Showing posts with label gardens. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardens. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Winners Announced Today for 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show “United by Flowers”

 

While I could argue that everyone is a winner of the The Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) 2024 Philadelphia Flower Show “United by Flowers” because, in the end, we are all champions who benefit from engaging with the beauty of the horticultural presentations and exhibits; the PHS today announced the formal winners as judged by their expert teams.

Here’s the list of the winners who showcased their unique perspectives and will set the style for garden and floral design this year. And if you plan to visit, you can use the list as your special passport:

Thursday, October 19, 2023

Black is the New Green: 10 Black Plants to Create Dramatic, Spooky Halloween Displays

                                       https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/85/Dracula_vampira_3.jpg

The venerable Johnny Mercer & Harold Arlen song crooned by Ol’ Blue Eyes, “That Old Black Magic has me in its spell…” speaks to the romantic enchantment of love while hinting at the tyranny of Eros. Likewise, the black magic of black plants has mesmerized me. 

I confess I have long been entranced by black plants and flowers. These cosmopolitan divas add drama and depth to elevated garden designs and container compositions.  

Looking to add some sophistication and classy style to your Halloween decor?  


Here, I share some truly elegant Black Plants to add mystery to your home ~ (in any season). 


Wednesday, May 24, 2023

How to Cultivate A Garden Lifestyle: Homegrown Taste, Garden-To-Glass Style ~ Highlights from My Talk at NKBA

                
                                

Few things can equal the joy of talking to a group of hard-working, artful professionals about how to live a Garden Lifestyle ~ while enjoying the journey along the garden path. 

Recently I had that distinct honor and pleasure; speaking to the National Kitchen and Bath Association (NKBA) Manhattan members in the delicious Sub Zero/Wolf/Cove Gotham showroom. 

As an “expert” on the NYC food and drink world, I was asked to share my “secrets” about my farm-to-table and garden-to-glass life ~ brimming with plants, pollinators, style and love.  

Here’s a snapshot of that “ground-breaking” talk. 


Monday, February 7, 2022

Winter Gardening Tips to Inspire Your Garden Designs; Green Cocktails and Gardens in Movies!


Making a pivot from my last post and its references to ballet and performance art, I thought I’d “pivot” or jeté back to the garden. Puns intended (smile).

Mac Griswold famously said, “Gardening is the slowest of the performing arts.” 

Mother Nature indeed knows how to choreograph a spectacular show: the colors, the texture, the orchestrated tempo of blooming flowers and blossoms, the dance of myriad pollinators ~ all coordinate to create a spectacular, heart-stopping show. And one of the best parts? The show changes every day! There’s no playbill noting intermissions or understudy.  The show must go on… 

Yet, let’s not forget that a garden is a planned space. I always tell my garden clients that every good garden design tells a story… When creating your garden oasis and telling your story, you need to start with a master plan to reimagine (if you’re just starting out) or to enhance your space (if you’ve already got a cultivated garden). What to do at this time of year if your garden views are white with snow or winter fog? 

Here are some tips to get your garden ready for the spring. Plus a list of movies that feature inspiring gardens, and a garden-to-glass cocktail that is sure to stimulate your green garden fantasies… 

Thursday, January 20, 2022

A Birthday 'Look Book' Celebrates Life's Mix of High Points and Sad Lows With Love and Hope

 

I just celebrated another wonderful birthday. Lucky me! And marking a birth day so close to the start of the new calendar year offers the chance to both look back and plan ahead in a tidy way. I’ve had a mix of lovely high points and some sad lows with an unexpected loss that has left me unmoored… Yet, I remain grateful and genetically happy.  Efficiency being a kind of attribute of my zodiac sign, I can happily check off a few boxes at the same time. 

While I’m preternaturally superstitious, it’s also true that I cling to the idea ~ or I daresay promise ~ of astrology. Who doesn’t look to celestial bodies and the stars to help plan their lives?  A “Look Book” portfolio beckoned…

Saturday, April 25, 2020

Learn How to Celebrate and Honor Trees on Arbor Day - And Every Day



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Celebrate and Honor Trees 
Today, many folks might ask, “What is Arbor Day?” While you can find out everything you need to know by visiting the Arbor Day Foundation website, the thumbnail is that Arbor Day was founded in 1872 by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska City, Nebraska.

