Miller Goodman

I have a couple of friends who are having babies this spring/summer and as a result, I have found myself hunting for “appropriate” baby gifts.  I will admit, the pictures below are not necessarily the most practical representations of gifts for babies and would probably be more suitable for older kids.  However, I could not pass up sharing these Miller Goodman works of art.  Surely it is the type of gift that a baby could ”grow in to” when he or she is older.

The whimsical wooden toys and art from Miller Goodman, a UK based design team made up of Zoey Miller and David Goodman, are just fabulous in my books and I fell in love with their animated block sets and sculptures.

The wooden block set (picture above and below) is called “face maker” and I think would make a great gift for a kid, don’t you think? I’m an adult and I would love one in my house. The two sculputres seen below the Face Maker toy are not for kids, but are also neat.  I like all the shapes, colours and textures they use in the faces.

Photo Sources: Miller Goodman

From what I can see, the Miller Goodman website is being revamped but it does contain contact information for the brand.  However, the Miller Goodman blog is full of fun content and gets updated regularly.

To finish off, there is even a neat little video that I thought you might appreciate if your brain is screaming Yes! about this toy/work of art.  The clip was posted on YouTube to show you how fun their products are in action.

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Burch & Purchese

Hello all.  I am boarding a plane home to Toronto today where I will be spending a week going from appointment to appointment to wrap up the wedding details.

Since I woke up to board the plane at an ungodly hour when some parts of the world are just starting to think of going to bed, I thought I would leave you with something sweet while I am captive in the air for eight hours.  Let’s get down to business: Burch & Purchese, where science meets sweetness (the business’ tag line).  What is going on with the serious baking talent coming out of Australia (Zumbo), and why didn’t someone tell me about Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio earlier?   My list of reasons to travel to Australia is growing longer by the minute as I hunt the world for design inspired travel worthy blog posts to write about.  These guys are another reason on my list.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Burch & Purchese, started in 2011 by Ian Burch and Darren Purchese (pictured above), take sugar and butter to the next level. They are constantly on the hunt for new flavour pairing techniques and as you can see by their store interior (pictures above), their sweet laboratory would delight anyone with a serious sweet tooth who appreciates a splash of design mixed with their confections and art with their dessert.  For more on what this talented duo is up to, I would recommend checking out their blog.

There are three more shots I want to share with you to highlight the delectable creations of Burch & Purchese.  These photos are from blogger, Off the Spork, who attended an afternoon tea event hosted by Burch & Purchese at the Langham Aria Bar in Melbourne.  The first photo is my favourite with the mini chocolate bars towering over the banana passion fruit and white chocolate. mmmmmm.

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T2 or tea too

Any tea shop that sports a chandelier out of Turkish tea glasses, and has the ceiling height to do so is a tea shop I want to visit.

T2 or tea too, started by Maryanne Shearer in 1996 in the Fitzroy suburb in Melbourne, Australia, has done a phenomenal job filling the world with more tea, or more specifically, filling Australia with more tea.  T2 currently has a network of 30 retail stores around the country and is a fabulous example of a design inspired travel destination.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

I love T2′s dark, modern, sleek and spacious store interior that is filled to the brim with colourful fun things to smell, see, touch and taste.  T2 carries approximately 200 teas from Asia and Europe and has a wide array of fun tea accessories from tea cups, mugs, jugs, pots, saucers and more.

There is something very attractive about the masculine looking nature of the store interior, coupled with the brand’s bright colour palette (black, red, orange, pink) accented with Asian aesthetics and patchwork on the website-T2′s look is a stark departure from the image of a typical tea shop that one would conjure up and I think it is fabulous.  I can’t wait to visit when I eventually make my way over to Australia.  Has anyone visited a T2 shop before?  Would love to hear about it.

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Katrin Moye

I have a philosophy about tabletop items.  My philosophy is that people develop an emotional relationship with the stuff (tabletop items) they use and the items with the strongest emotional connection get used the most.  Think about the items in your home that you may be “afraid” to use because of how breakable it is, or it has been categorized as a special occasion only item because it is fragile.  UK based artist, Katrin Moye has a down to earth perspective on tabletop items and why she got into ceramics: she wanted to create pieces that people were not anxious about handling.    Just look how sturdy her mugs, dishes and jugs look.  I love the items from her dotted stripe collection as well as her tiny hoops and dandelions collection.

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 

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Räder Poetry et Table. Breakfast

I am a big fan of breakfast sets (dishes, plates, cups and bottles), so I have to share my new find this weekend; An adorable line of breakfast-ware titled “Poetry et Table. Breakfast” from German design company, Räder (Hartmut Wheels).  I have never heard of this brand before but was immediately drawn to its  in-store display which had a beautiful breakfast scene set up on a large wooden table, accessorized with Räder’s breakfast accessories (similar to the photo below- minus the food).

