham & Green Mugs

Cool mugs at Graham and Greene. Above, Urban Alphabet Mugs.

Below, By The Lake porcelain tea cups and saucers.
























tags:
Graham and Green
urban mugs
tea cups

Objet du Jour - Tea Talk Teacups

I'm loving these word-play tea mugs. The list could be endless, couldn't it? Humili - tea. Adversi - tea. Indigni - tea.

I should probably leave it to the professionals.

At Wrapables for $11.95 apiece.

via Design Milk.

tags:
tea cups
wordplay
Wrapables
Design Milk

Objet du Jour: My China! Emperor Rim

I've got to say how much I looooove this china pattern, My China! Emperor Rim, which I came upon via Cutable.

tags:
tableware
china pattern
Emperor Rim

Black and Yellow Week Continues

All right, this is harder than it looks, and I'm getting NO help at all from you people. It seems that the consummate coolness of black and yellow is only known by those in the know. That is to say, we're on the cutting edge here. And that's not such a bad place to be.

What we have here are two items from the Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen Lavish Mugs collection. Frankly, the whole collection is cool. You can have a look (and order them, if you wish) at China Etc.

tags:
Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen
Lavish Mugs
China Etc
black and yellow

Barnaby Barford Ceramics

Of course, we all know Barnaby Barford for these stamp cups he did together with Valeria Miglioli for thorston van elten. They're clever, lovely, etc. Enough about them.

What you may not know of is the wonderful one-off ceramics that Barford does on his own. I think of them as his "caption pieces," because it's the caption, or name of the piece, that makes it hysterically funny. Let me show you some examples:


















"Shit, now I'm really going to be late"



















"Don't worry darling, you look fabulous"



















"Stop looking at its arse"


And, of course, my own personal favorite:


















"It's bullshit, he's lying"

So go on over to his website and have a look under "one offs" and "archives." Much hilarity will ensue.

tags:
Barnaby Barford
thorsten van elten
ceramics