By the 1920s, each state in the United States had passed public laws that stipulated a certain day to be Arbor Day or Arbor and Bird Day observance. ... On the first Arbor Day, April 10, 1872, an estimated one million trees were planted.

We’re still playing catch-up for all the trees we cut down...

On that first Arbor Day - there were parades, and more than 1,000 people who came out to hear speeches and celebrate the trees.

Today, Arbor Day is set aside to raise awareness of trees - around the world - and the important role that they play in our environment.

I just wish more folks would get excited about our trees. They are the lungs of the earth. Trees absorb CO2, removing and storing the carbon while releasing oxygen back into the air.

And while the environment has experienced a cleansing during this covid crisis because we are not burning fossil fuels like we were due to stay-at-home restrictions, the concern is that we haven’t changed our lifestyles - rather just hit the pause button. Once we close the covid chapter, we will most likely go back to polluting our environment. With a vengeance. And that will be even more sad because we now know that areas with heavier pollution condemn their citizens to more risk of coronavirus.

We can modify our behavour. Take this gift that Mother Nature has extended.
Learn about trees, including what native trees are in your area that you can grow in order to improve your part of the world, while helping the pollinators.

Trees can boost the market value of your home by an average of 6 to 7 percent, according to Dr. Lowell Ponte as featured on the Arbor Day website.

Landscaping, especially with trees, can increase property values as much as 20 percent, according to the Management Information Services/ICMA.

And “Healthy, mature trees add an average of 10 percent to a property's value.”

The USDA says, “The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day.”

Plus trees help with runoff to protect the soil and our water.

Learn about planting trees in groups rather than a solo star. Visually, this creates a focal point. iF you have the space, a grove of trees can be a reflection point when planted near water; they can create a walkway; and create a view. Furthermore, I always suggest Cluster Planting of trees. Here, Penn State Extension describes why this is good practice:

Cluster planting is done by strategically installing plants in groups of threes, fives, or higher odd numbers to block specific views or prevailing winds. Cluster planting provides an attractive, natural-looking screen without walling off your house and yard like a fortress. By planting clusters away from your house, you also provide backgrounds for interesting flowering and fruiting shrubs that are visible from your deck or living room. Additional cluster plantings can be used to create groves. The combined effect provides screening and an interesting design, allows for good airflow, and accommodates walkways through your property.

Learn how to prune your trees.  Hire the best arborist. Make a date every year with these "rock stars" of the horticultural world in order to maintain healthy trees.

There’s a million reasons to love our trees. And to plant a million more trees.

You can also lobby your local governments and petition the power companies to stop cutting and hallowing out the street trees. They can invest in underground technology. Not only will that effort save our trees but it will also better protect everyone during the huge superstorms that will inevitably arrive with ever more frequency because... We are not safeguarding the environment and we are cutting down trees with abandon. Full circle.  sigh...

Last year I read the Pulitzer Prize winning, The Overstory novel by Richard Powers. It is a profound, life-changing read that I highly recommend.


Bill and I were most fortunate to view The NYBG YouTube presentation of the author’s talk at the Garden. I encourage you to take the 30 minutes to watch and learn…

As a child, I loved to sit in the crotch of the cherry tree just off our screened in porch, and read. I was that much closer to heaven...

Trees are a wonder. Plant trees. Yes, hug them.
Oh, and I learned a new word from my "Hortie Hero," Charles Yurgalevitch from NYBG on Arbor Day: Silvics - it means the scientific study of trees and their environment. Love that! 
Yes, truly love your tree. Go sit under a tree… From a safe, social distance. We’ll all be back in our parks, forests, and woods soon…

What's your favorite tree?
I love so many, including the native Paw Paw (you can make fabulous desserts with the fruit. I made panacotta with it!).  I also love the trunks of birch, sycamore, lacebark, and cherry, to name a few.