I love the simplistic design of each of the ceramic pieces and how the design integrates graphics of chickens,  cows and pigs in an artistic and modern way.  I don’t speak German so I can’t translate what is written on the items but I would imagine it has to do with the company’s sweet, “poetic” product description on their website which reads:

“All in butter. The day begins. The eggs cook. Life is’ today ‘higgledy-piggledy. The grapefruit is sour again. But where the milk to the coffee kisses, because the joy of sitting at the table. Take newspapers, bread and a poached egg. And Sundays sometimes two.”

Photo Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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Unlimited Editions Prints + Letterpress

Today’s post is dedicated to a very cool annual art festival that kicks off this weekend (for the entire month of May) in Brighton (UK), called the Artists Open Houses.  One of my favourite studios that is a participant in the Artists Open Houses event, and which has curated an impressive collection of typography, prints and letterpress pieces, is called Unlimited Editions.

Unlimited Editions it a true treasure trove for all things typography and print related.  If you can’t hop on a plane to visit their studio and store in Brighton, they do ship most items around the globe.  I am in love with their linen backed London route master bus destination blinds (unfortunately these signs are not for shipping and you do need to get to Brighton to make this purchase).

Julia Trigg‘s Signals- 1935 typographic ephemera print:

Lina Meier Studio‘s Vers Libre candle holders:

And….. of course prints by Unlimited (the husband and wife team behind the store/design studio)

Photo Sources: 1-6, 7, 8, 9, 10 

Which print do you like?  Is anyone attending the Brighton Artists Open Houses this year? Be sure to leave me a comment below.  I would love to hear from you.  Have a nice weekend.

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Love This: Pinterest Selection

Yay!!  The weekend is almost here.

I am looking forward to it.  Here is a round up of photos I am loving from Pinterest that I thought you might enjoy.  I am particularly fond of the pie chart chocolate and green tea tins.  I wish I had them both in my house now.  How adorable are they?

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Dried Cherry Corn Muffins

Good morning!!  I have a guest lecturer visiting my digital marketing class today and thought it would be nice to provide some breakfast-esque snacks to the bunch, so I made two types of corn muffins: Dried cherry corn muffins and a dried apricot lemon corn muffin.

I had a big bag of cornmeal sitting in my baking drawer and every time I look at the yellow grains, I ask what can I make with that?  I am returning to Toronto in just over a week and I am trying to use up some supplies so I can replenish at home and bring some missed baking items back.

While searching for a cornmeal recipe online, nothing was jumping at me so  I turned to an older, favourite cookbook of mine called Baking by Flavour (originally published in 2002 in hardcover and recently re-release in softcover).  Perhaps you’ve heard of it??  It is an excellent encyclopedia for baking recipes, tips and tricks.  Lisa Yockelson, the author of the book and graduate of the London Cordon Bleu, offers readers 260 baking recipes which are easy to follow and you learn something about combining flavours and what goes well with what.  The book is divided into flavours such as baking with blueberries, baking with almond, baking with cinnamon.  In Baking by Flavour the recipe below is called Baby Blueberry Corn Muffins and they are supposed to be baked in teacake size miniature muffin cups.  I had neither blueberries nor miniature muffin cups so I made larger muffins out of the dried fruit I had in my cupboard and the recipe turned out great.

I altered the flour in the original recipe.  The first batch I made with one cup all purpose flour and one cup whole wheat flour.  In the second batch I used two cups of whole wheat flour and added a generous splash of almond extract.

Dried Cherry Corn Muffins (Adapted from Baking By Flavor p 180.)

Use any muffin tin- In a 12 muffin tin, this recipe made 15 muffins.  I ended up making a batch and a half to get the yield I was looking for.

2 cups unsifted bleached all-purpose flour
1 cup fine yellow cornmeal
3 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup dried cherries (she called for fresh blueberries here)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 cup of melted butter (cooled)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Heat the oven to 400 C and butter or spray the inside of your muffin tin to prevent sticking and easy removal of the muffins.

Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, salt and granulated sugar into a large bowl.  Add the dried fruit and toss lightly.  In a new bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk.  blend in the cooled, melted butter plus the vanilla and almond extracts whisking thoroughly.  Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir to form a batter using a wooden spoon.  For puffy muffins, mix the batter lightly, making sure you mix in all the little flour pockets.  Here I used an ice cream scoop to transfer the batter from the bowl to the individual muffin tins which worked great.  Bake the muffins for 13-15 minutes or until they have risen and turn a golden colour on top.  Cool the muffins on a rack and then serve and enjoy!

Let me know if you try this recipe by leaving me a comment below or if you have another good corn muffin recipe in your repertoire.  I love to receive new recipe recommendations.

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