Here’s our Kwanzan Cherry Tree in our front yard. She is so very glamorous. We love her.


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

Celebrate Earth Day 2020 with Mindful Environmental Awareness ~ Extinction Ends Here


We gardeners are dreamers. We are also pragmatists.

Not Eco-pragmatists. Not Ecomodernistas.

Rather, we are dedicated to honoring the traditions of horticulture, science, and respect for all living things. Why wouldn’t we?

Today, we mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.

For all intents and purposes, we could be forgiven for thinking this year that all is lost in terms of celebrating this day because we can’t get out to march in solidarity of Mother Earth; to experience our parks. Our beaches. Our sacred and preserved (I pray) 58 national conservation preserves -- due to the covid pandemic.

Yet, - and yet -- there is an extraordinary hope. And some corollary good news.

It’s almost as if…
Mother Nature has been begging. Pleading. Directing us to please take better care of our environment - our world. But we didn’t listen, exactly. Or some of us didn’t.

I can’t but think that Mother Nature lost her patience a bit ~ as all mothers tend to do with ever-increasingly irascible children who refuse to believe that actions have consequences.

The “paws” of yesterday's tornado and hail storms here in the NY~NJ area - (not to mention all the earthquakes I’ve seen posted from friends in the US West and crazy storms in the South and ...) suggest that we need to be more mindful.

The plus is that in the grips of this global coronavirus pandemic, the air is becoming cleaner. Nasa has noted a 30% drop in air pollutants
One can readily see the cleaner, clearer views around the world.
Citizens from India who can - with awe - now see the Himalayan peaks; or the Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles residents who can see and breathe. It’s not magic. It’s Mother Nature teaching us how to behave…
It’s been reported that those areas - particularly our beloved urban cities - are more affected by coronavirus due to air pollution. So to see the byproduct of the stay-at-home directives and the signs that the environment and the air are cleaner is nothing short of a blessed miracle.

My cousin, MaryAnn, shared this haunting pandemic video, "Extinction Ends Here" from the Global Wildlife Conservation.  It made me cry. It's powerful. I dare you not to be profoundly moved... And how will you respond to the question, "Am I enough?"  We are the cure....


What can we learn from this connection? I hope we can link this effort to making our world cleaner. Better.

Please grow more native plants. You can bring pollinators to nurture homegrown plants

Please grow more homegrown edibles - veggies and herbs.

Please reduce lawns where possible and especially the use of chemicals to acquire that wowsy green turf.

Please compost.

Our gardens, our food supply, our next generation deserves this. Mother Nature is not just whispering to us anymore. She’s shouting out. Heed her love…

Of course, please grow and nurture beautiful gardens.

Thursday, April 16, 2020

New York Botanical Garden's Collectors' Plant Auction is Online: Shop Rare Plants from the NYBG Collections




The New York Botanical Garden’s annual Collectors’ Plant Auction had to be cancelled - obviously and respectfully - due to the Covid crisis. But the good news is that the Garden sprites and plucky New York Garden team found a way to still offer you their incredible, rare plants.

As readers of Garden Glamour, I don’t need to remind you how happy our plants make us.
Nor how plants heal us.

We need plants more than ever now …

So I’m so thrilled to share with you that even though I am missing my garden art and plant and horticulture friends more than ever at this very special NYBG event -- the 2020 Collectors’ Plant Auction includes an exciting variety of plants that - according to the Gardens’ brilliant team who filled me in on the Plant Auction details:
“Would be quite difficult, or even impossible, for gardeners to find elsewhere because they were propagated from NYBG’s own collections. While many of these offerings have a particularly exciting provenance or are not commonly available in the trade, they are all certainly a living piece of the Garden’s 129-year history of plant collection and care.

Summer container gardeners or glasshouse plant enthusiasts should look for palms propagated from palm dome specimens within the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, and even a corpse flower! For the city apartment dweller and plant hunter, there will be unusual aroid and philodendron cuttings from the Garden’s diverse glasshouse collections, as well as an array of specialty garden auricula collections, which can be grown inside given summer air-conditioning.

For outdoor gardeners, the Auction features over 20 herbaceous peonies divided from NYBG’s own Matelich Anniversary Peony Collection, as well as cherry trees and irises propagated from the living collections. Other highlights garden curators are most excited to offer include large specimens of giant philodendron, organically grown dogwood and apple trees, and favorite varieties of garden classics like witch-hazel and epicedium.”

And I just love this - especially the “botanical curiosities reference.” Plants are astonishing and never fail to wow us:
“Collectors will be sure to find a host of botanical curiosities and many great garden performers online at this year’s Collectors’ Plant Auction.”
NYBG will send a link via email when the auction is live on Friday. You’ll be able to access it from NYBG.org at this page

The auction features an exciting array of plants and other unique garden items, beginning on April 17 at 10 a.m. and running through April 23.

***
I have to add that it just tickled me that when looking into the details of this year’s Plant Auction and what was the other element of the event - the Antique Garden Furniture - I researched the Garden’s website and saw the page with news of this year’s event - and among other highlights, saw they had posted news features from last year in order to give guests a preview.

And there was my Garden Glamour post from last year’s event review.

Garden Glamour was in good company: The NY Times, Antiques and the Arts Weekly, and listed just above Martha: Up Close and Personal.

Thank you, Garden Glamour readers and followers! And NYBG.
Please enjoy reading about the glamour of last year’s event to get you in the garden mood. Then, get ready to purchase your plant passions online.
And do share what you “won” at the NYBG Plant Auction. I always say that the next best thing to being in the garden is seeing images of the plants and gardens. And well, to be perfectly honest, reading books about gardens and plants. And perusing magazines for garden art. And seed catalogs… You get the shared passion. Good luck at the Plant Auction!


 

Thursday, February 7, 2019

Best of Show at NY NOW - Home and Garden Designs




Straight out of the press room - Alsop caught my eye. While there’s no doubt I go weak in the knees at most everything magically glittery and twinkling - the design firm also appealed to my more pragmatic nature.

See, Alsop offers pendant lamps and lanterns, string lights, and speakers - all solar powered. I can’t wait to spec them into my garden designs!



I always say that every good garden design tells a story; and accessorizing the garden with products such as these sustainable creations adds abundant, unique charm - and of course utility.

It’s a true luxury to indulge in the garden, patio or terrace, post-dusk. Even if you have fireflies (or lightning bugs as we call them), these solar-powered lights create their own style-rich ambience. This is not task lighting, rather it’s that romantic glow.

It was explained to me that Alsop - and father and daughter owned business launched nearly 20 years ago with an updated, ergonomic wheelbarrow, has patents on their designs and they continue to innovate.

There is a “built-in photo light sensor that turns on the LEDs. The handmade lanterns and lamps use both TyvekⓇ so they are durable in all weather, punched metal, glass, treated canvas, or the original, Soji™ UV-treated nylon -- in solid colors or very pretty graphic patterns and prints.


All the lanterns and lamps come in a variety of shapes - from round to teardrop to pods or “cans.”


There are stringed lights too - so your garden rooms can take on the look of a sophisticated resort. The Stella String, for example, features ten, cylinder-shaped lights in a pearlescent tone punched with a sunflower pattern - conjuring the classic tin luminaries.



And then there’s the Marrakesh Metallic String is silver, copper and more than a few sexy shapes.

Part of the magic is the punched designs -- no matter the material - there are intricate patterns that look good in the day and then allow the subtle solar light to glow through.



I could readily see layering and/or mixing and matching not only the styles but the shapes too. Alsop offers their own accessories so that you have the unlimited option of using the lights in a variety of ways, depending on the party or your mood. For example, you can transform a hanging light to a table top or a use on of their stainless steel stakes to line a garden path.

I love the possibilities.

And finally, there’s Mooni© (I just love saying that moniker!). Mooni is a glowing lantern and/or a glowing lantern with a speaker - in seven colors and four light modes -- all controlled via a remote, charged up with a USB; 
plus you can customize your settings with a BluetoothⓇ device to stream your favorite music. Easy and portable -- just in case the party flow moves from pool to patio…

Look for these innovative Alsop products to add glamour to your outdoor garden rooms -- or ask your garden designer (or me!) to create a glowing, artful evening decor that is guaranteed to delight you and your guests.

I also saw very handsome pots from Campo De’ Fiori terra cotta pots and planters with their lush, trademarked moss that adds an artful faux patina for an aged look. The company’s name means “Field of Flowers: in Italian). Nice. The firm also showed a number of garden accessories from vases to sculpture that will punctuate garden room design.

  

I found myself lingering at the CDI Design booth. Because I am a horticulturist, there a time not all that long ago, that I would’ve just sped by a maker of faux plants and flowers, I’ve “evolved” - (as politicians are wont to say, of late…)

I do mix faux with real - or for some clients - I use faux entirely in container arrangements or full-scale compositions. Why not? There’s a host of environmental reason to do so; plus they make them so very realistic -- and there’s no getting around the no to low maintenance. So for site-specific reasons or circumstances, I’m on board. Moreover, everyone knows those “green walls” simply do not hold up. Too much work. Messy. And more. With rich, lush, faux flowers and foliage - I could design for a patio, terrace, or bathroom spa. (I saw this at a recent Kips Bay Design House but with real plants -- and thinking of all the ferns and soil that would soon “litter” the tub, I got the shivers.)

But this is a green wall of a different design. You can control the look.




Also, I’ve been on the research hunt for someone who could make a faux topiary that would pass muster with a favorite garden design client. The ones we had seized up in a crash freeze a few years ago. I’m nurturing them back to health but not soon enough. Topiaries are singular luxury - because they take so long to cultivate.

And then there’s espalier. So much easier on the tortured plant. Although I do love my apple tree espalier and one of my garden design client’s whole house pyracantha espalier that we not only prune for more than a dozen years - but lovingly nurtured in Superstorm Sandy’s aftermath.

The folks at Creative Displays reassured me they could create anything I design. I believe them! They invited me to their facility in the Garden State (naturally) and I’m going to do it. In the meantime, check out their floral arrangements: tabletop and potted. The tropicals and succulents ts are a wonder…

Another innovative lighting designer I found was SonnenglasⓇ a South African-based company that produces -- prety much all handmade -- solar-powered, eco-friendly light source. Available in two sizes, (about seven inches tall and the Mini (almost three and half inches tall), the glass looks like mason jars.
t



The lids contain four solar-powered LEDs, which charge the solar cells and includes a micro-USB charging port. Sonnenglas claims they offer the most efficient solar cells on the market - providing up to 24 hours of “warm, bright light.” Lorenzo Maggi, export sales manager at the show booth, delicately pointed out to me that many countries don’t have electricity so the product was originally developed for people in these underserved areas. I felt rather guilty then, because I saw the jars as conduits for a kind of mini terrarium for garden parties. I thought I could create darling or elegant compositions inside -- blooms, charms, sea shells, layered, colored sand, cool insects, stones -- I was off and ruminating on the design possibilities…

Nevertheless, the Sonnenglas is weather proof; it has a wire handle for easy transport -- I’m thinking entertainment or tablescapes, of course, but these would be ideal for a picnic or beach night. The company refers to their glass lights as “bottled sunshine.” Gotta love that.

Chive could’ve been voted as the number one “happy” vendor booth due to its rainbow of both whimsical and elegant vases and pots made from ceramic or glass. I use these hanging ones a lot

 

New to me in a very usable size are these beauties.
     

I can see these used in so many Tablescapes, office environments, and vanities.



Chive’s shapes and designs are inspired by nature: coral from the sea, or the cutest animal pots -- look at this piglet pots -- perfect for a Lunar New Year celebration because it’s the Year of the Pig. Can’t you just see these making your guests smile?



There’s also turtles, snails, rhinos, elephants -- and shhhh - unicorns.

Speaking of animals -- one of two very favorite birds - flamingos - lured me over to Jacaranda Living


A true discovery was handcrafted Whole Harmony - medicinal, wellness plant healers.



These two herbalists/entrepreneurs: David and Stacey have a great story
 --and offer tonics, elixirs, and teas -- all grown and harvested and blended on their Connecticut farm. Ahhhh. I tasted the teas -- very tasty and rewarding.

I truly loved the Elderberry Syrup

   

And most especially - the Folk Fyre

According to Whole Harmony’ - their “Folk Fyre is an old-fashioned herbal remedy crafted to warm up your digestive tract. Unlike regular apple cider vinegar, Folk Fyre’s impressive list of natural ingredients includes a variety of powerful additives. Potent and fiery, this blend includes freshly shredded horseradish, ginger, and turmeric to name a few. Once steeped in raw apple cider vinegar for a duration of six weeks, we then strain and bottle up this potion for your consumption!”

I was readily conjuring up cocktail recipes with the Folk Fyre and the Elderberry Syrup. I had the distinct impression Whole Harmony focused on the pure health elements of their homegrown and hand-crafted creations - (meaning please don’t talk about wicked cocktails with regard to their farmed and healthy blends) -- but I can’t help create and promote a delicious, pure, garden-to-glass ingredients for craft cocktails.

A truly charming product I discovered is sure to create memories -- and a lifetime of gardening joy. Serial entrepeneurs, husband and wife Sheri and Clyde Hutchinson --


launched Backyard Safari Company based on Sheri’s experience in the garden with her grandchildren. There are 10 different “gardens” with everything you need to start a garden, including soil.
For example, their newest garden, “Tranquility” includes: Seed envelopes that are FCS Certified, 30% Post Consumer Waste, 100% Windpower with the Egg Carton Garden including:

  • 6 packages of Heirloom Seeds
  • Starter Soil
  • Plant Recipes
  • Wooden Plant ID Stakes
  • Growing Instructions
  • Pencil 
  • 100% Recycled Fiber Egg Carton Planter
  • Seeds: Chamomile (calming), Holy Basil (reduces stress), Lavender (relaxing sleep), Peppermint (cooling & energizing), Wild Bergamot (soothing), Sage (memory & focus)


 
Other gardens are Chili, Cocktail, Honey Bee, and Sunflower.  

Sweet success. I just love this!


Another cute garden idea is from dZi Handmade. They showed hanging planters made from felt. Very cute and colorful. The felt can absorb the watering. Succulents would work very well.  

I also like Bees’ WrapⓇ Basics sustainable food wraps made from harvested beeswax, organic jojoba oil, and tree resin. I’ve been on a mission for a number of years to rid the kitchen of plastics -- and have some very good products I use, including Pyrex and another beeswax wrap, Abeego. But these are so very pretty!

Introduced this year is The Oceans Print line that celebrates "our shores, seas, and waterways; partnering with 1% for the Planet to donate a percentage of sales from this print to organizations that support ocean conservancy and water stewardship.

I also was very enchanted by Kim Seybert’s line of extraordinary placemats, runners, napkins and napkin rings. Their line offers up very sophisticated table jewelry that will highlight any number of Tablescape compositions.



    



NY NOW®, is the largest retail focused exhibition in the Americas, held at the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. The market “fully embraces the sweeping renaissance that is reinventing retail. The winter 2019 market, with its 2,300 exhibitors, demonstrated the success of what they term “chore” shopping versus “cherish” or chosen shopping. Point being - the vendors and makers at this show appeals to small, usually family owned shops - and top-tier designers and decorators.  Cheers to KBIS - as the best example.  
The Show folks say, “Growing faster than GDP, the millions of independent retailers responsible for 96%+ of all retail sales are beginning to experience a totally new and exciting reality. Online commerce, long assumed to be the future of retail, now makes up less than 9% of the total market and all about “chore” purchasing. Meanwhile in-store or “cherish shopping” is on the rise. Millennials and Gen Z buyers prefer the brick and mortar environment and want to discover unique and inspirational pieces and experiences.

Back to the makers: A few other noteworthy makers at the show here -- because I love all things botanical:   

Lucy Jade Sylvester; exhibited her jewelry alongside other designers who were brought to New York by Craft Scotland. Lucy believes you cannot compete with the beauty of nature, its perfect lines and textures, so uses it as directly as possible in her jewelry.
After walks near her Oxfordshire studio, she takes moulds from her delicate woodland finds. Lucy casts into the cavity they leave, the process allowing her to create exact replicas of life in solid gold and silver that retain the finest details.
"These natural forms with beautiful textures would decay into the ground and be gone forever; with direct casting from them I've created something that will now be here forever, to be worn for a lifetime."
Botanical bridal engagement rings cast from twisted twigs and leaves are set with brilliant cut, rose cut and uncut diamonds. These can be paired with woven grass, leaf vein or lichen textured woodland wedding bands in widths to suit all. These rings provide a timeless alternative for those who love the patterns and textures provided by the natural world.

How lovely is this?  “Landscapes you can hold in your hand. Or The landscapes you hold dear to your heart”

Sol Proaño debuted her globally inspired jewelry line at the February 2019 edition of NY NOW. With the name Origin, the collection embraces the designer’s roots while maintaining a simple yet refined aesthetic.



“Inspired by the landscapes of her native Chile, Sol Proaño’s jewelry marries the soul of the Andes with American minimalist style. The collection mixes both clean lines and organic shapes, as well as metals like recycled sterling silver and 14k goldfill. In this way, Sol integrates her very dissimilar visual experiences in South America and the United States into a very distinctive body of work.

The Great British stag beetle, bees, and hawk moths have all been given a new life in solid silver and gold by the nature loving jeweler. Her Hawk moth ring was chosen by costume designer Michele Clapton to be worn by Sansa Stark in the hit medieval TV series Game of Thrones.
The Lifestyle Collection’s new indie NOW feature attracted retailers who were quick to take advantage of unique never before seen fragrances and personal care products.

The newly co-located and fully curated National Stationery Show® featured “Emerging Artists” where retailers could find over 50 totally new introductions plus 400+ better stationery product designers and producers, all ideal sources or products for their store to add to a successful buyer experience.

A few nice tablescape compositions caught my eye:    

 
Look for handsome botanical, hand-embroidered napkins to highlight your tablescapes:    

I love the look of Metal Lace - the art of metal.  Their baskets, vases, bowls, coasters, candle holders, and more are intriguing, mysterious, and true conversation pieces.  So unique.

  


As a related aside, I researched this process and was delighted and intrigued to learn that historically, metal lace "describes a type of lace made from metal or metallic threads, such as gold, silver, or copper. The designs can be worked on a textile ground, or the lace can completely be made from metallic threads. It is mainly used as an embellishment for military uniforms, fashionable, ceremonial and theatrical dress, and ecclesiastical textiles."
Metal Lace reinterprets this artful tradition in extraordinary ways.
Voted Best in Show were the gorgeous wood bowls from Lily Juliet -- also kind of "lacy."


A tasty product discovery is Sugarfina's sweets.  Who can resist chocolate vodka or bourbon balls?! Put that in your Valentine's Day gifting.

I was particularly attracted to their patterning with spirits and wine -- especially with my friends at Desclan's pretty in pink, "Whispering Angel" rose.

 
and with Tito's handmade vodka 

A too-beautiful bureau took my breath away:  Ercole's Blossom chest of drawers:   and bar: 

Made right here in Gotham, these truly one-of-a-kind pieces deserve a space in your home (I gotta find a nook for that bar!)
According to Ercole: "Every collection is designed and directed by Ornella, and each piece is hand made in New York, in a studio principally staffed by women artisans."  Love the women solidarity and girl power!

About NY NOW
The winter 2019 edition of NY NOW®, the Market for Home, Lifestyle, Handmade + Gift, takes place February 3-6, 2019 at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. NY NOW features three comprehensive collections - HOME, LIFESTYLE and HANDMADE - that encompass tens of thousands of products in hundreds of product categories. For the first time, NY NOW welcomes the co-locations of the winter market with the National Stationery Show® and SURTEX®, which will take place during the same time, all under one roof and in the same location. Attendees from all 50 states and nearly 70 countries worldwide attended.

Thank you NY NOW.

*all photos are mine or the makers'.